We recently had a brilliant visit from my Mam and Dad – it was their first time in California and the first time we’ve seen them in person since we moved here last year. It was so great to see them and to show them a lot of the places we go and things we do over here. The kids were incredibly excited and loved having them here. Olive took a little warming up, but before long she was clinging on to my Mam and calling Dad “Dada”. We had around 9 days together and managed to squeeze a lot in – some of the highlights are below. I’m lucky to have amazing parents who I look up to and admire massively.

We visited one of our favourite spots – Henry Cowell Redwoods and Roaring Camp Railroad. There’s a trail with some giant redwoods, as well as wild west style village where you can pan for gold, watch old films in a cinema, visit a printshop etc. They have a steam train that goes right down to the Santa Cruz boardwalk.

Mam in the Redwoods

Dad has horns

Lady Lucy

Olive in jail

Olive in the visitor centre

After a morning in the Redwoods, we headed to Natural Bridges, one of our favourites beaches in Santa Cruz for a bit of paddling, frisbee and sandcastle-building. The kids made a ‘swimming pool’ by digging a big hole and sending us back and forth to the sea to fill their pool with buckets of water.

On another day, we visited San Francisco, starting with a walk along the coast from Sutro Baths. Heather and I did this walk with Eve and Josh the first time we visited San Francisco together for my interview with Apple. It’s a lovely walk and halfway through you get a great view of the Golden Gate bridge.

We then headed into the city for a boat tour of the bay, a walk along pier 39 and some clam chowder. Josh had been telling Mam and Dad about the boat tour in advance, as he’s done it a few times before. He explained how we go around an island with a famous prison on it – the prison is called ‘Alcohol’.

Alcatraz aka ‘Alcohol’

Sea Lions at Pier 39

Charlotte busting some moves to the street artist’s music

One day we went to Apple HQ in Cupertino for breakfast at Caffe Macs.

Breakfast at Caffe Macs, Apple

Eating apples at Apple

Apple HQ, 1 Infinite Loop

The visit was over Easter weekend, so we made Easter baskets for the kids and had a hunt in the garden.

Easter baskets

A visit to the San Jose Discovery museum where the kids painted their own faces(!) and did role-playing in fire engines and ambulances.

Riding in a fire engine

Charlotte on the stretcher

The ambulance crew treat Charlotte

Eve made this doll at the discovery museum

Another day included a visit to Hidden Villa farm.

Olive was saying “duddle! duddle!” (cuddle) to the chickens

…a visit to Shoreline Park in Mountain View…

…NASA…

…a Sunday walk at Rancho San Antonio…

Eve finds the Geocache

…and ‘Home’ at the Drive-In!

Thanks for coming Poppy and Grandma – please come back soon!