Gingerbread houses!

On Saturday we had the Krugers over for gingerbread house decorating and bubbly with pom juice. The houses were really easy to make. I ended up buying boxed gingerbread and following the recipe on the back for cookies. It was much easier than starting from scratch. My arms and shoulders were killing after rolling out all that dough, but it was worth it.

Jason decided to do some construction on his house, which ended in catastrophe!

I made everyone aprons and the boys decided to pose for their apron picture sans pants.

The pictures are in!

I am home in bed today from work because my stomach has been set on hate mode since last night! However some good news is that our family photos are available to view online today. Thankfully there are more than a few that I think could work so we may be able to get a few different shots printed and framed. Here are my favorites!

Really???

I got a fix it ticket a few weeks ago because there was a crack in the windshield (its about 6 months old). At first I thought I was being pulled over for eating a pear. I knew I didn't do anything wrong so I wasn't on the defensive to start off and was nice to the cop. I was having the ticket signed last night so I can mail it back showing that I fixed the windshield and it was pointed out to me that the cop wrote I was:

Honest, Polite, Cooperative.............

I've certainly been called honest before and I know I'm pretty polite (except for burping)...but Cooperative?

West Coast Tour Day 4

Saturday morning we woke up and had our family portraits taken! Everyone behaved and I think the pictures will come out fantastic. Jennifer at Poise Photography took them and was very friendly and allowed me to be the bossy person I am. After the photos we went to a Farmers Market where I found supplies for something I've been wanting to do...EAR CANDLING! I bought two sets and did Tyler & Karli's ears. Tyler chose to have it done on the front lawn so everyone was watching, including people walking by wondering why my brother had a flaming wax stick coming out of his ear. He said it really made a difference and you can tell that the stuff left in the candle is indeed ear wax...not candle wax. I can't wait to get my own ears done. It also proved that my brother will pretty much let me do anything to him...at least once.

After the ear candling we headed to the Sierra Nevada Brewery for lunch. The food was fantastic, but I am not a huge fan of beer that's not Coors Light. We required everyone at the table to take a sip of each sample from the tray and whoever started the taste had to drink whatever was remaining.

After the brewery we went to Bidwell Park. It is an amazing 3,168 acre municipal park that encompasses a canyon. We went to the Bear area and walked around for a bit. Tyler decided to try and go for a hike in his Teva's and we wall watched him scale the rocks like he was spiderman!

We then headed back to the hotel I proved that my napping habit is hereditary as dad, myself, and Sofie all took naps before dinner. The nap was followed by a great Thai dinner and then scrabble and beers at Tyler's.

West Coast Tour Day 3

Day 3 started bright and early with Mom, Dad, Ty, and Karli heading off to an Alcatraz tour. Chris and I got to sleep in a bit, but were tasked with getting everyones luggage packed and picking them up at Pier 33 at 11:30. After we picked them up we headed over to Haight Ashbury for lunch and a bit of shopping. Mom was pretty stoked to be somewhere she had read and heard about for years. I picked up some El Dia De Los Muertos fabric by Alexander Henry at a craft shop there...I was on vacation so 9/yard for fabric is allowed.

After the Haight we headed to see the Painted Ladies..aka the Full House house. This was the scene of my first breakdown as I put in the wrong address in the tom tom, we needed Gas, and I flipped someone the bird and Dad was NONE TOO PLEASED with that! No matter how old you are your parents still are your parents I guess. We headed out of town towards Muir Woods where everyone sort of wandered around for a bit. At about 5pm we took off towards Chico!

West Coast Tour Day 2

Thursday morning (Thanksgiving) we woke up and headed to San Francisco. We took the coast for most of the way and were able to enjoy the beautiful coastline. We picked up Tyler & Karli at the train station and headed over to the Sir Francis Drake.

We ate lunch at Sears Fine Foods (where Chris got a Thanksgiving dinner). We then walked around Fisherman's Wharf, drove down Lombard Street, and saw the BEST street performer ever! There was a little shrub in front of a trash can that jumped out at people. There was a guy with contraption of leaves and twigs that he held in front of his body while he crouched on the ground. Its hard to explain, but it was hilarious. Dad even tipped him, but apparently not enough because he said "paper not change".

After a nap we headed to China Town for dinner. We ate a TON of food and walked in a few stores. Unfortunately a lot was closed because of the holiday. The picture above was snapped in a store right before the Chinese man came over and yelled "no pictures, you pay".

West Coast Tour Day 1

Our first day on our trip started in San Luis Obsipo and ended in Monterey. Driving the coast from SLO to Monterey was absolutely amazing! The views were beautiful and unique. Dad drove the windy roads and hairpin turns. Thankfully the weather didn't hit till about half way through Big Sur so we were able to see quite a bit before the rain came.

I realized the night before that Carmel is home to an Alice Shop that boasts itself as 'offering one of the largest collectoins of items from the world of Alice in Wonderland'. This is easily one of the biggest lies i've ever read! I can create a store with the stuff just in my Del Mar apartment bigger than this store! If I was to put all my collection of Alice stuff it would be 5 times the stuff they had in this store. It was a major disapointment. However, Carmel made up for it. It is easily the cutest little town with an old english feel.

We headed over to Pebble Beach to walk around and for a drink. The course was beautiful, but the prices as you can guess outrageous. We grabbed a drink (or two) at the pub and then headed out to Monterey.

We walked around Cannery Row for a bit and then grabbed BBQ for dinner. The place made some GREAT Mac & Cheese! Dad and I enjoyed many beers and then it was to bed for the night.