Oak Glen 2014

We took our annual fall trek to Oak Glen this morning.  We got a very early start to the day, and didn't realize that we got there 40 minutes before things opened up... oops. So, we strolled and played around the property and anticipated being first in line for fresh donuts and cider. :)
 

 

 

The fresh mini donuts and warm cider were well worth the wait! YUM!
 

 

 

 

 

At this stage in our lives, we are content to just spend a couple of hours in the early morning (beating the crowds!), enjoying the cool crisp air and just being together during a busy time of year.  We even had time to stop in Redlands for lunch with college friends before heading home to watch the UofM game while the kids napped. :)  What a great fall day!

Beach Camping

We recently returned from our first camping adventure of the summer.  We traveled into San Diego county to do some coastal camping.  We really scored with some last minute reservations.  We stayed for three nights and had a really good time.  We packed the car up (really tightly), loaded up the bikes, and headed out.

Our campground was in a great location. South Carlsbad State Park has two types of campsites.  "Ocean" sites and "inland" sites.  It depends on which side of the road your campsite lies.  We had an ocean site, which means we were right at the top of a bluff that overlooks the ocean.  We went to sleep hearing the gentle crash of waves.

The kids spent a lot of time in this tree.  It was right on our campsite. They enjoyed the view, too.

The main attraction at the campsite was, of course, the beach.

 The boys (and Mommy) enjoyed finding the Hermit Crabs by scooping the sand in the shallow water.  The Crabs would go scurrying into the sand in the bucket.

After Betsy wrote the family names in the sand, Jack wrote his.  He did a pretty good job, too.  The only letter he needed to trace was "k."

Like we wrote earlier, the beach was the main attraction.  However, we also brought our bikes and the kids loved that, too.  Jack mostly rode his own.  Arie rode on the seat of the bike we borrowed from our friend, Dave.

Of course, we did eat. Below is some of the evidence.

Hobo Pizza Pies the first night...although we thought "Camping" Pizza Pies is a better name to teach the kids. 

S'mores were part of the nightly routine.  

Arie thought the S'mores were "too sticky."  You can tell how careful he is trying to be in the picture below .

And...unsuccessful. :)

Jack, as usual, had no inhibitions.  

Not bad for camping food, huh?  Garlic bread and asparagus were done over the fire.

Also, we were packing up to leave and had this incident: Arie got ahold of the rubber mallet used to pound in tent stakes.  We didn't think much of this.  He was hitting a fence and doing some light pounding on the ground.  And then...we heard Jack screaming.  Arie hit him in the head with the mallet.  Blood was gushing out of Jack's head.  So, instead of finishing our pack up, it was time to visit the ER in Carlsbad.

Scary looking, right?   

Nice ER in Carlsbad.  Jack and Arie both got stuffed animals to take home.  

This is getting ready for bed the same night.  I think he felt ok. :)

We came home from our adventure with lots of sun, lots of dirt, lots of good memories, and one more visit to the ER than we anticipated.  Well worth it!!

Nine Year Anniversary

Ben and I had the chance to get away for about 48 hours of fun to celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary last weekend.  Our dear friend, Katie, had offered to watch the boys for us, and what a gift that was.  She arrived at our house on Saturday morning, and the kids couldn't push us out the door fast enough.  They were SO excited to have Auntie Katie all to themselves!
We made the quick drive up the mountains, picking up Trader Joe's wraps on our way, and arrived in Big Bear by early afternoon.  We had reserved this darling cabin through a Groupon deal, and we were really pleased with it.  It was much more space than we needed, but came for the same price as some of their smaller cabins, and it had a hot tub!  We sat in it both nights and enjoyed the peace and stillness of no children leaping across our laps, splashing, or fearlessly diving in. ;) We were actually able to sit and have a conversation one night, discussing the highlights of each year of marriage thus far.

As nice as this kitchen was, we headed out for a nice dinner at the Peppercorn Grille that evening.  We strolled around the Village for awhile before getting icecream and heading back to the cabin to veg out for the rest of the night.

The Groupon deal included a chair lift ride at Snow Summit and a 2 hour kayak rental, so Sunday was our Fun Day! 

We had  a nice view of Big Bear Lake from the chair lift, and we took a short hike at the top, staying out of the way of all the mountain bikers who were out on this gorgeous day.

After a yummy lunch at a little deli called Big Bear Belly Deli, we headed out for our kayak adventure.
Everything was going great until Ben realized that he had lost ONE of his flip flops along the way.  Boo! We chose to continue smiling and paddled on, taking a little break on a rocky shore before heading back.

We had gone through a very mucky section of the lake on our way out, and I joked to Ben that we should keep our eyes peeled for his flip flop, since there's no way it could have gone too far in that nasty thick muck!  Lo and behold, Ben spotted his lone sandal floating in the muck on our way back, and we were able to retrive it from the lake!!!  We could not believe our luck and couldn't stop laughing about it for the rest of the trip.  That sandal must have floated out there for over an hour, just wishing to be reunited with its mate. ;)

 After kayaking we crashed back at the cabin (well, maybe not before stopping for icecream, AGAIN! why? because we COULD!).  We were so lazy!!!  I think we were basically on the couch from about 4pm til 8pm when we fixed an easy dinner, then sat in the hot tub, then came back to the couch to watch a movie.  It was so nice to not have a schedule and do whatever we wanted!
The next morning we checked out and started heading down the mountain.  But not before making one last stop at the infamous Alpine Slides.  I had gone here as a girl with our family friends, Sallie and Jerry, but never since.  I wanted to introduce Ben to the fun of it!

Another chair lift ride to the top, and a sweet view of the lake before "sledding" down the concrete slides.

We both took a couple rides down, and while we thought we were pretty gutsy and fast, we couldn't come close to breaking Jerry's record of burning a hole in the knees of our jeans while leaning into a curve. ;)

It was a WONDERFUL and relaxing weekend with my best friend.  We are so grateful for the chance we had to get away, reconnect, and just have fun together.  The last nine years has been so full and we feel immensely blessed.  Thank you for taking such good care of the kids, Katie!  They didn't miss us one bit! :)