Saturday, March 28, 2009

A Great Day

Our family took a day trip this weekend.  We left Saturday morning and drove to Muir Redwood Forest.  We hiked through some beautiful redwoods.  The kids did so great!  I was proud of them.  Then we went to Muir Beach.  It was beautiful.  We set up chairs and umbrellas and let the kids play in the sand.  It was a wonderful afternoon.  Then we went to Muir Overlook which we could see San Francisco and then up the coast far north.  There were beautiful cliffs and the ocean was so sparkly.  It was a great day.  Here are some pic.  Enjoy...

Here we are at the entrance to Muir Woods.
We are at the base of a large redwood.
We LOVE Clark!

Clark took my map and led the way!
Jaron took some great shots of the forest.
Yes, I am standing in a tree!
Here are the kids at the beach.  The played so hard and got covered in sand.  It was a great day!
Jaron was a good dad and helped them build a sand castle.
Take a runny nose and fall face first in the sand and you get a great mustache!  I think he looks like Hitler!
Here we are at the overlook.  It was beautiful.

Over Clark's shoulder is San Francisco.  This was a great view!  It was a great end to a great day!

Friday, March 20, 2009

Weekend Fun

Last weekend we had some fun.  First, we had a pirate birthday party to go to.  On Saturday, we did some sight seeing.  We drove up the coast.  It was beautiful.  Here are some pictures from last weekend!

I didn't have pirate costumes, so these were my homemade versions.  Vienna decided she was a girl pirate.  

Clark loved this little pirate ship.  He drove it the whole time.  He even says, "ARGH!"
We stopped at this beach right by the Golden Gate Bridge.  It was freezing, but Vienna was determined to build a sand castle!

This beach had some beautiful views.  The ocean was to the left, the bridge to the right, and ships were coming in.  In the summer this is a "clothing optional" (nude) beach so we were OK with it being so cold!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Inside of Our Martinez, CA Apartment

We are all unpacked and settled in.  I actually like have a one story small apartment again.  It is easy to clean and cozy!  The kids are adjusting well, thought Vienna still says that she misses Arizona, her house, and her friends.   I will post pictures of the outside, but here are a few of where we live.

This is the front half of our living room.  It is a rectangle, so the front half is the tv room and the back half is the kids play area.

It is nice to have carpet on the kids play area.  Hopefully it helps drown some of the noise for the neighbor down stairs.
This is our dining room.  We brought that cupboard with us since we had bought it for the house, but never attached it.  It makes for a nice pantry.

This is my kitchen.  It is small, but cute and it works.  
This is our small bathroom.  Leaves much to be desired, but it will do.

This is our bedroom.  It is quite large.  We even have the computer desk in there.  We only have a very small closet for us to use.  My shoes are stacked on top of each other.  Other than that, it is a great room with lots of windows.  

This is the kids' new bunk beds.  Vienna decided she was too scared to sleep on the top, so we put both kids on the bottom bunk.  They are too long to sleep feet to feet, so we put them horizontally on the bed.  It works nicely.

The kids room is so large that it fits all of the toys.  It's nice to have a place for everything and everything in it's place.
We have a small deck off of the family room where we have stored a few things, but after a huge garage sale, we fit nicely in 900 square feet.  There's a lot of love in this little place!

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

California Travels.

When given lemons, make lemonade!  That's what we decided to do.  Since we were moving from Arizona to Northern California, we saw that we were somewhat passing by Anaheim.  So, Jaron took a vacation day and we stopped.  The company moved us so all we had were our suitcases and van.  We also had enough Marriot Points to stay in the hotel across the street for free.  This was a great day.  It was rainy so not many people came.  We walked on all the rides, saw all the characters and had the best time.  This really helped us leave Arizona because we were excited about Disneyland.  Now we are in California and with all the rain we are getting, we are missing our beautiful spring weather in Arizona!  But we are here and healthy!

Here we are at the famous front gates!


The Princess Castle!

They had redone It's A Small World.  The kids loved it.  One time we got a frozen banana to eat in line, but Vienna decided it was hers and would not share.  Can you blame her?  They are YUMMY!

Here we are in line at Jungle Cruise.  The kids loved this ride but I had to remind them it was just pretend.  

We got to meet Mickey Mouse!  Vienna said to me later, "Mom, Mickey Mouse is just a puppet.  It is just a person in a costume."  Well, how do you answer that one?  
Clark pulling his classic silly face.
 
Vienna's favorite ride was the merry go round.

On Saturday we did some sightseeing to San Francisco.  We went to Fisherman's Wharf.  From this spot we could see Alcatraz, the bay bridge (in the background), The Golden Gate Bridge, Boats, and other islands.

In the background you can see the Golden Gate Bridge.

At Pier 39, Sea Lions bask in the sun on the docks.

We stopped to watch a street performer.  Jaron got called on stage to help.  He was a good sport!