Monday, August 6, 2012

Vacation

In mid-July we went on an awesome vacation with both of my brother's families and two of my nieces that flew out from Nebraska to experience the awesomeness with us.

 First we drove up Higway 1, which was absolutely amazing. I had only done it one other time and Shawn had never. He thought I was exaggerating. Nope! It was so incredibly beautiful. Gorgeaous beaches and mountains.


 Driving through Big Sur was incredible. If I liked windy roads I would move there
 I willingly went camping. Shawn has always wanted to go, I am more a Marriott girl. But I figured if I had to go camping, I may as well do it with two practically professional camping families. My brothers made up for our lack and we had so much fun with them! And unfortunately for me, Brynna loved it. I mean LOVED it. I, however, took exception to the raccoons fighting outside our tent in the middle of the night. We brought a second tent for my two nieces to sleep in and they refused because of the coons. It was interesting.
 Tay posing in a tree
 These were the huge trees we were camping under. They were so tall and gorgeous!
 In a hollowed out tree that was struck by lightning. Brynna thought they were awesome!
 Taylor and Ashley being rebels. They weren't suppose to go off the perch. Troublemakers :o)

 Brynna loved hiking
 Of course she spent most of the time like this
After a couple of days camping we drove to San Francisco which I was the most excited about. I love San Francisco. It's just so weird and has so many weird, cool, fun, interesting, odd things. I was in heaven. This is what Shawn got the most excited about to take pictures of. The Federal Reserve in San Francisco. I love him
 We went on a Catamarran (I have no idea if I spelled that right) and went around Alcatraz and under the Golden Gate bridge. It was so much fun, but we sat on the nets at the front and got soaked! Mostly Jon, Cheryl, Brady and Mallory, so it was fun to see them take off. It was pretty cold on the water so we spent some time underneath and would come up for pictures.



 Then we went to Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 which is my favorite part of San Francisco! We went into a bunch of shops, ate lunch and walked down the Wharf.
 And met the Bushman!!! I was so excited when Jason found him for us- I remember him from coming here as a kid and it never gets old! I could watch him for hours. We also saw a bunch of tinmen which Bryn loved.
 The next day we walked across the Golden Gate bridge there and back, which was way more fun than I thought it was going to be.
 Apparently Brynna didn't feel the same, she fell asleep about halfway across.
 But woke up for our walk back and was a little too adventurous for my comfort level.

 This was such a cool picture. This is one of the main pillars and the fog was so thick you couldn't see to the top, standing right under it or from a certain disctance. It was crazy.
We had so much fun and I'm so glad I was able to go with so much family. Shawn and I definitely want to go back just us, but we love living so close to them and being able to do things like this with them. It definitely made it more fun!