We loved having another road trip! I really like driving and I don't mind being in the car for long stretches. This time we got to drive our newish Yukon with the DVD player and even wireless headphones for all the kids. It was a very quiet trip! Jared had left earlier to So. California to be at his friends 40th birthday celebration. So it was just me and the kids. We had a good time!
On the way we stopped at the Salt Flats (just some by the side of the road not the real ones) and we took some pictures. It was really cool. Elise tried a cartwheel and learned that salt crystals are painful to do handstands on. We stopped in Tahoe for a picnic late afternoon lunch. It was crowded. I realized on this trip I really don't like crowds. Especially with a toddler and especially when it is ultra hot outside.
For the first time ever we got to see where Grandma and Dimitrios live! Marge was there visiting and it was so fun to see her again too! I loved the rolling hills around La Selva Beach. It is a rural horse type community 5 minutes from the ocean. What could be better than that? It is close to Santa Cruz, Monterey and Carmel. Mom and Dimitrios are both so artistic and it shows in the house and the gardens. Everything was very creative. Mom has picked up lots of toys at the flea market for the kids to play with when they come. They had this little Disney teapot that kept Soren busy all week. Jared and I were saying how much we love Dimitrios. My kids loved waking up to Dimitrios's amazing food--he used to own a restaurant and is quite the chef. Then we had tons of fun grooming, feeding and riding the horses. Miles and Simone loved every second of the horses. They also had two adorable kittens, which kept the kids entertained. We went to the beach with Rachel and Dylan the first day we were there too. The kids loved to jump in the waves with Grandma. Soren loved being at the beach before getting knocked to the sand by a wave. Then he was pretty traumatized and didn't even want to get close to the water after that. Dylan had his first beach day! He seemed super happy.
Next we had two days in San Francisco. We picked up Jared from the airport there and headed straight to Chinatown. I knew the kids would love it as much as I did when I was a kid. We ended the day at a sushi place in the Marina District. Elise was very pleased to find a Brandy Melville store right across the street. Eating in San Francisco was a little frustrating. It isn't easy to find restaurants that can easily seat a family of 7.
The next day started off with a trip to a Boba Tea place on the corner for Jared and the kids. My kids LOVE bobas. They always put bobas on their frozen yogurt. This little place had bobas in everything. Meanwhile I enjoyed a much needed relaxing run in Golden Gate Park. Later we explored Fishermans Wharf, Pier 39 and went down Lombard St. We did Coit tower and the Presidio. The kids loved the mirror maze on Pier 39. We saw the seals and had clam chowder bread bowls at the Bakery next to the pier. We rented a house in the Richmond district to stay at. It was really a great set up, and really inexpensive. I was stressed about my five kids being so loud with our little flat sandwiched between neighbors on all sides. We got some yummy Indian takeout for dinner.
On our final day in SF, we rented bikes and rode across the Golden Gate Bridge and over to Sausalito. We had lunch in Sausalito at a really yummy burger place called, "Hamburgers." Super creative right? Then we took a ferry back which was also fun because we got a close up of Alcatraz. Eating in Sausalito was fun because we got reprimanded by a homeless guy. We were eating our burgers on park benches since the restaurant is so small. A flock of pigeons kept trying to eat Soren's hotdog right out of his hands. So I stomped my feet on the ground (not close to any birds of course) to scare them away when the got too close. Then the kids fed the leftovers to the birds. I kicked the buns off the sidewalk so the pigeons would eat without danger of being stepped on. Apparently the guy sitting on the bench thought I was kicking the birds and said to me "kids learn animal cruelty from their parents." Then when I looked bewildered, he told me he saw me kicking the birds. And when I tried to explain that we love animals and would never try to hurt them, he insisted that we were torturing them. It was kind of exciting for the kids to be confronted by the crazy homeless guy eating burgers out of the garbage. But it was kinda sad too.
The next day we got to go to Rachel's for the night. She lives just 30 minutes over a pretty mountain pass from my mom. She moved into a brand new house earlier this year. The kids loved seeing cute Dylan again! We all loved all the hills around where she lives. Jared took the kids to a movie and Rachel and I got to hang out and talk. Until it was time for her to go to work. She is a labor and delivery nurse and works the nightshift.
Early the next day we headed to Monterey to the aquarium. Monterey Bay Aquarium is rated #1 in the world! The jellifish were super cool. I loved seeing a live baby shark still in its "case." It is really pretty fascinating!
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| Jellyfish picture by Monet |
After the aquarium we were able to get a private tour of Richard MacDonalds studio. Richard and my mom are old friends and it was so nice of him to give us a tour. He has unbelievable talent and it was so neat to see the whole process of creating the sculptures in all the different stages. We have one of his at home that belongs to my mom and we appreciate it so much more after meeting him and hearing the history. To make the day even more perfect, Richard drives a Tesla. The nicest kind of Tesla you can buy. Jared has wanted to sit in and drive a Tesla for a long time. Richard took us all in rides and it was a pretty unbelievable car. It seats 7! Jared is trying to use that as a selling point in why we need to own one. ;)
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| Seats 7, No gas required, and 0-60mph in about 5 seconds! Pretty sweet car. |
We finished the day at the beach in Carmel. It was beautiful. And therapeutic. The aquarium was lots of herding kids from place to place. It was a busy day and pretty exhausting. It was really great to get outside and just sit and enjoy the sunset with the sand in our toes. We walked over to Pebble Beach Golf Course and had family races (I always get beat! We need to make these longer so I can finally win) and we watched the sunset and did gymnastics on the grass.
Here are a few pictures of Dimitrios's beautiful property. It is such a magical place! We loved his barn with it's incredible light and all the fun cowboy "props." Soren calls his toy horses "Frost" and "Lina" now and pulls his cute Schleich horse trailer around his room.
I told Simone that I was pretty sure she was going to have horses someday. She agreed that she WILL have horses someday!
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| Mom has the camera! Which means I am in pictures! |
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The last day of our trip we spent in Santa Cruz. I really wanted my kids to meet my uncles Rick and Ron and to see where they lived. They are such happy and fun guys. Rick and Ron are my mom's brothers. They are very mechanically minded men. Ron lives in the mountains outside of Santa Cruz. We toured his house (that he built with his own hands) and got to see his beautiful redwoods that are on his property. He has a big corkboard with all of our Christmas cards and pictures up on it. I thought that was so sweet. Then we got to pick avocados from his HUGE avocado tree. He has a lemon tree too. That is very exciting to Utah kids! As we were leaving we commented on Ron's cool wood collector's edition Monopoly game he had on his table. He gave it to us just like that. My kids have been playing it all week. Then we all headed to Rick's house. Rick has a house full of toys. Literally. He loves trains, cuckoo clocks, and R/C cars. It was a dream for all of my kids to race cars around the street. We all loved the cuckoo collection. Miles was really excited about the awesome stuff Rick and Ron pick up each week from the flea market. They fix up all kinds of old toys and make them cool again. We all ate dinner at a Greek Restaurant owned by one of Dimitrios's friends in Santa Cruz. Then Jared and the younger kids and Grandma and Dimitrios headed to the famous Boardwalk Amusement Park. Elise and I weren't loving the crowds so we headed
My mom has the nicest siblings! All of the Regens have such good hearts. How could they not with Grandma Regen as their mom?
The last day we were there Dimitrios and Mom were saying, "can't you just leave a couple of kids here?" I thought that was so sweet but didn't really consider it. But Jared saw how much the kids loved being there and wanted to make it happen. So he got online as we were packing our car to leave and got some tickets for the kids to come home later in the week so they could spend more time having fun with grandma. They had the time of their lives with Grandma and Dimitrios.
We had a great time in Northern California! I can't believe it has been so long since we have visited.
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