El Cap Camping

Our first family camping trip (legit roughing it- tents, no showers, and campfire cooked meals) was a success! I was as nervous as I was excited to see how Jayme would do sleeping in a tent AND still potty training (3 day method has turned into just over a week... possibly I started too soon, but we can't go back now!)... God answered some prayers and other than the chilly factor the first night (which we reconfigured the tent to be less chilly the second night) and a couple poo-in-the-panties accidents later- Jayme did so well and LOVED it! It only took us 3 hours (including time to stop for some Del Taco) to get from our house to El Capitan (and we left at 5pm on a Friday!!)... Grampa and Bebba weren't so lucky... they had close to a 5 hour drive each (Ryan did some course mapping and we took a scenic back route to bypass most of LA traffic, and I would take that route again even if LA was traffic free!) It was almost as if we were no longer in Southern California once you get off the main freeways! I could almost live up there in beautiful nowhere land, California! Anyway- back to the actual camping trip... we arrived as the sun was just about down for the night, and we quickly devised a plan to set up our new circus tent (note, if we had any prior practice assembling it, we might have had it up within 10-15 minutes... not an hour and 30 minutes later!). Once all of our crap camping essentials were unloaded and semi-situated in the tent, we put the Nugget to bed, and enjoyed the clean air and campfire annnnnd some fancy pink wine in fancy plastic wine cups... highlight of night one- for me personally it was the gorgeous drive to a beautiful destination with little to no traffic on a Friday... for everyone else the highlight was probably laughing hysterically at my attempt to use Jayme's princess potty chair because I am too girly to squat and too lazy/chicken to walk to the dark bathrooms at 11:30 at night (note- 2 liters of water and 3 glasses of wine is too much liquid for one little bladder!)
annnnyway... the next morning we woke up around 6:30 (for some reason it doesn't seem that early when your camping). Operation coffee and cocktails commenced (anything goes when you're roughing it!) and we soon had bellies full of eggs and bacon and banana nut muffins... While Ryan enjoyed some solitary shore fishing (the fish had other plans), the rest of us enjoyed watching Jayme make friends with neighboring campers and exploring the campgrounds... after a lazy afternoon of attempting to nap in the heat, we headed to the shore shop for some ice cream before embarking on a most awesome walk around El Capitan's rocky point and the trails that surround the campground... truly one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in California! Night two included campfire cones (can't go camping without a little something from pinterest!), ribs and tri tip on the campfire grill and quality fam time... we missed having Stace there though... next time!
Sad as we were to leave on Sunday, it was nice to be home (within 2 hours!) and have the day to unpack, SHOWER, and unwind before the week started back up. Things we learned from this trip: don't drink alot of liquid after 8 or you'll be forced to use a toddler potty chair or squat, sleeping bags are a must for all three of us, leave 2/3 of the clothing at home, invest in a french press for the next time, skuuzi's are incredible, bring more underwear for potty training toddler, and invest in decent chairs to sit around camp...

toddler size headlamp = legit little camper

Grampa gettin his jam on at breakfast

Bebba & Nugget time (gotta soak it up before Bebba leaves us all for Australia ;-)

"Peee-Pa" time (not sure how she went from "gampa" to "peee-pa")

enjoying her uncle Alex visit

Nugget being Nugget...

Ryan getting his morning fish on... grampa going in the ocean (had to get this on camera to prove it actually happened)... and a pretty butterfly along our walk (i chose not to stop long enough to capture a photo of the skunk on that same trail)

camp cookin'

campfire cones in lieu of s'mores... totally worth the change-up!

camp breakfast... banana pancakes, fried eggs, bacon, and fresh strawberries- complete with Ryan's "MacGyver Coffee"

San Francisco Road Trip Weekend

The weekend I have been training for semi-training for finally arrived! Our morning was supposed to start @ 4am with breakfast and loading the car so we could be on the road before traffic and daylight... Jayme had other plans... we started our morning @ 1am, Bebba joined us by 3:30... and yet somehow we still didn't get on the road until 5:10! Our plan was for Jayme to sleep most of the way, and since she was up @ 1am we figured a long nap would be guaranteed.... turns out nothing is guaranteed with a 1 1/2 yr old... she slept from 6-6:45 and a half hour before we arrived at our final destination, which made for an exhausting first day in San Francisco... BUT despite the lack of sleep we had a weekend full of memories made!

breakfast @ 3:45am, cartoons with Bebba, car loaded and on the road by 5:10am... Sunrise pit stop

overly tired nugget who must have a tapeworm... she never stopped eating! Oakland bridge and camera crew shooting along side us... and wouldn't be California without traffic!

experiencing the sights and streets of SF with her aunties... ice cream @ Pier 39, Powell street for pizza, sea lions, and walking 10 blocks through the ghetto to get back to the house in Alamo Square (using Bebba's phone to talk to her "friend")

The Austin Gals

Carb-loading dinner for 20 the night before the big race

Jayme's new friend she discovered in SF (video courtesy of Auntie Bebba)

her "friend" came with us to the hotel... she spent more time entertaining herself @ the mirror than with her toys

NWM race morning... sisters @ the start line... along with 22,500 others.... 2 hours 33 minutes later I actually was able to run across the finish line (I assumed I might be crawling towards my finisher necklace)

enjoying the scenery and people wanting to take her picture (kinda creepy- yet flattering???)

loooooonnnng road trip home... Jayme's first Happy Meal, Bebba's blown knee being iced courtesy McD's emptied out ice machine, "Happy Meals" for the grown ups, footsies with Bebba's post-marathon feet, monkey neck support for a 2 hour nap (finally!)

Assuming I'm not pregnant or a new mom of 2 by this time next year... I would like to stay in Union square (convenience well worth the cost), leave the lil' gal with a sitter, and actually train for next years race...

First Family Road Trip....

Thanks to Uncle Buck (i.e. Auntie Becca)  and Uncle Reed traveling with us to Santa Barbara, we managed to enjoy our time at Susannah and Marc's wedding (once we finally found it!)...
My original plan was to be out the door by 10am Saturday morning (anticipating traffic and allowing plenty of time to get ready and relax at the hotel before the wedding @ 4)... I was ready by 10:30 (typical 1/2 hour late everywhere I go with baby), yet somehow we didn't get on the road until noon! maybe its a guy thing, but ryan couldn't understand why we needed to leave so early, or why I needed  "2 hours" to get ready at the hotel.
we finally get to our hotel @ 1:45 (we made great time), I quickly unload, feed baby, and begin the hair/makeup process (which takes twice as long when you are trying to keep the baby occupied simultaneously)... my plan for leaving the hotel by 3:30 fell through as we were in the car and on the road @ 3:50! to make matters more anxiety filled, google maps (for the first time ever) got us lost in Montecito... thank you OnStar for getting us turned in the right direction and to the Four Seasons 20 minutes late- so late that we realized it was one of those weddings that you walk in from the FRONT (where everyone sees you)... determined not to be those idiots that are so late, we found the florist and asked for a backway route (through the bridal quarters, but at least we got to see the bride and wish her well ;-)
The wedding was BEAUTIFUL (I doubt the Four Seasons has ever had an ugly wedding anyway!) and the weather was amazingly perfect (Suz got lucky the rain cleared out!)
After a full night (annnd can i just say- i lasted the whole night in heels without having sore feet the next day... annnnd i danced!) we relieved becca and reed of their free-birth control (i.e. baby sitting) duties.
After a quick breakfast and goodbyes, we parted ways with our awesome sitters and headed up to Morro Bay for the afternoon... most people will never understand out fascination with such a sleepy little beach town, but Giovanni's clam chowder and the walk out to the rock is worth the drive (especially when it is crisp, clear and sunny out- only 20 days out of the year practically!)
We got home @ 8:00 and vegged for the remainder of the night, too pooped to unpack or do anything remotely productive. I put everything off for tomorrow (now today), and somehow I find myself procrastinating once again as I am writing about our family road trip weekend instead of doing my domestic duties.... i guess its time to go put on my housewife hat and get busy now!

Feeling out her first overnight bed (much bigger and softer than her crib!)

here comes the beautiful bride

college girlfriends 6 years later

the end of a night out (still in the heels!)

Giovanni's with our lil' nugget

she was awake when we started our walk...

dad had fun taking her off-roading in the stroller...

long drive + long walk = one pooped out baby!