Aaron, Jonah and I took a trip to California earlier this month.  Aaron’s brother and sister-in-law have lived in the San Francisco Bay area for five years, and we’ve been wanting to visit.  We booked super cheap plane tickets and spent a long weekend in California while the girls stayed in Grand Rapids with Grandma and Grandpa Kerr.  Though we picked a rainy weekend, we still had a fantastic time.  The warm air felt great, and we really enjoyed spending time with family and friends.  (Some of our friends from Mt. Pleasant now live in CA, too.)

 

Here we are, ready for take off!  It was a long flight—4.5 hours—but Jonah did amazing!  Lots of people complimented Jonah on being such a happy traveler.  

The row of seats in front of us was empty, so we were able to spread out a little.  

This serious little guy got to visit and have lunch at Apple Computers.

We toured Stanford University, where our friend Andy Saltarelli works.  The church was beautiful!

This is worth reading!

 

At Muir Woods National Monument

The Golden Gate Bridge

Joel, Emily, Grey & Ender

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just after Kayla’s fourth birthday, we started reading the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  Kayla quickly fell in love with Laura and her stories about pioneer life.  In 2009 we visited the Little House homesite in Pepin, Wisconsin and learned about the annual Laura Days festival.  Each September girls ages 8, 9, 10, and 11 can compete for the title of “Pepin Laura” based on their knowledge of the Little House books.  Kayla learned of the festival when she was five and waited patiently for three years before entering the competition.  On September 6, 2012, we began our journey to Pepin.  

These are some photos from Ella’s Deli, a restaurant in Madison, Wisconsin that Aaron used to go to when he was growing up:

Swimming at the hotel in Madison:

At Laura Days:  (Special thanks to Grandma Kerr for making the dresses!)

Though she didn’t win, Kayla was definitely our favorite Laura:

At the Mall of America in Minneapolis:

The beautiful lake we stayed on in St. Germaine, Wisconsin:

If you look closely, you’ll see Aaron getting ready to take the girls canoeing:

As we drove across the Mackinaw Bridge, we saw this rainbow.  This a view from our hotel room:

We made a last-minute decision to take the ferry to Mackinaw Island.  We’re so glad we did!

We spent four gorgeous days at the beach house in Holland again this year.  The trip was so refreshing and such a gift to our hearts!  Aaron took three days off work and made it his goal to not let me do any dishes.  That was definitely a change of pace for me!