Family vacation to Sedona, AZ

Garrett's step family live out in Phoenix, so before we headed on to Sedona, we stopped to stay the night with Brian and Thithi and their three children, Vanessa, Ian and Emma. Here are the girls along with a neighborhood friend.

Garrett's step sister Ann and husband John along with their two sons Creed and Collin were there as well. Both Tatum and Ty were in heaven! All the kids had a great time together and Ty loved being one of the boys. :) We also got to visit with Grandma Dini and Papa Jerry since they flew into Phoenix that morning. What a fun family reunion!

The next day, we drove up and checked into our time share. We stayed at the Arroyo Robble and it was perfect. A two story condo with kitchen, washer dryer, 2 rooms, 2 1/2 baths, everything you could want. And the resort is located in the center of town, just below all the shops. After getting settled, we headed up the street for some lunch and a beer overlooking the beautiful red rocks of Sedona.

The next day we headed to The Chapel of the Holy Cross, a church built into the side of the red rocks. Absolutely breathtaking.

The children weren't too impressed by the church, but more interested with the flower pots. I love the sign here.

The colors are so rich and the mountains and just amazing, everywhere you look.

Then we headed to Montezuma's Castle, a 20 room cliff dwelling left by the Sinagua Indians 600 years ago. They populated this area for 400 years and then disappeared without a trace. Being up close to the structure, it's just amazing that it's still here.

The kids enjoyed walking the trail to the structure and all the nature in between.

Then we stopped for a picnic lunch and just gazed at the dwelling, as we imagined sitting in the very spot that Sinagua children would play while their parents would gather food or make pots 400 years ago. Such amazing history.

That evening, we walked up the street to Oaxaca, a delicious Mexican restaurant with beautiful views.

Our table sat out on the patio over looking these mountains, beautiful. The mountains behind our house at home definitely don't look like this. :)

Nadine and Jerry came up the next day and Garrett and I joined them for a jeep ride. We took the Extreme Diamond Back ride and wow, it was extreme!

Our trail guide, Kelley, was very educated and stopped to give us lots of history and interesting facts. Beautiful trees and plants, we even caught sight of a road runner!

We drove through some pretty crazy terrain. At some points I wasn't sure we would make it up the trail!

Kelley, our awesome tour guide.

We had a rainy day where we spent most of it indoors. But the next day was beautiful so we headed to Red Rock State Park where we hiked a few trails and found some beautiful wildlife and scenery. These bridges over the red river were beautiful.

Ty and Tatum both loved the hike, look at his face. We'll have to make time for some hikes back at home.

No wonder our son is so into guns, he learns from his father. :)

After our hike and picnic lunch, we headed to a few local wineries. This one had a play table with toys, Ty loved it.

Then we headed back to our resort where they had an indoor pool, jacuzzi, sauna and steam room. Wonderful after a busy day of hiking.

The kids loved hiking so much that they requested we go on another hike on our last day. So we walked out back behind our resort and followed a stream. Beautiful scenery everywhere.

We dared to brave the water but wow, was it cold! Tatum and I only lasted seconds, long enough for this picture...

but Ty and Daddy stuck it out and enjoyed a stop on a rock. I love this photo, the way Ty is gripping on to Garrett for dear life. He looks like a little baby monkey, so sweet.

On our hike, we ran into this beautiful resort with a restaurant right out on the stream. Mom and I came back for one last glass of wine to toast a wonderful trip. This time share business is pretty great, maybe we'll have to look into it. We'll be enjoying another week in Tahoe next February so we'll see if we enjoying it after that trip as well.

Pumpkin patch visits

Tatum's class went to a pumpkin patch for some educational fun.

They learned all about pumpkins and how they grow, used for pots or bowls, etc. Here is Tatum with her close girlfriends. So cute.

Mrs. Kristen's class

After the petting zoo, we took a tractor ride. Lots of fun but would have been more enjoyable had it not been 95 degrees!

Grace with her mom Suzanne.

Kelsey and Ellie with Ellie's mom Tamara.

After the ride, we dared to brave the corn maze!

Lots of twists and turns and for a minute there, we thought we'd have to call in a helicopter. But we made it out. :)

My silly girl.

We also headed to the Del Mar Pumpkin Station. I had bought a groupon for 12 rides here and the kids loved it!

This picture will forever crack us up. Just after this serene shot of our two loving children enjoying a peaceful ride on the little train, Ty turned around and grabbed Tatum's hair and yanked. Her head whipped down and hair went in her face and she stared yelling. Not that it was funny to see her in pain of course but as I was yelling from the side lines at my horrible son, it was hard to stifle the giggling. I really should have caught the moment on film. :) But she survived and the ride ended peacefully.

Our third and final pumpkin patch visit was to Bates Nut Farm with Erica, Matt, Jack and Erica's parents. It was a long drive out there since the traffic to get into the farm was horrible! People were getting out of their cars and walking faster than we could drive in. But when we made it, got some food, and stretched our legs, the kids enjoyed the fields of pumpkins and the company.

It was another hot day and even though the farm had wonderful activities like pony rides, hay rides, bounce houses, crafts, etc., we just couldn't take the heat. After some ice cream and snow cones, we headed home.

Carpinteria camping, here we come!

As you know, we've only taken one camping trip as a family and that was to a camp ground near our house on a lake in August. So this trip up to Carpinteria, a camp ground on the ocean just outside of Santa Barbara, over 3 hours away, was going to be a big undertaking. And after a few hiccups and a lot of packing, we got on the road. A little late so we sat in traffic going through LA and the kids got a little restless. Here's Tatum making the best of it. :)

Because of the later start and the traffic, we pulled into the camp ground at 6. Not much day light left so Garrett and I jumped to it and tried to get the tent up as quick as possible. That was comical and soon we were all wearing head lamps so we could see. After having trouble with the tent and then taking a few hours to blow up our air mattresses because I didn't read on the new air compressor that it needed to be charged 12 hours before the trip, we finally got things together and all got to sleep around 11. Only to be awakened a few minutes later to large raccoons getting into our cooler! They got the eggs but missed the steaks, thank goodness. We learned to put all our possessions either inside the truck or under heavy items in the back cab. :)

In between the chaos, we were able to roast some hot dogs though. I love this messy head lamp face.

Brrrrrr, it was a cold night and a cold morning. But we were up with the sun and enjoyed checking out the beautiful ocean. As we were watching the waves, dolphins came up, a pack of them, Ty and Tatum were so excited! Ty kept yelling shark, I was hoping no one would hear him and freak out since it was pretty early and still quiet. :)

Leanne and Isaac joined us that afternoon and we all headed down to the tide pools to find some fun creatures.

The kids loved this and wanted to go back every day we were there.

Isaac enjoying the low tide.

We happened to be there during the Avocado Festival so we walked into town and enjoyed some craft booths, wine, delicious chips and guacamole, and some dancing as you can see.

The kids enjoyed a bounce house area, always a fun time.

There's a cute park just outside the camp ground on the way to the town so after the festival, we stopped for some more fun.

Grandma, Jane and Barbara drove up to Santa Barbara to visit Vivian, Barbara's sister. They all joined us at the festival and then came back to the camp ground for a delicious bbq.

Garrett was our chef and wow, he rocked it!

A bit of a cold morning.

It was a bit cold when the kids got up, and so quiet, that we put them in front of the DVD players in the car. It kept them warm and quiet while we sat by the fire with delicious coffee.

We all enjoyed a fun day on the beach.

And the seals came out to visit us on some nearby rocks. So pretty.

After we braved the showers, we walked over to the park again for some more fun.

And then enjoyed another delicious meal from Garrett, surf and turf. The kids loved the smores the most of course!

Ty was exhausted since napping is impossible in a tent with no pack n play. But he powered through so he could get his smore, but you can see how tired these eyes are looking.

I love this picture. All three kids had these cute camping chairs and they looked like such little campers, sitting by the fire. Ty's about to pass out, I think he nodded off shortly after this shot. What a wonderful camping trip, can't wait to make it a tradition!