Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Road Trippin' to the Redwoods!!

This summer, we decided to head to the redwoods for our summer vacation ...

We stopped along the way in Eugene and stayed for two nights. We checked out the track at the University of Oregon since David and I are both into running these days. Unfortunately, the track was locked up, so we couldn't actually run on it. We did have the treadmill at our hotel to use though, so were able to keep running on our trip.


I had researched about the track before we went and also wanted to see Pre's rock and his trail. The kiddos were also excited to go. Sienna still wants to go to WWU, but Forest said he was going to go here and run!



In Eugene, we hit up a few parks for the kiddos to run around at, since they hate being "cooped up" in the car.




Later, we saw Pre's rock ... R.I.P. Steve Prefontaine.


We also walked on his trail with the kiddos and Sunshine. 


There were more parks to explore the next day ... 



I found my "tiny house cabin" that I will live in one day when I retire!


The next day, we drove to Arcata, California to stay at an Airbnb. 
We made it!!


After getting some authentic (San Diego style) Mexican food in Crescent City, we took the kiddos to the beach. We found some driftwood to bring home with us.


 

Then we headed to our home for the next two days, which really did feel like home (minus the chickens, roosters, ducks & geese). We stayed at a little farm cottage in the farm fields, which came complete with fresh eggs from the chickens each morning.


A beautiful garden ... just like home.


Bird feeders in our windows ... just like home. 


We took the kiddos up to Humboldt State University to show them where David went to college and at the Founder's Hall we saw two little foxes that had a den there. 


Then we headed over to guess where ... another park. Redwood Park playground is nestled inside of the trees. 




The next day, we woke up early and headed out for a hike (after stopping at Los Bagels, of course). David wanted to take us to the bridges he built while he worked on the trail crew at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. After about 1.5 miles we made it!







We stopped for a break and had some yummy banana slugs from Los Bagels!! Then we headed back since both kiddos were tired and Sunshine was waiting for us in the car. Next time, we'll hike all the way to Fern Canyon though.




After our hike, we headed over to Seascape in Trinidad for brunch. Mama's new car, nicknamed, Luna loved the view!



Later, we found another park for the kiddos! This one was in a neighborhood, but it had this really cool climbing toy that Sienna loved climbing. 


She made it all the way to the top!! 



This was our last night in Arcata and the following day, we made our way back to Eugene. On the way we stopped at Trees of Mystery.




On the way back to Eugene, we took a short detour down to Medford for a burger. The kiddos had never tried a beef burger before. Forest hated it and Sienna loved it. Mama even ate one!! The last time I had a beef burger was in 2005. 


We fed the ducks some stale bread at the pond next to our hotel.


The next day, we headed home ...

Friday, July 14, 2017

Summertime and the Living is Easy!!

So, it's been quite a long time since my last post and rather than bore you with all the mundane details in our little life since then, I thought I'd share with you a few of the big happenings ::

:: We sold our first home and bought our forever home, until of course, we move into that little cabin in the mountains (someday)!! ::

Bye, bye to our first home! We put a lot of work into this little house, including painting the outside and adding that cute screen door... (Also, our house sold in just 3 days! Crazy!)


 Our new house!! (We were the first ones to see it when it came on the market and the first to put it on offer in on it. Fate!)


Our little family on the big day! (Yes, Sienna is in her pj's. It was pajama day at our school. I changed out of mine before coming home!)

:: I completed my first year back in the classroom, teaching 2nd grade, which is still my favorite grade!! I'm very grateful for finding this position at an awesome school in the same town, where we bought our house. ::

My classroom, all packed up and ready for a summer cleaning! I had a camping theme (again) this year.  

I have the best view of a farm field and farmhouse out the window. 

 Can't wait to set it up again for another school year...

:: Sienna danced A LOT this school year. She joined Star Energy (a non-competitive performing team) and had 2-3 dance classes per week, plus a lot of fun performances! ::





:: She also was in the school choir at our little school this school year! ::


:: Forest finished pre-k and is ready to start kindergarten at Mama's school. ::


:: And now, we are summering!! ::

Sienna had a Paris themed birthday party with her two best friends.

She had eclairs for the dessert!

Mama bought a new car!!

 Perfect for our road trip to the redwoods this summer!!

Sienna danced in the 4th of July parade!! 

Forest turned 5! 

He had his requested dinner spaghetti with Mama's sauce and my homemade chocolate cake. 

Tomorrow we are off on our summer adventure, a road trip to the Redwoods!! I'm sure I will have many road trip stories to tell ...