Local flare

A family that bowls together stays together! With all the rain we've been getting we decided to head to the local bowling alley. My guess is the local bowling alley is probably the worst bowling alley in state if not in the west or even the nation. My guess is the bowling alley in Antarctica is better than Noyo Bowl in Fort Bragg, CA. Anyway, our Monday evening bowling only lasted one game. It was a sad showing by all of us. One pitcher of beer and one fall.

Backs sides are about the only photo ops at bowling alleys.

1st place: Dad - 120 pts - and he's the one who fell!

Dad on the way down

2nd place: Mom - 115 pts

3rd place: Mike- 112 pts

4th place: Me - 53 pts (that's not a typo)

We decided to make ourselves feel better after our bowling debacle and actually get out and do something specific to the coast. We decided to go sea kayaking Tuesday afternoon. The clouds broke and the sun came out just long enough for us to have a lovely paddle on the Pacific. No joke, as soon as we got back on the beach the fog rolled in. I only have a few pics now - will post more once we have the waterproof camera developed.

The sea was a little rough so mom chickened out, she stayed on the beach and took some video and pictures.

DH and I got a pink kayak
DH, Me and Dad ready to row (paddle really)
DH and I are the double, Dad is to the right. Can you see why mom chickened out?

Kayaking was a great way to end our stay on the coast. Tomorrow we're heading inland a bit to visit friends in the North Bay and East Bay. Will be heading back to Montana on Saturday the 3rd.

Happy New Year.

Festivities Continue

Things haven't really stopped since we got here. Christmas day continued with more food, family and drinks....we even had a little white Christmas! If it's not hailing it's raining. We've had one dry day since we got here. It's not cold just wet.

A Northern California White Christmas - hail

Mason's Aunt Jenny loves him!

Mason loving his time with the ever so silly Cousin Janie

Mom,Janie, Travis and Betty

The best family pic is the most obnoxious of me!

The headlines on Christmas day were that the day after was going to be the new BLACK FRIDAY!! You know what the means?? SHOPPING!!! Mom and I made the 2 1/2 hour trek south to do some shopping. We were successful naturally.

Saturday morning DH and I went for a hike to the falls as Russian Gulch. It was drippy and gorgeous!

DH on a fallen tree over the river

Falls as Russian Gulch

We the headed to the cliffs to see the Point Cabrillo Light House. The ocean was angry and beautiful!

Saturday afternoon Aunt Janice and Uncle Lyle made the trek to the coast for yet another family get together. More food and drinks...but before DH and I could partake we headed to mass at the church we were married in. It was so fun being there again. It's exactly what you would expect of a itty bitty coastal church on a dark rainy night. Just lovely.

Like many of the pictures from earlier in the week, Walker was in control of the camera and did a phenomenal job of capturing the fun moments of the evening

Mom & Me

Me & DH

Silly Aunt Janice and Uncle Lyle

DH & Walker

Walker

The boys headed home early but the rest of us were up until 1 AM playing Mexican Train - I won! The boys were back over the next morning, they had a little more energy than the rest of us.

Thank goodness Mom got a totally rock'n espresso maker, we've been living on lattes for the past couple of days. DH and I headed to town yesterday and made our way to the brewery. For those that don't know, the North Coast Brewery was named on of the nations top 10 micro brewery's. We sampled 10 of their 12 beers.

Not sure what's on tap for today - there's talk of bowling and Mexican food. What could be better?

Merry Christmas

Our luggage finally arrived the afternoon of Christmas Eve, thankfully everything was there and accounted for. It's been pretty much raining non-stop since we got here, hasn't been cold, just wet. Everything is so GREEN!!! We not minding the rain since we've been going non-stop!!!! No joke. We've just getting into our 5th family meal...

Tuesday we had family dinner at Mom and Dads...delicious as usual.

Great Aunt Betty and Mom

Papa and Dad

Mason and Nancy

Walker

Bruce and Kim (Nancy's parents)

Mason

***CHRISTMAS EVE***

We spent Christmas Eve at Papa's. We had a lovely family dinner that thankfully didn't count on the turkey my brother tried and was eventually successful at frying.

Nephew like Auntie - We love OLIVES!!!! Walker wanted a 'GrabNabber' and shovel from Santa

Uncle Bruce just so happened to have a 'GrabNabber'

Deep fried turkey - we didn't eat

The boys were ready to go home....

DH and I in front of the 'rents tree

****CHRISTMAS MORNING - #1****

At Mom and Dad's house.

DH got SNOW SHOES

Mom got a heart-on

DH won a "MAJOR AWARD" nightlight


****CHRISTMAS MORNING - #3****

Family brunch at Travis and Nancy's.

Santa brought the boys a ball bin

The Jack in a Box from Uncle & Auntie was a hit!

The hunting camp from Auntie & Uncle was also a huge hit!

Not sure how Walker got his foot there...

Our family doesn't drink beer - What do you think this means?

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!

Off and running

The holidays are just that! Below are pics of the past 24 hours. We started with dinner at my Papa's with babies and cousins. Followed by a few hours with the nephews this morning - don't mind the morning clothing and hair!!!! Not sure what the proper way to do it is, I label my pics on the top....

My Dad with Walker & Mason

Papa with Walker, Conner (cousins baby) and Mason

Adorable Mason!!!

My loving husband and the BEST Uncle ever!

My Mom and Walker (please note the hair cut done by 'His Barber')

He's incredibly proud of his barber!

If you haven't heard- Mason loves...BANANAS!!!

A.M. craft project - Gingerbread House 2008

Gingerbread house with 2 acres on California coast

Asking $450,000