more summer vacation

after a few weeks' hiatus, i'm seeing if my "month" of upload limit is reset...and it looks like the photos are done, so i'm going to try to finish posting our vacation pictures. keep your fingers crossed that i get through everything!

in the last post, i ended midway through our golden gate park excursion. here's the other half...

after golden gate park, we found a mel's diner on the way to the hotel. i was looking forward to a meal i didn't have to cook, but was even more excited for a warm shower and BED (hoping for a full night's sleep). mel's was good, so with our stomachs full we found our hotel. after much needed baths/showers, i got a phone call from jay stroud about meeting for dinner that night. we decided on an indian restaurant and got our first taste of walking through san francisco. i really like big cities. i might like to live in the middle of one...without kids. for now, i like visiting them.

the next day we headed to fisherman's wharf on the trolley...



we had lunch at the boudin's sourdough bread factory...clam chowder in a fresh bread bowl. yum. then we walked to pier 39 to see what there was to see. really, we were on a quest for a double decker carousel i had read about.


hundreds of sunbathing seals (or maybe they were sea lions), and a view of alcatraz. then we found a candy shop and the kids got to pick out a lollipop. major treat...only on vacation! :)
 

then we walked back toward fisherman's wharf to catch the cablecar to the hotel. i HIGHLY recommend public transportation in san francisco. it was a lot of fun.


the next day we found breakfast, tried to find something we couldn't find, tried to find something ELSE we couldn't find, and then finally decided to head for santa cruz. we camped at new brighton beach for the next two nights. the first day was chilly and overcast, but the kids stilled played in the ocean for 80+% of the day.

we watched pelicans flying around and diving for fish...it was fascinating. really fun to see.
midday we went into santa cruz to eat at hank's at the hook. our friend jeremiah had given us the recommendation and said we HAD to try the hawaiian chicken sandwich and urban fries. they were both great. then andy ran across the street to check into surfboard rental. we drove to the hook to watch shortboarders and walked to the point to see the longboarders (did i get that right, jeremiah?). the next day was warmer, and we drove back to santa cruz so andy could try surfing. he was exhausted after four or five hours of paddling in and out. there were only a few waves he got (mostly) up on, but it was a pretty good first try. he's already talking about planning a trip to santa cruz the next time we know the sailers are going...


we rinsed everyone off, returned the surfboard and wetsuit and drove back to san francisco along 101. beautiful drive. we saw a whole mess of kiteboarders along the way. now andy has a new obsession...
 

i have run out of time for today...so look for one more vacation post in the next week.

family vacation 2009

okay...so i already put most of this post together and then lost connection, couldn't get back to this page, and couldn't even get back online. yada, yada, yada...that's why it has taken me until today to get the vacation pictures up. i WAS doing all of it saturday until the glitch. a lot of the pictures are already online, so redoing this post should take less time than if i had lost EVERYTHING...grateful for that. :) and, let me say that the new xanga photo uploader takes a lot less time so i was very happy to find that change.

enough of that. back to the pictures...

cape lookout
on sunday, we left directly from church (by way of trader joe's for a few last minute items) for cape lookout.





yes, that is my whipped cream maker in the background. gotta pack the essentials (and a few extra CO2 cartridges!).

from cape lookout we headed south on 101 to cape blanco

cape blanco
we had a cabin for the night we stayed in cape blanco (no tent set-up, so that was nice)
making indian food...

after a morning hike through a bunch (and i mean a BUNCH) of ocean-washed logs on the nearby beach we began our southernly drive and ended up stopping to see paul bunyan and babe the big blue ox.

after that we finished our drive to prairie creek redwood state park in redwood national forest.

we switched campsites after our first night...the first had nice trees for walking on, but the second site had nice trees for climbing in and a wooded area for exploring.

we went on a hike through the redwoods...of course we HAD to bring the lightsabers because we had learned on wikipedia that endor (from star wars, where the ewoks live) was filmed in redwood.

this hike turned out to be MUCH longer than we had thought (and a huge uphill portion). there were a few points where we were sure we were lost, but we made it out after about three hours. nathan walked most of that, but near the end got a lift from his "camel" for the last little bit. kirby is not part of the lightsaber pictures because she was either taking her turn with a bad attitude or she was playing shy...i can't remember. :)

that night, because of the long hike and no naps for little ones, i made dinner very soon after getting back to camp. we bought some firewood from the camp host and made the first and only fire of our trip. the only reason to make this fire was for S'MORES!

after putting the kids to bed, andy got out the lantern and we spent the rest of the time the fire was burning reading at the picnic table. it was a quiet evening seeing as how we put the kids to bed before the sun was fully down. yeah for physical exhaustion!

the next morning we had this beautiful sight as we came out of the tent...

after breakfast we quickly broke camp and began our voyage to sonoma coast state beach. we saw our first views of wine country...

...and tired kids...

our home for the night...


we found out (from warning signs) when we got there that the section of beach we were on was one of the deadliest beaches in california, so that scrapped my plans of it being our first california beach day. thankfully the bush/tree that was next to our campsite provided ample entertainment because the pebbly beach wasn't safe. lesson learned and it was a pretty area, but we won't go there again.

van envy...

the next morning we wiped off a wet tent, packed again, and drove the last few miles into san francisco

first stop...golden gate park. the carousel to be specific. the kids would have taken a dozen rides if we would have let them!

then to the playground...a great relief for kids who had been in the car for 2-5 hours for four of the five days we had been gone.

looks like i've hit my "monthly upload limit" (what?!) so i will have to post the rest of our trip later. not that you mind...it WAS a long post. :)

hood-to-coast

andy participated in the world's largest relay, hood-to-coast. a team of runners from his company did the 197 mile race from the top of mount hood to the oregon coast/pacific ocean at seaside. he was very tired at the end, but was still smiling, only sporting a few bruises. there were a few days of post-hood-to-coast shuffle (the sore muscle waddle most of the runners were doing) but all in all it was a good experience. he's not sure if he'll be doing it again, but at least he can check it off of his list of oregon things-to-do (like the seattle-to-portland bike ride he did earlier this summer).

on the way to the coast we got the tires rotated on the van and then drove on to camp 18 for breakfast before making it the rest of the way to seaside. the kids and i enjoyed the beach, vendor tents, and playing with friends. we walked around all day with jilene and rachel, and even stopped to play in the sand with noah d while i got to hold (steal) his baby brother and talk to hillary. there were pirates and free prizes and samples and plenty of sand. the kids all ran around in the ocean and on the beach even though it was overcast and a little breezy. i even got a free sports massage (thanks again, jilene!). after meeting up with andy and watching his team cross the finish line we ate dinner, put kids in their pajamas, and started the drive home. andy insisted on driving, but after 30 minutes pulled over so i could switch seats and take us the rest of the way to oregon city. the rest of the drive was very quiet with everyone asleep...a nice ending to a fun day.

a few random pictures from august

it's been a busy few months and i haven't posted anything for a while. seeing that it's a rainy saturday in oregon (and one of the last open chunks of time i have before school begins on monday) i will sit at the computer until all the pictures are off of the camera and onto the web. let the flurry of posting begin! i hope you have time because this will take a while.  :)

painting...andy took this picture out of our second story window.

his teeth are strong and his muscles are too...

round two of swimming lessons

 


"shark in a basket, shark in a basket, how ya gonna get out? how ya gonna get out?"
a game all the kids have played in their classes at one time or another...this time miah was the shark.

kirby now loves the diving board.

the coolest ballon sculpture i've ever seen

an incredible balloon "joker" someone at the concert in the park gave us. the kids were gawking at the ballon a little boy was carrying, so the father came over and said we could have it if we could guess what it was. my kids, being sheltered from "normal" cartoon culture had no idea of any batman characters except batman, but he allowed me to guess and then gave us the balloon. i said, "are you sure? won't your son be sad? we don't want to take his special balloon." the man said that he makes a different balloon sculpture for his son everyday so it wasn't a big deal. we thanked him profusely and marveled over how he had created it. later he passed by again and i asked if he had a card or anything because his work really was incredible...so, look on facebook in the next few days if you are in oregon and want to have him come to a birthday party or other event, i'll post his information there (or post a comment here or email me and i will send you his info). he would be worth any money he charges and said the joker balloon sculpture is one of the simpler things he creates. personally, i would like to see the life-sized balloon statues he said he does.

lemonade stand

the annual mcloughlin neighborhood garage sale was last weekend. kirby and i had been planning for her to have a lemonade stand. she made a few beaded fork/spoon sets to sell, we made 17 or 18 containers of flubber, a couple batches of cookies, and went through three pitchers of fresh lemonade...and we didn't even set up her table until around 1pm. next year we will not do a garage sale, but will definitely do a bigger lemonade stand...ya know, since i already made the decorations and our house is in a great location for foot traffic.