THIRTY

 

The deep love this boy has for toads is touching. 

2021 week thirty

But we were tired of him flooding our foundation to scare them out so Matt let him do it one last time and then promptly filled the holes with cement.

On Thursday, Matt flew to North Carolina for an extended guys weekend. Matt strolled out of the airport looking like this just to set the tone of the trip to a festive level. 

They spent the days hiking and poking around Asheville and the evenings playing games and making poor eating choices. 

Travis regretting his decision to prove that the waterfall would be a good slide. 

Beautiful fungus found on their hike. 

And an enormous millipede. Matt came home Sunday to a very needy and whiney cat. 

While Matt was in North Carolina we flew to California! 

First stop was Oma's house where everyone immediately jumped in the pool.

The next day, Oma gave them a box of bug hunting gear which proved invaluable for the rest of the trip.

Grandpa John showed them around his cool car and the kids were very impressed. 

Then the lucky kids got to go for a ride to feel how fast it was. 

We went to a few antique stores with Oma to find treasures. Theo wanted this plastic ring because it looked like the class rings that Matt designs for work. 

I found this beautiful china coffee cup as a thank you to my mom for her generous hospitality.

The coolest part about it is that it is a Soviet era relic! 

Theo's treasures. 

Vera's treasures. 

We spotted deer in town twice.

We went on a walk by the Sacramento river with Uncle Jared and Aunt Aundie. V got in up to her hips even though the water was freezing. Theo just caused mischief and kept throwing sand and mud at V. 

There was a spider tree right next to us. I've never seen so many spiders gathered together in one spot. It was a bit spooky. 

We also spotted a pretty ornamental creek and both of my kids got in it... and much to everyone's surprise, they caught a crawdad. 

These photos look sepia tone because the air quality was so terrible with the nearby fires. The sky was thick and gray and at times you could see ash falling.