The kids and I met up with my youngest sister, "M" and her two little girls in Boise, ID, and together we drove down to Redwood City, CA to see "Beeker" and her family, and my Dad!!  What fun!!  We had never met Beeker's children, so this was WONDERFUL!  We had a fun, busy time.  We visited a Redwood grove ~~incredible!  There was a "cave" in one of the trees that had once been a temporary home for a surveyor!  All of us could fit inside it and stand up!  Very neat!  We also saw 10 banana slugs  One night we went to the boardwalk in San Jose and rode the carousel, walked on the beach, walked out on the pier and saw a sea lion lounging on the beams under the pier.  The children also braved some fried calamari....I tried a bite, but when I saw litte D biting and stretching "something" I just couldn't eat it....my Dad and I ate the fries!   We got to meet many of Beeker's friends, which was very nice too!  We stayed for about 5 days and though we had lots of fun, it was SO nice to return home to our own little nests.  Unfortunately we picked up a nasty cold along the way, so we've all been laying low since returning home.