Hiking San Jacinto, take 2

We took advantage of Ben's 4-day weekend and made the trek up to Palm Springs to hike San Jacinto.  This was Ben's 4th time hiking it and my second.  However, this was the first time we took the tram up part of the mountain.  This is how I felt about it:

Gondola ride?  Sure.  I can handle that.  Giant gondola crammed full of people and TURNS the entire time?  No thank you.  But I made it!  And being in the pine trees pretty much immediately makes it worth it.

Ben always has the best hiking snacks.  He found these protein balls that taste like mini Paydays.  Yum!

This hike was much easier than the first time and about half the distance.  And guess what?  I could see the view at the top!  Last time it was completely clouded over, so much so that I could barely see this sign.

Hiking is still a whole different workout and I was pretty tired by the time we were done with the 7.5 miles.  These tacos hit the spot at the end of the day.

Last day of school

This year went by WAY too fast.  All of the kids completely crushed this year and I can see so much growth.  I'm still so thankful for our days together and this job I get to do.

10th grade✅

8th grade ✅

{Maya in the background is so funny!  Eli was getting her to do tricks for his leftover meat :)}

We went to Legoland to celebrate the end of the school year.

Happy 44 to me!

It was a regular ole' school/work day, but everyone still made me feel very spoiled.  I picked up a free coffee at Starbucks and they gave me a drink the size of my head!  It was a pretty funny way to start the day.  All the kids had end of year finals in the morning, but I got to sneak away to Target with Alison for a bit in the afternoon.  

We had planned to grill dinner, but tacos were calling our name.  I don't think there's anything better than fresh tacos near the ocean.

We hung out by the fire in the evening and I would say it was just about the perfect birthday.

 

Beach day with Nikki

Nikki took the redeye home so we could have a beach day together before she left.  

The whole family came with us and it completely made my day.

The boys even jumped in the water with their clothes on, just like they used to do when they were little.  

The boys were playing, Ben was surfing, Alison was reading and Nikki was searching for sand dollars: 

Girls Trip to Sonoma!

Nikki flew all the way here to go on a girls trip to wine country; something on both of our bucket lists.  She flew in Sunday and Monday morning we made the 8 hour drive up to Sonoma.  Nikki loves road trips and the time flew by as we caught up on life.  We also laughed more than I have in a very long time and laughter to so good for the soul.  We made it to our Airbnb by late afternoon and picked up groceries and tacos for dinner.

Tuesday morning we went for a hike in Sugarloaf Ridge State Park.

We found a waterfall, which just made my day.

Then we went to downtown Sonoma and had a charcuterie and wine tasting at Zina Lounge.

We walked around downtown, had the most amazing dinner at 'The Girl and the Fig' and then explored the evening farmer's market.  We ended the day with a movie and some pampering.

Wednesday, we went to a wine tasting at Cline Family Cellars.  The atmosphere was gorgeous and the food delicious, but this was the one spot that we felt they were a little pushy. 

But that didn't stop us from having fun.  We actually found it pretty funny how little wine they gave us to taste.  They would put 3 little drops in your glass and then ask a million times if you want to buy a bottle.

One of the things I loved most about this trip is that we just let the day take us wherever it wanted...no plans or agendas.  For 2 moms of high schoolers, this was heaven.  

We ventured to another winery, Benziger's, and it was just what we needed.  We were able to find a cozy spot in the vineyard and stay as long as we wanted.  

This sums up wine country.

We ended the day with some ice cream.  A local shop had fresh strawberry ice cream and gluten-free waffle cones!  It was a huge treat for me :)

Although we didn't do much besides eating, drinking, talking, laughing and relaxing, this was one of my most favorite trips.  I am so blessed to have good friends all over the country!

 

Rick's visit

Rick came to visit for a long weekend.  He got to come with us to Colin's last regular basketball game before the playoffs.  Then spent the afternoon playing more basketball with Colin.

We went out to dinner one evening, which was lovely.

And spent the rest of our visit just hanging out and playing games.  We've had to had some construction done at the house, so Rick got a glimpse of what it's been like having a handyman around a little too much.