Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone has a wonderful day today with friends and family.

We are headed up to Reno, to spend a few days with family and also to celebrate my birthday a little early.

I'm excited to spend the time with them, to be surrounded by the people I love and to share this with Roweyn. I get so excited about sharing the holidays with her and she's still a little young to really understand it but I can tell she's understanding it more this year and to see how excited she gets about it just melts my heart!

Absent Minded

I apologize for being so absent on here lately! 

I don't think I've ever slacked quite this much with blogging....

but we've been busy enjoying our Summer as much as possible! 

A few things we've been up to lately:

This Summer has been flying by, I feel like we've hardly done anything but at the same time we've done a good amount. 

I just don't want Summer to end! 

I love this hot weather, spending as much time outside as possible, 

how happy it makes me feel and going on adventures with my girl.

We still have lots of fun stuff to do, so unfortunately this blog will be put at the bottom of our list. 

I'll post when I can and I have lots of catching up to do, so there will be posts dating back to May and it will be slow going but it's better late than never!

Hope you all are enjoying your Summer!

xoxo

Our Trip to Orange County Pt. 3 & 4th of July

Our last few days in Orange County were spent at the beach.

The weather was a little cooler & overcast 

but we still made sure to enjoy every minute of it!

Riding a sideways elevator down to the beach!

That was a first for both of us!

The Family being tourists in Laguna Beach.

This girl loving the playground at the beach in Laguna.

Swinging at the beach in Laguna.

We spend 4th of July hanging out at Laguna Beach.

Sadly it was chilly & overcast all day.

So we spent our day in sweaters playing in the sand

and trying to stay warm.

We still enjoyed eating yummy grilled corn among other tasty food 

our lovely host & friends made for us.

Showing me sea shells.

A Yarn Bombed Tree!!

Orange County was a blast!

It's definitely one of my favorite areas.

I would love to live there some day.

The weather is my favorite and would be totally

Our Trip to Orange County Pt. 2 | San Diego Zoo

On our fifth day in Orange County we took a trip down to the San Diego Zoo!!

I hadn't been there since I was 10 years old so it was pretty fun to be able to share it with Roweyn like we were both there for the first time.

Visiting the Giraffes!

Not sure what Roweyn was staring at...

We got to feed the Giraffes too which was lots of fun!

Hanging out with the baby Jaguars.

The group of us!

This is a picture of a picture. haha

Roweyn just hanging out on a lion.

This is just a small look into our entire day.

We took a 30 minute tour of the entire zoo.

Went on the sky tram to get a look at the whole zoo from above.

We visited the Elephants, Pandas, Monkeys, Orangutans, Gorillas, 

Hippos, Polar Bears, the real Lions, and pretty much every other animal that was there!

Roweyn had a blast and so did I.

I had fun seeing all the animals but my favorite part was watching

Roweyn get excited about every animal she saw or every activity she liked.

I can't wait to take her back again when she is older & hopefully visit the Safari Park too!

Our Trip to Orange County Pt. 1

At the end of June we headed down to Orange County in our car

for a mini vacation and to visit our friends. 

Pretty much one of my least favorite things is riding in a car for more than a few hours. But it wasn't that bad, even with a toddler and 11 year old in the car!

We made it in about 9 hours including going through LA so we made really good time.

Roweyn still happy as can be rear facing in her car seat at 2.5 years.

She had her baby under her blanket with her and she was nursing her baby.

This was while we were going through the grapevine.

The beach at San Clemente!

This was the first ocean beach Roweyn had been to, 

two years before when she was only 7 months old.

It was fun to return to the same beach to make new memories.

Flying over the waves.

Pondering where she wants to make a sand castle.

And photo bombed by my sister.

Being tourists at The Grove.

Treasure Beach in Laguna.

Such a beautiful resort and beach!

Climbing in giant holes.

I think she saw a boat or a helicopter

so she was way too busy to look at the camera.

Secrets with Nana.

Hangin at the San Clemente State Beach.

She loves her Mama.

The first four days were a blast! But just the start of our trip.

Lots more photos to come. 

Including our trip to the San Diego Zoo,

more beach time and 4th of July!

Roweyn's Ramblings Wk. 31 Pt. 2

If you missed Pt. 1 check it out here....

After Preschool, my Mom and Tayelor picked us up to start our road trip up to Trinity River where we were meeting my Dad at his friends cabin right on the river for the night. Roweyn slept for almost 3 hours (Preschool really wore her out I guess!) and woke up when we hit a very windy part of the drive. We had to stop about 45 minutes before we got there to get some food at the grocery store, and right when we pulled into the parking lot, I turned to look at Roweyn and she had thrown up all over herself. :( I felt so bad she got car sick!! I wasn't feeling that good either but it didn't really occur to me that Roweyn might have been feeling the same way. So then we had to clean everything up and go grocery shopping which put us about an hour behind schedule, but we made it there with no other problems and it was SO nice to finally be out of the car!

There was no cell service there which was kind of nice for once, so I took the majority of my photos with my camera so I wouldn't kill the battery on my phone. We made dinner and had a quiet night at the cabin Friday night and then on Saturday after we cleaned up and did some laundry, including Roweyn's yucky clothes and her car seat, we headed down the road to the river for a couple hours. The water was freezing even though it was in the 90's outside, I couldn't get in past my shins. haha There were some shallow little holes dug up on the sand right at the edge of the water which made the water pretty warm so Roweyn had fun playing in them.

After the river it was time to make our way to Humboldt County to see all our family and go to my cousin's wedding reception which was the main point of our trip.

Sunday was my cousin's "Hoe Down" Wedding Reception. It was so fun and so easy going, totally non traditional which made pretty cool. If I ever get married I imagine mine will be pretty similar. We spent the day outside, eating, exploring and listening to the music while spending time with all our family that was there. That second photo is the view from their back yard. So pretty! The next is the great band that played and last is Rowe hanging out on the hay bale with her Papa. She had a lot of fun playing with my Dad and making him chase her around everywhere.

She found some big logs to play on, and now that I think about it I don't think she stayed still for more than a minute or two the entire time we were there. When it started to cool down and get a little dark out we decided it was time to head over to see our other side of the family at my Aunt's where they were having a Birthday Party for my Uncle.

The next morning we packed everything up and headed over to my Grandma's to say goodbye to her. Roweyn loved exploring her garden.

Lots of flowers to touch, smell and hit which is what she thinks is so funny in that photo on the left, she then proceeded to lounge on the deck for who knows what reason.

Our drive home went pretty smoothly, I think we made two stops, one for lunch and one for dinner. Its about a 6 hour drive, give or take. Apparently Roweyn was really worn out because she was out cold that night. ha I kinda really love that photo of her.


It was quite the week for us and both trips went by so fast which is pretty typical, there never seems to be enough time, I'm just glad we were able to go though.

Roweyn's Ramblings Wk. 31 Pt. 1

We spent our Labor day lounging around in Tahoe. I'm splitting this into two parts because we had sooo much going on, I don't want to bore you with all of it at once. ;)

Roweyn loved eating her breakfast on the deck while watching the boats drive by on the lake. 


We played some ping pong with the girls. Roweyn had a blast trying to play and every time we would serve she would throw an extra ball onto the table and try to hit the balls with the paddle. My moms cousin took some photos of us and Roweyn kept posing holding a paddle up in the air. Its funny how she totally knows when we're doing a group photo and knows when she should pose, it's the only time she'll actually do it. If it's just her she won't hold still.


We worked up an appetite playing so we made some lunch and played on the deck. I couldn't help but take this photo of her sitting on Cyder. Ha! I promise she's not hurting her. Totally wouldn't let that happen. 


She found that hat in a bin of toys and put it on herself then ran around with it for a while. Doesn't she look like such a big girl?! Gah she's growing up SO fast!!!


After a wonderful day and a half, we headed back home Monday evening and then I was back for a long day of work on Tuesday.

On Wednesday we headed over to see our best friends new baby, which I totally forgot to mention was born on Saturday while we were working. She is beautiful and I was having so much fun holding her for an hour and a half that I didn't get to take a photo of her!!

After we were done visiting we took a trip to Target and met up with another best friend for some hang out time while shopping before he left to go back to college. I bought a few toys for Roweyn since we were getting ready to take a road trip this weekend and wanted to make sure she would stay busy. I got her one of those magnet doodle toys and some color wonder books and markers and she picked out a little dump truck toy. I found some new boots for me which I was pretty excited about since my other ones are about 3 to 4 years old. And I found Roweyn a cute brown cardigan and some super cute striped knee socks!

We had a little picnic in our car before going home since it's about a 45 minute drive and then on the way home I picked up my very first Pumpkin Spice Frap from Starbucks and I gotta say, it was pretty good!!

The last photo above and the photo below are a little backwards but on Friday it was Roweyn's very first day of Mommy and Me Preschool!! I got a bunch of cute photos of her before school and some cute ones at school too! See her cute button name tag on her in the above photo? Love it! She had fun playing with the baby dolls, play dough, painting and playing in flour (they have a big tub thats filled with flour instead of sand). We also did circle time where we sang songs and met Chester the Raccoon, then we had snack time and after snack time we headed outside to play. After play time we came back inside for circle time to say goodbye and sing the goodbye song!

I'm so excited to be doing this with Roweyn. We've gone twice now and I look forward to it every week! So far Roweyn's class is the only one that isn't completely filled up and she happens to be the only girl in it. I'm hoping some more girls will join so she can meet some new girlfriends!

How cute is this photo?? I want to do this every year with her. :)

Pt. 2 will be back tomorrow with some more cute photos!

Mother's Day Weekend Pt.2

If you missed Pt.1 of my Mother's Day Weekend, be sure to check it out here!

Roweyn LOVED the Dolphin Show. She was so into it and would not take her eyes off the Dolphins for anything. She clapped and danced to the music and pointed to the Dolphins.

After the show, we got a Funnel cake and some ice cream and then headed back over to some of the little rides for the kiddos. While Tayelor was off riding a ride with our Dad, I took Roweyn over to the mini Merry-Go-Round to ride it for the first time. I was unsure if Roweyn would like it and when I put her on the Panda she was a little fussy. But then it started, and while we were spinning and she was going up and down she was laughing, smiling and bouncing. It was so cute! She LOVED it!!

We walked around for a bit and found a little play area that Roweyn could play in while we waited for Tayelor and my dad before we headed to our friends house for the night.

Love that we're both looking the same way

and we both have the same expression

Rowe passed out on our way to our friends house,

she was worn out!

It was an awesome day with the whole fam and I had so much fun with Roweyn and watching how excited she got about everything, it made me excited too, I felt like a kid again.

Sadly, I only have one photo from Saturday when we were in San Francisco, it was so windy and cold in the morning that there just wasn't much to take photos of. 

We started the day off by dropping my Mom and sister off at the Girl Scout event, then my Dad, Roweyn and I headed towards Fishermans Wharf to get some coffee and breakfast and do some walking around. We had breakfast at Starbucks then walked around going in and out of shops, browsing, sight seeing, etc.

We decided to head over to the farmers market after Roweyn had woken up but when we were on our way, we got into a very minor fender bender and by the time we got done dealing with it, we only had a short while longer before having to pick up the girls. So instead we headed over to Union Square to do some more walking and shopping. We stopped at H&M, I found a couple tops, nursed Roweyn and then the girls called us letting us know they were done.

That was about the extent of our day, after picking up the girls we headed home while making one stop in Roseville.

Hope everyone had a great weekend and were able to celebrate Mother's Day whether you are the Mama, husband, daughter or son!

Mother's Day Weekend Pt.1

We had such a fun weekend. We planned it about a month ago when my parents decided they would go with my sister down to San Francisco on Saturday for her Girl Scout Event. It then turned into Roweyn and me coming to. The plan was we would head down to our friends house about half way between ours and SF, we'd spend the night there and then head to SF the next day. My Mom then came up with the idea of going to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom on Friday. This place is great because it not only is an amusement park but a small zoo as well with all sorts of animals and animal shows, perfect for Roweyn.


So to me, my weekend all started on Thursday when we took our trip to Roseville that I talked about in Roweyn's Ramblings Wk.13. It was a fun day of just shopping with the girls, well over due. Roweyn and Kashmir were both semi cranky that day but we got through it and ended the trip with them both napping on the way home. Perfect! After we got back I spent most of the evening packing up the rest of our stuff for the trip.


We woke up super early Friday morning, quickly got ready to go and then were on our way to Six Flags. The drive went great and we got there shortly after the park had opened, only to see that it was "Field Trip Day" for some of the surrounding schools. There were TONS of grade school kids, I think there were at least 10 school buses in the parking lot. Lucky for us most of these kids were there to ride the big rides, while we were there mainly for the animals and shows with the hopes of sneaking in a couple rides if there was time and no long lines.

The weather was perfect, a little breezy but not windy. We walked around looking at animals and stopping here and there for the occasional ride for Tayelor and even a couple for Roweyn! She kept looking at all the giant roller coasters and pointing to them....she is a girl after my own heart. I was the kid that at 7yrs old wasn't tall enough yet to ride the big rides with my older brothers and dad, so I wore shoes that made me taller and big hats. I was still hardly tall enough and I remember the people always questioning me, but I was determined and never got turned down. :)

The whole fam

oh and a pig

Rowe was obsessed with this dolphin fountain

This penguin kept following us

I laugh every time I see this walrus

He kept smooshing his face onto the glass in front of Rowe

And it FREAKED her out

Which makes sense since he was HUGE

So unsure of this guy

Oh the things parents do for their kids

We were so squished but

Roweyn LOVED it

Even when we flew up high

Fishies and sharks

Rowe watching Nana, Papa and Auntie Tayelor

on the bumper cars

After a bunch of walking and checking out some animals, we went over to the Whale Show. It was getting close to Roweyn's nap time so she wasn't super interested but she thought it was pretty great when the whale splashed and almost hit us with water a few times.

After the whale show, we had some lunch, Roweyn fell asleep, so my Dad and I decided it would be the perfect time to go ride a big ride before we would go feed the Giraffes. It took about an hour by the time we were done, but we got to sit front row on the biggest roller coaster. After that, we headed back over to meet my mom, Tayelor and Roweyn to go feed the Giraffes.  We had to pay $5 but then we got to feed them over and over again for 30 mins. Roweyn loved seeing the Giraffe, she would hold the food in her hand but as soon as we got close to it she would throw the food at me and get nervous. So I would feed the Giraffe, she'd watch and then as soon as the Giraffe took the food, Roweyn would make a noise and hug me. It was so funny, it happened every.single.time.

We walked around a little more and then headed over to the Dolphin Show. 

And that is where I will leave off. There are SO many photos and words that I'd rather make it two posts so that it's not too long! Pt.2 will be posted tomorrow with the end of the day at Six Flags and also what we did in SF. Be sure to check it out because there are some REALLY cute photos of Roweyn on a ride that you will not want to miss!