Family Vacation Days 2-3

The next morning we packed up and headed out. Before we left Cambria, we went to check out Nit Wit Ridge, which is this old house surrounded by and filled with junk. The man who lived there apparently worked at the nearby Hearst Castle and would bring "treasures" home from there. It was crazy...and oddly enough it's for sale.

Our next stop was another quick one. We had to stop and see Bubble Gum Alley in San Luis Obispo. It is exactly what the name implies, and it was pretty disgusting. The kids were fascinated though.

After another short stretch of driving we made it to Pismo Beach and stopped to play for awhile at Dinosaur Caves Park, an animal themed park right on the coast.

From there we went right up the road to the Monarch Butterfly Grove. It was the end of butterfly season, so there weren't as many butterflies as there were the month before, but it was still really neat to see them all. It is fascinating to see the orange trees and realize the color is all the butterflies in the trees.

After the butterflies we drove a few more minutes down the coast and stopped at Oceanic Dunes State Beach. This was probably the stop that Jon was most excited about on this trip. You can drive on the sand right down to the water and then drive a mile long stretch of the beach. It was pretty fun. The kids had a blast getting out and playing and Jon loved "off-roading" in our minivan.  :)  It was a really fun stop.

Our next stop was the little Danish town of Solvang. We'd heard a lot about how cute and fun this town was, but when we got there we realized we weren't entirely sure what exactly we should do there. It was a cute town, but the thought of walking around looking around shops with 4 little kids wasn't appealing. We opted to stop in at a little bakery and get some treats and then we were on our way.

The kids all got meringue and LOVED it.

From Solvang we drove up in the hills above Santa Barbara. Way way up on very windy, skinny, scary roads in search of the Painted Caves. We finally reached them only to find that they are closed. So we headed back down and went into Santa Barbara to our hotel. We grabbed some pizza at Rusty's, which is apparently a big deal down there, headed next door for some ice cream and lemonade and Chick-Fil-A (yes, a little random!), and then headed to our hotel pool for some more night swimming. All of the hotel swimming may easily have been the kids' favorite part of our trip. 

Day 3 we headed out after another yummy breakfast at our hotel. We decided to check out the Old Mission Santa Barbara. What a beautiful building! We didn't dare take the kids inside for the tour, but we spent quite a bit of time walking around the grounds.

"Hey kids, go stand in front of that poky plant!" -Jon

We only had one more stop this day but it was one that I was really excited for. When I was growing up one of our favorite beaches to visit and camp at was Leo Carillo in Malibu. We didn't have the $12 in cash to pay for parking and the kids were getting anxious to get to Legoland, so we stayed long enough to take a few pictures and let the kids play. It was fun to take that little walk down memory lane.

From Malibu we continued our drive. Late in the afternoon we finally reached our final destination. As we got closer we were greeted by several large Lego models, and finally the hotel came into view. Matthew's reaction made the whole trip worth it. He enthusiastically cried, "Aaaah, I think I'm going to cry!" That kid cracks me up. We got checked in and explored our room and then headed to Olive Garden for an amazing dinner. 

I have to say I was sad to be done with the Highway 1 part of our trip. It was so fun to watch the landscape change as we drove down the coast from Northern to Southern California. It was fun to explore all the little towns and beaches and obscure little attractions. I would have loved to finish the drive down to San Diego...maybe another year! 

Family Vacation- The Drive Down Highway 1

We love a good road trip, so we were really excited to finally get to do the drive down Highway 1 for our family vacation this year. It's something we've talked about doing for most of the 6 years we've lived here. The kids were out of school for mid-winter break at the end of February and Jon recently finished working his crazy overtime hours to finish up Peabody and Sherman, so it was the perfect time to pack up and get some good family time in. The only bummer about this trip was that Alyssa had caught a horrible cold a few days before. She was absolutely miserable. However being in the car so much allowed her to get lots of sleep that she wouldn't have otherwise, which was great for her.

We have been to Half Moon Bay, Santa Cruz, and Monterey plenty of times, so we decided to start our drive down Highway 1 at Carmel, just south of Monterey. We packed up in the morning and shockingly started our drive by 9:30 am...half an hour earlier than planned! We made it to Monterey and grabbed some lunch before making a quick stop to see the Gravity Rocks in Carmel. Now, this sounds really cool, but in reality it's a bunch of rocks piled in lots of little stacks in someone's yard right next to the highway. The kids were impressed, we took a few pictures, and then went on our way. We drove down the gorgeous Big Sur coast line and stopped to do a little hike down to Limekiln Falls. It was a good hike to do with little kids, though there were a few spots where we had to cross a stream on precariously placed logs and boards. But we made it all the way to the waterfall and it was a fun little adventure.

After our hike we continued on down the windy road, across bridges and through tunnels, and around several hair pin turns. The scenery along Highway 1 is incredible. I don't think I could ever get tired of it. We drove to San Simeon and stopped at a little turnout to see the herd of elephant seals that live there. Alyssa was sleeping and it was SO windy, so I stayed in the car while Jon took the kids down to see these crazy looking animals, and then we were on our way again pretty quickly. We pulled into the town of Cambria and found our hotel and got settled in. We stayed at The Sea Otter Inn, which I would highly recommend to anyone going this route. The kids couldn't get over how big our room was. Jon and I loved having our own separate bedroom and bathroom, and there was a cute fenced in porch off our room. Jon and the kids had a great time swimming (I forgot to pack my swimsuit) and the breakfast was so good! The hotel is right across the street from the beach and the views were awesome. I would have loved to stay there a few nights and taken the time to explore more around that area. We drove through the "downtown" area and found the most amazing Mexican restaurant where we had dinner. I would almost go back there again just for the food!

It was such a fun day and a great way to start our trip.

A Little About Emma

Ever since Emma was a toddler, it has been very apparent that she is incredibly talented. From the time she started nursery at 18 months she would carefully color pictures, making sure to stay in the lines. She learned to write letters on her own before she was 2. Since around the same time she's been able to match people's pitch when singing, and recently she has figured out how to harmonize. She started piano lessons last summer and despite the fact that she knew absolutely nothing about the piano, she skipped straight to the middle of most of her piano books, and completely skipped over others. She is in gymnastics and is a natural. She just got moved up to the advanced level today, after only 7 months in the beginner class! She reads way above her grade level, has an amazing ability to memorize things, is an incredible artist...basically this girl is good at everything she does. 

Tonight for her journal writing homework she sat down and whipped out this little poem in 15 minutes. I was pretty impressed! It sounds much more poetic when she reads it out loud than it does just reading the words, but here it is.

Emma's Bird Poem

Bird shine bright. Land on peace.

Live through live going to flight.

Penguin so white. Living on the ice. So much space.

Parrot bright with colors so shiny with romance.

You don't see them very much, but at the zoo you can.

A toucan's long big beak. Nice to crush and eat yummy berries up high in a tree.

An eagle flying so high ,so strong, not a sigh.

So brown, so white, he's never going to give up his very mighty flight.

The hummingbird so small. The smallest bird of all.

It can fly backwards which no other bird can do.

So now you have heard my poem, go and make your own.

This is a song she wrote in her writing journal, titled "They All Should Have A Home"

I have a home with my family so dear.

My brother, my sisters, my mom and dad.

And the poor should have a home too. 

They were out there in their home,

but then something happened, so terrible.

They should all have a home just like I do too.

They should all have a home so sweet and dear.

They all still have a family and clo-o-othes too.

They all should have a ho-o-o-ome.

I think she might have a future career in songwriting.  :)

Emma also loves to write notes and letters. For Valentines she wrote personalized letters to every single person in her class and decorated them. She wrote very specific things that she liked about each person...the way they dressed, their hair, how nice they were, etc. My favorite though was the card she made for Jose, who just joined her class in January. It said something like "I like you because you are short like me. Before you moved here, I was the shortest person in our class. But now, I have another short person so I don't have to be the shortest. Love, Emma". It was hilarious.

Today, a boy in her class was following her around during recess and it really bothered her. So, she came home and wrote a note to give him tomorrow. It said, "Dear Mohammad, On Wednesday can you really please please please stop following me around or I will tell on you.

Sincerely from not pleased Emma

P.S. If you stop following me I will play with you.

I got a good laugh out of it, but I am seriously impressed that she thought through it all and came up with this solution.

One last writing journal entry that I thought was cute...

I have a new room. That's because one night I was being so bad that my dad told me that I had to sleep in the other room. Me and Matthew used to call it the room of doom but now I call it the wonderful room because my dad told me that having your own room you get to decorate it how you want. And I get to sleep with Alyssa and get to stay up late and read. I have a night light to use to read and another one to use to make me not scared because I open my eyes sometimes at night time.

The room of doom...haha. I about died laughing. I had never heard them call it that. And seriously, do anyone else's kids think it's a punishment to have their own room? We have the oldest 3 in the same room because none of them want to be alone. It's mind boggling to me!

Anyway, we love this girl and all of her personality. 

It's Raining It's Pouring

California has been in a major drought this winter..the worst in years. Our church leaders asked members of the church in California to hold a special fast for rain the first Sunday in February, so we started our fast Saturday night. Admittedly I had my doubts that we would really see rain. It had been so sunny and warm. Even the Saturday we started the fast the weather was gorgeous and there wasn't a cloud in sight.

Needless to say I was incredibly surprised to wake up Sunday morning to rain. Lots and lots of rain. Heavenly Father hears our prayers and is mindful of us and our righteous desires. And he answers prayers. I was so grateful for that reminder that rainy Sunday. This was such a neat experience for the kids too.

It rained all day that Sunday, stopped for a couple days and then started up and didn't stop for several more days. Someone told us that we got more rain during that one week than we usually get the entire month of January!

Tidbits from the last few weeks

I've started blogging so many times and just keep getting stuck. So, I'm just going to sum up the last several weeks and hope that I can be better about staying up to date in the future.

January was rough. For so many reasons. Lots of screaming, not a lot of sleep. Alyssa randomly started having bouts of severe pain where she just screams and screams. The doctor can't figure out what's going on, but it does seem to be getting a little better. It's affected her sleep too, which was a huge bummer. I don't know that I have ever been so tired in my life as I was last month.

With all of Alyssa's issues and needing so much extra time and attention, Ellie started acting out, throwing fits, and hitting like crazy. So it was a rough few weeks with her too, understandably. I've been trying to make an extra effort to spend more time with her and give her the attention that she needs and it's been slowly getting better.

Jon also got the flu in January, which was rough. Thankfully the rest of us avoided it (he was the only one in our family who didn't get the flu shot). It was a rough few days!

One of the more pleasant things about January was the weather. It was absolutely amazing. A good chunk of the month was sunny and 70 degrees. We were out in shorts and t-shirts at the park, soaking up the sun. It was hard to be sad about the drought we're in when it was so incredibly nice outside.

I've been on a major spring cleaning kick lately and it has been awesome! It feels so good to get rid of stuff and to simplify. I feel so much better when our home is clean, organized and decluttered.

We went to the wrap party for Peabody and Sherman, which is the most recent film that Jon worked on. They held the party at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, which was so fun. Unfortunately the only picture we got was Jon drinking from the toilet fountain...haha.

Alyssa turned 4 months this week. She is 12 lb 6 oz and 24 inches. We've got another petite little girl! When she's not having one of her painful episodes she is a really happy girl. She laughs quite a bit. Her favorite thing is watching the kids jump. She thinks it's hysterical.

Emma is our resident note writer. She has surprised me so many times with the sweetest notes. I love it! She is such a thoughtful little girl. This was her most recent note.

Almost every night when Emma says her prayers she says she's grateful for Alyssa and follows with "and please bless her to grow up to be a smart, kind, beautiful girl like me". So humble!

Emma is really starting to understand jokes and especially loves making plays on words. I have a t-shirt with two surfers on it that says "I'm at a board meeting". Every time she sees it she cracks up. "I get it. A board meeting...like surf boards". Another joke that started around Christmas was when Emma and Matthew heard the word Noel. Now every time they tell Ellie no, they sing No-El No-El and then laugh like it's the first time they've heard it.

Matthew's class talked about Groundhog Day a couple weeks ago. He came home and said, "Mom, I know that if you see your shadow it means there's 8 more days of Christmas". Haha...close Matthew!

I bought myself a Bosch for an early Christmas present and finally got around to using it. I baked my first loaves of bread right after Christmas and they actually turned out! I've made all of our bread since. Oh how I've missed homemade bread the last few years!

These pictures capture Ellie's personality so perfectly!

Three months

First time in the swing and it put her right to sleep

We went to Pescadero Beach with Jon's family at the beginning of January. I love where we live!

And of course Jon's birthday was the end of January. He got some new headphones and a slack line. It may have been his best birthday ever.

An End to the Chicken Saga

It was just over a year and a half ago that the chickens came into our lives. It all started one night in May 2012 when we went to Emma's kindergarten class open house. Her class had hatched 10 of the cutest, fluffiest little chicks the week before and we spent a long time oohing and aahing over them. As we were leaving the open house, I overheard her teacher telling one of the parents that if anyone wanted to keep the chicks they could. I couldn't help it...I'd always had a secret dream to someday have chickens...and here was my opportunity.

That night I proposed the chicken idea to a very reluctant Jon. I pulled up the backyard chickens website and started talking to my brother who had owned chickens. We had to make a decision before the teacher took them back to the farm the next day. After a late night of researching and talking (and maybe a little begging) Jon agreed that we could try it out. 

And so began the chicken saga. Jon has written the story in great detail, and it's hilarious. If you haven't read it yet, it's definitely worth the read. Here's what he has so far. Part 1, part 2. Hopefully part 3 is coming soon.

This was the chick hotel that Emma's class made

Long story short, the chicks quickly (very quickly) grew from the cute, furry little balls to gangly adolescents to full grown chickens. Somewhere in there Matthew accidentally drowned a chicken trying to give it a drink of water, and then we gave away the 4 roosters. We were left with 5 fun, quirky little hens. 

We've had more than a few adventures with the chickens...which Jon will hopefully write about. There were days when we played with the chickens and collected the most beautiful eggs and couldn't imagine life without these funny little creatures. And there were days when we were pulling our hair out and if it weren't for the potential mess, Jon would have gone out and slaughtered them. Over time the frustrations started to outweigh the positives and we started talking about getting rid of them. After researching the slaughter process, Jon ruled out the option of us killing them. However, he knew someone from church who wouldn't have a problem with it. At our ward Christmas party, he mentioned to Jim that he had 5 hens to get rid of...thinking that Jim would kill them for us and he could have some free chicken. Instead Jon was shocked when Jim responded that he was in the middle of building what he called the ultimate chicken coop and would love to take the chickens. We couldn't believe how perfectly it all came together. 

On New Years Day, we got the call. The coop was finished and Jim was ready to come get his birds. The kids went out in the yard to say good bye. They were really only sad to see Stripes go. She is the smallest and sweetest of the flock. By far the favorite. The kids said their good byes and then ran back in. And they haven't looked back. Jon went straight to work taking down the chicken coop so we can hopefully let the backyard grow back. 

We loved having the experience of having chickens. It was definitely a learning experience...and we definitely did everything the hard way. We are glad we did it, we are glad to be done, but we hope to do it again someday when we're in a more permanent situation and our kids are older. 

New Years Eve 2013

We went way out of our comfort zone this year and had a New Years Eve party with a few friends. It was so much fun. Good food, good friends, great fun! There were 8 adults and 13 kids aged 8 and under, so it was a crazy, chaotic fun. We even finally opened our chocolate fountain for the occasion. It was a huge hit, especially with the kids.

This little cutie kept asking me to take her picture

 Sweet baby snuggles

At 9:00 we gave the kids noise makers and watched the ball drop (oh the perks of being on the west coast!