Burning Through Vacation

After Russ devoured his first bowl of oat cereal. I think he liked it.

For those of you who don't know, PWC is very generous with their policy on maternal/paternal leave. They allow their employees three weeks paid paternal leave. Yipee. So, we have been burning through vacation time the last few weeks.

Becky and Rasty invited us to Wyoming to camp and raft the Snake River with them. It was one of the most fun things we have ever done. We camped for three nights, and had a blast hanging out with Becky, Rasty, Scott and the kids. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of us rafting, but it was thrilling!

First, we went down in a large raft, with Rasty as the river guide. Later, we got a little crazy and went down alone in this two man kayak thingy. It was the end of the day and the rapids were huge. We were screaming and rowing for our lives! We were feeling pretty confident because we had gone through some big ones without tipping. But, as we headed into the infamous "lunch counter" we were sure we would die. The rapids were enormous and the fourth one tipped us right over. Mark climbed back in and chased me down the river for a good ten minutes. By the time he pulled me back in we were a little shaky, but made it through the rest of the rapid successions without falling out. A little scary, but VERY FUN!

The little boat we went down in

Uncle Rasty with Annika and Russ Russ

Russ and cousin Livvy. What a sweet, adorable baby!

My gorgeous Mark in the daisies.

Before our Snake River adventure we also spent a week up in San Francisco.

What a romantic city!

We started out the trip at Muir Woods Park. The redwoods are fantastic, and gigantic. It was one of the highlights of our trip.

Check out the base of this tree. And my little thug.

Getting ready for Alcatraz. He looks a little scared.

Alcatraz

Chinatown

Fisherman's Wharf

We drove back along the coast. Breathtaking scenery. This is in Carmel

Elephant Seal Beach

Open up this pic to see the awesome shot Mark got of these seals fighting, or kissing, I'm not sure which.

My men in their blue polos

Other random ones:

Snuggling with Auntie Tina who came to L.A. to play for the weekend

After many trips to the beach it was time to let Russ actually get in the water.

He needed a little cheering up.