Rauch Family Reunion

That's 20 people in this photo, and we all stayed at Paradise Ranch for 4 wonderful days of family bonding. With families coming from Singapore, Utah (soon to be Arizona), New Mexico, and southern California, who knows when we'll ALL be together again. We had so much fun! I'll post highlights from specific activies later.

Hiking in Auburn

Another local spot can be found north in Auburn. What a beautiful place!! We'll definitely be coming back to the Auburn State Recreation Area! This hike was in the American River Confluence Area, and we even found a geocache.

Lake Berryessa

As is our custom, we try to check out local amenities wherever we happen to be living at the time. So we took a long drive out to Lake Berryessa, which is a popular place to go boating. The lake was formed when a dam was built, and the surroundings were fairly bleak. We probably would have had a lot more fun with a boat, but the kids did go swimming and it was a fun family day.

Daring Daughter

This is the very tall slide at the park across the street.

This is the daring (18 month old) daughter, all by herself, on the very tall slide at the park across the street.

This is the happy, daring daughter at the bottom of the slide at the park across the street.

"Princess Protection" Movie

Silas wanted to make a movie, so we made a script and tapped into the local talent. Here's our amateur creation. (It's less than 4 minutes long)

Summer Days

Hot summer days are finally here! Thank goodness for our little pool. Both neighbors have built-in pools and we hear them splashing around. One neighbor invites us over occasionally. But it's nice to have our little pond for those hot days when invitations aren't extended!

Camping Trip

We went on a camping trip to Cache Creek Canyon Regional Park with a group of 7 families from Davis. We made some good friends and had a really nice time.

We roasted marshmellows for s'mores, but someone also brought cinnamon roll dough to cook on sticks (clever!).
Our family had fun casting lines, but no fish were tempted by our hooks.

The kids loved playing in the river, which was nice and chilly to counter the day's heat.

The adults swam across the river and jumped off a ledge. Someone else took even better pictures of that event, so hopefully I'll be able to post better picts once they share them.