Califoregon Living

Our good friends, Mike and Carol, hosted us for two nights.  They have a woodland cabin in Cle Elum.  It has become a bit of a tradition for us to spend a night here before moving on to Chelan.  It is such a special time for our family.

Here is our  good friend, Kirsten, all bundled up.  It was cold!

One of the highlights the boys love to do is ride on the ATV, and this year, they actually got to try their hand at riding a dirt bike!

Watching a video…

Here is David showing “J” a few things on the guitar…

Playing games!  Monopoly, Sequence….

Working on an art project…

Going for an evening walk…

‘R’, displaying his nature collection.  Please note the grass sticking out of his mouth.  This is a common ‘R’ look when he’s in the country…

‘A’ and ‘A’ sharing a beverage using TWIZZLERS for straws 🙂

The next day, we were blessed with a big get together including the Gunning, Cheney, Smith, Potoshnik, Cogle, and Lamborn families!  We spent the day playing at the cabin, and the river, and enjoying the music by David and Scott at the bonfire…

The two ‘R’s…

‘M’ and ‘M’…

Jordan playing with some of the boys…

Our two boot babes…Liann and ‘A’…

At the river.  It was cold.  The kids did not get the memo.

Rob and ‘W’…

‘B’ having fun with little sister, ‘V’…

Miss ‘A’, modeling some cute glasses Liann brought for the kids…

Did I mention it was cold?

Taking a break…

Liann, dressed appropriately…

I learned how to play spoons with the motley crew…

Making s’mores…

Our gracious hosts and wonderful friends, Mike and Carol…

My buddy  Heidi, and me…

David and Mike 🙂

‘C’ and ‘J’…

Three amigos…

Make that four!

Great gal pal, Liann and me…

Guitar brothers, David and Scott…

Laura and Jordan…

An impromptu guitar lesson…

Eyes are open, Heidi!  WOOT!!

Pool noodle wars…

Beautiful mom and daughter…

mmmmm….pie…..

Thank you for the memories, friends.  We love you all!!

We spent the third night and the second to the last night with Dad and Dada, at their home in Seattle.  The ‘Sequence’ World Cup took place, and las jovenes reigned supreme!!

‘A’ served as Grill Assistant…

Legos.  Que sorpresa…

Fabulous dinner.

After dinner, we talked to Dado’s brother and niece, living in Colombia, on Skype.  The kids had a great time hamming it up for them.

Viva la SEQUENCIA!

After a hard day of play, ‘A’ crashed…

We suprised the kids by going to see, “The Prince of Persia”.  Here we are joking around in the theater…

At lunch, Dado and Dada gave the kids some activities for the trip home.  We broke into the TARZAN tattoos and everyone got one!

One of the gifts was a set of books on CD by author Ronald Dahl.  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, etc.
It was such an enjoyable way to pass the looooooonnnnnggggg time in the car.  Thanks for the fun and joy Dado and Dada.

…and the road trip begins!!  Our annual trip to Washington and Idaho to visit friends and family!  We spent the first night on the road in Medford.  The second night was spent visiting with my dad and stepmom. 

We met my dad on board their nautical joy, “Our Adventure“.  The weather was nice; not too hot, but sunny.  The kids played hide and seek.  How many places can one hide on board?  My dad helped the boys get creative.  ‘R’ hid in the engine room, and ‘A’ hid under the stairs.  They had a blast looking for each other.

After a delicious Mexican dinner at a local restaurant in Olympia, we joined my stepmom, Julee, back at their house.  We spent the rest of the evening visting and getting caught up.  It was a fun night for us all. 

Sunset from their balcony…

Showing off their mad Lego skills…

We love you, Grandma and Grandpa! 

With David away on business, and the Lamborns spending the day in San Francisco, the boys and I got to spend the evening with my friend, Tara, and her family.  We cruised on Lake Folsom in their boat, and the kids loved swimming in the lake.  The sunset was gorgeous.  It was a special evening all around.

Our friends, Laura and Jordan, decided to take a spontaneous roadtrip south to get away from Washington’s rain.  They arrived at our place around six, and after dinner out, we hit the hot tub and pool.

Artistic Jordan gave the boys a couple of art lessons, teaching them how to draw people.

The boys love wrestling with Jordan…

More fun to come!

Darn it.  The Lamborns wanted to go to Napa.  Oh, well…

First stop, Castelo di Amarosa.  This is the boys favorite place in Napa Vallyey, for obvious reasons. I have discussed this place in more detail in other posts.  If  interested, you can use the search feature on the blog to find the previous posts.

This property has a room that has a table with coloring pages and crayons.  Here are the boys enjoying their artistic pursuits…

Stop #2 – Frank Family Vineyards.  This is a sweet, smaller property that makes you feel like you are visting a friend’s home.  We had packed a picnic and ate our lunch here.  They have a resident dog that the boys enjoyed playing with and slipping him a few turkey slivers.

Stop #3 – Rubicon Estates.  This is another property I have written about before.  This is another favorite of the boys because of the interesting collection of “magic lanterns”, and the sailboats they get to play with in the fountain…They have a small cafe here that makes my favorite mocha…

Stop #4 – Peju.  Beautiful grounds, with a lovely koi pond and unique art scuptures throughout.  They have an art gallery inside, and a neat little self tour to learn the wine making process. 

Final stop – Domaine Carneros.  This is another property I have written about before and have more pictures of.  It is my favorite way to end the day in Napa.  The boys enjoyed some european pastries for their snack prior to our trek home.
Here they are playing “whack a mole” with ‘R’s finger!

My husband’s brother, Paul, and his girlfriend, Shannon, just returned from traveling throughout South America for five months.  They are moving from Maui to San Francisco and joined us for a couple of nights.

They arrived in the afternoon and we spent some time by the pool, then a delicious dinner at Lucille’s BBQ.  They caught up on some sleep the next morning, while the boys and I were at Breakaway.  After we returned, we went for a hike at Hidden Falls…



We saw a bunch of lizards…

We saw some fish and ‘A’ tried to catch them by hand!

An ideal swimming hole…

God’s water slide…

A polliwog.  We just learned that a polliwog has just the tail, and a tadpole has a tail and legs…

Can you count all the damselflies?

Crawdad…

David and I enjoyed watching the cloud figures.  Here’s a dragon…

A couple of angels…

Getting psyched up for the hike back…