Take me out to the ball game!

It was another wonderful day in San Francisco! We got there early and did a little shopping. We went to Ikea for the 1st time. Holy Cow! That store is huge. We got lost. Found some cute kids stuff though. We got to the stadium early. The weather was wonderful as usual. We ate lunch across the street from AT&T Park and went in early. The first so many fans got Giants gym bags, we scored 3 of them. We checked out the stadium. They has so cute kids activities, hence the pictures. The big coke bottle is a slide but Andre was to little to go down. The game was good. Was getting a little close at the end, but the Giants won. We had a great view of the bay. Andre was asleep by about the 6th inning after eating popcorn, peanuts, and cotton candy. We had a great time.

Another Camp Out

We headed out on another California adventure last weekend. We ended up at Lassen Volcanic National Park. Mt. Lassen is an old volcano that last erupted in 1915. It's about 2 hours northeast of us. Our plan was to make a 2 night camping trip out of the weekend. We wanted to swim, hike, and play in the woods.When we got to the park we didn't realize that we were at about 7,000 feet. Remember, we live in hot Orland which sits at 100 feet above sea level. We got to the park, drove in about 14 miles and found a small campground next to a lake. The weather was cool and the area was nice. We set up camp, ate dinner and roasted marshmallows. A typical camp out. Well we weren't ready for the FREEZING night ahead of us. We thought we were in California where it had been 100 degrees for the last 2 months but no, not there. We froze our butts off. There was even snow in some areas. We were up and down all night long. Rob kept thinking there was a bear in our camp. He didn't want to be "those campers" who left food out and had a visit from a bear in the night so he was checking all night long. Anyways, it was just a rough night, we were all grumpy and we just wanted to go home. We decided to bag the second night of camping, packed up and headed out. We were just going to drive the rest of the park and head home. We had read about a place called Bumpass Hell. It's a thermal area named after a man who fell in the hot spring and lost his leg. YIKES. The hike in is 3 miles round trip. We knew there was no way Andre could ever make that hike and we were so tired a grumpy that we were just going to stop at the area, look at the view, and then leave. When we got there we thought "what the hell." We will probably never come back here and we have come this far so we may as well make the hike in. So we packed up Andre in the baby backpack (thank goodness we had it) and made the 3 mile hike. I packed Andre in and Rob packed him out. We were SO happy we did it. Andre loved the hike. He kept saying "We're hiking!" He was an angel. The area was really cool. There were no rails on the decks which was a little scary. It reminded me of my trips to Yellowstone when I was little. That part of out trip made it all worth it. The weather was nice and cool and we were all just really happy. It was great. By the time we hiked out, Andre was out. All that riding made him exhausted :) We ate lunch, made our way through the rest of the park and headed home. We got lots of great pictures and made lots of memories. It's another trip as a family to add to the list.

UPSIDE DOWN BEAN

A little more Birthday

A few extra photos!!!

San Francisco Zoo

One of our goals for the summer was to make it down to the San Francisco Zoo. We had heard wonderful things about it. So we went down yesterday for a day trip to the city. We really like San Francisco. It is so different then any place we have ever been. The way the houses are set up is amazing. So close together and so many of them. I could NEVER live like that but it is cool to see. The Zoo sits right across the street from the beach. The weather was WONDERFUL. About 60 degrees, a little fog and the refreshing scent of the ocean. Just what we needed. The Zoo was huge. So much to see. We told Andre that there was a train there and that is ALL he wanted to do. He would tell us, "ride the choo choo choo choo choo choo train!" Yes, he says choo six times. It was so cute. We finally found the train. He had been waiting all day for it. We took one train ride that lasted about 5 minutes and he was happy, ready to see what else the zoo had to offer. We found the kids area that had a petting zoo.. Be careful in there. Those goats and sheep will attack you if you have food in your hand. When Rob was at the machine trying to buy food, he had a goat nudging him with his horn. He then had 2 sheep following him around waiting to eat, hence the pictures. They know you have food if you have a closed fist. It was hilarious and once you have no more food and open your hands up to show them, they want nothing more the do with you. So our lesson for the day is never go into a petting zoo with a closed fist. What great memories. The day was so relaxing. Andre was such a good boy. He is always a good boy. We are very lucky parents to have our Andre. He has brought so much joy and laughter to our lives. I wish you all could see him growing and learning. It is amazing.

Trying to beat the heat!

So July weather in California is no fun. We had at least 3 to 4 weeks of triple digit temperatures everyday. Me being an Idaho girl, well, it's hard to adjust to. We needed to find a way to cool off so we headed to Redding for the big swim park. Andre is a little fish. He loves the water. The park had a cute little kiddy area where we spent most of our day. There were little water slides for the kids. Andre loved the frog water slide or what he called "the riddit water slide." He went down it over and over. It was a nice day to get away from Orland. Redding is about an hour from our home. Not a bad drive and there is lots to do there. It is finally starting to cool off around here. Our high is now 95 instead of 105. I guess every little bit helps.