Thursday, September 20, 2007

Oh Oregon....

I never really had any draw toward Oregon, or any desire to spend a lot of time there. I had always kind of figured, "why Oregon, it's just that state stuck between Washington and California?!" Then my good friend Allysun, her husband Dave, and there silly daughter Annabelle moved to Brownsville, and I couldn't wait to visit! Kalani and I were invited to spend a long week with Allysun and her family and we quickly jumped at the opportunity. We were able to combine this trip with our visit to SF and it really worked out perfectly for us.
I had an absolutely wonderful time. It was so realaxing, comfortable, fun, and enlightening for me to spend this time away from California and with an awesome friend. I have a new love for Oregon, I really do. Brownsville is a small town of 1500 people, located equally between Corvalis and Eugene in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. I will let the photos tell the story of this trip :)

We had this "thing" going with apple pie. We got the kids totally obsessed with it, in a good way :) This is our beautiful, all natural, healthy and delicious, sugar-free apple pie! Kalani and Annabelle ate it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It was good!!






I ordered some new water bottles for the kids and they arrived the second day we were there. They are suuuper great! All stainless steel, insulated, and very durable.
Please note: we did NOT color coordiante these shots.


Fresh popped popcorn and good company. Yeah!!




Drumming on the wall! Bath time is so much more fun with a buddy!!


Future hairstylist, Annabelle. (In case you can't tell, that's a comb in her hand.)


Kalani really enjoyed this...


really, really enjoyed it.


Surprise!! I'm watching you two :)





A morning at the playground in Brownsville.








And an afternoon of rain.


Kalani LOVED the rain!




Kalani and I went to the neighbor's sunflower garden to pick some of these giant beauties for our very gracious host's. He was so happy and content in between the rows of towering flowers. It was one of my favorite moments with him on our whole trip. Splendor. Love.









Kalani's first trip to the Big City!

Kalani and I headed out on our second airplane trip to go and visit Auntie Zoi in San Francisco! Once again I found myself embarking on this adventure, just me and my little man. This seemed like a daunting task when I was preparing, and I think I tend to psych myself out that it is going to be really difficult and exhausting. But lo and behold, it was a breeze!
Kalani was fascinated by the airport and airplane, I think he talked faster and said more words than I have ever heard before. "Ah-plane, up, down, oh oh, on, on, ah-plane, down, uh-oh, uh-oh, down, up, ah-plane, on, oh oh, ah-plane, up, down, up, up......" seriously, this would go on for 15, 20 minutes, NON-STOP. It was hilarious and adorable. He stomped thru the airport like he was a first class business man, traveling the globe. No fear.

I was very excited and anxious to have Kalani in a big city for the first time, really. We had an awesome time! I finally got to see The Presidio Social Club in person and enjoy a fabulous meal. I got to see Zoi and Jen's adorable apartment, and spend a some more time with little Pruney. "Aw-tee" taught Kalani how to tell Prune "noooo-w", and point his little finger at her when she barked too loud. He caught on really quickly and was quite proud. Prune took him very seriously and would run away with her little tail between her legs. Unfortunately I did not get any photos of this :( Here are a bunch of pictures of Kalani playing at Zoi's apartment though. He really liked it there!
ahhhh, so sad, but such a cute, funny face :)

we bought these shoes the day before and Kalani LOVED them, he insisted on wearing them out of the store! He got them on all by himself this morning and refused to take them off. I had to pull his pants on over them!


I had a great time kicking around the city, after not being there for quite a few years.
Union Square in downtown San Francisco
doing some late night shopping with Gram and Gramp

We also got to have a very long overdue (over 8 months, can you believe that?!!) visit with "Buff" and "Ay-Yo". The 4 of us went to the SF zoo which was a lot of fun. It was a beautiful zoo with the coolest farm and petting zoo I have ever seen! It was a chilly, cloudy, misty day, typical of SF, but still a great day for the zoo.

uhhhh, wrestling the goat?!! Perhaps having a reminiscent moment of the old days back home on the farm :)!
workin!
workin some more, with buff
riding on the "choo-choo"
All in all our visit to SF was quick and busy, but so much fun!

Home Again. Home Again.

We are back from our WONDERFUL and much needed time away from orange county! The weather has cooled down a bit here after out return, kids are back in school so the "feel" around town is much calmer, and it actually rained yesterday. I like it. I love the summer here and the heat and the crowds.... but I am ready for it to all settle a bit now. I guess that's the northwest girl in me shining thru! Nothing like some time in Oregon farmland to remind me of my roots :)

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Mmmmmmm


I thought I would finally post something about me on here :) We had a bbq at mom's house last weekend and I was, of course, in charge of dessert. Mom made ribs, delicious ribs and grilled veggies, and I made some baked beans, so I thought I'd stay with the whole southern-ish theme. I made a 4-layer pecan spice cake with cream cheese frosting, it was sooooo good! I wish I could have sent a piece to all of you up north!!