Mount Whitney

On Saturday Chad, our friend Andy, and two of our brothers-in-law, Todd and Jared, set off to climb Mt. Whitney. It was a grueling trek and a trip they'll remember for a lifetime. Three of them made it to the top and none of it was easy for anyone in the group. They were snowed on twice. Altitude sickness and/or delirium caught them all off guard. Basically, after 20 hours of unexpected twists and turns they left their camp, reached the 14505 foot summit and returned back to the trail-head. Many awesome photos were taken, but here are a few of my favorites from Andy's and Chad's cameras. Next time you talk to anyone in this group congratulate him on what an amazing job he did. I know I couldn't do it and I am so proud of them!

escaping the heat

This past weekend Chad, Mags and I went to the cabin to cool off. The weather was great, the mood was relaxed, and we all had a great time. Saturday morning we travel to Huntington Lake to watch the High Sierra Regatta. The three of us had a picnic while watching the boats and enjoying the fresh mountain air. And of course we took Maggie to the swing before the day was done.

Glendale/Los Angeles

For Chad's birthday my parents watched Maggie for the weekend so we could spend a couple nights in LA. We did things Chad wanted to do and we both had a nice time. Super fun seeing our old favorites down there and getting to relax a bit between stops. We hit Chad's favorite restaurants: Damon's, Scarantino's and Fred 62. We also drove to Montrose, Silver Lake, Los Feliz, and by our old apartment in Glendale. We spent time people watching in the Americana and saw a couple movies, including The Avengers (eh) near our hotel and then Moonrise Kingdom (yeah!) at the ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood. Overall it was a great weekend with perfect LA weather and good company.

partying

Last weekend we helped throw a baby shower for our good friends in San Jose. Expecting their first child in May, the couple was showered and by a large group of friends on a beautiful sunny afternoon. We had so much fun that weekend and can't wait for their little boy to arrive.

Monarch butterflies

While we were at the coast we took a side trip to see the monarch butterflies. Since it's the time of year they migrate to the sound end of Pismo Beach, I really wanted to take Maggie so she could see them as I did many years ago. Chad and my parents had never been to the grove either so it was a first for most of the group. Anyway, I have to be honest: I was not impressed by the grove. While they've made many improvements (like fencing in the trees, adding paths, opening a gift shop, hosting lectures, etc.) the butterfly population itself was nothing to get excited about. Where there used to be huge blobs of butterfly clusters everywhere in the mid-late 90s, there were just a couple this time. And I remember butterflies swirling around like falling snow, and this time we saw just a few flutter here and there.  And at the risk of sounding old, I have to say it was a much neater experience way back then. Oh well! (Oh, and unrelated but funny, while there Maggie needed to find a good hiding spot so she could poop, and apparently this small cone/sign combo fit the bill.)

Central Coast

A few days ago we returned from a long weekend at the Central Coast. While there we ate plenty, walked around San Luis Obispo, Avila Beach and Morro Bay, hit up a few parks, saw some monarch butterflies, and spent time with the family. The purpose of the trip was our annual get-together with my dad's side of the family. As always it was a brief reunion, but we enjoyed spending time with them.

Dry Lake and Friends

Chad, Maggie and I spent last weekend with our friends at the cabin. We mostly caught up with each other because they live in the Bay Area and don't see them as often as we'd like, but we also squeezed in quite a bit of eating, dart throwing, block stacking (with Mags) and hiking. Before our friends arrived Chad, Mags and I took a drive to the lake. It is being drained, the first time since 1920, to repair the dam and currently looks pretty sparse. They won't let anyone on the lake bed and, as you can see from Maggie's reaction about being held and not allowed to run wild, she wasn't happy about that.

Lodi

Last week my mom, Maggie and I went to Lodi to visit my grandma (GG), aunts, uncles and cousins. It was a quick overnight trip but we managed to pack a lot in and have a great time. We ate, visited, played a card game (Maggie enjoyed helping us), hit up IKEA and watched our cousin and her high school team win their water polo game. Yeah! Of course I found a sign near the high school pool that I HAD to take a photo of. You've got to love the schools in California...ha!

Montana de Oro

Before heading home from the Central Coast Chad and I went to Montana de Oro in Los Osos for the morning. Notice my second brave stop in a porta potty. Ew! Anyway, the trails were a rad way to end our trip and a great way to celebrate our anniversary.

Up the Coast

For one of the days during our anniversary trip we decided to drive up the coast and see where we ended up. We both had done this many times in the past, but it had been awhile since we made the time to visit the smaller, charming coastal towns.

We started in Cayucos. The primary reason I wanted to go there was to check out the candy shop I've always known and loved. The bummer news is that it moved and, even though it's fancier and in a larger retail space, it is no longer the same candy shop I remember. Darn! After going there we decided to walk along the pier and then check out the cookie factory. We have eaten the cookies before at our friends' house, but now we know where they got them. A neat little place.

After Cayucos we drove up to Ragged Point. Wow has that stop changed in the last 10 years! What used to be a pull-over lookout point now has a hotel, wedding reception area, two restaurants and a gift shop. Still a pretty stop, though, and I'm glad we drove up to see it.

Then we drove to the small (population 18) town of Harmony. There are two shops in town, a pottery shop/art gallery and a glassblowing studio/gallery. It was also there that I used the first of TWO porta potties during that trip. Yuck. After Harmony we had lunch in Cambria at Robin's before heading back down to Morro Bay for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Morro Bay

While we love the city of San Luis Obispo, we decided to make this trip a little different and stay in Morro Bay. The town is known for being foggy and cold nearly year round, but this weekend it wasn't meant to be. It was cool (upper 60s) but the sun replaced the typical fog during our visit. Lucky us! We ate two delicious dinners over the weekend, one at The Galley and the other at Dorn's. Highly recommend both if you find yourself in the area.  We were able to easily walk to the shops and restaurants on the Embarcadero because we chose to stay down by the water. The top left photo is the view from our hotel balcony.

Weekend Trip

Chad and I began our anniversary trip in San Luis Obispo. We had sushi for lunch at Raku and afterwards walked around downtown for the afternoon. It was neat seeing which parts of the town have remained unchanged and which have matured, been upgraded or just completely changed. I love that town. We also happened upon one of the best new places I've seen in awhile and was floored and excited to see that it was thriving in our old town: Kreuzberg CA - a book bar and coffee lounge. Rad, rad, rad. It's busy, arty, hip, youthful, spacious, vibrant, indie...ah! I loved it! And before I forget, a BIG thank you to my parents for watching Maggie for the weekend so we could celebrate our anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to Us

This weekend Chad and I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary. We decided to head back to the place where we met and began dating 13 years ago...the beautiful Central Coast. More photos to come.

Camping, Day 3

Sunday, our final full camping day, was the best of the weekend. We all had a blast and everyone was in a great mood. We began the day with a walk around the lake.

Then that afternoon we went to the beach area of the lake, called Sandy Cove, and spent time playing in the water, sand and in Maggie's case, with new friends. She really enjoyed the rides the bigger kids gave her in their boat, digging in the sand with her sand toys, and swimming in the lake with Chad.

Sunday evening we had our last campfire of the trip and Chad had the lighting
of, maintaining, and extinguishing down to a science. Anyone who knows him knows how much he loves building fires, so it was a fun event to watch.

Camping, Day 2

On Saturday, our second day of camping, we had a couple things planned that we wanted to do. The first was to make the trip to Buck Rock. After breakfast we loaded up and drove the 45 minute trip to the fire lookout station. About ten years ago I spent the night there with my parents who volunteered to watch for fires for a night. Chad had never been and wanted to check it out and see the view.

That afternoon we wanted to rent a canoe to tote Maggie around Hume Lake. So we did. And it was an experience. She liked it for the first 10 minutes. The next 70 minutes she didn't want to be there. She wanted to get out and run around and not be in the boat. She slept in my lap for the last 10 while Chad rowed us to shore. It wasn't a peaceful, relaxing boat trip by any means and unfortunately set the tone for the rest of the evening. Grumpy, whiny, Maggie took my patience and by 8pm it was time for her to go to bed. I would have put her down earlier if I could have. The good news is she fell asleep immediately and we didn't have to fight to put her down. The other good news is that Chad and I ended up with a quiet evening outside by the campfire with no crabby toddler to bother us.

Hume Lake

Last Friday Chad, Maggie and I went to Hume Lake for a long weekend. It was busy and fun and we managed to fit quite a bit into the trip. I will put more photos from our vacation up in the next few days. Click here to compare our family photo this year to the one we shot last year.

Family in San Diego

Chad's parents and grandma live in San Diego so we got to spend quality time with them while we were down there. Maggie had so much fun playing with her grandparents and I'm pretty sure they felt the same way. Maggie also enjoyed snuggling with her great-grandmother, Hazel, and I'm glad we got a photo of them together during our visit with her. The bottom left photo shows the four generations on the couch: Ross (Chad's dad), Hazel, Maggie and Chad. Neat!

San Diego

Chad, Maggie and I went to San Diego last week and had such a fun time. A beautiful city to visit, for sure. We spent time with family and friends, ate good food, hit the beach, shopped, napped, enjoyed Chad's 20-year high school reunion, and overall had a great vacation. Here are some shots of Maggie playing at the beach. I don't see any particularly wonderful photos here, but a fun morning so I figured I'd document it on the blog anyway.

Yosemite, part 2

While Chad was hiking to/from Half Dome, the rest of us explored Yosemite Valley. I took a billion photos of waterfalls and I'm not going to bore you with those, so here are a few of the people shots. It was a fun trip and we all had a great time.

Maggie in Utah

Maggie was a great traveler during our trip to Utah. She flew both ways like a champ, toured the area well, and was in great spirits most of the time. The last night she got a stuffy nose and fever and slept terribly, but turns out she also cut a tooth that night so obviously her little body was under stress. Other than that, though, she was great.