Nor. Cal.

We went to Northern California over the three-day weekend to visit family. We stopped in Berkeley to see Josh's sister, husband and kiddos... unfortunately we didn't take any pictures... but they made a post on the Barlow family website if anyone cares to see them! We then spent a day with my cousin in their home in San Anselmo (just north of San Fran), and a couple of days in Placerville (aka P-Tucky... as it has been renamed). The kids hadn't seen any of the cousins on my side since before we moved to London... so it was a fun little reunion weekend.Kids with Grayson & Anicka for a little movie night.Brooklyn & Viv collecting eggs from their 20-chicken coup. They even get a green egg everyday... the girls thought it was pretty cool!

Orange County!

The name of our county has taken on a whole new meaning for us. We have a few citrus trees in the garden... but they all seem to produce a ton of fruit! Our tangerine tree was seriously out of control last week (well... I guess it still is). So Josh and the girls went to work. After two boxes full... they stopped. Tangerines anyone???

When Little Boys Think They're Not Little!

Lately Zack thinks he doesn't need a nap. So he runs and runs and goes into overdrive. After I tried to get him down today and he refused... he sat on the couch with his blanket and covered himself with pillows... then zzzzzzzzzzz. Not quite there yet, Buddy!

Naughty or Nice??

Since we took an early-December trip to Utah... we enjoyed a nice quiet Christmas morning at home. We stayed in our p.j.s almost the entire day!Kids on stairs... pre-present! Gotta love the Christmas morning anticipation!
Girls and their new (quite annoyingly loud) barbies.

Zack and his new train
This is what Santa brought... anyone want to join Z??

Winter Wedding

We took a little (well... not so little) road trip to Utah for Josh's youngest sister's wedding. It was fun to have all of the cousins dressed up. We forgot our camera... but thanks to family members who are more on-the-ball than us... we have the following: Annie and all the girls.
Annie, Parker and all the boys... yeah that's Zack being a sissy cry baby.

The incriminating photo!

26 Miles Across the Sea...

Santa Catalina is the place for me! Josh was so nice to keep the kids for the weekend and Kerry and I went to Catalina Island. We had so much fun and met a few very interesting people. We watched movies, went on a lovely walk (where Kerry had some international visitors convinced that I was a star from Desperate Housewives... I know I know... they're thinking, "she sure is ugly... those makeup artists must be really good!), went kayaking, took a couple of naps... and enjoyed being bystanders at the local karaoke bar. What a perfect way to finish a wonderful week with Kerry here! Thanks KAM... come back anytime!

After our little kayak trip... in our rubber pants which didn't work so well for me. Seriously... there is a reason MC Hammer pants went out of style after a month!

Turkey Trot

Kerry talked me into doing a 10k while she was here. Dana Point has a run through the harbor on Thanksgiving morning. We had a blast. Kerry lovingly brought the rain from London. We were soaked within the first 5 minutes. My pants almost fell off a couple of times from being so wet and our sneakers took a few days to dry out. But overall lots of fun and laughter... and no Ker... I'm not retiring yet :) And no everyone else... we're really not this ugly... are we?