Easter Olympics in sunny California

I was fortunate enough to spend the weekend in California to celebrate Easter with my boyfriend Jack’s family. 

 

His family hails from northern California, in a small farming town about an hour and a half north of Sacramento. The town his mother grew up in, Willows, is just slightly smaller than Waseca, so it felt like home. Jack’s grandfather started and continues to run a large walnut farm. Their farm is probably the biggest farm I’ve had the pleasure of seeing.

 

They have a two-story office building alongside the road, and large buildings filled with shellers, and whatever else, nearby. Driving down the road to Jack’s grandma’s house, where we stayed, groves of walnut and almond trees lined the road and just kept going. It was really cool to see. 

 

We flew into the Sacramento airport on Friday evening, and drove the way to the farm. Along the way, Jack’s mom pointed out things for me, the tourist who had never been to California before this trip. The mountain range to the left, the Sacramento River, and the Sutter Buttes on the right (which I learned is the smallest mountain range in North America and often nicknamed the "world's smallest mountain range"). 

 

On Saturday, we woke up early to get to the most important thing — the golf tournament. Every Easter, Jack’s large family gets together for what is called the “Hank Open,” named after his grandma’s brother, who loved to golf there. I was told he even planted half of the trees on the course. 

 

It had been years since I golfed, and while some rust stayed, it was fun to get the golf joints swinging again. Everyone in the family drew from a deck to see which hole they would start on, and which team they would be on. Jack and I got placed with one of his cousins and some cousins of his mom. It was a lot of fun, and while I did not play my best game of golf, it was super fun to get to know his family while being outside in the California sun. We didn’t win, but we played best ball, and they used mine twice (meaning I was good twice!). 

 

Golf was followed by a delicious lunch and then naptime. Dinner was in their town with Jack’s aunt and uncle and their kids, and then the after party was at a great-aunt and uncle’s house to join the rest of the crew — everyone from golf that morning was there, filling the large house with talk, laughter, and good dessert. 

 

Sunday was Easter, so I was able to go to Easter mass for the first time in years. Usually my family is camping (they went to Whitewater State Park in Wisconsin this year) so we aren’t able to make it to church. The church was packed, but there was no piano, so two lovely ladies were singing the hymns for all to hear. After mass was brunch and appetizer making before we headed off to the main event of the weekend: the Herbie Games. 

 

Herbie Games was named after Jack’s grandfather and involves an Olympic-style set of games where the whole family competes. You travel through five different sports: basketball, soccer, throwing a football through a tire, putting, and frisbee. Kids through grandparents take turns doing their best to score the most points. Needless to say, I did not do the best, but there is a rule where you can’t win your first year there, so next year I’m going to dominate for sure. At least I beat Jack’s score this year, so I came home with a win in my heart. 

 

It was a lot of fun to compete and see the family interact and just enjoy being with each other. Turns out there are a lot of relatives who live in Colorado, which is pretty neat. Then, of course, was the egg hunt for the kiddos and dinner, where we all stuffed our bellies full of delicious foods and desserts. 

 

And now back to Denver and the daily grind. I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend, hopefully spent with their families. 

 

My Determination: “We are very busy bringing joy to children, we don't have time…” — Rise of the Guardians