Sacramento 2010

(the final recap of our Family Vacation 2010)

We spent most of our time in SAC at the pool. We were either at Uncle CD & Aunt Melanie's or Uncle Brian & Aunt Amie's. (Everyone, who's anyone, has a pool in Sacramento.)

Hailey and Lauren show off their wet ponies.

We happened to be in town during the California State Fair. So we joined the masses and attended opening day. It was hot but tolerable. (tolerable = not humid!!) It was a lot of fun.

Daddy made sure to win the sweethearts plenty of stuffed animals. (Enough stuffed animals we had to ship them home because they wouldn't fit in our checked baggage.)

Here are the first two...

tomato faces
(Lauren)

(Tyler)

A clown on a unicycle made up balloon animals.
Lauren requested a purple (her favorite color) dragon.

Tyler opted for a purple (his sister's favorite color) sword.
He immediately made friends with and then tried to slice up a nice boy in the pavilion.

We bought the children wristbands so they did each and every kiddie ride close to 20 times.
Hailey and Lauren

Tyler on the bridge

Hailey and Lauren on the boat ride

Hailey, Lauren & Tyler on the train

We all had a blast in Sacramento. To this day Lauren still talks about cousin Hailey and Tyler still talks about Aunt Melanie and how she did flips on the trampoline and let her bulldog "Zsa Zsa" go swimming in the pool. I love that they are making memories.

On our way back to Boise to catch our flight home we stopped for a night in Reno. PaPa and MeMa are VIPs in Reno so thanks to them we enjoyed a complimentary suite at the Peppermill Casino.

Matt and I took turns gambling and the kiddos thoroughly enjoyed themselves in the spacious hotel room.
L & T played Wipeout while Matt turned $100 into $300 at the craps tables and then they played Wipeout while I turned $20 into $200 at the video poker machines. I'm sure the Peppermill won't be forgetting us anytime soon. We pretty much cleaned them out. (ha!) Even Papa and MeMa came out ahead. It was a good night for all.
Finally we called it a night.
The next morning we made the beautiful, I mean, boring drive from Reno, Nevada to Boise, Idaho. We stayed one night with Grandma Jan and Grandpa Michael and then we caught a flight back to the good old ATL. Home Sweet Home. It was bitter, bittersweet...we really loved spending time with our family but it was also great to be back in our own home.

Vacation 2010: Redwood Forest

On our way to Sacramento, CA (to visit PaPa, Mema and numerous Aunts, Uncles and Cousins) we took a detour off of I-5 at Grants Pass, Oregon and headed toward the Pacific. I wanted to take a detour through the Redwood Forest. I have great memories of the giant trees and I want to make sure my children remember (and love) them as well. On our way to the Redwoods we stopped a number of times just to take in the scenery.



We finally stopped for the night in Crescent City, CA. (one of the Northern most coastal cities in California) We stayed at the Hampton Inn & Suites. Much to my enjoyment...$$not so much Matt's$$... they only had the suites left.

our room

our view
Matt and Lauren are down below flying the kite.
(see them? see the kite?)
(It was too cold for Tyler and I.)

The next day we made our way to the Redwood Forest. "This Land was Made for You and Me."

We had to stop by and see Paul Bunyan and is ox, Babe.

poor Babe...he remained steady and calm though.

We decided not to pay to see the Trees of Mystery. Instead we stopped along the way to check out (free of charge) the other giant trees of the Redwood Forest.

These were some HUGE trees. Awe-mazing!

L & T are playing INSIDE of a tree.

This was such an amazing detour that Matt and I plan to do this again and again.

Finally we made our way to the suburbs of Sacramento, CA and enjoyed time with our family.

cousins: Hailey, Lauren and Joseph

more of SAC to come!

Vacation 2010: Oregon Again

(no time to count takes anymore...school starts in a few days so it's time to finish up the Vacation 2010 posts!)

Oregon Zoo
What fun!

That is not a real fire burning behind Tyler but he really is eating some sort of paper.

They dressed up and played their parts.
I'm sure the sign says, "Do not touch the dinosaur."

There is probably a sign saying not to abuse the Hippo as well.

Oregon Coast
(L & T have a blast...despite the fact their legs turn bright red due to the COLD water)

Pacific Ocean in JULY!
(jackets y'all)

getting warm at Grammy's Beach House

Grammy's (and part Uncle Monkey & Aunt Mili's) Beach House
(2 1/2 blocks from the Ocean with a peek-a-boo Ocean View!!)

inside the front door

living room

kitchen

more kitchen
(with my mess from making dinner)

view down the hall
the stairs to the loft bedroom
more shots from the beach
The firemen actually stopped and took pictures of Matt and the kids flying the kite.
Let me know if you see them in a Coastal Living magazine.

We spent two days and nights at the beach house which was very relaxing and then it was back to the valley.

On our way home we met some cousins at the Enchanted Forest.

Jared, Hillary, Lauren, Thomas, me and Tyler

I love the Enchanted Forest
and will make sure Lauren and Tyler love it as well!

the Muzium

We saw a Forest performance of Hansel and Gretel.
It was awesome and I'm sure the next stop for the wonderful actors will be Broadway!

The kids loved the performance so much they asked me to take a picture with them and the cast.

more Enchantment

We came back to Grammy's Springfield house for a night before packing up the Vera Cruz for the next part of our Western Vacation.

California or bust!