Starting it off in Fresno

We flew into Sacramento and headed down to Fresno our first day.  It was an easy flight in and an easy drive down.  When we got into town, we went and bought tickets for the Fresno State vs. Hawaii football game and then stopped into the Bulldog shop for some new apparel.  We dropped our stuff off at Terry's brothers house, and then headed out.  We went to Terry's favorite restaurant, Casa Corona, and met up with Braga, Newman and his son Nicolas, and Geno.  After a while, Mike and Shannon came out to meet up with us as we were all going to the game together. 

new gear for the game

 Newman and Nicolas

We headed over to the Stadium in hopes of a Hawaiian Beating!!!!!  Unfortunately things didn't turn out so well.  Let's just say I had a bitter boyfriend for the rest of the evening.

 Me, Terry, Mike and Shannon

 Pretty great seats for buying them 4 hours before gametime.

Geno, Terry, and Mike. You would never know that the two of them were brothers. 

Shannon and Terry after the game at Jimbo's.  She was trying to cheer him up.

The next day, Terry's entire immediate family got together for lunch.  Terry's mom just had a birthday, as did Grampa, and she loves Olive Garden, so we all met there.  From left to right: Diane (T's sister), Terrance (T's nephew), Grampa, T, Mom, me, Dad, Mike, and Shannon.  It was so nice to see everyone, but it was also a little chaotic to be honest.  So many people together at a restaurant seems to always be difficult because you miss out on people at the other end of the table, and so many conversations are going on that your head starts to spin...or at least mine does.  Regardless, it's always good to be with family.

Dad enjoying his bloody mary.

The rest of Sunday was very uneventful.  We went and watched the Raiders game at Jimbos with Mike and Shannon, and then we went back to their house for dinner and to watch my Eagles destroy Mike's 49ers (hahah, had to throw it in there). 
We were still not adjusted to the time difference, so we woke up at 6:30 Monday morning and decided to take a drive up to Shaver Lake since I'd still never seen it.  The drive out was amazing, driving through the Sierra Nevadas. I'll only post a few pictures so not to bore you, but I snapped 20 pictures throughout the drive up. 

Shaver lake is amazing! I can't wait to go back.  Mike and Shannon have a cabin up there, I can only imagine how beautiful it is to go there for a getaway.

Favorite picture #1 of the trip

He's getting good at these shots.

I got to see Manzanita trees and shrubs. Terry was saying that if you burn this wood in a metal grate, it will deform and bend the grate because of how hot the wood gets.  It can live through forest fires. Pretty crazy. 

After Shaver, we drove over to Terry's Mom and Dad's house for Monday Brunch.  That was the first time I'd been to their house, so I got to see a lot of pictures of Terry when he was little....gotta love that!  Diane cooked a wonderful brunch for us, and we got to have a lot of quality time talking together. Afterwards, we went and relaxed at the house for a while, and then went and met up with Bill back at Casa Corona to watch the Monday night football game (which for the record starts at 5pm on the west coast....I never gave that any thought before, but it's also SO strange on Sunday having the first game starting at 10am). 

It was a great trip to Fresno to see Terry's family and friends.  Glad that we started our trip there!!