A week in Seattle

  



      August, 2011

I spent the week hanging out at my grandma's house, watching the Twilight series(LOL!) :) it was wonderful AND hanging out with my pops and nephews.

 Lee showed me his latest new cool car... forgot what kind it is already... but there's a pic of it...let's see I also practice riding a dirt bike, through my sister-in-law's flower garden and into the house... all super fun. A great week just chillin with everyone and takin it easy- Always a good time.

Pops, Me, JEB, and Katie



An Afternoon at the Park with my other
Favorite Nephews!!!!! :)

LEVI
&
KEVIN

I picked up my nephews so we could spend the afternoon eating ice cream and playing in the park. I don't think I could ever get sick of swings, merry-go-rounds, monkey bars, slides, and jungle gyms!!!!
Soo much fun to be had and so little time. 


Love you Lots!!!!                   Hope to see you again soon!!!!!



CRABBIN with my Nephews and Sister, Brandi

 Ross & Garrett

My football Star

& Military Expert


August, 2011
Brandi took me out on her mother-in-laws sailboat, followed by a mini boating adventure to go crabbin!!! We threw out 2 pods filled with raw chicken and let them hang about for an hour or so, when we came back we found one entirely EMPTY...and the other overflowing with dungeness crabs!!!! Crabs of all sizes were trying to escape the pod, so we measured them and threw all the little ones back, but notbefore Garrett could name a few and play with some on the beach, being extra careful not to get a finger pinched off!!

 Making their way to the pot of boiling water... only after killed and cleaned of corse. ew.... I'll spare you the details on that!!! It was only minutes till we sat down and ate a delicious crab leg lunch! Thanks for the awesome adventure Brandi, I'm soo glad we got to hang out for the 2 days!!!!! :)



VENICE BEACH, CALIFORNIA 2011

Before I headed for home... in Wisco. Mikey's friend, Dusty, picked me up for a short detour, before heading to the airport (Mikey got to head out on a SWEET climbin trip... I only WISH I could have stayed longer!!!!)  We rode bikes down the boardwalk, played on a giant big kids playground, and checked out the Santa Monica Peir. Super fun and watched a gorgeous sunset...a great way to end a fantabulous trip out on the West Coast, Thanks for havin me Mikey!!!!

 PHEONIX, Arizona


My first visit to Elizabeth's, my Cousin's, beautiful new home, filled with her awesome husband, Ben, and amazing little guy, Aiden.

 My cousin, Mike (Liz's lil Broder), and I drove from LA out to AZ rockin out to some good tunes and stoppin at In and Out Burger as needed. :) We rolled in pretty late in the evening all to spend a great weekend playing games, watching movies, and drinking wine from the good Bevmo.

 I got to play with my cute 2nd cousin :) Aiden and watch as he scooted about.... how much he's grown since I saw him only a few months ago!

Thanks LIZ!!!! For being such an amazing host and teaching me to blog :) without you these posts and the record of all my adventures would not be possible. Love you Girlie, Miss you Heaps. Hope to see you and your beautiful fam again soon!!

Road Trip through the CA National Parks

Best Road trip in the U.S.  

July, 2011

 Before headin back to LA, I met up with my old friend Chris, back from my days at good ol UWEC.

He also was living in San Diego, so I picked him up and we took off driving North to the great Sequoia National Park! Endless giant trees in every direction. 

We spent the week camping whereever we felt, and driving to all the spots deemed cool on the map :) It was a week full of nature, animals, and snapshots of beautiful scenery. Generally watching the sunset from a new spot every night and having a day filled with new adventures and mini hikes. A place to return to with more time to enjoy the long hikes and backpack in and out.

After the Sequoia National Park we headed through King's Canyon, which was truly one of my FAVORITE spots on our drive through the mountains. We found a nice FREEZING cold river to play in and were swept away through the rapids... only the small ones of corse. :) After drying out on the rocks and laying in the sun, we continued our Journey out of King's Canyon and into Yellowstone National Park.


Although the waterfalls and huge rock faces were gorgeously beautiful, I got the impression that this National Park was like Disney World's Magic Castle, only for outdoorsie people. There were people EVERYWHERE. And I mean crowded!!! Again this would be different if we could have been able to spend more time backpacking further off the main trials, but either way it was fun and saw a lot of cool sights. 

When it was time to head back towards San Diego, we got up past 9,000 feet elevation and had heaps of SNOW on the ground.... I couldn't help but to make a JULY SNOW ANGEL!!! What could be more fun than that?!?!?..... a snowball fight!!!! So after Chris and I got tired of packing ice cold snow balls and our hands were turning blue, we decided to hop back into the car and make our way back down the mountain.

A few more quick stops along the winding highway to snap some photos and stretch our legs from all the driving.... and to maybe give the brakes on the car a little brake. :)                                                              A great trip through the 3 National Parks, to one day hopefully return to and spend more time hikin and camping off the beaten path!!!! Thanks for showing me around Chris! I had an awesome time!! :)

  HAPPY 4th of JULY

yes... I'm only slightly behind in my blogging... :)  so happy late 4th.  In these pics I am now back from my week in NYC and headed back to Cali to finish my West Coast Vaca!! :)  I drove down to San Diego to visit my buddy Jason.  Here, we hiked up a sweet little mountain/ big hill in the blazin heat and then ran down to get out of the sun. Good times.

 The next day we headed to some museums and he gave me a fabulous tour of SD. We hung out over at a friend's house, thought about a marshmellow war that was taking place, but came to realize the entire city of San Diego was SOLD OUT of marshmellows (that may be a slight exaggeration, but either way it prevented us from takin part.... maybe marshmellow fluff.... or mini mallow shooters for next year).  So lesson learned to plan ahead.

 We ended up going out for O B Okie....some karaoke downtown near the beach... I think :) and had a blast rockin out all night long, and singing a bit of the Spice Girls! lol.  The following evening was the 4th of July, where we enjoyed a nice Italian dinner, and then watched the fireworks from the roof of their house.... going off at 4 different places!!!! a 360 degree view of beautiful fireworks!!! Firework night #2 as NYC lit them off on the 1st when I was still there!

As the night came to an end... poor little Toastie went missing.... (the tiny pup in the photo) we spent hours searching the neighborhood for her, thinking she had gotten out, but in the end, she was only hiding under one of the beds, super scared from all the firework noise.  Overall, a great 4th of July and I was glad to have spend it with my buddy Jason. :)  HAPPY 4th!!!!!!!!!!