There And Back.....

We have literally been there and back in the last two weeks. So here I am catching you up with LOTS of photos and witty banter. Enjoy! Ha!Two weeks ago Dan and I had to go to New Port beach to meet with an event planner for an upcoming Married Life event so we took the girls along. Afterwards we met up with his aunt and uncle for lunch and then surprised the girls and went to Disneyland. Dan's uncle is retired from Disney so he gets us in free which is a HUGE blessing.

We try to go about once every 12-18 months and this time we just really took our time and strolled around with no agenda. Just happy to have Dan off for a day and all to ourselves.

We had not done the new cars land yet and so we really enjoyed that part of the park......

A little side note; this is what happens when you try to photograph the newest member of the family.....

Our jealous Milo will not have it.....

Here is Stella bunny. Morgan got her in May and she is a gem. The sweetest little thing ever!

I mentioned to the cats that we would be leaving town for a week....hmmmmm...think he wants to go?

Ryanne turned 9 on the 20th so we surprised her by decorating the club house and serving breakfast up there......

Then we hopped in the car and headed to LA for lunch at the American Girl store....Dan was like 1 of 5 men in the entire place which made me love him even more. :)

Ryanne had taken a bunch of money she got for her birthday but she doesn't have a big doll, just the bitty baby that Morgan bought her few years ago. Dan surprised her and let her pick out a doll that looked like her. She was so excited! After a fun day at the Grove we headed over to see Despicable Me II and to say I laughed out loud would be putting it mildly. So funny!

Sunday the 21st we let Ryanne have a few friends over for dinner and dessert. She requested a taco bar and I made an orange vanilla cake. .....

I was at the store the other day and saw these sponge curlers that my mom used to torture me with and make me sleep in...I just could not resist and Ry was a good sport.....

Don't you just want to die from flash backs as a little girl? ;)

We loaded up and left the house Monday the 22nd and headed for a weeks vacation up to Redding near Shasta....here is the house we rented right on the river.....

The house was on acres and acres of wait for it...these are ALL blackberries! My girls were in heaven.

I subscribed to a monthly craft box called Kiwi Crate for Ryanne.....she gets a new box every month and it has two crafts in it....we took the July one with us and worked on the crafts in the afternoon......

Lots of rivers and lakes to choose from up North so we spent a lot of time cooling off in this one....

The afternoons were filled with lots of entertainment.....

which included stunts......

I'm certain this one is the one that ended badly ha! It has face plant written all over it......

The house we rented was a three bedroom two bath old farm house style....Dan's mom went with us and had a blast as well.....we BBQ every night and just spent time hanging out on the deck......

Took a day trip up to an old volcano and stopped for lunch and I'm not sure what else I am doing here....clearly nobody else got the "make a funny face memo." Whatever.....

This was one of the crafts from Kiwi Crate...Ryanne sailed her boat on the lake....

He really deserves a witty caption.....

Yes wonders of wonders our ballerina LOVES to fly fish with her daddy....

She and Dan grab their poles and take off together....very sweet. Except when he catches something she screams and freaks out for him not to kill it. Poor Dan.

They fished, we played...Ryanne is standing on a log just in case you thought she had some freakish growth spurt....

Dan's birthday was on the 27th so we made him a carrot cake.....there was singing too!

This child will do WHATEVER it takes to not have her picture taken...

Seriously??

If you ever go through Redding check out the sun dial bridge.....

There is 40 miles of bike trails and old bridges.....

It lights up at night.....

On our way back south we stopped and stayed a few nights at the beach in Cambria....this little gem was in the canyon on the way....

All organic, honey fresh from the farm AND vegan fudge Popsicles....be still my heart.

Ryanne found the farm cats and it was then that we decided she really cant help but stalk the animals...

Here's the lodge we stayed in.....

It was so big and roomy....really nice.

I saw in a travel magazine where it said you should lay down and take a picture of  your view.....so  that is why there are two weird shots of my toes that badly need new polish. I am going to do this on all our vacations and see what all I come up with.  Here I am at the beach.....

I'm still learning and playing with settings on my camera. Love this one of Morgan and Betty.

Oh the faces I'm telling you she's up to no good in that brain of hers.......

Ate at the local places and LOVED them.

Another fun time away and now we prepare for another school year and dance. It's always good to rest but I also look forward to just daily life with my hubby and growing girls because after all home is where life really happens right? :)