Cali weekender

Earlier this month we went to California with the Reynolds clan. We had so much fun. I think my favorite part of the trip was the beach. Yet riding roller coasters at Knottsberry and spending the day hanging out at the farmers market are in close second. Just looking through the pictures again makes me want to go back. We sure do love our Reynolds family and can't wait to go back!

Now prepare for picture overload :)

the northwest episodes: photo diary

Since I could go on and on about all the fun we had in Washington I opted to just cut to the chase, it. was. a. blast. Here is a snippet of the rest of what we got to do. Until next time Washington, you are always so good to us!

the northwest episodes: eagle eyes in spotting eagles

While we were driving we kept entertained by playing the categories road trip game and talking excessively about how cute Talis is. when we were driving the stretch from Ruby Beach to the Sol Duc Falls (which we sadly ran out of time to end up seeing) we spotted some vultures up ahead eating something on the side of the road. When we got a little closer Dj realized there was also a bald eagle there and we all about freaked. Just then the eagle took off and started flying with our car! I tried to get the best picture I could on my phone . We may have turned the car around to take pictures of the eagle in a nearby tree and we may have waited for a significant time in hopes it would fly closer and we may have discovered that what the eagle was eating was a dead deer on the side of the road and I may have taken a picture of it....maybe....I'll go ahead and just blame it on not thinking straight due to how blown my mind was about seeing a real life eagle in the wild.

the northwest episodes: quinalt rainforest

We just got home from camping over the weekend with the Reynolds clan and we had a blast. Unfortunately the more fun a vacation the more tired at the end so I'll post about our weekend a little later when my energy level isn't running on low and I've rounded up some pictures of the fun we had (sadly we failed to take many pictures). So here is another post about our Washington trip for you while I go catch some much needed zzz's....

At the risk of sounding repetitive in describing the Quinalt Rainforest (gorgeous, breathtaking, beautiful) I'll just let the pictures do the talking...

the northwest episodes: ruby beach

Ruby Beach was one of our stops on our road trip while we were in Washington. It's hands down one of the most beautiful and unique stretchs of beach I've seen before. Watching your little one discover sand, I mean truly discover it, how it feels in between his toes and hands and how it feels gritty when you shove it in your mouth...watching him learn about everything around him is a sight to see myself. It's mostly funny (like when he tried to eat the sand) but when you step back and see your sweet kid learning about his surroundings with a backdrop like Ruby Beach and you can't help but feel all warm inside and think "god is good. god is very very good."

a blur of a vacation

 The last two weeks or so have flown by in a blur. All last week we vacationed in Washington. It was an awesome trip (no suprise there). DJ, my mom, T, and I all got to go and I have to admit I felt like the luckiest girl around. Having three of my favorite people with me doing one of my favorite things (traveling) together to one of my favorite places, could last week have gotten any better? (The answer to that is a loud and resounding no!). We were fortunate enough to go to two different weddings while we were there, one for my cousin and one for a family friend. They were both beautiful and sweet as expected. There are so many details of this special trip that I don't want to forget about so I will be doing a series of posts about different parts of our trip. But for now I'll leave you will a picture we took by the ever so beautiful Cresent Lake. 

the northwest episodes: des moines pier

one of the places we visited while in washington was the des moines pier. we weren't there long because it was pretty cold and by that i mean freezing. i'm pretty sure some fisherman were looking at me funny with no coat and slippers (aka flip flops. dj thinks it's so weird that i call them slippers, not sure why) on. we were hoping to see a few fishermen pull up their full crab pots but we had no luck, so we just "ooh"ed and "aah"ed over the incredibly beautiful puget sound instead.

the northwest episodes: thanksgiving

thanksgiving was a blast. not only did baby T act like a well seasoned traveler (he didn't cry once on the plane, both ways!)  but we ate like kings the entire trip. our thanksgiving meal was the best i've ever had hands down (homemade everything.....and i mean everything!) and the constant cold overcast weather helped me get in the spirit of holiday (it's just not the same when it's ninety degrees out and shining, sorry az). although i didn't take many photos of actual thanksgiving day (i must have been too busy eating) i did take a lot from our trip. however i couldn't wait to share these few photos i did happen top snap on thanksgiving day ...

turkey day football, family dodge ball, me and the hubs, thanksgiving morning traveling, baby T, after feast food coma

a white mountain kind of vacation

we made it back from vacation #1 this month (we're pretty lucky) and it was a blast. lots of card games were played, fires were made, food was eaten, and fun was had. it was also a plus to officially get to experience true fall weather (and even some snow!) for a change. we might of slightly abused it by wearing every warm piece of clothing we own every time we stepped outside the cabin but can you blame us?