Camping with the Cows

We kicked off our camping season with a trip to the Organic Pastures in Fresno.  The farm produces milk, eggs, cheese and beef and did this campout as a thank you to their consumers.  I buy their milk and love learning about food production, and Rick loves to camp, so it seemed like a perfect opportunity for our family.  We really enjoyed ourselves and plan on going again next year.  Their farming practices and standards exceeded my expectations and we all loved being up close and personal with the animals and getting to know the amazing farmers.

Here is a little slideshow of our good times:

SF ♥

Rick and I were excited to have a weekend to ourselves while my parents watched our two kids (I seriously can't believe we have two kids, that seems so adult-like and I still feel like such a kid).  We decided instead of going away we would explore around here, since we haven't gone out too much since moving back to California.

It was awesome; we slept in (and through the night), went out to eat, finished some projects around the house and spent an entire day biking around San Francisco.

Here is a video of our day in SF:

Thanks Mom & Dad for the much needed break!

We ♥ Beaches

We have ventured over to the beach a few times since moving back. Oh how I missed the beach when we lived out of state. We've gone for long walks, played in the sand, watched surfers catch waves, checked out tide pools, spotted naked sunbathers and did a little (fully clothed) sunbathing of our own. Life doesn't get much better than this!

Fourth of July

We had such a great time on the Fourth of July spending time with Rick's family at Flathead Lake in Montana. It was so beautiful and we enjoyed going out on the boat, relaxing, playing polish rummy, yummy food, amazing fireworks, volleyball, surfing behind the boat, going down the waterslide, and watching all the boys shave their heads (except for Rick, luckily). We hope we can make it again next summer!

Adelaide woke up with a little attitude on the Fourth.

Adelaide on the boat.

Our little fam.

The whole gang.

Tahoe!

A few weeks ago Adelaide and I were able to spend a week in Tahoe with my family. We missed Rick and Steven & Jamie's fam, but it was a great time full of crawdad fishing, swimming, eating way too much food, Eric teaching Adelaide to play video games, Adelaide x2 bonding, organizing our Aussie sea shells, a lot of talk about gambling (next trip for reals!), a drive around the lake, the discovery that the amusement part on south shore is sadly closed, good times at the sun club, potato bombs, John Denver & Kenny Chesney, Grandpa teaching Adelaide what a scorpion says ("gotcha"), exploring emerald bay, almost hiking Mt. Rose (can't believe there is still snow), PIT games and just relaxing. I have such fond childhood memories of Tahoe and it still never disappoints.... there is nothing better than spending time with family in the beautiful California sunshine.

Eric caught one!

Grandpa and Adelaide

Eric and Adelaide are so talented.... eating their toes.

What a view.

Sisters.

Our little crawdad friend.

Adelaide loved the cold water.

So proud.

Me and Jess.

Mimi, Adelaide and Grandpa.

Me and Adelaide.

Adelaide Rose & Adelaide Hannah.

Cute girl.

Iced Donuts

It has been snowing hard all weekend. I really hate driving in the snow and even being a passenger in the car when it is snowing; it makes me nervous. Last year was my first time living in snow and I would scream with terror whenever Rick would skid around and do his dangerous little tricks. I guess I've gotten used to it because now I have a blast on our snowy adventures and can't stop laughing. Recently we did some donuts in a local parking lot and Rick mastered the 360:

Bright & Sunshiny Day

Sometimes we wake up with this view from our window since we live less than a mile away from where hot air balloons take off. I'm pretty sure that such an adventure is only allowed on days with perfect weather- clear, sunny and not too windy. We love that we can rely on these delightful balloons to be our weather forecast every once in a while.

Good Bye Camping

Now that summer is pretty much gone and Fall is in the air camping season is over for us. Although our first family trip was a little rough, we have gone several times since and have really grown to love Colorado camping.

Who wouldn't love to wake up to this?

And this.

We hiked a really long time to get to this so-called waterfall. Camping in Yosemite as a kid made this seem like a joke.

Thank goodness for Baby Bjorns.

And pack n plays.

And large waterproof tents.

(Thank you Grandpa R.)

Until next summer...

Tubing Boulder Creek

Yes, I realize that some of us look a little weird and scary in this picture but it is the only one we have.

Last night we tubed down Boulder Creek with our friends Nick and Maria and although it was very cold it was also extremely fun. Our bums may be a little sore since the water level was low in some parts but it was totally worth it and we hope to go again soon!

Lyons

Last week we headed out to Lyons for some outdoor adventure. Rick has a trail there that he likes to bike on and he mentioned that I could just "walk or run up the fire road and meet him at the top." It sounded like a great idea to both of us.

Well this fire road ended up being very steep and very rocky and very slippery and therefore very tiresome and borderline dangerous with little Adelaide in the Bob stroller. Don't get me wrong, the view from the top was beautiful, (which was a good thing because it helped me snap out of the horrible mood I was in), but it wasn't enough to make me every want to do this particular trail ever again.

To make things worse, Rick realized that I had walked up this entire 1 1/2 mile mountainside with the stroller brake on! Rick had put the brake on when we got out of the car and I didn't realize... dumb me.

I don't think we will be repeating this outing again, but it is a memory:)

Relaxing at the top.

Rick and Adelaide.

Adelaide thinking about how she doesn't want to get back into the stroller.

We saw a dear on the way down.

Memorial Day Bike Ride

We happened to be in California on Memorial Day, so we headed over the hill to Santa Cruz for a day of bike riding. It was so beautiful and made it finally start to feel like summer for me.

Me, Adelaide and Rick.

My favorite part of the picture is the lovely lady

captured in the background...

Eric and my dad.

Me and my mom.

Rhonda, Sarah and Jessica.

Nisene Marks Half Marathon

Well we completed the Nisene Marks Half Marathon and it was much harder than any of us anticipated. I had found this race for us a while ago and although I had read that it was hilly, I had no idea just how hilly. My time was worse than my last half marathon and I know that I was more prepared and in better shape... Anyways, it was a really beautiful trail and a small group of runners, so I spent most of the race without another person in sight (except for the few times that I passed someone or someone passed me). Over half of the trail was on a single track with lots of poison oak and that was when we realized that the people we had made fun of earlier for wearing tall socks were actually much smarter than us.

Mission accomplished.

Good times!

California Love

After Adelaide and I visited my grandparents in Idaho along with my sister Jessica, we headed to the bay area to spend some time with my parents and my little brother. Rick was not planning on coming at all but it turned out that he didn't have to start his internship until June 7th, so he was able to fly out last minute and spend a week with us in California too.

Grandpa showing Adelaide the chicken coop and where to collect the eggs.

Mimi, Adelaide and Grandpa watching Eric play soccer.

Adelaide and I at the the park I grew up going to- Oak Meadow.

We took Adelaide to the beach for her first time.

She loved the sand... until we buried her in it.