big bear

 this past week we headed to big bear for a few days with stew's family.  it was a little piece of heaven! beautiful weather, a house full of family to chase the boys, sitting on the porch reading a book for a couple of hours(when does a mom get to do this?), naps(for me too),  boating, paddle boarding, eating, playing games once the kids went down, and lots of laughing.  i totally enjoyed myself and so did the rest of the crew.  here's a glimpse at our three days at big bear.  thank you chris and alan!  what a sweet gift!

isaac said the boat was his favorite part of our vacation.  he was a great little driver!

the water was FREEZING!!

ryder jumped in for a minute or two and was ready to get out.

the entire back porch was enclosed.  HUGE perk when you have 3 little kids running around.

 best picture thanks to uncle derek's awesome shirt lifting reflection.

the whole gang right before we said goodbye.

not pictured:  ryder waking up at 11pm, stuck under the bed.  he was awake for a couple of hours!  i think i slept through most of it, but poor stew did not.  we all napped the next day.  i'd also like to add that the road to big bear is VERY twisty!  holy heavens, i felt sick.

girls getaway

my mom, aunt, sister and i have been taking trips together since allison and i were little girls.  there is usually a nice hotel involved, some shopping, plenty of relaxing and lots of eating!  this year did not disappoint.  my mom treated us to three days at the hilton in downtown san diego and my aunt treated us to ridiculously nice restaurants.  did i mention that they both treated us to new clothes and such?!  we were spoiled!!  it was so nice to be together and run all over downtown.

after dinner at roy's we walked all over seaport village.  i confess, i needed to sit my big booty down and relax.  the women in my family have a lot of energy!

mom bought her first pair of toms!  way to go jan!

found out my sister travels with a HUGE box fan(can you imagine what we looked like checking in to the hotel;)) and sleeps with something dark over her eyes in the morning, in order to sleep longer.  i am considering buying something to put over my eyes in the morning, in hopes that my kids let me sleep later.

our amazing view from our room.

we spent one afternoon reading and soaking up the sun by the pool

 you can tell we were roughing it.

 our last dinner was at flemmings.  we ate enough for 2 families.  don't worry, my mom had us out walking the streets of downtown at 10 pm in order to burn some of that food off.  ha!  i whined the whole walk (ok, maybe not the entire time, but i did make it clear that i didn't want to walk).   since when is it mandatory to walk off your food?!

we saw mixtape!  it's seriously the most incredible show.  i was howling.  if you were raised in the 80's you have to see it.  i am going to see it again in august if you want to join the fun.  let me know!

what a fun few days.  thank you family for spending so much time with me and treating me to so many wonderful things.  i had a blast!

a serious thank you to my husband who watched the boys and had the house clean when i returned!  and serious props to my dad who watched asher all afternoon while stew was at a padres game with the older two and the high schoolers.