We took a family trip to California to visit Ben and Emily.  While we were there, we also go to see Tommy and Amanda in San Francisco.  To get there, we tried out Allegiant Air, flying from Provo to Oakland.  It is really nice flying out of Provo.  It’s close, quick, and the parking is cheap.  The flight was great.

Ben was very nice to drive up to the Oakland airport and pick us up.  We went back to his place in Sunnyvale where he got his motorcycle and went in to work, and took his car to the hotel, and then on to the Tech Museum in San Jose.  On the wall of the museum, they had a quote by Bill Hewlett that I really liked.  “An abiding curiosity and an insatiable desire to learn how and why things work are the hallmark of innovation. Creativity is nurtured by being receptive and encouraging.”  The tech museum was full of fun and interactive displays.   I wonder if Ashley will be interested by this sort of stuff?

Once Ben and Emily got off work, we went back over to their place.  Emily suggested we go to the Santa Clara county fair.  Kathryn and I didn’t even know they had something of the sort in the area.   We had a fun time seeing the animals.  It was about a quarter the size of the Twin Falls fair.

We found some mediocre tasting, overpriced fair food that we enjoyed.  Then Ben and I decided to go on the zipper ride.  Just like every other time I’ve gone on it, it was a blast.

The next day, we headed up to San Francisco for the day.  We perused around in the Fairy Building and found a fancy cheese shop where we tested some different cheeses.  Emily is a cheese lover so we followed her lead.  They also had a large farmers market going on.  We bought some tasty fresh fruit, then went and got a burger for lunch.  After lunch, we went and visited Tommy and Amanda at their apartment.  Tommy took Ben and I to his office while the girls hung out.  This is the view from his office.

For dinner, we went to a little tiny restaurant and had some delicious burritos.  Then we walked little ways to a fun little ice cream shop.  It was lots of fun to get to hang out with Tommy and Amanda for the evening.

We spent Sunday hanging out with Ben and Emily.  We went to their ward, then had some good food.  We enjoyed the cheese we bought the day before and felt very fancy eating it.  We also went to the park and flew Ben’s cool dragon kite.

We also used makeshift bibs for Ashley since we didn’t bring any.

We celebrated Emily’s birthday, even though it wasn’t for a couple more days.

Kathryn is the greatest!  And Ashley is the cutest!

She did really well on the flight out, but on the flight home, she was getting pretty worn out of traveling.  Unfortunately, we were “those guys” that had a screaming baby for part of the flight.  I now have a lot more understanding and patience for a crying kid on a plane.