Best Week Ever

We were soooooo busy in February!  It was non-stop activities for us and the kids.  Joey may have had the best week a kid could ever have.  Ever. 

First things first, though.  We had to start our spring cleaning!  Joey's future wife, you're welcome!

Speaking of future wife, this is one of Joey's little lady friends.  She is so cute and Joey really likes her.  As some of my friends pointed out, Joey already has that "Hey Girl" look going on!  Haha!

Our BC (big cousin) Becky, BC Bo, and LC (little cousin) Avery came down our way for some fun family time!  We were going to to go to Disneyland for two days in a row, but that didn't work out.  Then, we were going to go to Knott's Berry Farm, but that didn't work out.  Finally, we ended up going to an indoor kids playground with the cousins!  The kids LOVED it!  

We did get to go to Disneyland with Bo and Becky the next day!   

 Joey was so excited to meet Jessie!  We didn't even know that he was so fascinated with her. 

I love the faces he makes on rides for the first time! 

Joey even took a nap in the stroller during the middle of the day at Disney and he ate three chicken legs when he woke up (he really hasn't been eating much)!  Disney really is the happiest place on Earth!

 It was so much fun going with our cousins to Disney!  I'm glad we were all able to make it happen!

 Later in the week, we went to Sea World as the February field trip for Mommy and Me.  Joey absolutely loves this place.  

Especially when the dolphins played ball with Joey and got him all wet!

One of Joey's little friend's Grammy was in town and went with us.  She spoiled the kids so much!  She bought them fish to feed the seal lions and bought them Orca Whale straws!  Joey loved Grammy very much.   

The next day, we celebrated Valentine's Day in Mommy and Me.  This was a class that was completely dedicated to sugar!  Needless to say, my child did not nap.

   

                           

The following day, we celebrated a little friend's birthday at an indoor playground.  Bounce houses, ball shooters, tunnels, cake, pizza, and friends!?!!?  Joey was in heaven!

 And, finally, to end our awesome week of fun, we drove to Buckeye, Arizona to see our good friends, Cari, Shawn, and Ella.  (We are taking a nursing break in the above picture.  We are not driving.  We are parked in a parking lot.  I don't want anyone to think that we don't have B in a car seat while the car is moving!)

While we were in AZ, we checked out a farm outside of Phoenix.   

 We took a hay ride and train ride.

Ate some good food! 

Fed some pigs and goats!  Side note, do not put your face close to the pigs.  They may bite!  Poor little Ella got nipped in the face by one of the pigs.  

The best part of the day was getting to pick our own veggies!  Joey actually ate the broccoli that he thought we had picked on this trip! (We actually left the broccoli at our friend's house, but we didn't tell Joey that). 

 On our last day with our friends, we went on a little 3-mile hike in the desert.  

 It was a nice hike, but I really don't care for the desert at all.  Everything looks the same. 

However, since you can see everything, you can take a shortcut without getting lost since you can pretty much see for miles!  

It was a really great trip and a good way to end the most fun-filled week ever!!

New Year's

Over New Years, we packed up the kids and headed up to Northern California to check out Redding and Shasta Lake.  

Michael and I have been through Northern Cali on a previous road trip and loved it!  Since Michael had a few days off from work, we decided this would be the perfect time to re-examine the area.   

The 10-hour road trip up to Redding was HORRIBLE!!!  The kids did not do well at all.  However, the minivan did make things a little easier.  I was able to sit in the back seat comfortably in between both kids and tend to their one million needs and wants.      

Once we got to our little cabin, we were pretty disappointed.  I found this little "gem" on the internet and, of course, the pictures made the place look great.  Lesson learned.   

The place was right along the main interstate, the insulation was not the best in the place so there were lots of cold pockets throughout the cabin, and other little things.  However, we did try to make the best of the place.  

Our kids are spoiled.  Actually, I think Michael and I are spoiled.  We like having the kids in their own rooms.  This cabin was a 2-bedroom.  We gave each child their own room, while Michael and I slept on the futon in the living room.  What is wrong with that picture?!!?  

Nothing!  Michael and I wanted to stay up and enjoy ourselves, so by us giving the kids the rooms, we were able to do that.  

And, boy, did we enjoy our "after the kids are in bed" time!  After our 10-hour drive, we were both ready for a drink or twelve.  Michael and I had a great time getting to relax and talk without being interupted 20 times!  

During our stay in Shasta, we spent lots of time buying warm clothes...when we left So Cal, it was warm.  We were totally not prepared for the cold weather NorCal had to offer.  We also did a lot of sightseeing, aka. lots of driving.  

The Shasta area had been dumped on with lots of snow.  Since we have two young kiddos, we didn't have many options in the way of hiking, since this wasn't Alaska and they don't groom their super popular trails.  

It was nice to just drive around the National Forest.  We drove to Lassen Volcanic National Park, but were not able to enter due to the amount of snow the park had received.  We also drove towards Mt. Shasta (in the photo above).  

We stumbled upon this state park, Castle Crags State Park, on our sightseeing drive.

We saw some pretty cool wildlife while in this park. 

After our time in the park, we checked out a relatively short hiking trail.  Since we had been riding all day, a little stretch of the legs was much needed by all parties in the vehicle!  

We found a 2-mile hike and Joey hiked the entire time!  He did so well and is becoming quite the little hiker!

 

We ended up leaving our cabin one night earlier than planned.  We had pretty much seen everything in the area and wanted to get back home.  

On the way home, we stopped at Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge.  We were only supposed to be there for an hour, but Michael and Joey love their ducks, so that hour turned into three!

We took a driving tour, a walking tour, visited the visitor's center, and just enjoyed being outside and stretching our legs!

This was a great getaway,  but we have learned that we are done having kids.  The things Michael and I like to do are really hard to do with small children.  Once the kids are a bit older, we can somewhat get back into some of our old hobbies.  Plus, kids are expensive!  A family of four is pricey, I can't even imagine adding one more to the picture!  (Sorry Moms and Dads...we know that you were hoping for more grandbabies!  Time to start pressuring our younger siblings!)  

Big Trees and Long Bridges

My Dad and I were supposed to make the road trip from NC back to CA.  We were going to camp and sight see the entire way across country.  Then, Bristol had colic and that plan came to a screeching halt.  My Dad was still aching to go camping, so a-campin' we went!  

We loaded up the kids and headed to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.  We live about 6 hours from Sequoia.  This was a long enough road trip with the kids.  

Not only did we drive a lot of hours with two small kids, we also decided to camp...in a tent.  

Things went well.  Joey absolutely loved sleeping outside, having a fire, looking at the stars, and throwing sticks!  

Joey is quite the little chatterbox now.  As his one cousin put it, "Does he ever shut up?".  Ha ha!  Obviously, that talking trait is from my side of the family.  Bristol is a little "talker", too.  Michael is in trouble. 

Since Joey is such a talker, enjoying a nice peaceful quiet fire was completely out of the question.  My Dad had to continually tell Joey to stop talking so much and keep his voice down.  Luckily, we ran out of firewood around 8 PM, so Joey didn't keep anyone awake.  Much to my Dad's surprise, Joey zonked right out!  Maybe we will let Joey camp every night!

Bristol and I didn't really get to see the fire too much.  We spent our entire night in the car.  Since B has colic and I am so overly paranoid about disturbing anyone, as soon as she made a peep, I jumped into the car so others wouldn't hear her.  I succeeded in no one hearing us, however, I failed in the enjoyment of our trip since I did not get any sleep, I was cold, and really didn't get to camp.  

We did have a really nice campsite though and it was good to see Joey have such a great time!  We'll have to go camping again when B is a few months older and done with this colic nonsense.  

While we were at Sequoia, we checked out some of the giant trees.  Trees you could walk through...

trees that were previously used as driveways...

trees that you could drive through...

and trees you could stand in!

The best part of this trip was this cow.  Do you know where we saw this cow?  Walking on the side of a road.  On a mountain.  With a cliff on the other side of it.  Who expects to be driving along windy mountainous roads with large drop offs and see a cow walking along the white line?  Crazy.  (People probably thought we were the crazy ones since we were taking photos of a cow). 

After we left Sequoia, we headed up to the San Francisco area to see my cousin and his family.  (A 6-hour road trip was obviously not long enough...let's add 5 hours to their house, plus the 7-8 hours it takes to get back to my house.  Gluttens.).  This is Joey with his BCs, and LC.  

After the bridge sighting, we checked out some shrimp at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.  Delicious!  Joey has obviously become a little jealous of Bristol getting to ride on Mommy because he has been requesting to ride in the Ergo lately.  Oh, jealousy.  

Even though our camping trip was kind of rough, Dad and I had a great time and made some really great memories.  I'm also glad that we continued on to see my cousins.  However, I do not see a camping trip or a long road trip in our near futures...well, at least for a few months.  ;)