Camping

Its been awhile.... a long while.

We've been on many adventures since the adventerous move back to Hollister. This...is the most recent.

We took a weekend and spent it up in Big Basin which is technically Boulder Creek CA. BEAUTIFUL place.

I have to say that camping in CA is much more refined than in AZ. I like the idea that you can camp anywhere in AZ but organized camping in CA has its benefits too....such as toilets. I have to admit- its nice to have a toilet.

Ashlyn met her first banana slug-- she was pretty excited about that.

She is getting so big...she's looking forward to Kindergarten-- which she still has over a year until she starts. How time flys.

So I'll post a couple of my favorite pictures and finish getting Ashlyn off to bed.

California Here we are!

So we are on day two of our trip to california. Ashlyn LOVES airplane rides---thank goodness! We got off the ground yesterday morning on our 7am flight to San Jose and Ashlyn slept just until we started to descend into San Jose. While we were coming down, to keep her occupied, I thought we would try and look for Carebears in the clouds. After a few minutes, Ashlyn decided that the Carebears weren't in the clouds, they were in the city.

I don't know where she comes up with this stuff!

I was able to get a picture of ashlyn sleeping on the airplane with my computer but the quarters were so tight, part of me ended up in the picture. We use her monkey back pack as a pillow, and i brought her special blanket and buddy to keep her warm and content.

the zoo

sunday we met with some friends at the Phoenix zoo! Ashlyn and Megan (the other little girl) had never met before, and although Megan was shy at first they were running and playing together before we knew it.

We bought an unlimted day pass so that we could do all of the fun things like the carousel, train, and camel rides as many times as we wanted. The carousel was the only thing that got done twice though. One camel ride was enough for me and the train line was LONG because there were two private parties that day. We spent all day there, 10-5 playing and looking at the animals. The Phoenix Zoo has a really neat water play area for kids that has a slide and cave, we let the kids play for awhile and then it was snack time. When Ashlyn decided she was done she snuck back to the water play and wasn't happy when she was caught. Good thing I brought an extra change of clothes, it was a HOT day! Mid ninetys I would guess.

Ashlyn really like riding the carousel at the zoo. First she rode on a seahorse and then she chose to ride on the dragon. I don't remember Seahorses and Dragons ever being part of a carousel ride but she really enjoyed herself.

By the time the zoo closed we had seen just about everything but the petting zoo and the bear. I'm not sure how we missed the petting zoo but its probably just as well. Ashlyn told me the day before that she wanted to go to the zoo to pick out a new pet. She wasn't so happy that we couldn't make pets of the zoo animals. This morning she wanted a pet kitty and to take our dog shay back to the store. ha ha .

So hopefully you enjoyed my short blurb on our day at the zoo!!

Finally some outdoors time

This morning was a perfect time to find ourselves at the park. Ashlyn was SO excited to go she could hardley contain herself.

We played for nearly two hours. At one point I had turned my back for just a few seconds and in that few seconds, Ashlyn managed to walk behind a bigger kid on the swing and get kicked in the face. I saw it all take place just as I was turning to find her and watched her get the kick and fall flat on her back. The screams were hysterical and thankfully she only got a little bloody nose out of the whole ordeal. Talk about panic in the moment that you know you are helpless in events like this. A little clean up and a few owie kisses later Ashlyn was back at the playground full speed ahead.

Sometimes I really miss being a resilient little kid.