Thursday, November 22, 2012

happy thanksgiving!

I hope you are enjoying a festive celebration with family or friends! Here is a peak at what we did last year with our dear friends.


This little turkey took me a little time to make, but isn't he cute? Hope you have a great day!

Saturday, November 17, 2012

home again

We are home from our amazing vacation! We ended up not going to the Redwoods as it was predicted to rain the entire time. There was so much to explore in Mendocino, that we stayed there two more days. Here are a few more highlights . . .









Hope you are having a good weekend!

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

ft. bragg adventures

There are so many beaches to explore in Mendocino County. If you every get the chance to visit Northern California, I encourage you to get away from the city and enjoy the coastline. We love being here during the off season when there are not too many people about!

Today we spent time at the famous Glass Beach. Tim and I hadn't been here in 14 years--it has changed a lot! Our kids were fascinated by all the glass "trash" that they found. Amazing that people used to dump trash into the ocean until the 1950's. Seems so recent to me.

We also made our way to a beach with tide pools! We spent a couple of hours here and only left because the sun was starting to fade.



We are off to the Redwoods tomorrow! Hope you have a great day!




camping on the coast


We are in the middle of our first trip with our recently purchased 5th wheel. We have always thought it would be fun to travel the country and homeschool at the same time. We are only on the road for a week this time, but someday we'd like to make it a longer trip! Here are a few highlights of our trip thus far . . .

The view from our first two nights in Bodega Bay.

 Discovering tide pools

 I love this little man!

 I'm an ocean girl at heart.

Having the time of their lives!


As we drove up Hwy 1 we discovered this fabulous lighthouse. I heart lighthouses! More to come . . .

p.s. These last two panoramic shots were taken with my new iPhone 5 (first time to have an iPhone) and I LOVE the PANORAMIC feature! So easy and fun to use!

Friday, November 9, 2012

steel cut oatmeal in the crock pot

The cold weather finally hit us yesterday. I made this yummy oatmeal in the crock pot last night and enjoyed staying warm this morning! This is super easy to throw together!


1 c. steel cut oats (you cannot use regular oatmeal, it will get too soggy)
.5 c. dried craisins or raisins
.25 c. pure maple syrup
1 tsp. cinnamon
.5 tsp. salt
.5 c. almond milk (or your milk of choice)
4 c. water

Throw it all in the crock pot before you go to bed and cook it on low for 8-10 hours. Serves 4. Enjoy!

Thursday, November 1, 2012

halloween 2012






We trick-or-treated for two hours last night and got home just before it started pouring rain! We weighed our candy stash and it was 15 pounds! A local dentist in our area pays kids $1 for every pound of candy they bring in and then they send it to our troops in Iraq--a win-win for everyone! We had them each pick out their 10 favorite pieces and the rest we are bringing to the dentist first thing this morning! Hope you had a fun night!