Countdown to Ragnar

The Countdown is on for my Napa Valley Ragnar Race! We are running on September 16th. Only 25 more days to train. I get to run 4.0 miles, 5.8 miles, and 4.3 miles. I will be running at 8:30 a.m., around 5:45 p.m., and around 4:45 a.m. I know, I know...why am I doing this again? Believe it or not, I am very excited. I feel good about my running and there is something fun about doing this with my husband and good friends. Plus, it is from San Francisco to Napa Valley. How cool is that? We'll see...

First Day of School

We started school on Monday! Logan started his Jr. Kindergarten class. Ainsley started 2nd great and Madison started 4th grade. They all love their teachers and I am loving having 3 hours to myself each day. What to do, what to do...


Logan with his new Star Wars outfit.

The kids making silly faces.

My favorite shot of the day!

They can be cute at times:)

Very cute at other times:)

Gotta love the "rolling backpacks". Seriously...how lazy are we?

But they love them so much.

And I am making them walk home each day:)

Santa Cruz 2011

We just got back from at trip to New Brighton Beach in Santa Cruz. It was awesome. The kids had a blast. We spent a day at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, a day at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and then a couple of days at the beach. It was perfect. If you want to see the entire slide show of our trip, you can do so at:
http://www.slide.com/r/EOMzQ5zvwz9m0XaIgw29M16sGLW37oSN?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original

Otherwise, here are my favorite pictures:


This was the view from our camping site. We went to sleep hearing the waves of the ocean.

All of this is our site. We put our tents at the back, away from the road and near the beach.

This is the front of our site. Check out the new kitchen set up we have on the right. It was awesome.

Tahoe 2011 Part 4

To continue our traditions, we went to Truckee to visit The Squeeze Inn and do some shopping. We always LOVE the food and the stores.

As the week went on, I got lazier with my camera. We had a wonderful trip and continued keeping our traditions alive. Here is what we do every year in Tahoe:

A Day in South Shore - usually a movie, this year- the Gondola ride! Amazing!!!

A Day in Tahoe City - Fanny Bridge and the Chocolate Store

Eating at Jason's restaurant in King's Beach

A day at Truckee- The Squeeze in and Hobby Store (Nicole LOVES the Kitchen Store!)

Pee Wee golf and The Char-Pit at King's Beach

A day hiking - this year was Vikingsholm...who knows what next year holds!

Lots of movies, games, reading, puzzles, tennis, scooters, etc...

We had a great trip and will try to recover for our next adventure in a couple of weeks.

Stay tuned...

Tahoe 2011 Part 3

On another day in Tahoe, we went on an "adventure" to see "Vikingsholm". It was an adventure because the trail we intended to take down to the "castle" ended up not existing. So, as Ben found a way down a cliff, the kids followed and I held my tongue. It ended up being really fun. We took the actual, easier path, on the way up.

Vikingsholm is a "castle", or a large house, that was built to look like a Scandinavian design. It is on the edge of Emerald Bay and is beautiful. We were able to take a tour in side and we all really enjoyed it.

Tahoe 2011 Part 2

On Memorial Day at Tahoe, we went to the South Shore and did the Gondola at the Heavenly Resort. It was so beautiful with all the snow and the kids LOVED the ride!

Tahoe 2011 Part 1

Wow, it has been a long time since I posted! May was a crazy month for the Brown Family. Madison, Ben and Ainsley all had their birthdays and the girls finished school! To celebrate, we headed up to Tahoe for our annual trip. We were greeted with snow everywhere! The kids were so excited and it made for a fun, "cozy" atmosphere in the condo.

We arrived on Ainsley's birthday and she asked for Smores for her birthday dessert. We roasted marshmellows over the stove and sang to her. She loved it!