CA Road Trip 2012 - Part 3

We spent a week and a half with my parents and had tons of fun! My parents got the kids a big pool so many hours were spent in there! I'm not sure how I missed a picture of it...must all be on my phone. They love it! It was REALLY hot that first week so we got out of the valley and headed to San Francisco! We cruised Pier 39, took a bay cruise and ate some seafood. Perfect day!



A friend of mine from high school just happens to live very close to my parents new house so we went over to the "farm" for some good old country fun! A huge slip and slide, 4 wheeler, creek, dog...doesn't get much better than that! :D


We just HAD to visit our pals the Seloses who recently moved back to CA from TX. The kids had fun playing together again like old times!


One thing we HAD to do while there was go on Grandpa's boat! He's had it for a long time now and this was the first time I have seen it! Quite impressive and FUN! Ryan especially had a blast jumping into the murky Delta water. Katie not so much ;) Thanks Grandpa!



Finally, we headed to Grass Valley to visit my grandparents. The kids always have a great time with their second cousins!



That's it for Norcal! Coming up...San Diego!

CA Road Trip 2012 - Part 2

From Las Vegas we drove straight to the cabin in the Sierra's where we met my parents and my mom's side of the family. It was so much fun to spend time together. After 3 days in the car it was the perfect place for the kids to get their energy out!

CA Road Trip 2012 - Part 1

We have returned from our 3 week road trip to Northern and Southern California! What an amazing experience! The kids did AWESOME on the road...I might have over prepared just a bit but they really suprised me. We left on Wednesday, July 4th with the intention of making it to Albuquerque to see fireworks. Well, we did in fact make it to Albuquerque but it was storming. No fireworks this 4th.

On our way to Northern California we took a northern route via Highway 40. Such a great drive...beautiful sights, light traffic and smooth sailing :)

We stopped at quite a few rest stops including picnicing for lunch each day and also to let the kids run around. Our favorite was in Arizona where they had some great climbing rocks!



Outside of Amarillo, we stopped at Cadillac Ranch. The kids got a kick out of the funny cars and someone even let them borrow some spray paint to paint their initials. It was really windy and dusty.


We made it to Albuquerque for night number 1...about a 13 hour drive. We hit up an authentic Route 66 diner where Daddy had the "Pile Up" which is their signature dish ;)


The big reason we went the northern route was to see the Grand Canyon!!! Neither Keith or I had seen it and it was worth it. AMAZING! A short 5 hour drive from Albuquerque :)



Our original plan was to stay somewhere near the Grand Canyon for night but decided to go for it and get to Las Vegas! We drove down the strip and looked at all the lights and we managed to get a 3 room suite at Circus Circus for cheap. It was really late so while Mommy and Ryan passed out, Daddy and Katie hit up the roller coaster and the rides :) No pictures sadly :( Part 2 to come!