The 4th at Lake Arrowhead

A few highlight from the 4th of July:

Epiphany and Ruby hanging out at the dock


Lucy, Haley and Josephine rowing around the dock


Ruby and Lucy LOVED the boat rides, and especially loved uncle Tyke's driving!



Lucy fishing on the dock with Aunt Gina

Lunch at the dock.
I am not a fan of peanut better and jelly, but it was so fun eating it red, white and blue bread!

The best part is going out on the boat to watch the fireworks over the lake and hear the booms echo off the mountains. This year Eric and Richard took out all the kids (2 adults/ 10 kid) in the boat.



I watched the fireworks from the deck of the house and made brownies.
After they all got back we had hot brownie sundaes and the kids threw poppers all over the deck.

We were on vacation so ... in the morning cake for breakfast!

Not pictured:

Uncle Dan making us laugh so hard it hurt. Like when he held up a huge bottle of Vodka and yelled to Haley in Jensen's Market "Haley should we get Aunt Kim some of her "special" water?

Staying up until 1:30 in the morning talking about religion and politics (3 Catholics, 2 Mormons and Uncle Dan- the devils advocate).

Outlet shopping at the village- I got a cute pair of jeans for $7!

The green shag carpet in the upstairs bathroom that reminds me of getting up super early to water ski as a little kid.

All the great memories that I remembered just walking around the house!

Haley & Melaina's awesome adventures

Haley was lucky enough to spend 2 1/2 days with Melaina. Ms. Dori had planned non stop fun, activities and crafts.  Check out this welcome basket they gave her when she arrived, full of her favorite things!

They made Beignets to remember the many trips they made to Cafe Du Monde when we lived in New Orleans.

There was lots of hose playing, trampoline jumping and sun worshiping.

Of course a good pillow fight!

Lots of attitude!

They did a bunch of great art projects, like paining large a canvas to decorate their rooms.

Haley made some presents to take to Lani, notice the matching tie dyed shirts and hat that Haley crochet for her.
They used Femo clay to mold these cute pens!
Haley keeps talking about how much fun she had and how much she misses Melaina.  She is now begging to move to Utah.

San Francisco & China Town

We ate lunch at Boudines Bakery. This is my FAVORITE place to eat ever!

Tiffany with 5 of the 7

Then we walked to Ghirardelli for Ice Cream, my kids favorite place to eat ever.

Ruby getting the last drop!

When Tiff and I said we wanted to go to China Town the entire car (Eric included) started complaining. I loved China town as a kid and decided that my kids needed to experience it. As soon as we started walking around and they saw the pretty fans and Hello Kitty stuff they were hooked. Eric was accommodating, but never converted.

We ended up buying all the kids Chinese Pajamas. I had these as a kid and loved them!

To say they loved their Chinese clothes is a gross understatement.

They did a little "Honor China play" for us before bed. Check out Jake and his wood sword!

They wore them to go see Wall-E the next day

...and to our lunch at Mc Covey's.

This was Lucy and Ali in serious negotiations over baseball cards.

They were begging to go back to China town!

Aunt Tiffany's house N. California

My kids love my Sister Tiffany and her family.

Maybe it's because she has 4 kids they love to play with.
Or that Tiffany embroidered cute matching pool cover ups with their initials...


Or that they get to make "recipes" in her back yard....


But I think their favorite part of visiting her house is the ability to consume two gallons of ice cream, two cans of whip cream and an entire container of sprinkles... and it was totally OK.


Ruby asked me later why they were allowed to eat so much ice cream and not get in trouble.
I told her we were on vacation.

WWTD!

The Sundial Bridge, Redding CA

After a long day of driving we stopped at our hotel and let the girls swim. One of the Hotel employees suggested that we take our girls to the Sundial bridge. We did and it was a big hit. It was especially beautiful at night because it's lit up. The girls loved it. I have a little issue with heights so I took deep breaths as I walked over the huge Sacramento river on a glass bridge watching my little girls lean against the railings. We all lived.

The Sundial Bridge was designed by Santiago Calatrava, a famous architect and it is considered an architectural wonder.

Eugene, OR

Our good friends Matt and Ali moved to Eugene 2 years ago and love it. It was so fun to see them and their beautiful estate- seriously, they have like 5 acres and an orchard and deer families just wandering through their yard. My girls loved playing with Josh and Nick. They just ran all over the property and played and had a great time.

Matt and Eric talking about whatever guys talk about... probably quilting.

Ali made a great dinner and Ms. Kira and her father came over. Yes THE Ms. Kira... the one that Ruby worships and has asked if she could trade and have Ms. Kira for her REAL Mom.


The next day Ali took as on a tour all over Eugene. I was expecting it to be an average green area with lots of trees (whatever that means), but it was so charming and quaint. I really liked Eugene and think it would be fun to live there.
This was a fun park we went to so the kids could get out and run.

Pendleton, OR

Eric planned our trip so we could spend the night in Pendelton OR.  He read about the Pendelton factory there and that they do tours in the morning. Knowing that I have been a little obsessed with wool and rug hooking, he knew I would love this, and I did! 
The girls loved it too. It was so interesting to see how they prepare the wool and make the intricate patterns that their blankets are known for.

As we walked into the store Ruby asked is she could get a stuffed sheep.  I looked at the price tag and tripled the price in my head and said no.  After the tour as we were walking out through the store Lucy asked if she could get a sheep and Eric said "sure".  I don't know what he was thinking, but the girls were thrilled and obsessed over their sheep the rest of the trip.  At one point Ruby said "This is the best vacation ever... I can't believe Dad let us get these sheep".

Shoshone Falls, ID

While driving through Idaho we stopped at the Shoshone Falls.

Ruby and Lucy found a real rainbow!


Most of us enjoyed the stop, chance to walk around and look at the beautiful waterfalls... well almost everyone.


Thanks to Eric's Brother's suggestion- Eric printed out all the Costco's on our path that had gas. This was brilliant and saved us a ton of money on gas!