McCrackens Visit!

Our great friends Jaime and Stephanie McCracken came to visit us last week! Jaime was Robbie's best man in our wedding and Stephanie was a reader in the wedding and a roommate of mine. They met at our wedding and married a little over a year later. :) This was their first visit to see us in CA.

They arrived on Thursday. Sadly, a good friend of theirs died of cystic-fibrosis, and they had to cut their trip short. So they were only here with us thru Sunday and flew home on Tuesday. But we did manage to pack a lot of fun times into their stay.

They arrived fairly late on Thursday, so it was just chatting and catching up time. Friday we did Owen's birthday presents and lunch at our favorite sushi place - Mikuni, plus our weekly BBQ night with friends in the evening. Saturday we did a trip to San Francisco. This was Jaime's first visit to the city. We did a picnic lunch in Golden Gate Park, drove over the bridge and went up to the Marin Headlands. While in SF walking along the bay, we saw a fisher on one of the wharfs catch and release a small shark (looked like a tiger shark - do they live in those waters?). And people say sharks don't come into the bay - hah! Awesome day! Sunday was Owen's b-day part - it was so great to share that with them. Luckily they were able to keep their Napa trip which is where they were thru Tuesday.

While they were here they got to experience a rattle snake in our yard. Our neighborhood used to be the release place for catch and release of all rattlesnakes in the Sacramento area (which is a lot). So it's teeming with rattlesnakes. This is our 2nd in about 9 months. Apparently we should expect 3-5 a year in our yard. Boo! Anyway - we heard this one rattling while we were still inside the house. Jaime and Robbie killed it. The first one we had the catch and release people come get it. But it's $150 a pop - and we're not spending $450-750 to save the snakes in our yard.

It was so great to see them and spend time with them. Can't wait for their next visit!!!

P.S. Our thoughts and prayers are with the friends and family of Adam Lokey.