3 weeks+ west coast= vacation!

What a great time we had!  We had a few reasons to take such a long trip...namely that Andrew's sister Tiffany just graduated from high school with every honor I've ever seen (and some I hadn't), and I had support from my university to attend Paintings Edge lectures and work on art for a while!  (What an amazing opportunity...more later.)

I'll post a bunch of pictures:

Many thanks to everyone who put us up and put up with us...travelling with a 1+ year old is both exhilarating and life-threatening, as you'll see...

First we went to Sacramento to see my brother Mac. It was great to see where he is living- it's a small neighborhood downtown in biking/walking distance to everything you could need. All the food was excellent and I was envious. We have great food but you usually have to drive.

We also went to the zoo and Esly loves her uncle Mac.

Then we drove down to Southern CA where we went pretty directly to Tiffany's graduation and spent a few peaceful days with the whole family before a lovely Father's Day bbq and the parting of ways.  We stayed with my Dad and Shari for a few days and Esly especially enjoyed their 2 dogs. 

We did our rounds and saw 2-3 people/groups a days for a few days.  We stopped in to see some great old friends from the Huntington...we got a glimpse of the new Chinese Garden but it was a day when Esly was ready to go before we were.

We also saw some friends with a daughter a few years older than Esly...you can see the look of awe and admiration Esly has for Clare. Clare graciously showed Esly all her dolls and I could tell Esly was anxious to be older...

We saw Alison and Mac and spent time at the Norton Simon- he was very sweet and tried to help Esly identify a certain Duchamp piece from the exhibition brochure... it was a fun piece because everything was spinning (literally).  Mac has this amazing vocabulary and is incredibly perceptive.  It ws nice to walk through a museum with him.  I wish Esly were closer to the other kids in our life.  It's always really wonderful to watch their interactions.

We stayed with the Patterson's a few days and Esly just wouldn't sleep...she ended up getting 2 molars during the trip. So, one morning around 5 am when it was no longer possible to force sleep we got up and drove to Santa Monica where Esly enjoyed running headlong into the waves- no fear at all and perfectly happy to forget about her teeth pain. What a beautiful kid.
The fabulous Patterson's threw a fabulous bbq and we saw many old friends there...she's stuck in THEIR tamborine.

So- Paintings Edge.  We stayed with a friend who had a cabin in Idyllwild and had wonderful soulful conversations reflecting on life, art, poetry and the good lectures we attended which included Fred Tomaselli- an artist I've always enjoyed (process and content) and who I found forthcoming and interesting in person.  It was amazing to get some time to catch up with myself and Andrew (Esly stayed with Grammie-Andrew's mom- for a few days so we could have some rest THANK YOU).  

After about 3 weeks we ended our trip with time in Vancouver, WA seeing the Martins who have recently left us alone in Boise. ( sorry, I'm still getting over the loss!)  It was great to see them despite the heat wave and our waning traveling energy...we love them dearly. This is Andrew on the porch playing ball with Nels- I love Gypsy's alarmed face. And no, Esly never got hit although Andrew let her believe it was often HER catching the ball.

We had a lovely time with you all and miss you already but it was time to get home:

More posts at some point on my new backyard studio! I'm in process on a body of work I really like and I have a chance to show some of it at SPU in January. Hooray for my real life (outside my workaholic tendencies at my academic job).