Busy weekend after our vacation

I am still catching up with blogging about what happened in August. Hopefully, I will be back on track soon....

It is always sad when a really great vacation comes to an end. We had a great road trip and really enjoyed our family vacation. We weren't sure how it would all turn out going on vacation with a toddler, we were afraid we might have a "Griswold" adventure like in the movie, Summer Vacation. LOL. It turn out great.

It always seems that you need a vacation from the vacation. But the weekend after our vacation left no rest for the weary. I had a nice social work event at the LA Arboretum with my co-workers. We saw a concert, the Pasadena Pops, at the LA Arboretum. A great venue for some great company, yummy food, and music. Baby Bear enjoyed it as well.





The next day we had a little swimming get together with some friends.



It was a great way to beat the heat and hang out with some great friends. It is amazing that I have known many of these people since high school. I love that we still get together and now the kids outnumber the adults!!

Road Trip 2012: Stop 4 - Lake Tahoe

Finally, the last installment of our road trip. I can't believe how behind I am, it is already September!! Life has been busy and I am just trying to catch up to it all....

On the road again with Miss Lady Mama to navigate us to Lake Tahoe for the final stop of our road trip where we would stay for a couple of nights before heading back home.

We didn't make any stops from Chico to Lake Tahoe since it was only a few hours to get there. We made one quick stop to take in the view. It was beautiful.





We started in North Lake Tahoe to take in a boat show (yes, daddy planned this road trip stop to coincide with boat show). It was the Concours d'Elegance. A wooden boat show, with gorgeous wooden boats.

After we spent some time at the boat show we headed down to the hotel in South Lake Tahoe. It took about an hour to drive to the other end of the lake, who knew it was large. It was a scenic and beautiful drive. We stayed at one of the casino hotels, Mont Bleu, in South Lake Tahoe. Not the nicest hotel, but it worked for us.

Again yelp to the rescue to make a recommendation for dinner.We headed to Scusa Italian Ristorante, for a nice dinner. The food was good.

The next day we head out to Round Hill Beach and Marina. A nice little beach area for some sun and fun. It was a nice relaxing way to spend the day.





After getting a little bit of rest at the hotel, we went to dinner at another yelp recommended restaurant, Base Camp Pizza, and had some very yummy pizza. Yelp did not do us wrong.

We left the next morning for the longest drive of our road trip to head home. It is 8 and half hours from Lake Tahoe to Upland. So we got up early even though Baby Bear did get to bed a little later than usual. While I was getting myself ready, daddy decided to go down to the casino for a bit. It was a really short period since he was back up not too long. He had played a little blackjack and won and decided it was time to leave while he was ahead with cash in his hand.

On that note, we left Lake Tahoe and headed home. Baby Bear was excited to get home so that "Chase and I can be together again." She missed her cat. Because Baby Bear had been up later than usual the night before and we got her up to make the drive home, after an hour of driving she fell asleep and slept for several hours. When she woke up, we stopped for lunch. No yummy restaurant this time, just McDonald's. It was the only fast food stop we had through out the whole road trip, so that was not so bad. By that time we had 3 hours of our trip left. We made it home in the early afternoon to unpack a bit and do a little laundry and get ready for the week and reality.


This was an awesome vacation. We had a great time and Baby Bear enjoyed every moment of the trip. She was a great little traveler, she was great through the all the drives and we made stops at great places. It was the best.vacation.ever!

Road Trip 2012: Stop 3 - Chico

We left San Francisco and headed to Chico for our next stop on our summer Nor Cal road trip. We decided to stop in Berkley to grabs some lunch. We checked out yelp and found great reviews on this little restaurant, 900 Grayson. Excellent food and nice people. Their Demon Lover is so amazing.

Back on the road, "Miss Lady Mama" navigated us toward Chico. Aunt Nan (Grandma Bear's sister) lives in Chico and we were looking forward to spend a few days with her, Uncle Chuck, and Kai. Chico was hot, in the 100's. But it was just as hot at home. Luckily, they have an awesome pool.

We started the visit with some margaritas at happy hour and a tour around Chico State University and the downtown area. Chico State is really a beautiful college with a creek running down the center of the college. That is pretty cool.



A little stop at Madison Bear Garden.



Baby Bear had a great time with Auntie Nan. She painted...



and did a lot of swimming. By the end of our time there, Baby Bear was quite the little mermaid and did not want to leave.

We visited the cover bridge,






walked down to the creek to cool down. The awesome thing about Chico are all the creeks where you can cool down at.



Our cousin, Kai. Isn't he a cutie.



We visited a swimming hole. It was a little steep to get to for Baby Bear so we didn't get to cool down there. But it sure did look nice.



Baby Bear loved Momi, the dog. He is a great pup and was so protective of Baby Bear and watch over her as she swam around the pool. He wanted to make sure she was okay. She was save around the pool, he would not let anything happen to her on his watch. Such a sweet pup.



The following day, we went to lunch at the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co Restaurant.



Besides the college, Sierra Nevada is one of Chico's claim to fame. They have an amazing restaurant. The food was so good. We definitely ate well on this trip.






Since Baby Bear was too young to join the tour (have to be 12 or older), we left daddy there to take the tour while we went for a swim. Not sure what I was thinking leaving daddy at a brewery but he was a good boy.

Later that afternoon we went to watch Auntie Nan and Uncle Chuck in action. They own a Karate dojo, so we went to visit and watch a class.



We had a blast being in Chico. It was by far the best part of our road trip. We loved every bit of it from swimming to just hanging out with family. It was wonderful to visit with family, they live so far that we rarely have the chance to see them, so it was nice to spend some time with them. In fact, this visit was the first time I had ever met Uncle Chuck in the 12 years Daddy Bear and I have been together. It is hard for him to get away. It was great to finally meet him. Thank you Auntie Nan and Uncle Chuck for having us and a great time. Can't wait to see you again.

Road Trip 2012: Stop 2 - San Francisco

Sorry I am way behind in blogging about our road trip vacation.

We left Arroyo Grande and drove toward our next stop, San Francisco. We had downloaded a navigation app to the iPad and Baby Bear affectionately named it Miss Lady Mama. When ever it gave us instructions on where to turn, Baby Bear would respond, "Yes, we will Miss Lady Mama." If you are looking for a free navigation app, Waze is pretty awesome. It navigated us through our entire trip and even told us when the cops were near by or if there was traffic. It is all user generated and a really great app. Plus, it is free. The other navigation apps we looked at cost $40 or more! I definitely recommend it.

On our way to San Fran, we made a pit stop in Monterrey for some lunch. Our friends in Arroyo Grande recommended a great Italian restaurant at the Fisherman's Wharf and being that our friend is from Italy, we were sure that if he recommended an Italian restaurant that it was sure to be good.

We stopped at Paluca Trattoria and the food was amazing.





After lunch, we walked around Fisherman's Wharf in Monterrey before we got back on the road to San Francisco. We saw the sea lions.







A good stop to let Baby Bear run around.



We got to San Francisco that evening and stayed there for a couple of nights. We stayed at the Hilton San Francisco. We had booked a room with a king size bed and they have run out of rooms with kings by the time we checked in, so they gave us a double. No big deal, they comped our internet for our stay and gave us coupons for two continental breakfasts at Starbucks. We got to our room and we had the view of a wall. Ugh! If they couldn't give us the room that we had reserved, they could have at least have given us a room with a decent view. The room was a cave, you couldn't tell what the weather was like outside. We were not pleased with the room to say the least.

Other than the hotel, our stay in San Fran was great.



After a night in San Fran, we spent the next day exploring Golden Gate Park. First we went to the Children's Park and Carousel. Baby Bear loved the park.





She enjoyed riding the carousel with mommy and daddy.







We walked the large park a bit.



Then we headed to the Japanese Tea Garden.



Baby Bear enjoyed checking out the koi.







It was such a beautiful day that we gave Baby Bear the choice between renting paddle boats or going to the museum. She chose the paddle boats and so we went to Lake Stow in the middle of Golden Gate Park and rented some paddle boats and paddled around for a bit. Baby Bear really loved the boat and checking out the ducks and turtles.







It was a perfect day for being out and about, they weather was beautiful and in the mid 70's. Warm for San Francisco.




At the end of the day we searched yelp for a yummy restaurant for dinner. We ended the day with an amazing dinner at Colibri. Some of the best Mexican food I've ever had. So yummy. A great day in San Fran. Next stop Chico to visit with family.

Road Trip 2012: Stop 1 - Arroyo Grande

On Saturday, we headed off on our road trip. Our first stip was to visit some friends who just recently moved to Arroyo Grande (near Pismo Beach). We packed up the suburban and off we went.

We told Baby Bear it was a long trip and so she asked for her blanket and to take her shoes off to get comfy for the long trip.



We hadn't even left Upland and Baby Bear asked for 3 different things and I had to climb the seats of the suburban to grab stuff.



We made a pit stop in Isla Vista near Santa Barbara for some lunch. We stopped at Silvergreens, lunch was healthy and yummy. A nice little stop to grab some food, walk around and stretch our legs.







We made it to Arroyo Grande and had a wonderful evening with our friends who are Team Italy for the off-roading race team that competes in the King of Hammers. Daddy met them several years ago and was on their race team this year. They have a beautiful new home and was happy to let us crash in the guest house for one night.






Thanks Fabio and Laura for a wonderful time.