California

Why did I grow up in such a beautiful town? Now everywhere else pales in comparison :)

There's no place like home - especially when home is in Nevada City. We were blessed to be there at the same time my cousins were in town. Kristin came up from L.A. and Amy came down from Seattle with Matt and their adorable little Caleb for Lizzy's graduation from high school.

I cannot believe she's graduated! I still remember seeing her for the first time in the hospital after she was born. Now she is a beautiful young woman soon to be off to San Diego State for college. Cory also came up for the weekend, so the whole family was actually together in one place.

Unfortunately Brandy couldn't come up with Cory, but we hope to see her at Christmas time.

We spent a lot of time while we were home outside in the mountains. We took 2 beautiful hikes along the Independence Trail off Highway 49, about 15 minutes from my parent's house.

The trail has an interesting history. It is the very first wilderness trail in the entire nation to offer wheelchair accessibility. The trail originally was a set of canals and aqueducts hundreds of miles long used during the gold rush era as part of the hydraulic mining effort. Back then it was called Excelsior Canal. The water from the canal eventually led to water cannons used to blast away dirt and gold from the Sierra Nevada hillsides. It then ran into sluice boxes where the gold from the hills, heavier than the water and dirt, settled to the bottom making it easy to retrieve. Well, easy once the work of the canals were built. There were hundreds of miles of canals though - across steep terrain, along the ridges and across the gorges of the Sierra Nevada Foothills. Pretty amazing! The wonderful thing now is that those canals and bridges serve as a magnificent mountain trail open for all to enjoy. John Olmsted, the man who had the vision to create the trail said, "Please find me a level wilderness trail where I can reach out and touch the wildflowers from my wheel chair." Being wheelchair accessible, we were able to easily navigate Amaya's stroller through too.

It was truly enjoyable - enough to go twice the week we were home. The first time my mom, Mike, Jay and I took a picnic with us and ate at a beautiful little water hole (also accessible by wheelchair). There's a small waterfall there too. Here are some pictures from our hike.

The boys did some serious climbing.

Poor dad had jury duty and couldn't come. The second time we went we brought along Amy, Matt, Caleb and Lizzy. Mike and Matt explored down to the river and then up above the waterfall. I think they both enjoyed having some male company - our family is made up of a lot of women! It's so nice they get along so well and have such similar interests.

As you can probably see from the pictures, the trail was gorgeous. We had the opportunity to see many lizards and wild flowers along the way. We even saw some newts in the water!

We spent a lot of time together as a family. Amaya was able to meet everyone for the first time and we were able to celebrate Caleb's first birthday together. He is SOOOOOO cute!!!

 Just look at that face :)

Even though my cousins and my are "extended family" they feel like my sisters and I love being with them. Carol and Jeff are so wonderful too. We always have fun catching up with them. And of course the matriarch of our family, Grandma Erickson, is our favorite person to have around. She is so full of life at her ripe young age of 87 :)

Still working on scholarships for the Ghidotti Foundation, planting in her garden and creating delicious family dinners like the gnocchi and homemade spaghetti sauce she made this trip. Our family loves food. In fact, we realized that while eating at family gatherings we often talk about our next meal! Of course our trip wouldn't be complete without going to Asian Gardens for Chinese, so we headed there for Lizzy's graduation dinner.

It was so nice to see my brother. It was much too short a time, but we're so glad he made the trip up to meet his new niece!

Amaya was definitely a hit - everyone loved her and her constant smiles!

On our last day in California my friend Breanne threw me and another friend, Tisha, baby showers. Tisha had her little Tennyson 5 weeks ago. He is so sweet! It was wonderful to catch up with everyone. Jay had fun playing with all the kids. We love our Nevada City friends!

We had a wonderful trip and miss everyone already! Thanks to all who made it so special. We love you!!!