Trip to Santa Barbara

Happy 37 to me!  I woke up to a beach party...my family sure did spoil me!

I opened presents, we dropped off Maya with a friend and then headed to Santa Barbara for the weekend.

We went straight to the farmers market, which was the largest one we've ever been to.

We bought some raspberries and cherries to snack on.

Then we walked around downtown and then found a hole in the wall taco place for lunch.  It made us feel like we were in Yuma again :)

Ben was able to get us into the hotel early and the moment we walked into our room, the boys crashed.  I guess we walked around a little more than they were ready for.

While the kids (safely) vegged out to cable TV, Ben and I went on a run along the ocean.  This was top on my birthday wish list and it did not disappoint.

We passed by a huge outrigger competition, Stearn's Wharf, the harbor and ended by the zoo.

It started raining at the end of our run, but that didn't stop the kids from wanting to swim at the hotel pool.  Ben and I sat under umbrellas while they swam in the rain (it was heated, so that helped).

After we all cleaned up, we headed to Bettina for dinner, which turned out to be the COOLEST experience ever.  Before our trip, we tried to plan out as much as we could.  We scoped out restaurants and looked at menus, in efforts to pick out the most family friendly place.  I found Bettina, which was a pizza place, a little bit outside of the main city activity.  I still had to make reservations, but it seemed much more relaxed than the other options.  Well, stick with me when choosing restaurants!  As I opened the door of the restaurant, I realized that Ellen DeGeneres and Portia De Rossi were sitting right by the front door!  I tried to remain as normal as possible, but I'm almost positive she heard me whisper to Ben, "Oh my word, that's Ellen!".  As luck would have it, they sat us at the table closest to Ellen.  The food was great, we succeeded at acting normal for the dinner and it was the coolest thing ever to just eat dinner next to Ellen.

The head behind Colin is Ellen, you can see Portia sitting across from her.

Colin was still pretty tired from the day.  This is his droopy face:

Next stop, McConnell's ice cream!

This place was recommended to us by several people, so we had to check it out.  Eli made the best choice with fresh strawberry ice cream.

Then we headed back to the hotel.  Because of moving, we racked up so many hotel points that we were able to stay at the Hilton beachfront resort for free!  The resort had several perks, including a free wine tastings in the evening.

We had the perfect set up of adjoining rooms with a little patio off the back. 

We also got a free bike rental, which was at the top of the kids' list.

It was raining a little the next morning, but we still ventured out.

Riding this thing was harder than our 10 mile run!  Ben's face sums up the experience...

The resort is on the left in this video:

We stopped at the beach and this art display to take a little break.

We borrowed some towels from the pool to keep the bike dry and Colin so cold, he ended up using them as blankets.

We went to  La Super-Rica Taqueria for lunch, after seeing that it was Julia Child's favorite spot to eat.  I wasn't overly wowed by the food, but it was still a fun experience.

Then we went back downtown to the courthouse.  We climbed to the top of the clock tower and got a spectacular view of the city.

We were really there for the CAMA (community arts music association) 100 year celebration.  It was free event they put on, you just had to RSVP for your spot.   Spoiled city was the theme of this trip.  We were handed bars of chocolate and wine glasses when we walked in.

There was live classical music being played and tons of booths set up by local wineries and restaurants.

Rain was also a theme, so we headed out before the next shower hit.  One more venture through downtown and we found a fountain with turtles in it...I think the kids could have watched the turtles all day long.

There is so much to do in Santa Barbara we didn't even scratch the surface of what we wanted to do.  Thankfully it's just a short trip up and we look forward to many adventures that way.

This and That

Legos = life

 The boys had their last basketball game.  They played great this season!

It's up for debate whether the kids really love piano lessons, or if they really love going to see Lindsey.  They adore this little girl and count down the minutes until they get to go play with her.

 

 Alison's acro on Wednesday's pairs nicely with sushi Wednesdays at Sprouts (which is next door).  We usually stop by the library before class and the boys and I read/snack while Alison's in lessons.

Mother's Day

Ben and Alison made crepes and sausage for breakfast with fresh strawberries.  The boys got me flowers and chocolate and Alison got me a Starbucks gift card.  My favorite gifts were the paintings they made me at art class on Friday.

Alison's...its says "I luv U"

 Colin's...the fact that he wrote this all on his own made me so happy.

 

 My usual request is a picture with my kids and for lunch to be taken care of (for some reason lunch right after church is always a little stressful for me...I must get hangry).

Funniest part is, I am the one who can't look at the camera!

I love being a mama to these kids!

We picked up Jimmy John's for lunch, took Maya to the dog park and Ben grilled tri tip for dinner.  It was a great day!

24 hours with cousins!

Beth's family went to Disney for a few days and had one day free before they flew home (Nathan had to leave early), so they came to visit us!

We let the kids just play in the morning and then we headed to the beach for the afternoon.  We went toward Santa Monica and it proved for some good entertainment; there was a photo shoot or movie or music video being made down the beach from where we were.  It seems like a glamorous life until you see that it means an afternoon spent walking the same stretch of beach over and over and over again.

These two are pretty cute together.

Although Rose is clearly a 4th and doesn't mind playing on her own.

They might not get much time together, but they sure do love each other.

Alison picked out apples for our picnic lunch and they were HUGE!

A man walked by with a bunch of butterflies and gave each of the kids one.

Only Eli brings his own blanket to the beach...you never know when you need to be comfy.

We went to In-N-Out for dinner because apparently that's what you do in California and there are no complaints from us :)

Alison has officially joined the "You're so tall!" club.  When she's not a fan of being part of this club, I always remind her that Aunt Beth, Grandpa and my cousins Kate and Abbey know exactly how she is feeling.  It's not always easy, but she has support.