Monday, March 22, 2010

Santa Cruz Pics

Here are the pictures from our trip...we had such a great time with Brian, Emily & Violet!

Group picture at Eagles Landing (a great hike right in their backyard!)

Violet was a little nervous about standing on this little platform, but she persevered with her friends by her side!

Hiking is good for my heart! I always feel so happy when I get out in the forest!


When we weren't hiking, eating, or playing games, we were likely at a park playing!

Or playing in the neighborhood...



We also had a nice (quick) visit with Greg's brother Jeff and his wife Lisa and their daughter Rheanna (Travis was out). It was so fun seeing them, even just for a little while. Maren and Joel had thumb wars with Uncle Jeff.
Maren got sick one day and slept until after 10:00! We had to force her to get up and drink some gatorade...I think she got dehydrated from all the playing and stubbornly not eating or drinking much. She was fine after 32 oz of gatorade and a nap in the afternoon. :)

One afternoon we went to a Marine lab on the coast...it was a fun outing and we saw lots of cool things!

This touch tank was the best part...



Cute couple.
Three of the four mornings we were there, Brian and Greg had "dawn patrol". They had a great time surfing early in the morning - Greg had some of his best surfing days ever that week! (This is not them...we didn't join them on their early morning outings...)

This is still at the Marine Lab...there is a little path that goes along the cliffs with some beautiful views.



And some cool whale skeletons.

Another hike in the redwoods (also in their backyard)...

This climbing wall is at the camp...
Everyone had to try it out except for the mama's.



One night we made our own sushi rolls! It was so fun and yummy! (This pic is sideways, sorry)

Emily actually got to eat first this meal because she demonstrated how to do it and then was able to sit down and eat while we did ours! (She worked tirelessly to be a great hostess and make us wonderful meals!)
On Sunday afternoon the Nealons went to the beach...which was SO windy that we didn't stay long.
But somehow it was long enough to have sand in everything, and the kids wet up to their waists! Joel had a blast jumping in the waves and running all around!
This was on our last night there - we were all saying goodbye because we got up EARLY to start driving home in the morning. These three kids had a lot of fun together and are so darn cute in their jammies!
Thank you for a great week McCutchens!! We love you guys!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Road Trip!

Last week we took a road trip down to Santa Cruz, CA to visit the McCutchens! It was a LONG drive, but the kids did SO well in the car (thank you DVD player!!) and it was so worth it!

Emily had sent us a road trip survival package filled with snacks and activities for the kids (isn't she great?!) so they each had a tub of stuff to do (and the tub lid was also used as a desk for coloring!). They also did a fair share of movie watching...we normally don't let them watch very much TV, but this was a special circumstance...and it saved our sanity! (The headphones were a good addition this trip...Greg and I actually got to talk instead of listening to Dora for 15 hours!)On the drive we had every type of weather we could imagine (except heat, I guess). These snow pictures are from the Mt Ashland pass...we actually had to stop and get chains to carry with us. We also had rain, freezing rain, fog, hail, sun, clouds and wind. It was an adventure!

I was so amazed at how pretty California was this time...I don't think I have ever driven through Northern California when it is green...and it was amazing. Kind of reminded me of Ireland.

 So after 20 hours of driving (we stopped in Portland to sleep for 5 hours, had a snow delay in Ashland, and stopped for dinner with Matt & Nicky in San Francisco) we arrived in Scotts Valley. Stay tuned for pictures of our visit with the McCutchens! 

Mimi Visits!

At the end of February my Mom came up for the weekend to go to a scrapbooking day with me. I didn't get any pictures at the crop, but we had a lot of fun together! We got a whole day to scrap, drink coffee, be with friends and talk, talk, talk! Mimi also got the chance to spend some time with Joel & Maren on Friday and Sunday. We are so glad you came up Mimi!


Go Fish!

While we were at the crop, Greg took the kids to the Zoo and Point Defiance beach...

And then to Julia's 6th birthday party! They had a busy but fun day!
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