Day 185 - Independance Day

Today was a jam packed day.  Church in the morning, complete with my old youth pastor giving the sermon.  The bouncy houses were back up during church.  Haley brought her swimsuit, so she got to play on them.  Hannah decided before we left not to bring her swimsuit, but I think she regretted that decision once we got there.  On to a picnic at a park for the Reunion. The girls were too hot, so they did little actual playing.  They had a great time just sitting around with their friend Avery whom they had just met the day before.

Since we had promised the girls some swim time, we rushed home and they got one 45 min session in the pool before we had to rush (again) to the county fair.  We wanted to be sure the girls had enough time at the Marin County Fair to make the trip (and admission) worth while.  We would have come earlier had we known there were going to be lines . . . for EVERYTHING.  Even the trip to the bathroom was a 25 min wait!  I had been hyping up the fair to the girls for days, so it was fun to finally get there. This is the fair I went to throughout my childhood.  My fondest memories are from the days when I was old enough for my mom to drop me and my friends off by ourselves to spend the entire day there.  I didn't find out until after the fact, but one of the friends I used to hang out with there was also at the fair that night and watching the fireworks in the same spot where we were.  I also ran into a friend from high school who doesn't live here anymore either as well as some frineds we knew would be at the fair that day.  I love that it's such a small community that you can run into people you know even if you haven't lived there for 20 years.

We learned that Haley is a little daredevil.  She begged  to go on the jumbo ferris wheel, but she was too short.  She was a good sport about it, despite the fact that her sister got to go on it anyway.  After that Haley had her eye on the upsidedown roller coaster and the zipper.  Who is this kid?  I would ride those things when I was younger, but her Dad doens't even like the rides at Disneyland.  We're in for some trouble in a few years when she is actually tall enough to ride these things.

Day 184 - Youth Group Reunion

We had come down to CA to attend the Reunion for the youth group I was in in Jr Hi and High School at Marin Covenant.  There was a bouncy house and water slide set up for the kids, so you know where mine were.  It was bizarre to be standing outside watching the kids with friends of mine from youth group.  I have known some of them so long that we were the ages of our kids when we were the ones running around and playing.  The girls came home from that and went straight down to the community pool.  Do you see a pattern evolving?  Earlier that morning, John, my Dad and I got to go on a hike in the hills.  My Dad took pleasure in his constant reminders that we weren't making it up the hill as fast as he usually does.  This hike was in the same general area where my Brandon and Jen and I had gone back in April.  It was a lot hotter and the hills were a lot browner this time (see Day 87)