West Coast Adventures!

And our super busy month of June continues!  Following Little Buddy's week in Minnesota and birthday shenanigans, all four of us packed up again.  This time we are headed to the West Coast!  Uncle C and Aunt A are celebrating their wedding in Oregon, so we decided to turn it into a road trip vacation by flying into California and driving up the coast!  It was quite and adventure and definitely hit pretty high on the crazy scale, but it was also a lot of fun too!

The mess...unpacking just to repack!

     

Ready to fly!  These kids know we are headed to a special first stop on our trip...Disneyland!

We decided to really go big or go home by flying into Los Angeles so that we could go to Disneyland!  (By the way, if you would have told me last year that we were going to do both Disney parks within one calendar year of each other, I would have told you that you were nuts!).  But that was the plan.  What made the plan extra grand?  We would be going to Disney with our dear friends, the D family!  The moved from Texas to California last year and we have missed them so much!  We got to meet them for dinner at Downtown Disney the night we arrived.

The kiddos did great together!  Little Buddy was so excited to see his best buddy, J!  And Little Sister made instant friends with both the girls.  

      

Seriously, the girls formed such a quick bond!  They didn't want to be apart!

We also were fortunate enough to meet another Sanfilippo family while we were out there.  C and his parents were so wonderful.  It always means so much to meet other families.

The next day was D-Day...for Disneyland!

     

Riding the shuttle to the park!

     

Safe to say that this kid is excited for what's in store!

Spreading Sanfilippo Awareness in the Happiest Place on Earth.

Here we are!  All together at Mickey's Castle (as Little Buddy would say)!

Little Buddy's favorite thing on his Make-A-Wish trip to Disney World last year was the character breakfast.  So we decided to start this trip with one as well.  Unfortunately, while Little Buddy liked it, Little Sister saw Captain Hook first and got scared!  It wasn't too fun for her until Minnie came out to say hi!

     

The boys with Captain Hook and Chip.

The Fairy Godmother trying to explain that Little Sister should just make Tick-Tock sounds like the crocodile in order to keep Captain Hook away!

She was much happier when Minnie came out, but still needed Momma to hold her.  

And then it was time for the rides.  Only Little Buddy and J were tall enough to ride the majority of the rides, so we tried to keep the girls entertained and in on the magic too!

     

Carousel time!

       

Both boys loved Splash Mountain!

     

And Big Thunder Mountain Railroad!

The brave boys walking back from Big Thunder Railroad...

     

...while the girls enjoyed cookies, silly time, and Toon Town!

When it was time for lunch, we all sat down and took a break.  Little Buddy sat next to J and, out of no where, embraced him in the biggest hug ever.  Little Buddy doesn't spontaneously hug as much anymore, so this just shows you how special his friend J is to him. 

Buddies!

Planning out the rest of our day!

Little Sister on Dumbo with Daddy!

     

The kids (and daddies) loved rolling this rock and water sculpture!

We hit many more rides and adventures that day, but I was too busy having fun to get many pictures.  It was a busy but wonderful day with our friends.  We are so glad we got the opportunity to see them and spend this time with them. 

Group shot outside the Star Wars exhibit.  Lots of WILLPower!

Goodbye Disneyland!  Thanks for so many memories!

The next leg of our journey was to drive north to San Francisco!  It was fun watching how the landscape changed from dry and brown to lush and green as we journeyed up the coast.

Heading north!

     

     

Sorcerer Little Buddy is handing the drive well, but Little Sister is OVER it already!

We were informed that the Happy Cows of California are not these southern cows, but the northern ones.  

So many windmills!

Getting our sillies out at rest stop!

Coming into the Bay area!

          

Driving into San Francisco!

Decided to take in a Giants game and cross another Stadium off of our list!

Ready for the Giants!  Unfortunately, I think he thought he was going to see REAL Giants and ended up being a little disappointed.  

Beautiful stadium!  Just got a bit cool for us Texans out on the water!

Buildings lit up in honor of the Orlando night club shooting.

     

Just hanging out in the hotel.  The love for his sorcerer Mickey hat is my favorite thing ever!

     

Fueling up with their favorites (pancakes for Little Buddy and bacon for Little Sweetie) so we can start the day's adventures!

Momma got to go see the Painted Ladies and the Full House house!

We decided to finish our San Francisco trip with some views of the Golden Gate Bridge before heading on to Muir Woods.

Coming up to the bridge!

     

On the Golden Gate Bridge!

Found a viewing point, but it was a little windy.  Someone was scared that she was going to lose her hat!

Stunning!

Daddy taking selfies.

Lots of bridge pictures!

Looking out in the bay at Alcatraz!

Then it was time to continue our journey.  We were headed to Muir Woods next so that we could see the redwood trees!  The trees were just as giant and majestic as you would imagine.

Quick picnic lunch in the rental van before our hike through the redwoods!

Heading in!

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

Just beautiful views all around!  And so serene.  Daddy thought the wood burls were really cool, while Little Buddy and Little Sweetie tried to find bears (only carved ones were located, thank goodness!).  Momma really like the "Family Circles" explanation of how the trees survive.  A very cool way to spend part of our day together!

     

This one is ready for more adventure!

WE drove out of the woods and up to an observation area to get our first real view of the coast.  We had decided to take California 1 for a good part of the route and were excited to see the Pacific.

World War II Bunker overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Just gorgeous scenery!

     

But while the scenery was very pretty, the route was also very winding.  And it turns out winding roads and Little Buddy's tummy don't mix well!

Thankfully, he only got sick once and was in good spirits afterward.  Anytime after that, if he told us he felt "hurt" we'd pull off and take a rest.  It made a long drive longer, but worth it not to have a sick kid in the car!

Thankfully, Little Sweetie had no issues.  

     

See, we found the happy cows!  They have much greener pastures and can just walk on the road down by the ocean!

Selfies with Daddy at Bodega Bay!

A quick breather at Salt Point State Park.

We made it to see Point Arena lighthouse, but not in time to go in it.  Still just enjoying the ocean views!

Just watching the waves crashing into shore is so calming and hypnotic.

Quick view of Philo Beach before heading into the hotel for the night.

Upon waking up the next morning, we walked around Glass Beach before heading to our next kid friendly activity, a historic train ride!

Enjoying Glass Beach, but hoping to touch the Pacific later today!

Little Buddy and Little Sweetie love train rides, so we decided that our next adventure should be a ride on the Skunk Train!

All aboard!

Ready to ride!

The open air car was a nice way to enjoy the scenery!

     

     

The weather was so nice for our trip too!

Momma and Little Buddy in deep conversation...

Little Sweetie watching the world go by.

     

Daddy had a Skunk Beer on the Skunk Train!

Little Sweetie approved!

Another successful family adventure!

Daddy and Little Buddy had fun on the train!

Beautiful view from a winery.  Daddy and I will have to come back sometime without kids to really enjoy it!

Happy boy still enjoying the road trip!

We then came upon one of the really touristy parts of our trip:  a stop at the Chandelier Tree!  It was a fun stop to get out with the kids after driving through the tree.

     

     

     

Posing in a fallen sequoia trunk!

After the Chandelier Tree, we found our beach!  A lovely beach was at the entrance to Redwoods National Park.  Lots of room for Little Buddy to run!  Little Sweetie also had fun, but was unsure about the waves, so she decided to stay a bit more inshore.  

     

Freedom to run!

     

Beach baby!

Just a lovely moment.

We found elk!

Resting up in the hotel.  We'll be in Oregon tomorrow!

And here we are!

Playing "grab my foot" as we neared Portland!

After meeting up with Mimi and Pop-Pop and getting settled in, we left the next day for our first Oregon adventure, Multnomah Falls!

Beautiful drive to the falls!

     

     

     

Taking in the view from the bridge!

Little Sweetie looking at the plant life with Mimi.

All done!

And then it was time for Uncle C and Aunt A's reception!

Beautiful dinner out on the deck.

     

Little Sweetie learning about buoyancy from a cork.

Aunt P and Little Sweetie.

     

Actually, Little Sweetie tried to steal the show!

Congrats Aunt A and Uncle C!

Watching the sun set!

After the reception, Daddy and Momma made a quick getaway up to Washington to do a little star-gazing and to see the Cascades.  

Momma always wanted to go to a Dark Sky certified site!

There were no clouds in the morning, so we really got to enjoy the mountain views!

Headed back into Oregon!

When we made it back to Oregon, we met Mimi, Pop-Pop, Little Buddy, Little Sweetie, Uncle C, and Aunt A for Father's Day brunch!  Then it was off for one final adventure...the zoo!

Another train?  Not a skunk train this time.  Excited to ride the zoo train with Mimi and Pop-Pop!

Of all the things in the zoo, Little Sweetie decided the fruit bats were her favorite!  Probably because she thinks she's Batgirl!

Time to fly home...

Goodbye mountains!  We'll miss you!

And finally home.  Story time for these two tired kiddos.

June was a fun month, but it's hard to believe we haven't been home for hardly any of it!  Looking forward to settling in and resting a bit in July and August!  The summer is going to fly by!

Good night, 

LSM

Little Sweetie's Momma