California dreaming

Quick trip to California

Hello my lovilies. It's Thursday in the states, but it's Flog Your Blog Friday by Brenda at Mummy-TimeMummy Time (the best blog) a few hours and a day away in the land down under (why isn't it over? Who made North mean up?)

Anyway, join us in our quest to find wonderful new bloggers to follow and follow us.



Anysun, about California. We are making a whirlwind drive and visit to California. We left home (Seattle, WA) at noon on Thursday. By "we" I mean my lovely, glad he's home and I'll stop sniveling now, husband, me and the 4 kids. We've packed our bags (1 for tonight, 1 with our wedding attire, and 1 with our regular clothes for the day to day). And now we are in Oregon. It takes us 12 hours to get to Redding, CA. We are hoping to make it in 11 hours today. Then we leave Redding Friday morning to my brothers in Sacramento. And then (remember Dude, Where's my Car? With Ashton Kutcher... And then? No and then! And then? No and then! I love that part).

Back to my crazy quick trip. Marc and I are going to a wedding Friday night in Pleasanton and then (lol) back to Sacramento. Saturday we are all attending my Dads wedding. So happy I may cry (and I never cry. Marc says I'm a robot. Thanks honey). Sunday morning we are having breakfast with our bestest friends and then heading home. It's 15 hours from Sac so we will be getting a hotel on the way home. ETA is Monday. My own bed and hopefully we will bring back some of the 70-80 degree weather. I love the sun and warmth.

Finally, speaking of hotels and traveling with 4 kids. The Hyatt Place sleeps 6 and are very nice with 2 beds and a sectional with a pull out bed. They are near business parks and only $71 a night this weekend. BUT I went to Priceline and found there were only 2 - 3 star girls in that area and placed a bid of $50 a night. I won my bid and it's at Hyatt Place! I'm most pleased to get my preferred hotel for even less.

Til tomorrow - traveling Heather signing off.

where, oh where, art thou?

For I have been missing. I've worked so hard to make new friends in this blogging experiment of my life. I LOVE reading your blogs. I HATE being a single Mom. And I think it's because I KNOW I'm not single. Marc has had to travel 3 of the last 5 weeks and it's a little old to me. I find myself sitting here wondering if I'll even care that he's home. I'm so used to doing my daily routine and being with the kids. It's hard to find time to miss him. It's probably because we haven't talked in about 6 days and my son cried himself to sleep tonight saying how much he missed him. (he's our emotional one).

I LOVE that Marc has a job he enjoys and makes enough money for me to stay home. And I know that this is the first time he has had to travel, so much, with this job. It's hard to keep it in perspective when my own life with kids and volunteering seems to be spinning faster than I can hang on.

I have taken some time to take them to the park and I was blessed enough to have my neighbor spend all afternoon with the kids and I and then turn around and invite us all to dinner so that I didn't have to cook. She rocks!

But, now, Marc's flight should be landing in 10 minutes and the taxi or shuttle will bring him home. I find that I am getting butterflies in my stomach and am excited to see him again. We have one more day of work and life before we leave for California to attends my Dad's wedding on Saturday. We will get to spend 24/7 together for 5 days. Will it be too much after being apart for 24/7 for 6 days? I will tell you soon.

Now, back to (hopefully) my regularly scheduled posts (I would like to do daily updates, but our life is so normal) and I have finally finished "The Book Thief". A great book that took it's time ripening and then finished with such enthusiasm. I'm hesitant to move on to "The Glass Castle" which is due in less than a week and just move onto "The Help". Many decisions, and many hours of travel ahead of me. I'll take them all and hope for some alone time with my books to dive into my favorite cheap escape from reality.

Did you miss me?

I'm still getting the hang of this and realizing I should upload my photos from my iPhone for each day and then go back in and edit. Instead, you get this long, but sweet update of my photos and my trip.

My Dad is getting married (Mar 20th) to a wonderful woman we call Betts. My Mom died 5-1/2 years ago. Betts is wonderful and a perfect match for my Dad. So, with this marriage, there is a merging of 2 homes. My Dad is moving into her house and clearing out his. He has already moved once since my Mom died. Most of the old house was cleaned out, condensed and repackaged into his new, smaller house. Now, he is repacking, condensing and downsizing his holdings to move into Betts house. The reason I ramble is coming. My Mom painted these large paintings when she was younger that my Dad has hanging on his walls. One goes to my brother, Scott and the other goes in my house. They are large and I can never fit them in my car while I am visiting with the kids. So, I took the seats out of the minivan and drove to California to get them. I could of had him ship them, but then I wouldn't have been able to take my mini vacation and spend time with my family.

My short adventure began Friday morning. I left Seattle at 9am, I arrived in Redding at 6:30pm. Yes, it takes 9-1/2 hours (without kids) for me to drive 600 miles. I made a stop in Kalama for coffee, food, gas and bathroom. I didn't stop again until 1/2 way through Oregon (the longest state in the US when you are driving).

My biggest worry was driving over the highest pass with snow bearing down on the region. My goal is to get over the pass before dark when the road starts to freeze. I barely made it, but it was a great time to go over with some beautiful white mountain views.




22/365
Of my favorite sights along I-5, these are my favorite. The Siskiyou pass means I've made it through the worst of the snow areas without needing to put on chains. The "Welcome to California" sign means I'm almost there and I've made it through the longest state. (I realize it's not the longest, but it's 308 miles long. At 60mph, it should only take 5 hours. I've never made it out in under 5-1/2 and usually it takes 7hrs. I swear there is a time warp somewhere in the state).

Finally, this picture....this picture...is home. I know I am home when I see Mt. Shasta. This beautiful mountain was my compass for 18 years. I knew which way was North when I spotted. I knew I was near my hometown and my safe place while in college. I know it's where I can relax and pretend life has stopped. I am home and I am on vacation!! My camera on my phone doesn't do it justice, but I smile everytime I see this mountain.

So, I made it to my Dad's house and it is empty. It's pretty strange, but he's only lived here 2 years, so I didn't attach my sentimentality to it. We went to dinner Friday night and everyone arrived at Betts house, at the same time. Betts worked a dinner for membership for Turtle Bay (great place to visit in Redding), my brother, Bryan and my sister-in-law, Robin arrived from Sacramento and my Dad and I pulled up to the house at the same time. 

23/365

Saturday was moving day. I'm very proud to say, I didn't take everything I could from his house. Marc was a little worried. I placed 2 bookshelves in the van (can never have enough bookshelves), my Moms paintings and 2 boxes of books, photo albums, food blender and a few knick knacks. Some of the stuff is going to my brothers, Scott's, house. My van looked rather empty. But, it's enough. I realize a home is made of memories, a house is full of stuff. We loaded up our cars and went back to Betts house. 

This is where the vacation fun started. I unboxed the Wii Fit Plus and showed my Dad how to play. My Dad, my brother, Bryan and I took turns playing the different games. We had tears in our eyes creating each others characters for the Wii (only because we were exaggerating any body part we could). We had dinner and searched for cruises to go on this year. Of course, there are a million other little things that happen, but for your eyes, I am trying to limit the length.

Sunday morning Betts made breakfast (again). It was delicious and I was not looking forward to the drive home. I finally dragged myself to the car and headed for the freeway. I was hoping to avoid the freezing temperatures and snow on the way home. The benefit of driving North is that the worst of the mountains and weather is at the beginning of the trip, instead of the end. I made it over Shasta Lake and it started to snow. Not a lot of snow, but enough to make me nervous. I stuck it out and after the town of Weed, CA, the snow stopped. 

Before Weed, there was 2 feet of snow on the sides of the freeway, after Weed, there was nothing. No snow at all. It was REALLY windy though. Sitting in my car at the rest stop, I could feel the wind moving my car and bouncing it. Walking at the rest stop was just as strange. It was almost difficult to walk into the wind because it was blowing so hard.

I made it out of Weed and up the mountains to Siskiyou Summit. The snow was barely falling, but the clouds were thick. The trucks were stopping at the top, but I kept pushing on. Once over the summit, the clouds cleared, the road was freshly covered in gravel and I made it down the summit without speeding or slipping. 



The rest of my drive was fairly uneventful. I had to stop a few extra times. My back and legs were not happy to be driving again for so long. This was a good test as to whether or not a can push myself to drive the kids cross country in a week. I'm thinking we might need 2 weeks so that we can have a day of driving, followed by a day of play. To pass the time in the car alone, I listened to music and then movies. I brought some of my favorite movies to put in the DVD player. They were movies I've seen enough times that I can picture them so that I can listen to the dialogue and not watch the movie. Luckily, the DVD player is installed behind my head or I would have been tempted to look. Movies like "Mamma Mia and Under the Tuscun Sun" are fine to listen to. "Sliding Doors", not so much. There is too much going on that I wanted to peek and see where the movie was. I realized that movies have a lot of music over scenes that are great to watch, but very hard to visualize. It did make the time go much quicker though.

24/365

My travel time ended up being 10-1/2 hours. I got home at 9:30pm. The kids were happy to see me and I was happy to see them. I missed my bed and family. I love taking a mini vacation though to remind me how wonderful ALL my family is.

365 days, 365 photos

It's a new year. 2010. We have been busy as usual. This past year, we traveled to Redding, CA several times. In March, June and August. While in California during our August trip, we took the kids to Burney Falls, the Subway caves, Humboldt National Redwood Forest, and into Fremont for ribs at Emil Villa's. We took a few local trips including visiting Forks, WA twice to stay at the Oceanside Resort in La Push (great cabins on the beach). We went to the Olympic Rain Forest and then made a side detour on the way home to the Makah Nation and the NorthWest most point at Cape Flattery. We went camping for the first time at Lake Easton and stayed in a cabin at Hyak (near Snoqualmie Pass).

I realized we take our kids many places as well as visit many local sights and parks. I've decided to challenge myself by posting a photo for every day of 2010. Highlighting both the mundane and extraordianary things that we do. We are busy making travel plans for the upcoming year. My cousin lives on the other side of the country and we will see them before they move again. 

The current plan is to meet somewhere in the middle. I prefer to meet them somewhere warm. After a NorthWest winter, I want to see and feel the warmth of the sun. My current plan includes driving to California for my Dads wedding in March, then heading over to Santa Cruz. We will show the kids the California coast, a few sights in Los Angeles, a trip over to the Grand Canyon and a few days in Albuquerque (where we will meet up with my cousin and his family). We will then take 3 days to drive back home to Seattle. We are planning on taking 2 weeks. My other big trip will only be realized if my cousin isn't moving until end of summer. I would like to drive the kids cross country. Taking 1 week each way and spending 5-7 days with the family.

Our other possible plans include camping on the Oregon coast and a few trips over to Eastern Washington. We've lived here almost 7 years and have never been to the other half of this state. Maybe we'll be so global as to finally get our passports and head up to Canada. It takes as long to get to Calgary as it does to get to Redding. Here's to plenty of travels in 2010 and many photos.

our cousins

These are our cousins. We drove 12 hours to see these cousins. Well, actually, I made it from Seattle to Redding in 11 hours. We woke up at 4 am to see our family. We started driving at 5 am. I had to turn around to get my phone. Luckily I was only 1 mile down the freeway. We had a beautiful sunrise to enjoy that lit up Mt. Rainer as we headed for the Oregon border. I really enjoyed driving during the day and not into the night. This might become my new routine. We made it to Redding around 4 pm and were able to visit with my brother, Bryan and his wife, Robin. They drove up for the day to see us. I love them!

So we went to dinner at my cousins house and saw my cousins from Georgia. We haven't seen them since November 2005! Their two kids are the same ages as my middle two. It was a blast. I'm still trying to remember how we squeezed so much into 3 days. Really, 2 days.

My oldest, Miss M, stayed home with Dad to stay in school. She had a few school events that week. Mr C was very happy to get out of school for a few days and visit his family. We drove all day Wednesday and then had dinner with my Dad and cousins. There was myself, my brother and 3 of my cousins there. And then our kids, 8 in total. I love that these second or third cousins (or is it 2nd cousins - once removed), can play together and know each other so well. Little C will be 3 this July and he woke up in the morning saying "all my cousins are coming over to play? They will all play in my room again?" It's wonderful to hear.

On Thursday, we met up for Starbucks for breakfast and took the kids to the park. Redding has a great wood structured park with a spray zone attached for those hot days (and there are hot days!) Luckily, this visit, there were none. We went to lunch and decided to drive up to Burney Falls. Beautiful drive and even more beautiful waterfalls. Unfortunately it was raining when we got there, but I live in Seattle and always have umbrellas in my car. We hiked down to the bottom and took some pictures before hiking back up. I so need to work out. The hike up was very lung breathing unfriendly! We drove the hour back to Redding to attend my cousins 8th grade graduation. I said we did a lot! We all headed home after that to get some sleep.

On Friday, it rained! We met up at Starbucks after my kids got haircuts. We went to the Mt. Shasta Mall to play in the soft playground in the mall. It was dry inside. We had Round Table for lunch. Apparently there are none on the East Coast. It was delicious. We can fill up a room when we all get together. There were 6 adults and 7 kids (plus 2 teenagers), I should remember to not get outnumbered by the little ones. We decided to take the kids to see "Up!" and had an hour to kill. We went to the Sundial Bridge and walked across. The kids enjoy hanging from the cables like little sloths. We went to the movies and enjoyed 2 hours of kid quiet time. Afterwards we agreed to meet up at my Aunts house and think about dinner and just talk. My Dad didn't hear this part and ended up at my cousins in Anderson. He said he had a nice visit there too. We ended up meeting him in town for dinner. By the time we were done visiting (we weren't really, but it was late), I had to haul off my tired kids for baths and bed. It was 11 pm and we had a 12 hour drive ahead of us on Saturday.

Saturday ended up being a late start. I was in no hurry to get back home. We took our time. We left Redding at 10am and made lots of stops along the way. Going to the bathroom, running around and stopping for food. I paid for it at the end of the night when 13 hours later, I finally pulled into our driveway...exhausted.

Will I do it again? Of course! I love my cousins and had the best time. I hope that after this tour in Iraq (for James, my cousin) that we can go visit them. They will be moving for 3 years and then finding a new home. We are going to persuade them to pick Washington so that they are closer to us. Hint...Hint!