Trip up Highway 1

Last weekend we joined Corey on a work trip up the coast.  We stayed in the quaint little coastal town of Gualala and had such a great time.  It had been a couple of years since our first visit up there. I remember bringing the little Dora potty chair with us the last time and pulling over on the (very narrow) shoulder of that winding highway so that Audrey could do her business overlooking the Pacific.  No potty chair needed this time...although a barf bucket would have come in handy.  Poor Audrey, her tummy didn't like all those curvy wurvies on Highway 1!

The hotel we stayed in had an amazing view of the ocean and the girls got to sit in recliner chairs, wrapped up in their sleeping bags while they watched the breakers and ate their oatmeal breakfast.  At one point Audrey turned to me and said, "Mommy, this is the life for me!"

While Corey worked we had a great day at the beach, exploring Gualala Point Regional Park.  The park trails lead you through everything from grassland to wind whipped, mossy forest and eventually deliver you to the beach on one end or a rocky cliff edge at the other.  Both were practically all ours for the day, peaceful and stunningly beautiful.

We did meet one family who had an unusual pet.  Her name was BB and she was a black bellied Barbados lamb that followed them down the trail like a family dog would.  She was being bottle fed my her human mommy so she had to go wherever the family went for the day.  On this day, it was the beach, and she stopped along the trail to let both girls pet, snuggle and pick her up.  She basically went limp in their arms.  Cutest. Thing. Ever.  And, of course, Audrey has been asking for a lamb of her own every day since.

Corey was able to join us toward the end of the day before we started the long and winding drive back home (Audrey slept through the curvy part this time and Natalie willed herself not to get sick). It worked!

It was a quick trip but I'm so happy we went.  

Thank you, Nana!

(photo courtesy of Audrey)

Nana left a little over a week ago and boy were we sad to see her go.  She arrived at the end of January and we started going downhill health-wise pretty much as soon as she stepped off the plane. Sadly, this is not the first time this has happened.  The tummy bug of 2013? Yup, she lived that with us, too.  Poor Nana.  She seems to either be here to help us move or help us mend. Thank you, Nurse Nana, we appreciated your help, health and happy smiles more than ever this time.

(photo courtesy of Audrey)

Nana's birthday gift to Natalie was a special outing to Barnes and Noble for a hot chocolate and a few good reads. It was basically her last day here before Natalie was healthy enough to go!  So happy they could make it happen.  Natalie had such a great time and is as much in love with hanging out in a bookstore as a mom could hope for!

Happy 8th Birthday, Beautiful!

Natalie is 8!  Hard to believe.  What's even harder to believe is that her birthday fell smack dab in the middle of this family getting hit HARD by the flu bug.  Ugh.  Oh, the unexpected joys of having a birthday in the middle of cold and flu season.

It all started with Audrey.  She fell ill the week before Natalie's special day.  Just as she was beginning to feel better, I fell ill  prior to Natalie's party.  Thank goodness Nana was here to help Corey pull it off.  It went beautifully and Natalie enjoyed it so much.  She also enjoyed being in complete control of all party prep as I laid in bed sick.  She actually frosted her own cupcakes (after Nana helped her bake them), made her own cupcake toppers out of toothpics and stickers and assembled all the party goods for transport to the pottery studio where we had the party.  She did an amazing job and I'm pretty sure she could handle all parties from now on!  Such a little first born take charge leader, this one.

In addition to staying healthy enough for her party, she went to school on Monday (her actual birthday) chipper and excited to share birthday cookies with her classmates.  But Monday after school when Nana picked her up, she was feverish and it only went downhill from there.  She actually sneeze/coughed out her birthday candle on her cupcake after dinner and could barely find the strength to open her presents before heading to bed...until Thursday.  Poor kiddo.

Morning

Evening

As I still couldn't get out of bed, Corey transported each kid to and from the doctor and eventually fell ill himself on Tuesday.  We've been a mess around here all week. But Nana, thanks to an immune system of steel (clearly the result of a lifelong career in nursing and a lovely positive attitude), still stands.  We are so grateful for her help this week.

Natalie received a karaoke machine for her birthday and she was so excited to use it.  So Corey set her up on the sofa with the microphone, played the Frozen karaoke CD on the TV and there she sang...while lying down.  We called it "sickeoki".  Poor bug.

But our (almost healthy) 8 year old currently loves:

playing outside
all things fairy
Legos
pogo sticking, biking, scootering, tennis playing and monkey bar monkeying
dressing up
reading, writing, illustrating and storytelling
playing with her crested gecko, Zipper
and all things GIRL (braids, ribbons, sparkly accessories, lipgloss that smells like rasberry, etc.)

Love her!