Black Eyed Susan

Poor Emilee!  She took a nasty tumble down the basement stairs.  I thought the bruise was going to be pretty bad, but it's actually turned out to be more of an abrasion, which developed quite a big yucky scab.  Thank heavens she's not a scratcher, it's healing up well!

the drive home, Day 4

Thursday we woke up and headed to Crater Lake, OR.  It was SO BEAUTIFUL.  The kids were a bit squirly here, and it was a bit of a scary place to be walking around with 5 kids, because if you fall over the side you basically fall 1000 feet to your death.  So, we kept them in line, and we spent about 2 hours here and were ready to go.  It was so gorgeous.  The water is unbelievably blue.  Definitely worth the drive!

 Look at this blue!!!!

 After Crater Lake we headed to a little inn where we rented a chalet for the night.  I think we could have stayed here 3 days and been happy.  There was a fun little playground and it was nice to have a kitchen to whip up some dinner outside of a resturant.

 The next morning, we headed out the door and to home!  Check out our mileage!

We were greeted by jungle grass that had to be mowed immedieatly!  But, the hydro seed worked great and we have grass now!  

I'm exhausted all over again just chronicling this trip!  It was a great one, and we'll always remember it but I think we were all glad to be home, too.

the drive home, Day 3

Day three began with a drive into San Francisco for a brief visit with my sister, Ellen.  She had lots of fun instruments for the kids to try, as well as a yummy lunch for us!  We had a great time and I think the kids could have stayed all day playing the drums.

Admiring Fillmore, her turtle.

After Ellen's house, I was convinced to drive everyone over the Golden Gate Bridge before we headed out of town.  It turned out to be worth it as the kids really enjoyed it.

 And then to the Jelly Belly Factory!  We had lots of fun here.  Check out some of these nasty flavors!

 Heidi was a little leary of jelly beans after Chandler fed her a "skunk" flavored one, the stinker.  Her breath was so icky!

 After the factory, we headed to Redding, CA where it was VERY warm.  We had our last in and out burgers, and them met up with my good friend Jenn from high school and her kids and new puppy!  Heidi LOVED the puppy.

Another successful day!

the drive home, Day 2

On Tuesday, we got up and went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  It was wonderful!  The kids especially loved the deep sea with the hammer head shark, and the sea horses.  

There was a big groovy exhibit on Jellies, which we all enjoyed.

After the aquarium, we were all pretty pooped and hungry.  We had a nice mexi lunch at a local resturant that overlooked the Bay.

After lunch, to facilitate a nap for the girls, we took a drive down highway 1 in search for sea otters.  We didn't find any otters, but we did find some beautiful scenery!

A

 After nap time, we headed to the Dennis the Menace playground.  It was AMAZING!  It was so different than any playground I'd ever seen, with so much to do!

 Tunnels and bridges, double giant slides. . .

 a huge roller slide

 and a hedge maze.  The kids had a blast here.  We could have stayed all night!

the drive home, Day 1

Day 1, we drove from LA to Santa Barbara, where we stopped for lunch and rented a Surrey.  It was SO MUCH FUN!  We rode around for about an hour, had lunch by the sea, and then were off again.  We had plenty of pedal power with the boys helping and it was a GREAT stop!

 That night we made it the rest of the way to Monterey.  We had one side trip to a truck stop in Salinas when Emilee suddenly got car sick.  But, I am pleased to announce she hit the bucket!  HURRAY!!!  We had dinner and trucked on to Monterey, where the kids collapsed in this king sized bed.