The Northern California Renaissance Faire

We drove up to Hollister for the Northern California Renaissance Faire.  After having gone to the one in So. Cal last Spring, we just had to check this one out.  We had a dreamy time.  The location is truly a fairyland.  It is shady and full of Oaks and Aspens.  Bella dressed up as a mermaid and Lala and Ceci as fairies.  The actors at the faire had a lot of fun with that.  We enjoyed great entertainment--comedy, dancing, music, a Punch & Judy show, parades.  We rode the swing and our big girls did a spinning swing!  They also painted some ceramic ornaments.  The food was delicious!!  We had Shepherds pie, Falafel, and Strawberry Shortcake.  The day went by too quickly.  I wish I could say that the last picture is a family picture.  Wouldn't it be great if Craig would dress up like that?  This is just one of the many actors joking with us on our way out.

My beautiful Edie!!

Since we went to Utah to attend Jesse's wedding, that meant I got to see my dear, wonderful friend Edie.  Edie is great with child, due in early November.  Edie is one of the most beautiful, fun, zesty, creative, sweet, kind, generous persons you could ever meet.  I am lucky to have her as my friend.  We got to spend lots of time together, going to the museum, to dinner, to tea.  I LOVE my Edie!!

Playing Pirates with our cousins!!

We had a really fun time hanging out with our cousins (second cousins?)  playing pirates!  Gabe and Sophia have a big booty full of pirate attire.  Aargh!

Grandma with Grandkids and Great-Grandkids!!

Got this great picture today!!

Our niece Jesse's Wedding

Yesterday, Craig's brother's daughter Jesse got married.  Jesse looked beautiful and it was a beautiful wedding.  It was a sunny, pretty day, and everything went so nicely.  Our girls had a great time playing with their cousins.  We wish the happy couple all the best!

Labor Day Swim Party

Today we had a the Peays, the Ramirez', the Evans, and the Ballentines, over for a little swim party to celebrate Labor day.  We BBQed and had a really nice time.

Coming home from our wonderful trip!

It was sad to come home after having so much fun on our trip, but it was a lot easier to come home to our beautiful sunflowers, that we had planted from seed, in FULL BLOOM!!!

Mendocino

This was our last official fun place on our trip.  It is a looooooong windy road to get here, but it was worth it.  We had never been to Mendocino before.  The town was charming and the beach was so beautiful!  We wandered the cute shops and health food store and played on the beach.  The next day we drove aaaaalllllll the way home.

The Drive-Thru tree!!

We had to stop and drive through the drive-thru tree!!  If you click on the pic of the car going through the tree, you will see Craig and the girls in the car!!  We also had to play a bit in the little houses built out of giant hollow redwood stumps!  The big one had two floors.  So cool!

Camping off the Avenue of the Giants

We spent the rest of yesterday having lunch and hanging out in Arcata.  By evening we were back at the Avenue of the giants to camp for the night.  It was AWESOME here!!!  I woke up almost 2 hours before everybody else and I got to take a wonderful quiet hike all by myself.  I couldn't believe how serene it was!  And so lush and green!  I wanted to just build a house and stay forever.  I started to miss my family though, so I went back and we had some breakfast.  Then I took the girls on a small hike and they played in lots of hollow gigantic stumps!