Spring break continued

We had two choices for this trip, take our diesel truck and trailer and camp or we could rent a prius and go to hotels. After sitting down and figuring out how much each would cost we spent half as much on the prius (including rental) because diesel is totally outrageous anymore! This is the highest price we found for gas on our whole trip, it was in Cambria, but everything was more expensive there.

When in Rome! I love the central coast, sometimes I feel as though the entire "green movement" is a bit much there. I love the earth and yes, I do recycle and do my best to be eco friendly, I just don't like having it shoved down my throat.


Gum alley in San Luis Obispo! The kids loved it and even got to add their own gum. Did you know Seattle has one of these also! We found it last year on our anniversary trip. I wonder which was started first? I'm guessing Seattle.

The next few days of our trip were spent, playing at the park,

going to the zoo,



playing at the beach,


perfecting boogey boarding skills,

and going to Hearst castle! This is one of the "small" guest houses,

outdoor pool,

Main house, or Casa Grande,

indoor pool.

At this rate I should be posting about this week for at least a month!

Spring break

We had an fantastic spring break. Steve took an entire week off of work!!! That was the first time he has ever taken more than two days since we have been married (even when we had our babies). The kids and I loved having him to ourselves for eight entire days. We went to Atascadero and let the kids see all the sights of the central coast. Colby loved getting to see where he was born. I'm going to use this trip for several different posts because there is just too much for one! These pictures are from the first day, we went to see some tide pools above Cambria and then headed back to Morro Bay to look at the big rock, the boats (for Colin), and have some dinner.


This is Colby at Morro Rock



Colin and Riss- Morro Rock



Just outside of Cambria



The appropriate stance for tidepool watching.



This was a beautiful little crab I kept trying to tease out of the crack in the rock. This was the best I got. After seeing all of the crab, Colin decided he wanted crab for dinner.



Cute kids, don't you think?



After Colin saw this sea lion he decided he wanted to eat that for dinner. Perhaps we talked up eating good sea food too much earlier in the day! He ended up settling for regular, boring halibut; which he loved.
This is a video of a sea lion known as Bubba. He is friendly with people, probably because people feed him often. There was a restaurant a few feet away that brought out some fish for my kids to feed to Bubba, they loved it. In the video Bubba is referred to as a seal, the kids and I now know the difference!

My birthday

April was a crazy month! We had a lot of fun. This is what my mean husband made me do on my birthday. Okay, he didn't make me. Our friend was in charge of one loop of a 80 mile desert race. We spent the previous week helping him mark the loop, then the race was on April 5th. It was really fun, we went without kids and camped. We got to watch the start, which is what the video was from. The picture was from the checkpoint we helped on, its David Pearson! He won the race, I know many of you have no idea who he is, but he is a crazy fast desert racer.

Easter

Yeah camping season! We officially kicked off our camping season with our annual trip to cherry creek. It is loads of fun and we have some great friends to enjoy our time with. Here are some pics:


Hey, they asked for it.


This is my friend Lori rolling down the hill, you should have seen her by the time she reached the bottom.



One of the fun things we do is go out to "sand hill", (not really the formal name, just what my kids know it as) then the kids scoot down the hill to make a path. They then roll a colored egg down the hill to see who wins.



Steve wanted me to add a picture of what our camping area looked like. Not the most beautiful place to everyone, but at 60 degrees each day, it was heaven to us.


Look, I put a picture of myself on here!

One of the traditions we have latched on to is the big easter egg hunt. A few designated parents take the kids on a ride (or hike this year), then the "easter bunny" visits our camping area.

Colby is desperately trying to find the most candy.


Marissa is on the hunt.


The little ones are getting ready for the big easter egg hunt. That's Colin in the middle.


The Easter Bunny visits us in our trailer!

All in all a great weekend, we always dread coming home. But hey, if we didn't work so hard the rest of the time, I don't think we would appreciate weekends like that as much.

DeAnne

More sad news. DeAnne passed away today. She has been so miserable for the past year, we are finding happiness in her reunion with Ron. I know how much she has missed him these past two years. She was the best mother-in-law a girl could ask for, I miss her visiting with me while I make dinner. She loved her children and grandchildren so much, she would do anything for him. She will be greatly missed, but we know she is in a much happier place now.

Laundry day

Colby has been great lately at pitching in on laundry day. He is learning how to sort (one can never be too young to learn!) all of the laundry. He thought he would be funny and sit on the basket to smoosh the clothes down, until he got stuck and realized he couldn't get out by himself. I thought it was hilarious and grabbed my camera, Colin thought he would be a helper, but he was much too small to pull his big brother out!

California

The funeral was beautiful and it was great to see family and friends. The weather was amazing! We came from a high around 25 (in utah) to 82 on saturday! I thought I would put a few pictures up from the beach and a little video for those of us stuck in the cold to remember what the ocean sounds like.