Summer-ventures-July

I wrote this up some time ago, but I guess it never got posted. Better late than never.

We're are making good progress on getting through our lists of fun things we wanted to do this summer.
One Friday night, we went to the county fair. It was a beautiful summer evening and the crowds were very light-my type of event.
We thought we'd be doing a lot of this...


But instead we wandered through the 4-H rabbit hutches and got detoured by the railroad sign. And Jack stopped us in our tracks (pun intended-ha ha). An entire room was devoted to O and H-O scale model trains. Of course we didn't know this at the time, but the elderly volunteers were quite taken with Jack's interest and knowledge of trains and spent a good part of the night teaching us about model railroads. We had so much fun watching Jack, we actually came back to the fair on $.99 day and spent an afternoon here again.



Our big summer vacation this year was in Cayucos. But on the way down we stopped at Gilroy Gardens. It was the last day of the dinosaur exhibit. You'll notice in the picture Jack looking back at that triceratops. They were animitronic and gave him a startle the first time they moved. I think he was never quite convinced that they'd take off after him.

Ahhh-Cayucos. My sister and her family made the long flight for the east coast to join us. Would have loved to get some better pictures, but the wind was pretty strong and the sand was even more appealing.

The big surprise. Everyone thought we were going to Cambria to shop for the afternoon, but a little surprise was in store. 4 generations in a limo, made for a pretty memorable afternoon. Of course, some of us remember it a bit more clearer than others. But...what happens in the limo, stays in the limo :-)

If you ever are in the area, I highly suggest driving to Montana de Oro State Beach. I believe this area where we spent the day is called Spooner's Cove. My goodness, this is one of the most gorgeous beaches. It's not a swimming beach or a lay out and sun yourself beach, but geologically it's magnificent. There are tidepools, rounded stones, unusual rock formations, areas to climb and explore. In one word-GO!

Garrett attended a 4 day camp at UC Berkeley. He liked the camp, but he loved the dorm experience at a prestigious college. All in all, I'd say he learned some new soccer skills, but also gained a strong desire to make sure he's able to go away to college.


After we dropped him off, I took Jack to the Lawrence Hall of Science which is on the same campus. They have a similar dinosaur exhibit, but bigger. There was a lot more to see.



Well summer is chugging along, we bought a few school supplies just the other day so we know what's around the corner. Still have a few days of fun we want to squeeze in before it's back to school. Stay tuned for our August Summer Ventures.

Paia-Part 2

Well I'm bound and determined to share the rest of our Maui trip so on to part 2.

So as I was saying...Paia-small, small town. Chris did all of the planning so he thought it would be best to do most of our excursions while we were here. The day we arrived we had a snorkeling trip planned, but upon landing we had a message saying it was cancelled due to the weather. Not exactly an ideal way to start a tropical vacation.
But we rescheduled for the following day. The snorkeling was supposed to be at Molokini, a partially sunken volcanic crater known for its snorkeling. About half way there, we were informed that the water was too choppy so we were going to head to Coral Gardens. Did we see fish? Yes. Did we see lots of them? Yes. But whatever spin your boat company may give you, Coral Gardens is the ugly step-sister to Molokini.





The boat was great as was the crew. The wetsuits were provided by the tour and boy were we glad we had them. The water was definitely on the chilly side. We enjoyed a nice lunch. So all in all it was a beautiful day.

That night we ate dinner at Mama's Fish House. This is probably the most popular restaurant on Maui and for good reason. The food is amazing. Chris and I showed little self control and ate until we were about to burst. If ever given a choice of last meal-Mama's Fish House would be it :-)






So the next day was probably one of our most favorite excursions. As it turns out, this was something that we could have done on our own, but we had the most wonderful tour guide that made this day long adventure so memorable. Our tour was booked through Hike Maui and we went on the full-day Hana waterfalls and rain forest hike. Actually, we didn't go to Hana, which having been several times before so that was totally fine with me. We stopped just as you got on the road to Hana. Our guide was Kahi, a native of Maui, a grandfather (still can't believe it), and just about the nicest guy you'll ever meet. The tour provided everything-river boots, bug spray, lunch, transportation from our hotel, etc...


Kahi is a naturalist and throughout an entire hike we were taught about the native (and mostly) non-native plants and their uses. This included some tasting along the way.

I would say the day could be summed up~over the river and through the woods...
In all we saw 5 separate waterfalls, Chris jumped off one cliff into a pool of water, I braved the freezing water to swim under a waterfall, we dined on boulders, hiked on slippery rocks, followed the trail of wild pigs (as identified by their urine~ewww!), and pretty much were exhausted by the end of the day. But, wow, you can't call the day boring, it was pretty amazing.



On Monday morning we checked out of the Paia Inn and drove up Haleakala to Skyline Eco Adventures for some ziplining on the crater. It always amazes me how different it is on different parts of the island. It's quite forested up there, Ziplining was fun. I certainly wouldn't call myself an expert, but we do seek out ziplining while vacationing so we felt pretty comfortable up there.









So after this excursion we headed down the volcano and over to the other side of the island-Wailea.
To be continued...

We Went to Cayucos Last Week

And we laughed.

Summer-ventures- June

I think this summer we've fallen into a good routine. Can't take the busy away, even in summer, but there's been some down time and a few fun things thrown in as well.

Just after school got out Morgan had her first dance recital. She loved taking Jazz this year and will continue on next year too.

Garrett finished the spring soccer season with a 3 day tournament in Turlock. If you've never been to Turlock, it's hot and really not a summertime destination (and probably not a wintertime for that matter), but they have built some awesome soccer fields-kind of field of dreams style. Anyway it was an exciting tournament and Garrett scored two goals.

Morgan headed off to church camp. She had a blast and can't wait to go back next year. "The boys" and I had a little daytime excursion. We drove to Jack London Square in Oakland and took the ferry across the bay to the Ferry Building in San Francisco. I had never been there before and would love to go back and wander a bit more slowly-boys are not wanderers :-/.

But boys will not turn down a good meal and we really enjoyed the food at Mijito.

Then we walked a mile down to Pier 39 and while the big boys wandered off, Jack and I watched the sea lions and then rode the top story of the merry go round.



And then we were able to catch the ferry from here and head back home.

Jack went to Aloha Camp for a week too.

We already have lots of things on the calendar for July. Still need to find a day to take Jack to see some dinosaurs :-)

The Mexico You Thought You Knew

It's funny, ever since we got back from vacation I keep seeing this Mexico tourism commercial with the slogan, "The Mexico You Thought You Knew" and I can't help but think that is exactly how we felt about our trip. We were really hesitant to head down to Mexico-last year's swine flu outbreak, daily news about the violence, possible bad weather, etc... In fact, this was the only vacation we've ever purchased travel insurance for. Well I'm happy to report, Mexico (at least the part we traveled to) was not at all what I expected. First and foremost, the people of Mexico were among the nicest and friendly of anyplace we ever visited. Every place we went had filtered water, nobody ever got sick and we were very comfortable eating and drinking while we were there. And while we've visited Mazatlan and Puerta Vallarta in the past, the Riviera Maya area is gorgeous, much more modern, and the poverty is far less evident.

For the last few years before going on any vacation, we have used Trip Advisor. It has really helped up select hotel, decide about excursions, and provide helpful hints that can't be found anywhere else. After this trip, we decided to add our own reviews so if you want more detailed information about places we visited, they can be found here, here, and here (this link will be edited, it takes 48 hours for the review to post).***Trip Advisor name-homeleone

Here's a day that Garrett and I spent together at what I think is a big kids amusement park. It's called Xplor and I would venture to guess there will never be one like it in the US due to liability issues. It's recommended for ages 6 and up so Chris volunteered to stay back with Jack and Morgan was scared of the cenotes (she hates water things where she can't touch the ground-she can swim, but just a phobia). So Garrett and I got to share this wonderful day. There are 14 ziplines (though we ended the day having gone on 23 ziplines!!), some of them through waterfalls, one over a crocidile and puma pit, all of them over the jungle. Absolutely thrilling and beautiful at the same time. There is also a 3 mile ATV (4 wheels, so not sure what's it's called) course -very fun-, and cenotes, there were 2 circuits to kayak through and one very long stalagtite "river" to swim through.
It was a very physical day, both Garrett and I felt a few pulled muscles the next day and I can't tell you how many stairs I climbed, but talk about exhilarating and unique.








My little beach bum. I swear this kid could lay in sand all day.

An excursion to Tulum. Do we look wilted? Honestly the beach was just beyond the ruins, but there was not a breeze to be felt. Needless to say, we took the quick tour.

One of the nightly shows that kids club put on. I was really impressed and I think Morgan may have gotten an acting bug.

The courtyard of the hotel.

This is the way we walked to get anywhere on the hotel property. I should preface this by saying that first we applied bug spray and then we walked and walked and walked.


Well imagine the picture overload if my camera hadn't have broken~hee hee!

I think the reviews are mixed as to whether or not we'll return. The biggest negative about the trip was the time-we really lost 2 days due to travel. On the day we left, we left our home at 9:00 p.m. and arrived at the hotel at 3:00 p.m. There's a 2 hour time difference, but still that's a really long day. And one more picture of what the best thing we brought to make the travel more bearable for Jack (who slept the entire time on every flight!!).

I bought this at Toys R Us-on sale for $29.99. It holds up to 16 trains and folds out as a portable wooded train track. It kept him thoroughly entertained the entire trip and we figured it would be really helpful during soccer season.

Thanks for reading if you got this far!

*Blush*

On the day before we left, we purchased some photos and when I showed Chris what I was getting he said, "you're not going to get the stupid picture?" So I added it to the purchase. The funny thing is he has never heard of that website, he's probably overheard me laughing, but he has no idea it exists. Garrett is missing because he "claimed" he was going to get sick once she had us posed and when you're in Mexico and at the bottom of this pyramid, you tend to take those threats seriously .


And if you have an extra half hour to spare, take a look at Awkward Family Photos. Scroll to the bottom and you'll see some of the more popular pictures. And should this picture ever show up there, I'm hunting you down!!!

ETA: Oh dear lord-did you see the cover of the book? Hanging head in shame!

July 12th

Felt very lucky that the 12th occurred on our trip~my family is much more agreeable to pictures while on vacation than at home~ha! But this was also the day that my camera broke. Fortunately it was toward the end of the day, but my picture taking came to an abrupt halt.

The pictures aren't numbered, but here's a description of each of the columns going from top to bottom and then left to right:

• An early start at the beach. That little wave right there was about as big as they got.
• Morgan with her hair braided.
• Jack's absolute favorite things to do. One of the things I liked most about the beaches here is the sand never got hot.
• Morgan having her hair braided. When we were approached she said it would be $25, but I talked her down to $18.
• The spa on the property. I treated myself to a Swedish massage and it was a great way to spend the afternoon.
• Ice cream for breakfast, or lunch, or dinner? Not sure, we had a lot of ice cream!!
• Jack's breakfast-Nutella sandwich and sausage and it NEVER varied from that.
  
• Not the best picture, but once I describe it, you'll be glad. This bird was munching on a gecko. Poor little gecko, didn't look like a great way to go.
• The sports court, Garrett was there most days practicing soccer and played in a few pick up games with people from Italy and England.
• Morgan and one of her MANY new friends. She loved the kids club and when she wasn't there, she easily found a friend to play with.
• Shopping in Carmen del Playa. We bought very few souvenires, but I did get this silver necklace. Chris did the negotiations on this one so not sure if it was a good deal or not.
• And one more of us on the beach. I could lay there all day with the great breeze, it was so relaxing.

I have a few more pictures I want to share. Garrett and I had the most amazing excursion we went on and I've got some great pictures from that day as well.

Awkward Family Photo

I should preface this by saying yesterday on the twelth my brand new camera died :-( I'm bummed. Really. So the rest of our vacation will be recorded via the crappy iPhone or the disposable camera I picked up. At least it's something. Then today at the beach I realized I had another alternative-the resort photographers. They roam around with some super nice Nikons. Usually they have an animal they try to get you to pose with-an iguana, a parrott, or a monkey, but today they were at the beach. We have not taken a family picture while we were here, so I flagged them down thinking this was my chance. It started out pretty good. Mostly my thoughts were who could I hide behind so that only my face was showing.
But then she asked Chris to lay on his stomach in the sand and the photographer in me thought "hmmm, strange". Then she asked me to lay on top of him, followed by Garrett, Morgan, and Jack. Chris was dying from the weight atop him, I got a massive case of the giggles when I realized how absurd we must look, Garrett was mortified, Morgan was posing and Jack was struggling to stay on top of the family pyramid.
The only thing more absurd than the photo I pictured in my head was seeing the picture on a huge computer screen. It is awkward defined! It is what that website is all about.
No, we did not buy it. And my only hope is the delete key will be pressed and the picture will be banished forever.

Top 10 List

1. Didn't know it was possible to sweat so much.
2. Travel size deodarent=not nearly enough
3. Now know what a tropical storm is. Dang-that's a lot of water!
4. Positive the mosquitoes here have built up a resistance to bug spray.
5. Europeans. I don't really have anything against them, but if they could leave their speedos and cigarettes behind they wouldn't make my list.
6. My hair. I didn't know my stick straight hair could form ringlets.
7. Must always look down while walking-if you step on an iguana your size does not guarentee a victory.
8. hmmm, can't think of anything else. Actually having a great time and lots of fun activities to share at a later time.

Vacation

Well today it was face the pile of laundry or upload some pictures and sort through them. The laundry is still waiting, but got this done instead :-). Unfortunately I lose quite a bit of quality when I do these slideshows, but I think you'll still be able to appreciate how truly beautiful Kauai is.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com