Suburban Homestead

Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West

We returned from Scottsdale on Wednesday night. It was all sooo good - seeing a great new town, checking out an exciting new renovation project (think Melrose Place meets Southwest adobe architecture), having lots of free time to explore, and getting to do it all with my mom. I love coming home after just a few days away and 1.) wondering if my kids haven't each grown an inch and 2.) seeing how much my veggie garden HAS grown!

Our last morning in Scottsdale was a real cooker. At the recommendation of a friend we took a guided tour of Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West (a school of architecture) at 10:00AM and regardless of the timing, it was so incredibly hot! I had thought that I might be able to skip this visit - did I really want to tour another FLW building? Did I really want to learn more about this genius who up and left his wife and six kids?

Turns out, I did!

These sorts of tours rarely disappoint, and I need to commit that to memory. There is just no substitute for all the great stories and details that come with visiting an historical landmark such as this. I could spend hours putting it all down (and I wish I had the time because I will probably forget most of it by next week), but I need to get breakfast on the table now.

I now want to go tour our own FLW masterpiece - The Marin County Civic Center. Even though I've walked through it a hundred times, and driven past it thousands, I know there are some incredible stories about its design and construction that will be well worth the trip. Who wants in?!

One Day, Two Gals + Three Restaurants

I have always had a weakness for packaging. Wrap-up any product or service with just the right colors/fonts/pictures and I'm bound to lean in an take a closer look.

The Chop Shop is one such example. We drove by it several times our first night in Scottsdale, and I couldn't help but be romanced by its playful, retro signage all aglow. I needed to know more! Surprisingly, it is not a pork chop shop, it is a salad chop shop, perfect for our Tuesday lunch stop.

12:00 PM

(No, not me.)

This place was great. We each had the kale Caesar, I had warm chicken added to mine. All items were served up in compostable cups and bowls. It was busy so clearly we were not the only people enjoying their signage decor fresh food.

4:07 PM

A coupon for free guacamole brought us back to our hotel for their happy hour. Out on the patio it was still 100 degrees but with the misters going, we did all right. I love all the color in this place.

7:00 PM

For dinner we got really lucky when we discovered the highly reviewed Bandara just two blocks from our hotel. I almost fell over when we walked in and I found it to be a carbon copy of another favorite restaurant of mine in Denver - The Cherry Creek Grill.  Turns out, same owner!

We shared a giant plate of vegetables, a salad and a slice of banana creme pie.

Before walking back to our hotel, we unbuttoned our pants and swore not to let each other eat for at least another 24 hours. (I think we broke down after 13.)

Scottsdale's Antique Trove

Earlier this morning, while grabbing coffees in our hotel's lobby, we got to talking with a pleasant fellow behind the counter. He had lots to share with us about this and that, the hotel, and the town. When he asked us if we liked to go antiquing we got all excited and started chirping in unison: "We do! We do! We do!"  So he told us about the Antique Trove, properly warned us of all the time we would need to make our way through it, and then even drew us a map of how to get there. (I didn't even know people still knew how to draw maps!)

Let me say that I think I could really benefit from some instruction on how to effectively photograph an antique store. These photos do not even begin to do this place justice. From the moment we walked through the front door and saw deep aisle after deep aisle laid out before us, we knew we were in for something spectacular. So we gave each other one last look, confirmed we each had a phone on us for the inevitable, and went our separate ways.

Here are some of the highlights of our visit:

The Saguaro Hotel, Scottsdale AZ

So I'm in Scottsdale for a couple days. A little pleasure, a little business. I brought my mom because she likes it hot, and being that it was 100 degrees today, she's in her happy place.

Today was pleasure, tomorrow is all bizniz.

I've never been to Scottsdale before - it's adorable! Hard not to be when you're the spa capital of the world, I suppose. We are staying at the newly opened Saguaro Hotel. We ate at the sister hotel in Palm Springs last year and loved it. Super happy to have learned about this place in time for our visit.  I was needing more rainbows and cacti in my life.

We had a great lunch at the hotel's restaurant, El Distrito. I had the fish tacos, she, the chili relleno.

My mom made a great discovery in the lobby and then again in our room - these vintage Arizona Highways magazines from the 50's and 60's! She remembers the publication and was so excited to share with me the incredible quality of photography throughout. Indeed! Here is a closer look:

Dinner on the Beach, La Palapa

Wandering Old Town Puerto Vallarta

After our jaunt into PV for lunch at Joe Jack's Fish Shack, the women and men parted ways for several hours. Dads and boys headed back to the hotel, moms and daughters walked the streets of old town looking for adventure, cheap take-homes and ice cream. (Did that sound dirty?)

One of us (with cute red braids) was lucky enough to get a private lesson in quesadilla making from a sweet man who took to her good looks.  She was so excited for the experience.

With a short list of things to buy (shark tooth necklace, bobble-head turtles, Mexican dresses, etc.) we headed north, crossed a small bridge and turned left into the PV’s outdoor market.

This Kid...

Joe Jack's Fish Shack - Part III

It's spring break and for the second year in a row, we are in Puerto Vallarta with friends. (When you have a recipe for success, why deviate?) With a third family in the mix this year, we are having so much fun sharing with them our favorite spots and activities. Eight kids all line-up in age and we couldn't ask for a more perfect set-up. Yesterday we took time out from our all-inclusive, piled into two large taxi vans (there are fourteen of us total!) and headed into PV's Old Town where we took lunch at Joe Jack's Fish Shack. (To get a little back story on JJ's and me, or why this post is called Part III, click here.)

Oh Joe, we love you so. My personal, absolute favorite dish at Joe Jack's is the Fish Tacos 'Baha'. If you are feeling *good* you can take yours grilled. I was feeling *naughty* so I ordered mine battered and fried. No regrets!

The chips and guac are some of the best we've ever had! P. had the octopus because he's just that kinda guy. His wife, B., is one of the best friends I'll ever have. Here is what she looks like in a wide-brimmed black hat, on a Mexican roof top, with the sun behind her back. Hay que bonita!

P. and I are both photography hobbyists and enthusiasts. He's big on the technical stuff which I envy. My brain is not wired to receive such information. ;)

Shrimp tacos for him, fish tacos for Miss Frijoles. We ordered way too much food not realizing that each plate promised to overflow with three giant tacos each!

Get on track to the shack if you are ever in PV. Make sure to make reservations as the tables are limited. The shopping in the surrounding blocks is phenomenal with boutique stores selling interesting jewelry, clothing and homewares (although mostly at Amercan prices). I'll post about our jaunt to the colorful outdoor market next. Stay turned.

Artichokes to Cake Pops

The final leg of last week's road trip had us driving home from Carmel on Sunday. We were ready to be back. With two kids sick, and our final night spent in a motel with dubious cleaning standards, we just wanted a hot shower at home, and to crawl into familiar beds...but not before making a couple stops at some of our favorite old-school points of interest.

First stop: Watsonville for artichokes and butternut squash.

Second stop: Capitola for Gayle's Bakery and Rotisserie.

I have been one of many faithful fans of Gayle since my college years in Santa Cruz. Everything I have ever eaten here, from sweet to savory, has been incredible. Which is why I NEVER miss the opportunity to indulge in a little bit of a lot of things she dishes up, whenever I'm nearby.

Breakfast consisted of egg and bacon croissants for the wee ones, and huevos rancheros casserole topped with a poached egg for me. (I must try to recreate my dish at home. So colorful and fun to eat!) After that, I was emotionally unable to deny my children their first cake pop experience.

Our Sunday night dinner!

A Look Inside Our Santa Barbara Hotel

How fun is this room?! It was ours for a night when we stopped over in Santa Barbara on our way home from Disneyland. It is my understanding that The Agave Inn is owned by the same people that own The Hamlet Inn,where we stayed last year on our spring break road trip. It appears - and I'm totally guessing on this one - that *the owners* had the great idea to buy some old-school motels and funk them up a bunch with some simple tricks like - bright paint, modern IKEA furnishings and affordable poster art. Both experiences have inspired me to dream of buying an old motel and fixing it up into something wonderful.



While in Santa Barbara, we (barely) made it to the zoo. With only an hour and a half left before closing time, we powered through this beautiful gem of a zoo and managed to see all the animals. Sadly, it was not as magical as we might have hoped (think extreme sibling rivalry) and ended with a three-year-old's *toot* turning into a *diarrhea explosion*, and me walking out the front gate with a bare-bottomed little boy in my arms.

Wordless Wednesday

The Accidental Tourist

I made a big, big mistake recently when I accidentally booked our trip to Disneyland the week after our school district's ski week. I don't know how it happened exactly (honest truth), but it did, and so we just decided to roll with it. Last week we stayed local while everyone else was traveling, and now that school is back in, we are down south introducing the three-year-old to places like The Madonna Inn, Disneyland and Santa Barbara.

Last night we spent the night in the Jungle Rock room at The Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo. You can imagine the kids excitement when they first walked in...

Flashback Friday

I've wanted to do a flashback post for a while now. I love looking back on old photos. You think you remember the details, but you quickly realize that you've begun to forget. I am so grateful for all the images we have stored up - even if half of them are close-ups of food or details of furniture. ;)  As much as I loved all three of my babies, I wouldn't give up these days to go back to those. Back then, I wanted to know who they were and I was so eager to see their personalities develop. Now I know...and I like it much better this way.

Mardi Gras, 2006

Waiting for Santa, 2006

New Year's Eve, 2006

Our Room at The Parker Palm Springs

Had to share! I was so excited to stay at The Parker this week. While we had eaten in one of the on-site restaurants last year, we had never spent the night or seen the inside of one of the rooms. Designed by one of my idols, Jonathan Adler, I knew it would be colorful, irreverent and completely unforgettable.





Poor Carol Channing. Growing up, I remember my father, on several occasions, getting so flustered by something - a letter, bill or message - that he'd then threaten to "frame it and hang it over the toilet in the hall bathroom". At no time is this more vivid for me than when we were sitting in a Paris restaurant, having eaten the WORST MEAL of all time, and then receiving an outrageous bill for it with our servers thanks scribbled on it in blue - "Hope you enjoyed your meal!"  My dad sat there looking at this bill, half laughing, half crying, and promising to "frame it and hang it over the toilet in the hall bathroom". Over, and over again. I thought of that story every time I walked into this bathroom.



I brought some summer attire to wear while out *paroozing* the antique shops.





Above is the back of the in-room menu laid down on the upholstered bench at the end of our bed. I loved the illustration!

Hope you enjoyed!

Wordless Wednesday (Palm Springs)

Breakfast at Norma's

Today I was the grateful wife of a man who had a (yawner of a) conference in Palm Springs. It was all very last minute, but I did take the opportunity to sleep in, relax and stroll mid-century furniture stores support him, rub his feet and keep him company at night.

We arrived late in the day yesterday and took breakfast this morning at Norma's, one of two restaurants at our hotel. I was in a retro-sort-of-heaven, mesmerized by lush gardens, pops of vibrant, warm colors and ridiculously good food. While we had to pass on the Zillion Dollar Lobster Frittata, for obvious reasons ($1000), we did manage to leave fulfilled. He had the egg white omelet with vegetables, I had the potato pancakes with cranberry apple sauce. We shared a fruit plate and a large pot of coffee while exchanging ideas on how we could revamp our house to mimic a Palm Springs oasis.  :)

A Day at the Academy

The Evolution of *Cabin Time*

There has been a beautiful evolution to the way we take our time together at the family cabin. While some things will likely remain constant throughout the years - long days, extended family, multiple generations, river time, skiing, rich foods, and holidays, there have been some undeniable leaps in the quality of our time spent as cousins grow older and less dependent on us adults. This past summer was incredible as two complete generations were finally able to hike up-stream together and explore the wilderness without some kids and a parent needing to stay back for napping or safety reasons. I am equally grateful that the small toys have started to dwindle in quantity as we acknowledge their waning attraction and begin sorting and purging to make room for more group-oriented playtime. We graduated to board-game-playing-heaven this Thanksgiving weekend, and the hours spend together on the floor, on the bed, the deck or at the dining table, conversing and playing games amid stacks of plastic chips, pastel paper bills, folding cardboards and transparent red die, was simply priceless.

What’s more, we had incredible weather for all four days of the holiday weekend.  While the river was too cold to dunk a toe in, the mountain air was in the high 60's and so we got to prop lots of windows and doors open, allowing for the sounds of the river below to rise up and wash over our happy souls.

Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Three Days in Venice

It's about time I knock-out a post on our three days in Venice earlier this month last month.

Venice was really the whole reason why we took this trip to the Mediterranean. My sister and her husband were planning on wrapping up their 20 year anniversary celebration in Italy with three days in the floating city...and so we said, "You two could probably use some company." It was all rather spontaneous - we used the excuse of our ten year anniversary(!!!) - and I'm so glad we did. To meet up like this was really a once in lifetime event.

My brother-in-law organized a walking tour for us one morning - The Ecology of Venice. Our tour guide Luca, a marine biologist who gives tours on the side, was a wealth of information. We learned all about the history of the city and why it's *sinking*, he pointed out all the ways Venetians are trying to slow the process of erosion, helped us read buildings by pointing out the salt collection on their facades left after water has been absorbed and then released, and so on and so forth, and on and on and on. Luca, sweet sweet Luca, his tour was only meant to be two hours but after three-point-two-five we had to gently cut him off so we could get on with our lives.

Above, you can see a metal stair placed at the front door. The original stairs sat about one and a half feet under water.

The most surprising thing I learned on our Ecology of Venice tour was that all of Venice's raw sewage flows through them. I guess that explains why only drunk Americans can be seen swimming in these waterways. Luca said that Venetian children have a long tradition of pooping, flushing and running to the window to see their work wash out into the canal below.

On to dessert! Above was a window we passed everyday on our way out of our hotel. How I wish I could have brought a fish made of marzipan back to my little fly fisherman with a passion for almonds.

I carried around the information for the bakery that sold these out-of-this-world macaroons for a very long time. I have since misplaced it. :(

I just love this picture of my sister...and this one of her husband. :)

Our best meal in Venice - if you can believe it - was a vegetarian restaurant off the beaten path. It felt like Osteria La Zucca might be a local favorite, if that's even possible in Venice anymore. Every small dish we ordered and shared was incredible, our favorite being the pumpkin flan. The restaurant shared their recipe with me, in Italian, of course. We snapped a picture of it and I'm hoping to ask a friend for translation. More on that later...

Of course, I wasn't letting anyone leave Venice without a gondola ride.

Exploring the Island of Hvar, Croatia

We did quite a few walking tours while on our trip this past week, and I’m not ashamed to admit it! We learned so much more than I could have hoped to download from a book, plus we always took a break with our guide for coffee, sat down and chatted about more personal things. It is in those moments when you truly get insights into the people and places you are visiting. Our best guide, Jana, was from the island of Hvar, and she walked us all through town, explaining the rich history of what is today a very popular destination spot.

Later in the day we met up with Jana a second time and she drove us around the island to see Hvar’s incredible countryside which today stands only as a reminder of the agrarian community that used to thrive here. For centuries, from the hilltops on down to the water, the farming of olive trees, fig trees, almond trees, grapes, lavender and seasonal gardens took place in this rocky but rich soil. Because the hills are slopped, previous generations terraced all this land for their growing needs and when you stand on a hillside today, and look all around you at this endless system of low rock walls, it’s just amazing to think back on what this island would have looked like through the centuries while in full production.

The most exciting thing for me (other than eating wild figs along the roadside!) was to learn that the generations of Hvar's famers never had a system of irrigation in place and that all the grapes, figs and olives only got water during the rainy months, and survived through the hot summers. So interesting!

The farmers of this land began leaving their family's businesses after returning home from the Second World War, opting for an *easier* life in town. Soon thereafter, the newly formed Yugoslavian government gave the island's people pine trees to plant along the hillsides. Eventually these pines took over and the stone barriers were hidden from view and all but forgotten. Then, twelve years ago, a great fire engulfed the countryside, burned down all the pines and left what we see today. Our tour guide said she was not even aware of this history on her island before it was revealed to her in the ashes. Today, bushes are making their way back and it’s believed that in another ten years or so and the agricultural ruins of Hvar will once again be buried from plain sight.

I found it so fascinating to stand there and to look at this endless stretch of what was once bustling farmland. The youth of today in Croatia are not interested in the hard life of farming - and who can blame them - it’s been in the their blood for generations! Then you look at us – those that didn’t have to farm growing up – and suddenly the whole idea of being a farmer is romantic again! ;)

The Doors + Windows of Hvar

Dinner in Croatia

I wanted to share some images of a simple but incredibly delicious meal we shared together when we first arrived in Croatia. It was a tiny spot in Lovran, a small coastal town in Istria, called Wine Bar Loza. The area is known for its wines and truffles, however this night, we shared a plate of mixed cheeses and cured meats, a basket of *grandma's bread*, and a side of salted cod pate. To call any Croatian meal *locally harvested* or *sustainable* would be redundant, I gather. I get the feeling that it goes without saying - when you sit down at a restaurant in this part of the world, your food did not travel far to get to your table. I hope you can both see and taste this with these photos taken while dining beneath a walnut tree, listening to church bells chiming and savoring the local traditions.

Hunting for Truffles in Croatia

This is an incredibly special time for us as we take a week to celebrate ten years of marriage and three wonderful kids -- only, we didn't take the kids along on the celebration. ;)

Today, the two of us ventured down quiet, winding country roads, lined with massive family gardens of pumpkins, squash, corn and fruit trees, to partake in a bit of truffle gastronomy.  It all began at the Karlić family house, where the mother, Radmila, prepared us an incredible lunch of all things truffle.

There was salami with truffles, cheese with truffles, cream cheese on bread, olive oil and honey - all with truffles. And after the first course, we were treated to a look at all the truffles that would be added to our second course omlette!

After lunch, Radmila's son Evan walked us past a small vineyard, and down to the forest below where his grandfather began the family's tradition of truffle hunting in 1966. There were no promises that we'd find anything...

...and yet their sweet pooch found three! It was such a cool experience and one that I know we could only have had here.

Click here to learn more about the Karlić family business.

Spoosy's Garden

We are having an apple kind of day today. For breakfast we enjoyed rolled oats topped with the last of 2011's apple butter, and today I'm making a 2012 batch while preparing for friends to come over tonight to can apple sauce. It seems like the right time to pick up where we left off and post about Spoosy Moose's fruits and vegetables at her summer cabin.

It's been two weeks now since we returned home from our two week RV trip. The kids are back in school, twelve loads of laundry have brought us back to a state of *normal*, and I'm slowly chipping away at getting the house organized since our move in May.

But I want to step back a few and wrap up the last four days of our summer vacation, spent at Spoosy's homestead way up north. It all just seems like a dream at this point.

Here is a shot I snapped from the cabin porch looking at the big kid stringing his line before going out to catch his mama a salmon in the river. (Little Miss daydreams on a swing, beneath a walnut tree.)

Mr. Noodle dons some Davy Crockett attire before heading out into the orchard.

Fallen walnuts rest on top of the kitchen's half door.

Center stage in the bear-proof orchard of mixed summer fruit is a fallen apple tree that still puts out a hug production.

Spoosy told us to help ourselves to all the (organic) fruit we wanted and so we loaded up a box for home. Then we all chipped in and helped her clean the orchard of fallen fruit that could not be used.

The raspberry patch in the upper garden where more vegetables used to be grown for the endless friends and family that visited the homestead through the decades.

I LOVED this feature of the lower garden. The large space was fenced, and around it a wide path was maintained by cutting back the endless blackberry bushes and creating a sort of *wall o' berries* that make harvesting easy and painless!

For as long as I have been hearing about Spoosy's cabin, I have been making pies that never quite live up to DH's memories of hers. This summer I finally got to enjoy the legend first hand - and it did not disappoint!

A Friend's Rustic Family Cabin

For as long as Daddy and I have been an item, I have been hearing stories about time spent at his best friend's family cabin. This week, I finally (FINALLY!) got to see it for myself. Driving for six hours to get there, I was beginning to think nothing could be worth this brutality, but as soon as we turned off the main road and began making our way down the five mile long driveway to its remote location, my tune changed and I turned to Daddy and said "I take it back. If this driveway is all I ever know about the cabin, the drive was worth it!"

That long stretch of driveway took us in and out of woods dense with Redwoods and Alders. Ferns came down the hill to the roadside and met with wild foxglove. Blackberry bushes dominated and clearly served as shrines to black bears, who left their big piles of "blessings" all along the gravel road. I was in heaven!

And then we arrived at the rustic two bedroom cabin on the river - one family's tradition for three generations and counting.

We quickly learned that the cabin accepted electricity only two years ago, but still doesn't have a landline. Even still, there is only one outlet that I could see, one working bulb in the kitchen and the rest of the time it's preferred that everyone operate by candlelight and in a electronics-free environment.  If music is to be enjoyed, it must be played by the guests.

We were welcomed by said best friend's mother, a sort of second mom to Daddy and a self-proclaimed "extra grandma" to our kids. She has got to be the world's No.1 Four-Wheel-Drive Grandma - swimming upstream several times a day just because, playing with small kids until the cows come home, baking fruit pies all day long for her spawnings to enjoy. She's just amazing and we love her for all these reasons and more. In intimate circles, she is known affectionately as the Spoosy Moose.

Spoosy's cabin is an honest to goodness homestead of Little House on the Prairie proportions. There was an enormous garden (HUGE!), an orchard bursting with pears, walnuts, apples, peaches, figs and persimmons, not to mention a river full of trout, steelhead, and salmon.

The house is lovingly filled with decades of family memories and collections of objects that told stories of days gone by.

Our time at Spoosy's second home was all I had been promised it would be. In fact we stretched our planned three nights and two days to four nights and four days - it was that special! So much more to come on this magical place, just as soon as I get control over all this dirty laundry.

Confusion Hill, CA

Our drive up Hwy 101, with a stop at Confusion Hill, actually took place about five days ago. In fact, we are actually back home today after four days days at our friends magical family cabin in Northern California. So much to share about those incredible days. Until then, I'll share these pictures of our drive up, which I love - bright colors and kitch nestled in the Redwood Trees - summertime, summertime, summertime!

Striking Gold in California

We said "goodbye" to three incredible days in the Yosemite Valley on Tuesday, after taking in lunch on the outside patio of the Ahwahnee Hotel (a real treat!). Heading out of the park, and up North through the Gold Country, we made a quick stop to cool off at an old-fashioned sweet shop in Jamestown.  I have such great memories of antiquing in Jamestown through the years with my grandma when she was still alive. I had hoped to run through my long-standing favorite shop, The Emporium, but we arrived two minutes after they closed and so I just steamed up the front window instead.

We spent Tuesday night at our first honest-to-goodness RV park. Angels Camp RV and Camping Resort was clean and simple with some highlights that included fruiting grape vines, fig trees and even a pet emu! It certainly wasn't Yosemite, but we didn't mind too much because for the first time in three days, we had full hook-ups! Some RVs seemed to call this place *home*.

We had all of Wednesday to make our way up to Sly Park Resort where we were meeting family for our annual summer campout. We got off to a late start but decided to visit a cute town we knew of - Murphys. That's our beast parked along the adorable tree lined main street.

We stuffed ourselves silly at Alchemy where we indulged on fish tacos, burgers, garlic bread and gourmet bubble gum soda.

She's never really done well in restaurants. ;)

After lunch, Daddy stayed back to trouble-shoot some *issues* with the RV while the kids and I walked the dreamy main strip, admiring waterways, window shopping and looking for something sweet to eat.

Rubber chicken themed goods at Twisted Oak.

Oh yes we did!!!

We were SO lucky to discover Lila & Sage - winner of The Cupcake Wars! Here Little Miss stands in front of the case with her new rubber chicken.

Chocolate Peanut Butter, Strawberry Shortcake and Vanilla with Raspberry - all award winning!

Our last stop of the day was California Caverns - which we loved! We were able to escape the 100+ degree weather for an hour by heading underground into the limestone cavern where the temperature is always a consistant 53.

Yosemite Glamping

Did someone say *glamping*? 

Welcome to our third Yosemite summer vacation! We decided to really take the fun up a notch this year and splurge on an RV. *Someone* was *supposed to be* potty trained and so it seemed like a great idea. (Refrigerated food and the occasional hot shower was nothing to throw rocks at either.)

Yosemite was great, as always. Every year it's all very predictable - the perfect weather, the tolerable crowds, the selection of activities. This year though, water levels were very, very low due to low rains this past winter. Yosemite Falls was completely dry (although it usually runs out in late August anyway), and all the rivers down to a trickle. Mirror Lake, our favorite spot, was more like a desert this time. :(  If we don't get more rain this winter, we will likely take a break from Yosemite next summer as those water activities are always the highlights of the trip.

I didn't do the best job capturing the magic of the valley I'm now realizing, as I look back on three days of photos, but these are some little highlights of our time:

I have to laugh at all the fuss I made over the suggested list of items the RV rental company provided. 'Pizza stones', 'butcher knives' and 'curling irons' were some of the items I scoffed at, but the iGrill?! Oh yeah, we definitely need that out in the wild!

Here was a typical breakfast for us: English muffins toasted on the skillet, buttered and jammed (blackberries just canned this week!), peaches and blueberries. We would then wash it all down with a long family bike ride through "Nature's Great Cathedral".

Little Miss on her new DeeLITE bike with her new helmet. The whole get-up cracks me up.

Mr. Noodle refuses to acknowledge the potty but was a superstar on his balance bike. The kid is going to graduate to peddles before he's even out of diapers.

I've always been a die-hard romantic for stories of The Mother Road - so I had to try this stuff.

Little Miss trying to get close to a deer.

I'd say she nailed it.

Our view of Half Dome from a little shady spot along the river where we swam and snacked.

OK - I'm probably going to go to hell for this next shot, or at least have to face interrogation by CPS, but let's be fair here - this is not nearly as bad as smearing your child's head with honey so that you can get a cute shot with a bear, now is it?

I know, I KNOW! Don't feed the animals!!! But really, these animals were so brazen, something tells me they've had a life of tourists feeding them long before we ever rolled our 26-foot mobile home into the valley. I wasn't going to kill her dream of a tea party with woodland animals.

OK - another naughty parenting moment - camping with iPads. But really - who's parent would not have used one of these in our day had we been more wired in the 70's. No more guilt here because while they were doing this at 8 o'clock...

...we were outside doing this. :)

A big thanks goes out to Galen Clark, Abraham Lincoln and John Muir for making this family vacation possible. As Daddy said, "We owe so much to those men. Without them this valley would look like Las Vegas."

The Yosemite Valley

Every time we come to Yosemite I end up in tears. Last year, it happened on our last day, when at the base of Half Dome I watched my naked babies splash about in Mirror Lake. As my heart exploded, the tears erupted.

It happened again this morning, but admittedly on a slightly smaller scale. After taking our morning coffee, faces kissed by the morning sun rising over Half Dome, I took a walk to the end of our campground to visit the stables. I knew that soft, golden light, shining down on those horses, would be absolutely breathtaking.

And it was. So I took pause, let it all seep in, and let the tears well up.

It was just another summer morning in the Yosemite Valley. But even still, it seems impossible to me to be in those moments and to not feel that there is something greater than all of us at work.

Our Bedroom at the Cabin

On my list of favorite rooms in the house, the bedroom is on top. I love a well-made bed and all the personal, sentimental choices one puts into their private retreat.

Our rooms at our family's cabin came together quickly and without much thought. When we first found this place in the mountains, all family members were more concerned with things like getting the pink, stained, shag carpet out, the *dubious* crops removed, and the owner's *abandoned* trailer hauled off the property (it conveniently exploded in the middle of the night while we were still in escrow, nearly taking the cabin with it) in time for all three generations to spend Christmas here together. Walls needed painting and frankly, emotions needed soothing after all the drama of closing took place. We spent more energy wondering if we should jump ship, than thinking about bedroom decor.

But that was over five years ago now and I am happy to report we've had no more close calls or unexplained explosions in the middle of the night. We divided up the rooms by couples, and put the kids/cousins in the downstairs room which we built out with bunk beds, made of pine tree logs. At the time, we were remodeling our first home and so we took our first bedroom set out of storage and brought it up to the river home. Eventually, I invested in a Pendleton throw with shams. Last year, I found some chicken sheets that matched our frame of mind. This week, we brought up a toddler bed, a gift in exchange for a favor from our friends at Spot on Square. I outfitted it with some Trees bedding from my old business.

I've picked up some little objects for the nightstands and dressers over the past year, in an ongoing effort to make our space feel more like home: an artificial succulent from Target, some ceramic chickens from a homesteading store back home, and some vintage cameras from an antique store in town.

And now I'm kinda feeling like taking a nap...