Returning Home

I had the chance this past week to be up in my home town of Granite Bay for 3 days visiting with old friends from high school, and it was SO good to be home again! It had been a long time! Now that mom and dad don't live there anymore, I haven't had a reason to go back in a couple years. Driving around such familiar streets, smelling the familiar summer smells, eating at my favorite places and seeing all the changes that had taken place over the last two years was so fun for me. And of course it was wonderful being with such good friends! Four of the five of us from high school who were really close made it back into town for a few days and we enjoyed relaxing, hiking, cooking, movie watching, and of course, lots of chatting! Here are some of the pictures from the weekend, more will be coming later as I receive them from the others.

Driving into town on Wednesday I took a trip down memory lane and drove around the neighborhoods. This is the house I lived in for about 10 years.

When I got to Jenn's our first stop was our favorite deli, the Beach Hut deli for the world's greatest sandwiches! The Surfin Bird--turkey, avocado, bacon, cream cheese, tomatoes....SO good!Miranda & Isaac drove up from Concord Wed. evening, where we hung out at Jenn's house catching up. This is me getting acquainted with 7 month old Isaac! We picked Erica up at the airport on Thurs. morning and then spent the afternoon hanging out at the house of the family Jenn grew up baby sitting and house sitting for. They were out of town so we had their entire amazing mansion to ourselves for the day.The most impressive part of the house is the wine room--a separate room kept at a perfect temperature for the red wines--decorated to look like rustic Italy (the husband is Italian). It was the most impressive thing I've ever seen in a house!Playing with IsaacOur resort for the afternoon--swimming, sunbathing, strawberry daiquiris. A great combination!Yes those are bar stools in the poolAnd what yard would be complete without a fireplace where s'mores can be made??The beautiful JenniferWe cooked dinner in their kitchen--a delicious pasta dish that Erica makes frequently. I am glad she introduced us!Prepping the salad--delicious ingredients!Our meal--the pasta contains fresh tomatoes, fresh basil leaves, pine nuts, and squares of fresh mozzarella cheese. Delicious!Dessert later that night back at Jenn's house--strawberries and ice creamFriday we headed up to Tahoe (about 2 hours up the mountain from Granite Bay) for a hike at Lake Tahoe. Our picnic lunch stop before we started hiking.Erica & IsaacErica & IReady to start our hike!One of my favorites--Isaac was a trooper! He was strapped in for a lot of hours!Letting him cool off before making him go back in the carrier for the hike back to the car.Erica takes a turn carrying the baby.Saturday morning we had Jenn's dad (an aspiring photographer) take photos of the 4 of us, which I don't have copies of yet, but I'll post them when I do! Then I took off and drove back to LA--I was missing my husband! Plus, we had plans to see a friend of ours preach her first sermon at her church this morning, so it was good to get back for that. There is a random vista point on I-5 that I decided to check out. I wish the valley was greener, but I still think this is beautiful.