The Summer of Six States, Stranger Things & Sprague Reunions

Summer 2016 was by far the busiest summer so far. We traveled in and through six states (all driving) in our good old Volkswagen, Wolfie.

-We hiked and camped our way through the middle of the Wyoming plains.
-Ten year high school reunion in Oregon (go Sprague Olympians!)
-Austin's mom's side of the family (the Sprague's) reunion in Sacramento, California.
-Day trip to San Francisco and Muir beach
-My mom came to visit for a couple weeks, which included Yellowstone, Gold Bug hot springs,
 Rexburg Rapids, Finding Dory etc.
-My Grandpa's birthday bash in Oregon (thankfully this worked out be be during the week of our  high school reunion so we killed two birds with one stone and saved our car a ton of miles haha).
-While in Oregon we blew through the entire season of "Stranger Things".
-Since my parents were in Oregon the same time for my Grandpa's birthday we had a day trip to  Enchanted Forest.
-Beach day at Neskowin
-East Idaho State Fair
-Tautphaus Zoo

I will make separate posts about some of the items listed above because I have TONS of photos!

Random iPhone photos from our various trips:

Roadtrip diva

Sacramento Reunion

Private bowling room with 75+ people

Maisie feeding her baby in Oregon haha!

Ellie passed out after Enchanted Forest

Cousin snuggles

Lunch in San Francisco at Rainforest Cafe

Entertaining the babe at my Grandpa's birthday

Not an iPhone photo but a professional photo from the family reunion in Sacramento. It was 105+ and beyond muggy in this photo, we were all miserable, but somehow the photo turned out:

Last year...

Remember how I mentioned Maisie getting filthy at her  last birthday? My friend Leia sent me some pictures fully documenting just how dirty she got and how much fun we had. 

How in the world has it been a year already?!

Winchester Mansion Tour

The weekend after Austin's 25th birthday (and our last weekend in California) I planned a little day date to the Winchester Mansion. Austin and I have both wanted to go since the day we moved to Santa Clara and seeing how this would be our last opportunity in who knows how long, we decided to go.

I remember watching documentaries on the Winchester legacy with my dad when I was just a little girl. I was so fascinated with the whole concept of the supposed curse placed on the Winchester family by those killed by the "Gun that won the west".  For some reason though, I thought the house was located east somewhere, so I was pleasantly surprised when I found out we lived only 15 miles away.

A friend of ours who has two littles watched Maisie for a few hours while we did the Grand tour of the mansion, grounds and basement. I was disappointed about not being able to take pictures of the inside of the house because it was so interesting. So many odd twists and turns, doors to no where, staircases to the ceiling, posts installed upside down, imported German chandeliers and Tiffany lamps and stained glass windows from New York. It was a lot of fun to see.

Need more info about Sarah Winchester and the famous mansion? Click here. It's very interesting.

Here are some pictures of our little date:

Oh and on every Friday the 13th they do night flash light tours... How awesome would that be?!

Fun fact:

Sarah Winchester gained 20 million in inheritance money from the loss of her husband and mother, but then with all her shares of the Winchester company (33% I believe), she received $1500 every day for the rest of her life. Todays equivalent would be $22,000 a day. Nuts right!?

Last Day @ Boomerang Bay

The last Saturday Boomerang Bay was open, we took Maisie as a last hurrah. Maisie woke up almost every morning all summer long asking to go to the "water park". Of course, we were unable to go every day (I would have loved that though), but we did manage to go a good handful (or two) of times this summer. Maisie was in heaven each time. Such a sun and water baby, that girl.

Auntie Katie's Visit

Katie was here to help me out with Maisie as I was recovering from my sinus surgery, but we ended up having a lot of fun as well. Knowing this was probably going to be her first and only visit to California, we tried to cram a handful of day trips in.

Here's what we were up to:

Golden Gate:

 Muir Woods:

Monterey Bay Aquarium:

Santa Cruz:

Cheap local deliciousness for dinner.

I'm so thankful Katie was able to come to California. Every time we see each other we quickly realize how insane it is that we live so far apart. Maybe someday we will remedy that, but for now we will have to do with visits and lots of Facetime/phone dates.

Katie, visit again soon? Maisie misses you!

Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad

I have been wanting to take Maisie to Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad in Los Gatos for quite some time now, so Saturday, we finally took her.

 Maisie LOVES trains, remember her choo choo song? 

It was incredibly hot that day, so we only rode the train once and then spent a couple hours enjoying sno-kones in the shade and walking around the huge park (it has streams, a lake that you can paddle board on, a play structure complete with an airplane AND a firetruck and a stage for Shakespeare plays on Summer nights.) I have a feeling we will be going back very soon.

p.s I forgot my camera, so these were taken with our phones. Lame, but better than nothing right?

Picking Strawberries @ Gizdich Ranch

Wednesday, a friend picked me and Maisie up and we made our way towards Watsonville to a family owned farm for a play date. We met a handful of our mommy friends and their babes and had such a fun day picking strawberries, eating delicious picnic food and letting the kids go crazy exploring the farm. Their strawberry shortcake a la mode (yes it had icecream AND homemade whipped cream) was the best I have ever had (that's saying something) and I plan on making another trip specifically for another round of that bad boy. I brought Austin home a slice of Strawberry Rhubarb pie (his favorite other than key lime or lemon meringue) and he ate it all in less than a minute, so I am guessing that it was pretty dang good as well. Next time we head to Sunset beach (same town just way west), this will be our first stop.