Our trip home

 Continuing the updates.  We left Palm Springs around lunch time on Easter Sunday and headed north.  Being a farmer, Kerry wanted to see more of the agricultural side of CA and so we headed in the direction of Fresno.  We got to Tulare the first night and got to see a lot of agriculture along the way.  It was interesting to see miles and miles of fruit and nut trees and grape vines.  The trees had bloomed early this year so we missed the blossom time which we had hoped to enjoy.  After leaving Tulare we headed out to Sequoia National Park to see the renowned big redwoods and sequoias.  It was a gorgeous sunny morning when we started out and we enjoyed the drive to the park immensely, the lovely spring of the countryside, the purple blooming trees and the fruit trees along the way.  As we got into the park and higher in elevation the weather got colder, foggy and rainy so we didn't enjoy our stops as much as we would have liked to.  The trees however, General Sherman, and General Grant were amazing to see.   So huge and still growing.  Awesome.  That part was worth the trip up there.



 We left California after that and headed west across the states, sticking to routes we had never driven before so that we would see new things.   In Wyoming we saw miles and miles of sagebrush and antelope but the weather was pleasant and so we stopped for a picnic lunch out on a country road.

 We continued on and did a driveby of the Presidents  and continued on home arriving there after five days on the road.  Too bad it was still full out winter at home, but it was still good to be back.  The holiday was fun and relaxing, the drive was good, but it is still always great to be back home and see family and friends,  ....and sleep in our own bed :)

Finishing up Palm Springs

 We are almost at the end of May by now and I know I have been less than faithful in keeping the blog updated.  We have been home since early April, and came back to winter.  Since then there has been a bunch of stuff going on and I will try to do a bunch of catch up posts so that those who check up on us once in a while will know that we are still alive and kicking.
 We had a great holiday in Palm Springs.  After our friends left we had a week to ourselves and then Kristy and Graham, Norah and Shae came to join us for our last week.  It was sunny and hot, as all the weeks had been before and we had a good time together.  The girls loved the pool and spent a good many hours in it, splashing and playing.  Norah learned to swim, without water wings, and jump into the pool off of the edge, going under water and swimming back to the edge.  Shae was just happy to  "fimm"  by herself, with her water wings on turning from back to front as she felt led, and making her way around the pool.  We didn't have a lot of busyness planned, we just enjoyed being.  Kristy shopped some,  Graham did some mountain biking, and a bit of golf with Kerry, and they took the girls up the mountain on the ariel tramway.  I think it was a pretty relaxing week all round.  It was close to Easter so we did our easter egg hunt with the girls, just like last year.  It was a good week and all too soon it came to an end, and we parted ways.  Kristy and Graham and girls flew home and we  packed up the car and started our drive.