Valentine's adventure

Valentine's weekend was such an exciting event at our house because it signaled the end of the dreaded block exams and meant we'd be seeing our daddy/husband again! So to celebrate, we decided to pack our little car up with snacks and changes of clothes and head on an adventure. We weren't really sure where were going, we just knew that the day was beautiful and we wanted to go somewhere new.

So with the aid of our trusty GPS, we found our way through Sonoma, past a Coast Guard Training Facility, through a beautiful cow laden town called Tomales, and eventually ended up on Highway 1 and at the beach. We stopped for a picnic in some cool druid-looking rocks, happened to be the ONLY car driving through an apparent biker-friendly town, saw sea lions, some of the most beautiful scenic country, and ended up at one of our favorite beaches, Stinson Beach. Coincidentally, we went to Stinson beach last year for Valentines. Maybe it'll be our new tradition :)

We had a nice time spending the day as a family. The kids really enjoyed getting out, the weather was ideal, and I really needed a tiny escape with my family and handsome husband. I don't realize how much he means to me and what a big help he is around the house until he has exams and is practically gone for two weeks. I love you hun! Enjoy the pics...

Road trip diva

Check out that view!

This was Korbin's first experience with sand. He dug his pink toes in deep and kept trying to eat it. Note that the muskacheer sword in the background had to come to the beach with us.

My kids have the best daddy :)o

Busy working on something cool.

I'm glad families are forever, because I really love mine!

Sacramento Train Museum

We are situated in the perfect spot, smack dab between San Francisco and Sacramento. A couple weeks ago, Sacramento hosted Free Museum Day. I knew the word FREE would bring out everyone and anyone and I was sure to run into masses of people, but Kevin was 2 days away from Block Exams, which means stress galore and Daddy MIA. Rather than sit around the house feeling sorry for myself on a lonely Saturday, we decided to venture to our capital city and have an adventure!

Kevin's sister Kelli and her 3 boys met up with us at the Sacramento Railroad Museum and we pushed and shoved through the throngs of people to get a glimpse at the infamous locomotives. Kassidy really loved the big trains, I hated the crowds, and Korbin was pretty oblivious. We'll have to go back again to see everything that had a big line to see it. We followed up the museum with a picnic lunch in the 68 degree weather outside (one definite plus to California. February at home in Utah is still in the 30's. We call it "warm" when it hits 50 ).

We should have quit while we were ahead and still had some patience left, but I foolishly convinced everyone to head to Fairytale Town for an hour more. Traffic getting there was HORRIBLE! That should have tipped me off to the crowds awaiting us there, but I was still oblivious. Yikes. The place was packed, but we managed to get in a few attractions before it closed. The kids had a good time, which is was matters right? Kassidy, if you ever read this when you are grown up, know that I risked my own sanity to give you fun experiences. Do it for your kids too! :)

Cute cousins

Cayden was way excited to see the trains!

Kelli with the kids in a boxcar

They had some BIG trains in the museum

This picture reminds me of "A Christmas Story" :)

My little Cinderella

What a fun day!

*MORE POSTS BELOW

Bay Area Discovery Museum

The Bay area has tons of really neat museums to see, and on the first Wednesday of every month, they're free!! We're excited with the nicer weather and older baby boy to start visiting some of them. Our sweet friends, the Deurksens, invited us along with them for a fun outing to the Bay Area Discovery Museum. It was our first time and the day couldn't have been more beautiful! The museum is situated right at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge. The museum is both inside and out and has tons of themed rooms for the kids. Kassidy enjoyed it all and I loved watching her imagination grow with make-believe fishing, train rides, ocean discovery, construction work, and more. We'll definitely be return guests.

Kassidy and Chase were really excited to go in, despite these glum looks :)

Korbin made a friend who was just as cute as himself :) Mirrors are the coolest to 6 month olds!

Cool giant redwood that Kassidy walked through

Kassidy, Finn, me and Korbin in a wicker house.

This was Kassidy's favorite room where she pretended to drive boats, fish, and then sell her wares at a pretend Fisherman's Wharf. So cool! And Korbin was definitely ready for a nap at this point.

*ANOTHER POST BELOW

Muskacheer!

Kassidy's been really into the Three Musketeers lately. We checked out a Barbie Musketeer movie from the library and it's been her new favorite. She's been begging to be a musketeer. Yeah, my girlie loves to dress up. So I whipped her up a simple mask, which admittedly wasn't that great, I'll have to fix it, but she loved it. Later, her awesome daddy whipped up a couple rapier swords for our little muskacheer. She loves 'em!

It's a daddy thing

This must be a daddy thing, because Kevin has a picture of his dad doing the same thing to him. This makes me smile! Too bad I'm not strong enough to do this...

Daddy with Korbin, January 2011

Daddy with Kassidy January 2008

Ice Skating

I'm a little behind, but a few weeks ago we took Kassidy ice skating for the first time. I think it was a hit because for days afterwards she kept begging to go back. She was the cutes little blondie in size 9 skates! After 2 hours, Kevin and I were exhausted and our backs were killing us, but Kassidy wanted to keep going. Maybe we have a future Michelle Kwan :)

This is what you do when your back starts to seize up.

Missing Daddy

We are missing our Daddy/husband this week. It's block exam time, which means Kevin lives at the library and sleeps about 5 hours a night to get everything done. We have to take our quality time where we can get it. Today we visited him at the library. Kassidy drew a picture of Daddy. Can you see the resemblance?The scribbles at the top say "daddy".