Thursday, December 24, 2015

Redwoods falling all around

So I'm a few days behind...we've been down with whatever we have caught along the way. Thomas and Jake have the runs, I've got allergies or a head cold and Ruby is rockin a fever.
But here's some fun times where Tommy tried to take off one of our side mirrors while driving through a tree!


This was our view and the ocean has been one nasty beast the past few days.


We even pulled the mirrors in and he still managed to rub one along the inside of the tree.


He was one happy man, this stop wasn't planned as I didn't come across anymore trees that you could drive through.






Today we found snow...okay it was hail, but for the sake of the Ruby it was snow.


Along one of the trails we found today.



I've always wanted to see these trees and this is the second time I've gotten to see them and they get more beautiful each time!


We missed this guy falling by minutes maybe even less. If you see the headlights in the photo above, the kind ladies in it were coming from the direction of where this tree fell, they stopped and wished us a Merry Christmas and told us to head this way to see some Elk....we went that way and all we found was this fallen tree!!!
Thankful it didn't fall on us or anyone else! 



Jurassic Park


This is the best image I can give you, and this was taken during the day!
We got a late start Monday morning when going to the Sarah Winchester House, we missed our tour by an hour and the next one we were able to get on wasn't for another 40 minutes.
We took that tour, but we were now 3 hours behind schedule ( there was no schedule, expect to not be driving when it was dark) and we figured we were okay as we'd be getting out of San Francisco just as rush hour started.That would've been just fine expect we forgot that it was 4 days before Christmas and this house was right next to two giant malls and it was raining...which it never does in California! We took to the roads and headed towards the Golden Gate Bridge, we made it across and saw just bridge no sight of Alcatraz or any escapees.
We needed to stop to let the kids stretch and to grab some food, this added another hour and it was now dark and we still had 2 1/2 hours until our finale destination for the night.
We jumped back onto the 101, put all our faith into the gps and drove.
We ended up on the 128, which would end up being 76 miles of 128 highway glory and we now have a new a great appreciation for giant highways with their lights and plenty of exits with gas stations and such.
The 128 we assume is beautiful during the day, but at night in the rain it is a death trap! It contained zero street lights, zero towns, one million sharp turns and one kind local.
We almost died via Tommy doing a 3 point turn in pitch black and a pick-up truck headed our way...just to prove the point that he saw deer. And a lonely little raccoon that felt the need to dart out in front of us.
Now we drove down this highway for almost 55 miles and the only sign of life was about 6 houses with Christmas lights and 5 cars. What was before us after 55 miles had been traveled in the dark was a "ROAD CLOSED FLOODED" sign...we had traveled 55 glorious miles that typically would only take 50 minutes on the Interstate but had taken us almost 2 hours and now we just might have to turn around!!!!
We were thankfully saved by a kind local, whom Tommy swears was stoned as there was a strong smell of the wonderful MaryJane that came out of nowhere when she arrived on scene, she directed us down another road and then another!
We continued our drive no talking of the fact that this is how every horror film starts, we were also reminded of Jurassic Park;
That part where they are running from the T-Rex and are screaming "Faster, Faster must run Faster"
We were waiting on some sort of large dinosaur to jump out and kill us.
We though, made it to our hotel just over an hour later, we are beyond thankful for the random local who directed us. 
In typing this it doesn't sound that scary, but let me tell you if you were in the passenger seat and had three small kids in the back you'd be terrified and would never leave the comforts of the interstate again!

Travel Safe everyone!





Skunk Train

We spent Tuesday morning on a train, the kids had a blast and a snowball fight and Dad enjoyed a Skunk Beer while Mom nursed a whiny baby to sleep!



We got cookies and delicious hot chocolate. We also rocked out new winter snow boots since we decided to puddle jump the day before and our shoes weren't dry yet!



This is actually one of my favorites because Tommy is rockin a true genuine smile.



We sang songs, if you can't tell Daddy set Ruby up for failure!


It's rained basically since the day we left San Diego...thus everything is flooded.


This little guy was just a fussy mess so he forced his mom into a feeding...it was rather tricky as mom was wearing a dress, but he passed right out and spent a good portion of the ride sleeping.



Last Christmas Thomas swore Santa was Satans first hand man, this year he thought Santa was God's greatest gift to him. They had a tickle war and Thomas got himself a delicious candy cane.



Those smiles say it all, they loved every minute of the ride!




In true "Butler" fashion we must stop at every sign and read it!!!


Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Supernatural fun

Our adventures from Sunday & Monday.


Jake has been venturing into the world of solid foods...he found his brothers Oreo and he didn't give it back! 



I must say that I'm thankful they don't charge for tissue paper, this was one of those "why is it so quiet" in here moments.


The cuteness in this picture, Thomas and Ruby both feel out of the bed the night before so Thomas made sure to keep one hand on Daddy all night,


We turned a hour and a half drive to the Sarah Winchester House into a 2 1/2 hour drive, but we made and took our tour.
Someone is planning on filming in the house in the next year so we legally couldn't take any photos of the inside!
Boo, but we did learn that Sarah Winchester had far to much money... 



We shopped in the gift shop, snag a few gifts for some family members and Jake did some shopping of his own...without paying of course! He kindly returned it and forced mom to apologize for him.


It rained all day, they pretended Uncle Alea was there and jumped in all the puddles.


Door to nowhere!?!?!?!


Nothing in this house made sense, but it was so neat to so how crazy her mind was.

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Aquariums & Playgrounds

It was a wild day, we had plans but they changed so we went with it and decided to visit the aquarium a day early...and did it pay off!



I was rather bummed as I wasn't able to catch a good glimpse of the baby giraffe before we left San Diego ( I just adore giraffes), but we got to see a baby sea otter that was barely 6 hours old this morning!
It was beyond adorable and precious, it's new home is just amazing too! The Monterey Bay Aquarium is just amazing, no words will do it justice. 





I will try every chance I get to snap a picture of us...out of 4 this was the best! 


Dress up time and Ruby was a snail! They has a baby section with a small water bed type area and Jake just LOVED it, no pictures though as we were in the moment of FUN!


We finished the aquarium off with some fun water play.
If you're ever in the area I highly recommend visiting this aquarium!


We retreated to the hotel to rest up for our next trip out, one kick butt playground! 




Fun fact for the day, Thomas is riding on his belly not because it was more fun but because he decided to poop and mom failed to bring diapers!
It was out of comfort! 


The smile on this kids face makes the last 6 nights of zero sleep worth it!




Another quick picture...1 out of 7 this time! Maybe next time I'll share a flop photo.
Enjoy your Monday everyone, we'll be headed to the Sarah Winchester House and the Golden Gate Bridge!