A Camping We Will Go!

This past weekend we were lucky enough to head out of town for a fun filled camping trip!!! We went out to the KOA in Cloverdale, CA with our awesome friends Angelina, Justin, and their daughter Bianca!! 

Just wanted to share a few photos of our fun weekend!! 

Here everyone is setting up camp!!

Since I pack the car and haul everything out from the car Chuckles is in charge of setting up the tent, as well as all the cooking!!

It was super windy when we got there, and ALL NIGHT LONG, so Chuck had to get Justin's help in setting up the final part of the tent, which kept trying to blow away!

Me and my Homeslice getting ready to be lazy while the boys took care of everything the rest of the night :)

After we got all set up, Justin started a camp fire and Chuck cooked up dinner. Burgers for us with pesto pasta salad and macaroni and cheese for Bianca!! Check out our new camping stove that we got as a wedding gift! According to Chuck it's AMAZING and so much better than BBQ-ing everything. Of course I'd have no idea cause other than toasting marshmallows I don't cook all weekend! :)

 Angelina and I super comfy in our camp chairs around the fair! Excuse the haze the wind kept blowing smoke everywhere!! It was such a nice relaxing night by the fire!!

All ready to start roasting marshmallows!!

The next morning we were all up bright and early! We were up around 7 cause A. A jerk in the camp spots below us was yelling at his kid and B. Once the sun came up it got super bright in the tent!!

Chuck immediately starting making us some yummy pancakes and bacon!!

And Angelina and I started the day off right with some champagne!!

The dogs did so well considering this was their first tent experience. We've always done a cabin when we've taken the dogs (or rented an RV like at Manchester Beach). They were all about laying in the dirt and Buster kept a watchful eye over our site!!

Saturday afternoon Angelina and I took Bianca to the pool which was so awesome!! We spent a couple hours in the water catching some sun while the boys chilled at camp. Then we all walked up to the store and got some ice cream to cool down!!

This was my outfit for our walk (hey we are camping) but everyone gave me crap for it! They even tried to get me to change my shorts but I had to rock them!! 

Saturday evening, once the sun started going down the dogs crapped out on us! Both were so pooped from fun activities!

I don't think Buster slept at night cause of all the noise from the wind but he sure crashed when we were relaxing at camp!!

Here is me and the hubs!! Yup I love saying that!! :)

Saturday night we had an AWESOME dinner of green beans, rolls, steak and pesto pasta salad!! Needless to say we were stuffed full from all the awesome food!!

You're never too old to play a childs game right?? While sitting around the camp fire we got to talking and the topic of Chubby Bunny came up!! Have you ever played?? Well you stick a marshmallow in your mouth and say Chubby Bunny. Then you keep adding marshmallows until A. You can't fit any more in or B. you can no longer understand what you are saying when you say Chubby Bunny!!

Justin and I were the two competing and he definitely won! Angelina had me laughing so hard (cause she was laughing at us) I ended up spitting all my out before I got my 6th one in. Justin got in 6 and attempted 7 before he lost it :) It was so fun though!!

Sunday morning we got up and got packed because it was going to be HOT HOT HOT that day! We had an amazing time camping though and boy did we get tan!!

Another fun camping trip at the Cloverdale KOA. Seriously if you live close to this area go check it out! We are actually going back in July for some more fun in the sun!!

Happy Trails Everyone!!

Photo's As Promised

I promised that I would share photo's from when my Paps and I went "Picture Taking" the other day from local areas where we live!

The first up was downtown area of Santa Rosa!

Don't you just love this clock! It's so pretty!!

This was taken at the Luther Burbank Gardens in Santa Rosa! They had a bunch of pretty flowers in bloom!

I loved these but not sure what they are called!

Don't these look like paper flowers??

 It's like a cottage out of a movie!

Around the area that I work we have a large amount of land with a bunch of overgrown grass. The company that owns the land brings in sheep and goats twice a year to be lawn mowers! Luckily I got this awesome shot of a cute little sheep!! So cute right?

The rest of these pictures are from Crane Creek Regional Park!

Yes we live in a gorgeous area!!

 

Even though the clouds are dark it was a gorgeous day!!

LOVE this tree!! It was so cool looking!

Paps was messing around but this is a really cool shot!!

There were 3-4 of these flying around above us and it was beautiful!!

I was so stoked to get such a great shot of TWO lizards! I'd been trying the whole time but they kept scurrying out of site, Finally my Paps spotted these two just chilling.

This shot turned out way cooler than I expected...Originally the bird was just hanging out on the bridge but I guess right as I clicked he took off, thus the awesome action shot!! I was stoked!!

I should really never complain about where we live and I am really trying hard to love it. In fact how could I not? Well there's a lot more than meets the eye, both good and bad (I live in Cali housing SUCKS) but I really am lucky to be able to not only live in such a beautiful area but to already own a home here.

Have you ever stayed as local as possible and really explored what your town has to offer in terms of beauty and nature?

It's a Beautiful Day for a Hike!

At my work we are extremely lucky to get a day off for our birthday! Since mine landed on Memorial Day this year I got 2 days off for my birthday! I decided to take the Friday before off and instead of my usual "Sit on Butt at Home" routine I asked my best friend Alycia if she wanted to go on a hike? Of course she said YES! Her and her hubs had recently gone on a hike and it 100% made me want to do one too!!

After checking the weather constantly throughout the week, it said rain from 10 AM to 10 PM on Friday we decided to bump up our time a little bit and I met her at her house at 9:30 AM. We got to Helen Putnam Park (in my hometown) and got to hiking!!

Funny story about our hats! That night the A's played the Yankees in Oakland!! Yes the A's lost but it was not unexpected LOL!!

This is a map of the park! I remember as a kid we went as a family and I HATED every single minute of it! Unless it was soccer or volleyball I HATED physical activity! My parents will definitely back me up when I say I was such a brat when we went! But this time around I was super excited to get going!!

First we had to climb up this big steepish hill! I'm not going to lie to you I was huffing and puffing the whole way up! However once we got to the top (the picture below is about halfway up) it was so beautiful and HOT! So much for rain! We lucked out and it was a bright sunny gorgeous day!

Since we've decided not to move out of California any time soon I've really been trying to embrace and LOVE where we live! This hike definitely reminded me to appreciate the beautiful area we live in!

You can see town from this place but let me tell you, it doesn't feel like you are in town!

My Paps and I are kind of into taking photos of old barns and on the last leg of our hike we came across this beauty! I just had to take a picture and I love how it turned out!

After about an hour and half of hiking (we did the longest route we possibly could) we stopped and ate our healthy lunch down at their picnic area! Well everything but the trail mix was healthy! :)

I was so amazed that I was so happy and so in love with doing this hike! I mean I seriously was a snotty little brat who complained the whole time when I came out with my family, which also happens to be the last time I'd been out here. But I truly enjoyed every single minute, yes even the big hill climb, of our hike!

It was such a beautiful day with a great friend! And bonus - 9I wasn't even sore the next day WOO HOO! In fact my Paps and I went out the next morning to take photos and we went for a walk at another local park :) I'll post those pictures soon for your viewing pleasure!!

Any one else discover a physical activity they HATED as a child that they now enjoy as an adult?

Calling All Campers - CAUTION PICTURE HEAVY

Ahhhhhh - Vacation! Is there a better word?

Chuck and I were so excited to take our vacation this July as we were trying out a "new" KOA. New for us, not new for them! We took a few days and headed up to the Manchester Beach KOA in Mendocino!

We rented one of these :-)

Which was FABULOUS!! I've done tent camping and RV camping as a child but Chuckles had only ever tent camped and had only spent a brief amount of time in my parents RV. But after this trip he was hooked. Since the weather was very cold at night he was extremely excited to get into a nice warm trailer with a real bed!

This KOA had this amazing sign right across from our camping spot! 

So of course we took the dogs! This was more than just a dog walk my friends it was a massive dog park.

Normally we stay away cause Roxy does not normally do well with random dogs but since there were not a lot of campers we got to take the dogs twice a day each day we were there!

Buster was in heaven as soon as he was released and we threw the ball! Yes he is that dog from Eddie Murphy's Doctor Dolittle!

And to our suprise little Miss Roxy took off like a bat out of hell and barely stopped to breathe! She seriously ran all over this place, no ball needed!

After putting in some quality time at the dog park we still wanted to go on a walk around the KOA and they had this pretty view! Unfortunately the beach directly connected to the KOA is a "No Dogs" beach so we never got to step foot on sand but we felt the coastal breeze, heard the waves, and still got pretty pictures!

After our long walk we took our pooped puppies back to camp where the temperature did not improve. So Roxy got herself all wrapped up and took a nap

While we got out the Yahtzee, the beer, and our food to BBQ!! Despite the cold on the first day we still had a blast and the next day it was sunny to the point where we both got a little sunburnt!

Because of the chilly weather we decided to start our campfires at 6 and ended up each night in the trailer in between 9 and 10. What really blew our mind was that even at 9 when we'd head inside it was still bright out. I'm not talking super bright but enough light out that we didn't need a flashlight!

Of course we had smores!

The next day was much better! We spent the morning at the dog park along with a nice walk, then settled back at camp in the brilliant SUN!!

Look at how happy Buster-Roo is! He was exhausted but he just loved the dog park and he loved spending the whole day outside!

I of course spent some quality time reading my book!

While Roxy sunbathed!

Chuck bbq'ed us some Bacon Chicken Sandwiches for lunch - SUPER YUM!

Then after another campfire we retired our sunburnt faces to get a good nights sleep before heading out the next day!

The ride up we took one road but had the pleasure of traveling down HWY 1 for the ride home and took in the beach scene the whole way home!

Don't worry we were at a complete stop! While we were both sad to be leaving camp, we were also happy to be heading home!

Roxy was ecstatic! She doesn't seem to be a big fan of camping!

And Buster seemed to be in the same boat as us, sad to be leaving the beautiful outdoors, but he was happy to get home and slept all afternoon!

I would highly recommend the Manchester Beach KOA! The location is gorgeous, the staff was extremely friendly and helpful, and if you go you might as well rent the RV cause it was awesome! I did miss our cabin camping but at the same point we would have frozen our butts off at night!

All in all a great vacation that was too short (aren't they all) but we cannot wait to go back and spend an entire week here!!

I hope everyone has been able to take a vacation and get away this summer or that you will be able to before the summer leaves us!