....part 3 then done!

We had some unexpected guests the first night in San Simeon. Before we went to bed we put all of our dry food and perishables in the car, but did not think about the ice chest. Apparently, raccoons are smart enough to open ice chests, as well as drink juice boxes and eat raw eggs. I actually think it was pretty funny, and am glad there wasn't much more for them to get into.

So, after we discovered that, we went to go find a grocery store. We ended up in this cute lttle town called Morro Bay, where we also found a Starbuck's!!!! Yay! Joel didn't think it woul be chilly enough to bring long pants, so after the first two nights of him being freezing, we stopped and got these sexy Rite Aid pants.

you like:

We also found this great little park by the dock where the kids could play:

After that we went back and got changed for the beach. Kade didn't even want to go near the water this time...too cold. However, he did find a way to pass the time. He found these lovely older girls to charm, and brought Gavin with him to help! What studs!All that flirting tired him out because this is what he did at dinner:Then the drinks came, and he decided it was in his best interest to be awake:)

We woke up the next morning and packed up to get on the road. We stopped for lunch and more beach time in Santa Barbara and then dinner in L.A. We also made a pit stop at the outlets at Palm Springs (my idea!) We were able to make it home by midnight...not too shabby and the kids did terrific in the car. No ear plugs were used the entire trip!!!

I was happy to be home and have my shower and own bed, but boy do I miss everything else!

....part 2

So after the first night, we packed up to drive down the coast to our next spot in San Simeon, about an hour away and right next to the beach. We had some time to kill because we couldn't set up camp until 2pm so we did some sight seeing along the way. The view's were beautiful, and did I mention chilly:) ! This was the first lookout point we stopped at:

Gavin is saying"hi" to the water

This kid loves to pose and say "cheese"

"trying" to sit nicely together for a picture

that's better, now you can't see their disgruntled faces!

there's those smiles!

From there we kept driving and found this spot where elephant seals like to frolic and play. It was so cool to see them up close, and it was FREE!

Look at all those seals!

Gavin had just fell asleep when we stopped but I wanted him to see them too. Look at him all bundled up in the blanky:)

Our family pic! The best one of the whole trip, I think:) (look at that ridiculous belly!)


Moving on, this is our next campsite. We stayed here for two nights. The beach was only aobut 200 yards away. You could hear the waves crashing...pure heaven. We set up our tent and then went to the beach!

Kade was all excited to surf, until he felt how cold the water was!

They decided to just play in the sand instead!

We headed back to the campsite and cooked hot dogs over the fire. Kade really liked sitting by the fire and eating.

Still more to come, the final day of our trip.......

CA getaway part 1....

Well I had been complaining about the heat and told Joel I couldn't take it anymore and begged him to get out of here. So we planned a totally last minute trip to CA. Normally we just go to San Diego, which I love, but everything was booked or super expensive, so Joel got creative and planned a different type of trip. We took our first camping trip as a family, and although at first I was a little worried how it would all go, I was just so happy to be out of the heat that I really didn't care. We couldn't find any open camping spots along the beach in San Diego, so we went up to Northern CA instead.

We knew it would be a long drive, so we left at 2am Wednesday morning, to try to get a bulk of the driving out of the way while the kids were sleeping.We made it to L.A. by about 7 am, stopped for breakfast, and then continued on our way. The kids did such a great job (partly thanks to modern technology). Gavin slept restlessly on the way to L.A. so after breakfast he took a nother long nap which was great. Look at these cutie pies in their jammers:

I love it when he sleeps like this!This is his monster face.Did I mention we are not above bribery to keep kids happy on long road trips!

Joel had us camping at a few different spots but we stopped about 3/4 of the way there at Pismo Beach to get out and stretch and let the kids play around.

Kade likes to run away from the water.Gavin still isn't too sure about the water, but loves to look at it and come close:)

From there we made it to our first stop in Big Sur. It was beautiful, and chilly. We went out to dinner at this restaurant on top of the mountains known for its view:

We are ready to eat!

Look at this view!! When the fog is not so thick you can see the ocean too.

My gorgeous boys!

Our self portrait...I think the only picture we took of just the two of us the whole trip!

Then back to the campsite. Here are our living quarters. It was a beautiful campsite, and they had showers and toilets so I was happy.
The next morning the boys went down to look at the creek and we went exploring.

We were in the redwood forest, look at the size of the tree stump the boys are standing on!

We could have camped inside this tree!

Then, we packed up our stuff and headed down the coast for our next stop...more to come soon!

Christmas in July

We have been wanting to get Kade a bigger bike now that he has been riding so well. We have been checking Craigslist, but haven't seen anything really worth while. Then Joel went by a garage sale on the way home from work the other day and picked up this beauty for $15! I think he likes it.

It is a much better fit than his other bike.

Now we were able to pass Kade's old bike down to Gavin. We put the training wheels back on and now he is set to go!

He loved being able to sit on the big boy bike:)

He still can't make the peddles go but we are working on it!

This is Ridiculous....

C'mon how can there possibly be 3 more months until my due date. That has to be a mistake right? There has got to be another one hiding in there, otherwise this kid is destined to be like 14 pounds. urgggggggggggg

(ps. after I took this picture I got my windex out and cleaned my horribly dirty mirror. You know just in case anyone might comment on that!)