Evan's visit & the end of our California trip

Evan came down to join us for a few days. We decided to meet Carleen (the mom, Marshall's sister) halfway in Fairfield to do the "exchange". They have a small amusement park which was recently redone.

http://www.nuttreeusa.com/leasing.php

Here is the gang. Ronnie is the bee, Talia is the monkey, Evan is the elephant, Emily, Evan's sister, is the giraffe and Davina is the lion.

















I was with Davina;



Leaving Granpa/Uncle below;



Feeding the Koi;









Another gymnastic pose opportunity;









Back in my parents' hottub, which they did not heat and the kids just used as a mini-pool;











Next day, Six Flags/Marine World in Vallejo;

















The whale and dolphin show;







Grandpa, Talia and Ronnie on the Whale ride;





Davina and I fed the seals while the older kids went on some other rides that Davina was too small to do. Since I was helping her, I didn't manage any "action shots" of her throwing the smelly sardines to them. She loved it and they liked the sardines.







Davina on the Thomas the Tankengine ride;









The Harold the Helicopter ride;





The parade which we watched while eating ice cream;





Visit to the butterfly house;













Another pond with Koi (that dress dips a bit lower than I realized...)



Davina gets tired so cousin Evan gives her a lift;









The next day we went to California Waterworld.
http://www.waterworldcalifornia.com/







Davina's favorite pose;



I actually didn't take a lot of photos since most of my time was spent running around after various children, especially the girls. While it was blisteringly hot, the water was freezing and so crowded. Not my favorite way to spend the afternoon but the kids were happy.

That evening, I went to dinner with Dave Hand and his wife Shan. It was so nice to have an adult meal and to be able to talk to them without screaming, fighting children in the background... Shan was about to leave for Beijing to translate for the Olympics and paraolympics. We joked in a few days we would be on three different continents, although Dave flew over to join her.

The next day, Mother and Marshall took Ronnie and Talia with Evan to do the "exchange" again with Carleen in Fairfield. There wasn't room in the car for us all so I stayed behind with Davina and we went shopping.

There were statues downtown of various animals and Davina posed with them.











For my last evening, we had a dinner with Guk, Will, Barbara and Ysabel. I again didn't take enough pictures!







The next day we had an uneventful flight back to Frankfurt, unlike the mess we had leaving last winter. We were sweating it running to catch the Lufthansa bus though, after our arrival. The bags took their sweet time coming out but at least they were there!