Lake Berryessa

Listen up, friends and relatives. Uncle Rick and Aunt Lonna have recently claimed the title of "Favorite People," not because of their extreme hospitality in letting Amy and Paul sleep in their beautiful home, nor because of the many delicious meals they fed us while we were there, and not even because of their willingness to babysit James. Actually, our affections were much more easily purchased. You, too, can achieve this lofty designation, merely by extending us a waterskiing invitation. Since our sad separation from our boat in Dallas, we've had to rely on other people to fulfill our watersport needs, and so far Uncle Rick has been the only boat-owner to pull through--twice, even. Hooray for the Jergensens.

While we had hoped that James would be slaloming by now, he claimed that he should learn how to walk before learning to ski. Fair enough. He did, however, brave the tube with cousins Justin and Carter, smiling and waving right up until the moment the entire operation went belly up, landing all four boys in the lake. (How that happened at 5 MPH is a mystery, but Paul blames Justin.) Shout out to the person who invented little baby life vests.