Bass Lake

After visiting my brother and his family for a few days we drove to Bass Lake. It is located at the south entrance to Yosemite. We along with 2 others families rented a house right on the lake for a few days. It was so beautiful, the type of setting that you see on movies where kids go to summer camp. The lake is surrounded by tall pine trees, the water is a beautiful color and we couldn't have asked for a better location or a better time.

The Keelers, Downings and Gharrings on the deck of the house overlooking the lake.



At night the kids spent hours playing cards - the game of choice was gin rummy!

The Downings just happened to have a water trampoline - so plenty of time was spent on it

and on this - we are now all pro rowers

jumping off our private dock never got old

We tubed and wake boarded all day long. Poor Max on the first day was behind the wheel of the boat for 10 and 1/2 hours we figured out and loved every bit of it! This is the before shot of Lindsey and Hayley

This is the after shot - there was blood everywhere - they said the 6 feet of air they got was all worth it.

Seriously how many children can be towed on a tube - they found all sorts of ways to have fun.

The sunsets and night skies were so beautiful every night. It made me happy. The kids got sick of me telling them to look at how beautiful this or that was.


This is Luke on the kids ski - he thought he was so cool and loved every second of it. He was a pro. I cant believe I dont have shots of the other kids but they all got up on the wakeboard which meant for happy children.



One day we we went on a hike to these water falls. We knew in advance that it was pretty dangerous so we left the younger kids at the house. It was so cool - I love stuff like this. There was waterfalls and natural waterslides, there was water holes that you could jump into and it was so pretty. The water was frigid but so worth it for the cool experience. I could have spent so much time exploring and playing and hiking - once again very cool


Abby found this cool little heart shaped rock. I love her!

What a great trip. We came home exhausted from late nights of game playing and early mornings of boating on the glassy water and days full of relaxation and fun. It was a great last hurrah before summer was over! I am a Bass Lake fan!

San Francisco

If you are going to San Francisco - be sure to wear some flowers in your hair - yep couldn't stop singing that all day long! We started off the day at Lombard street - the most crookedest street in the world and huge tourist destination - luckily we got there early enough in the day that the crowds had not yet arrived!

We gave the kids a little speech about what San Fran is known for and apparently we scared poor Trent because he did not want to get out of the car for the picture - woops!

Next on the itinerary was walking the Golden Gate Bridge. We ended up parking a little far from the actual bridge. It was a really nice walk but by the time we got to the bridge we had walked probably 2 miles already. Although it was a beautiful day, with blue skies, right over the bridge and out to sea it was completely foggy - couldn't believe it!


On the bridge it is really loud and really windy - the younger kids were tired (and maybe a little scared - but they wont admit it) so we barely walked a portion of it before we turned around.
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Next we were going to take the kids on a cable car ride - ummm that changed real fast when we saw the line and found out it was a 1 and 1/2 hour wait- not! It was a Saturday in the middle of August which is probably as about peak tourist season as you could get and the city was a complete zoo! In stead we caught the bus. The kids thought this was great and loved every second of it -phew!


We went to Union Square in the heart of the city and walked around a little bit. WOW you name the fancy store and it was there -I think Hayley was dying a little bit because we barely got to go into any stores - poor girl. There were definitely some interesting people to watch - one of my favorite sports!

So overall we were glad to show the kids the city but even more glad to get out of there. It was beyond crowded - Chad detests crowds and it was too much for me too! Just finding lunch was a joke - we didn't even attempt Fisherman's Wharf and that clam chowder (didnt want to push it)

Santa Cruz

We took the trip northward to visit Dave, Esther and kids while he was in California for his internship. We made Esther be our tour guide for our trip. We started off at the Roaring Camp in the Santa Cruz mountains.



It was so beautiful. We had a picnic lunch, walked around the hippy booths, and Chad chose to not spend the money and go on the steam train tour - dang it!

Instead we went on a little hike. It was so beautiful and peaceful (besides the sound of the steam train). The kids were completely entertained by nature and the things we found in it. We loved the cave inside the tall redwoods and the slides that some of the trees made - we could have been happy to stay all day.

We even spotted some deer up close and watched them for awhile.

Then we headed over to the coast and walked the pier. We loved watching all the sea lions play.



This one was in bad shape - it looked like it had been attacked very recently by something. We were guessing by the teeth marks that it was a shark - so sad.

The kids had to swim in the ocean just to say that they did. They were quite surprised to actually feel how freezing the water temperature was. Abby is the only one that went all the way under - the others were wusses

Then we walked the boardwalk. It was quite cool to have an amusement right on the beach, but it was a Friday evening and there was a concert playing, so it was beyond crowded - and Chad hates crowds. It was too packed with all of the kids so we didnt spend much time there at all.
Now I have been there done that!

Heck Yes I think I can dance!

This summer we got to go to a taping of one of Hayley and my favorite shows SYTYCD with Hayleys school dance team. She even got to bring some of her BFFs with her. It was a very long day leaving our house at 5.oo and not getting home from L.A. until about 11:30 that night but we definately had ourselves a good time. After the morning performance taping we got to meet the Jeanines family and they gave us all these badges which we wore for the whole day. We continually had people coming up to us and asking how we got them all day long.
During the break we headed over to the Grove and ate lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. It was seriously was perfect timing because it just so happened to be national cheesecake day which meant that all cheesecake was half price - oh darn! This restaurant is never a disappointment - it was delicious as always!

After some good food and shopping it was time to head back to the CBS studios for the live taping of the show. Hayley and her friends scored front row standing right next to stage and got to high fave, speak to and hug plenty of the performers and contestants. They had a ball. I on the other hand was not allowed right next to the stage because I was a chaperone -and not a teenager, made me feel a little old when they told me I couldn't stand right next to them dang it. However I did score the front row of the audience right next to the choreographers - Tyce Diorio and Tabitha and Napoleon. I got to talk to them and they were super nice and fun


The purple was not planned - just needing bright colors to show up on TV. We had a fun time.

THEN

The next day I get a call from Kelly saying she scored tickets to the performance finale at the Kodak theater - even though I hadnt even recovered from the day before I couldn't turn those down. It just so happened that the Fifields got tickets too so a group of 8 of us got to head up to LA for the coveted finale taping. Again it was so fun - we quickly got off to a good start by bumping into some choreographers.

Sonia who was kinda shy and quiet and shopping for some funky shoes

Adam Shankman was super nice and very chatty and in a good mood because everyone in the rehearsal had just told him he looked skinny!

When we got into the theater we realized that even though we had the early call time, thinking that meant better seats - we were in THE VERY BACK ROW - seriously. The theater holds 3500 people and the back row was so stinkin far back and high up we couldn't believe it! We literally couldn't get any worse seats. When we got the tickets from the lady, she had a huge stack in her hand she told us they were the best ones she had in her hands - she was a big fat liar thats what she was. We all knew when we sat down that we were gonna work it to get better seats. It was Jason that came through for us all by slipping the right guy a little moullah and getting us our own private box. So great. Jason is a stud. Jeanine continued to be my favorite and I was so glad she won. Thanks again to Kelly for the tickets and to Jason for the hook up!



The next day I got a lot of flack from my family - Chad thinks I am becoming a groupie and Luke told me he doesnt like it when I go to the dance show all day because I am gone for along time. So they just so happened to fall within 5 days of each other - bad timing but what do you do - I had so much fun.

Viva La Coldplay

I would have to say that my favorite band is Coldplay. Chad always makes fun of me for listening to them over and over - I really dont get sick of them. When I found out they were coming to SanDiego I knew I would be there. We went the last time they came and loved it and they would be here on Chelseas actual 30th birthday - there was no discussion, we were going for sure.

It was at the Cricket amphitheater, we sat on the grassy area which was fun having so much room to get up and dance once it started.


My husband was very sweet and didnt mind that I danced around and sang the words to every song very loudly. Well maybe he did mind he just chose not to say anything - what a good man!
There is some of that dancing I was talking about!

One of my favorite parts, and there are many, of the whole night was when they shot all of these butterflies (Chad called it the gayest part because they were butterflies) into the sky - there were a ton and it just looked so cool. You would look up and just see them floating down, and it looked so pretty. Lets just say I was so happy! :)

Frolicking in the butterflies
So guess the song by the lighting. One of my very fave Coldplay songs - they have a ton of these huge Yellow balloons bouncing all over the area during the song - love it!

The whole gang. We called the boys our bodyguards because they just sat there and watched us while we danced - good sports! The whole evening was pure entertainment and it was a long one. Happy birthday to Chelsea. And the next time they are in town I know where I will be.