California Spring Break 2013

OK, I know.  I'm behind again.  We have had a few trips and visitors so I am hoping to get caught up to now very soon.  And, I got a new laptop for my birthday and Ash's condition on giving it to me was that I had to blog more.  :)  Yay for first blog from the laptop!  The first laptop I have ever owned.  I'm so behind!!

On to more exciting things....

We road tripped to northern California for spring break at the end of March.  We were able to visit my old Lawrence friends, Leigh Ann and Nate and their daughter Emerson in Sacramento.  Had a lot of fun with them catching up and letting the kids play.  Sacramento also has an awesome railroad museum.  I think Ash and I thought it was cooler than the kids did!

Emmie's little trampoline was quite the hit!  Yes, they are in their pajamas outside first thing in the morning.

Ash geeking out at the California Railroad Museum.

The kids were bored by the time Ash saw everything he wanted to at the museum.  Ha!

From Sacramento we went to St. Helena to stay with Ash's aunt Deb, uncle Bob and cousin Anthony.  The kids LOVED running around their property.  Harper learned within the first hour we were there that you can't walk on lily pads on a koi pond.  Helena learned that it is always spring in California, leading her to proclaim that we need to move there.  Deb was kind enough to watch the kids for us one day so Ash and I could spend the day wine tasting.  Ash's cousin Lisa set us up on the most amazing tours / tastings.  So fun to have a day to ourselves.

Harper restraining himself from throwing the giant rocks in the pond.

Me at the vineyard that I will forever remember for having the most generous pours ever.  :)

Easter Eggs with Aunt Deb.

 From St. Helena we did a little day trip to Point Reyes National Seashore.  Such a beautiful place.  It was foggy when we were there, but still very lush, beautiful and fun.  We stopped and did a couple of hikes and hung out on the beach.  We even saw an elephant seal beach with over 300 elephant seals on it!  Definitely worth a stop if you're in the area.

Harper showing us which way to go on our hike.

From there we crashed at our college friend's place in San Francisco.  Phil, Dana and little Layla were excellent hosts.  We grilled, watched basketball, went to the zoo, rode the bus and the train all around the city (the kids' favorite part of the trip) and spent a day at Fisherman's Wharf.  Harper discovered a love of eating crab, Helena discovered she didn't really like accidentally picking up a crab on the beach.

The view from Phil and Dana's house.  Fun to see the bay and the fog roll in at different times.

Checking out the wares...

Ash ate an obscene amount of crab...

Helena ate an obscene amount of sourdough...

Family picture!!

Helena & Layla - Matching Target sweaters!! :)

The kids loved the 'gold man' street performer.

Harper fell asleep on the train...pretty funny. We did three transfers and he never woke up.

Thanks again to our wonderful friends and family for hosting us and making our spring break totally awesome.  Love, love, love me some California.  We'll be back.

-Emily :)