Oh The Places You Will Go (Or The Places We Went!)

Oh the weird and bizarre places you will go on vacation! We decided that this year for our family vacation instead of going to an amusement park we would do something different (and cheaper!). We decided to go on a road trip across California. I grew up in the beautiful bay area and was excited to see the natural wonders of my childhood state with my family. Se we loaded up the rental and off we went!

 The first stop on our trip was Huntington Beach. We quickly learned that if you are walking a cute puppy people will stop you -- men with no shirts on and women in bikinis. It did not matter that we are middle aged out of shape parents of three....we had a cute puppy and that made it all right!

 We then hung out on the beach....

 and walked along the pier in which we got to see a man catch a shark while fishing! It was bloody and gross.

 Back to the beach we went to play in the sand.

 Some of us got sand on our nose too.

 Of course we had to play in the ocean.....

 and get buried alive.....

 Then we were off to South Bend Lake Tahoe where we fished.....

 and hung out at the lake.

 Some of us (Parker and I because we don't get sick high up) went to the very top of this mountain (9000 feet elevation) to see the 12 mile lake.

 Of course we took lots of naps.

 Then we went back to the lake and played in the sand and found bugs.

 We played in the cold lake.

 They had some man to man bonding time.

 And played in the lake some more.

 Ah! Beautiful isn't it?

 Of course we had to build mountains out of sand.

 And enjoy the wildlife.

 And take in the smallest details of nature.

 Then we loaded up the car and drove to Georgetown to visit with my aunt and brother.

 That means we went horseback riding. Aunt Lynnette got Teddy ready to ride.

 Then we saddled up.

 Of course we wanted to go fast on Teddy.

 However, we had to learn how to use the reigns before we could take off.

 Some of us got a handle of it a little faster than others.

 Still, some of us needed little of any assistance at all and were able to ride Teddy even when he ran uphill.

 Of course there were the road apples to watch out for....

 and then we got crapped on.

 I developed this all over my body.

 After going to Urgent Care I learned that I was allergic to this:

 Then Charlie got bit by a Brown Recluse Spider and had to spend two nights in the hospital in Placerville California.

 Needless to say we were really happy to see this again:

Over all it was a good trip...minus the all over itchy rash and hospital stay. On the bright side I am fairly certain that we have maxed out our deductible for the year with medical. That means that we don't have to pay anything to see a doctor until next year. I guess now would be a good time to take advantage of all those specialist I wanted to take the kids too since it won't cost us!

Hmmmmm.....I wonder what 2012 vacation has in store for us?