Category: Adventures

Happy Leap Day! I just had to make sure I got an article out today. It might be four years or so before I get another chance. We headed up the hill this week and got in a cross country ski trip to Kings Canyon National Park. It’s our first real #adventure of the year. The weather was gorgeous! We were quickly down to just tee shirts. Well not just tee shirts……that would be weird… although not totally out of our wheelhouse which is why I wanted to clarify. I am much happier in this next photo than I look. I’m rocking the vintage Cross Canadian Ragweed cap too. We left Chucky at home on this trip. I think it’s the first one he has ever missed. That little dog loves to run in the snow as much as he loves the beach.

I don’t think we had been on the trail for more than 20 minutes when we decided we needed to get back up there quickly for an overnight ski in. It was just so beautiful. We turned off the main trail that you can see behind us in these first photos.

Once we got away from the road we spent the day cruising up and down hills and looking for a great camping spot for next time. The nice thing about KCNP is it’s only an hour and fifteen minutes from door to parking lot. We will try to pick a camping spot that’s not too far out from the parked car as well. So worst case scenario, if it sucks, we just ski out and drive home. But I’m sure it isn’t going to suck at all! We also have a plastic sled that we plan on towing. It’s the sled we used to put Wes in and tow him behind us when he was too young to ski. Man, we have done some pretty awesome shit in our time. With the sled, we can take all the sexy amenities we want. Like our 3″ thick sleeping pads, the big tent and a skillet for some serious gourmet camp grub. We can also pull it around and gather firewood. I’m so excited I can’t wait!

We had one beer left in the fridge at home. I hid it in my backpack and surprised Sam with it at lunch. Hehehe I know what my man likes!  It was a wheat beer from Figueroa Mountain Brewery. It’s a pretty good beer. I give it about a 7. You have to love a good beer in a can though, nice and portable. Check out the ‘label’ it’s pretty awesome. It’s called Weiss Weiss Baby…from their hip hoppy collection 🙂

Lots of areas looked pretty good for our future snow camp but we weren’t really able to pin a spot down. We might need to go back up one more time to scout out the perfect camp (wink wink). Hey! A bad day skiing still beats a good day……well just about anything else!

That’s it for our Leap Day article. I know it was a little shorter than usual but I just really wanted to get an article out today. We also wanted to share our wonderful day in the mountains. I would also like to add how grateful I am to be physically able to take on such adventures. My body and bones don’t cooperate every day, but if we time it right, we sure can have some fun! I have to give props to my man too. He makes sure we are doing everything possible to keep this broken little body up and running at optimal performance. He is my hero sandwich <3

 

This is my first article that’s mostly photos and maybe the first real adventure tag as well. Since you only turn fifty thirty once, I figured this would be the perfect opportunity. First of all I really have to give it up for the hubs, he took great care to make sure this milestone birthday was nothing less than spectacular. Second, thanks to my dad Jack and step mom Marlene for the gorgeous furry vest that I’m wearing in the cover photo. It matches the fir on my sequined boots perfectly!

I could not have dreamt up a more perfect ‘mountain cabin getaway’ if I tried. We stayed Sunday through Wednesday. We decided some time ago that three nights would always be our minimum stay when on vacation. That gives two full days and plenty of time for me to spread all my belongs out onto every horizontal surface, more commonly know as a Stacey bomb hahaha.

The first day we got there it was snowing. Now I know for my Indy/Ohio friends and family that’s not a big deal. Growing up there it can become the bane to your existence. But where I live you have to drive to the snow. I remember when I first moved to California. If we did happen to get a few flakes (which happens once in a blue moon), people would go crazy and dance around in it like idiots proclaiming “Snow! Snow! Oh it’s so awesome!”. I always thought to myself, ‘It’s not very awesome if you have to dig your car out of it at 7am everyday just to get to work or school’. Then it’s kind of anti-awesome. None the less, this day it was awesome.

Here is the view that evening from our window.

I have to say one of the best things about this trip was that we had the whole place to ourselves. There wasn’t anyone else in any of the other cabins. This was our view on Monday morning, my actual birthday.

Our cabin was perfect! Like I said I couldn’t have dreamt it up any better. That morning Sam made my favorite breakfast, BLTs and bloody Marys. Sam made his own bloody Mary mix with tomatoes canned from our garden. Delish!

Feeling pretty spoiled at breakfast. I got to open yet another gift from Sam. He gave me a Dremel tool. I am so excited to use it! Gotta love a girl who’s into power tools, not to mention any crafter worth her salt has a Dremel.

After breakfast, we put on coats and boots and went on a snowy walk about. Sam is at the very bottom of this photo (red coat).

The view really was stunning.

We even had icicles on the cabin. It’s the little things ya know?

Speaking of the view, take a look at this guy! Hubba hubba!

For some reason I think this is a sexy picture.

We walked into ‘town’ and picked up a couple of tiramisu cupcakes. Tiramisu is my all time favorite dessert.

Keeping my cocktail cold was easy. As you can see, quite a bit of snow fell the day before.

And someone wrote the wrong age on our car 😉

That evening Sam put the candles on the tiramisu cupcakes and sang happy birthday.

Ok, so I’m 50! I made the jump this year from 29 to 30. I had been 29….well since I was 30 so I think it’s appropriate to make the leap. I will probably be ’30’ until I’m 70 lol. All kidding aside I’m not having a problem with 50 at all! Seriously. I feel lucky to be alive. My ‘Fit by Fifty’ program was a huge success. So I really am in the best shape I’ve been in probably 20 years (ironically since I was thirty!). I lost a solid seven pounds and went down 2 dress sizes. But more than that, I just feel ‘fit’. Plus I have developed some good yoga habits and we’ve been riding an average of 50 miles a week on the tandem bike. I’m loving 50. I’ve embraced it. I’m thinking 70 will be the new 50.

That night we watched the Bengals lose their first game of the season…booooo. It was a Monday night prime time game so I kind of expected it. We spent the majority of Tuesday laying around in our PJs and snacking on all of my favorite snacks that Sam had brought. We loved having a full kitchen! It’s really the only way to go for us. Especially with all my food allergies.

We packed up and left Wednesday morning. I bought a Christmas tree ornament. We try to get a new one every year. See ya later cabin in the mountains…..

This really was the best birthday ever. I am so so thankful to have a person in my life that makes me his priority. That puts so much value in my happiness. He tried so hard to make it a worthy celebration of this milestone in our lives. He hit the nail on the head. I could not have dreamt it any better myself.

Well I hope you enjoyed the photos. I think this blog is a much better way to share our life with you all. If you haven’t already, please subscribe. It’s super easy and the only email you will get is when I post a new article. Still working on phasing out facebook all together. It’s harder than you’d think lol. Next, I’m hoping to get photos up of Wesley’s 21st in Las Vegas. The part of the articles (and reason there are not more) that is time consuming is editing and uploading the photos, it takes at least 3 hours to write and finish an article. I find it hard to carve out that time. I still literally have 20 articles left in draft form that I need to get out. Maybe by next summer you’ll get last summer’s articles lol.

Take it simple, Stacey

Summer is here and so is the triple digit heat. As you all know this is the time of year I go into summer hibernation. Unless I’m headed to cooler territory like the mountains or the beach. If Mama’s hot, ain’t nobody happy! We actually had two adventures in one week and even got in a few good photos. There is rarely an occasion when all three of us are in the same place, dressed appropriately, and not making weird faces at the camera. Oh there were plenty of those pics, don’t get me wrong but there is at least two or three that turned out well.

We went to our niece Ashliegh’s house for her graduation/going into the Navy/birthday party. Her mom Bekke threw one hell of a party and we all ate, drank and played ‘giant Jenga’. It’s a home made Jenga game but with 2×4’s and can sometimes stack over five feet tall. I don’t have any photos of it but there are some on Facebook. Plus I’m not sure how I feel about putting photos of others folks on this site 😉

Such a good photo of my boy. Look at that million dollar smile! Here is the first ‘family picture’ we’ve taken in years, sad but true.

The other pre-hibernation trip we took was to Morro Bay. The timing on this trip couldn’t have been better. Sam had to work but just for a couple days which means we didn’t have to worry about the garden while we were away. Both Chuckie and I were feeling good and our dear friend Debi offered up her beach house while she was out of town. I know, we lead a horrible life. It was about 70 degrees there the whole time. I got in some baking time and turned some of our bountiful zucchini into two kinds of bread and muffins (delicious recipes to come later in an all zucchini article). Most importantly we got to let Chuck play at Cayucos Beach. This is his all time favorite place in the world. I swear it is his heart. He has been pretty messed up this year with his old back injury. He’s been on some pretty heavy meds and even then he hasn’t been doing well. Only this year has he started to act his age, 14. Anyway, I just can’t express the perfect timing of this trip. Before now there would have been no way I could have even carried him to the water without him screaming in pain. My heart was filled with joy for him, watching him ‘run’ around and just be happy. It was so cute, he wanted to stay forever. Every time I told him it was about time to head to the car, he’d get a little spring in his step like “But I’m not even tired yet!”. Or he would run ahead a little and act like he couldn’t hear me. This is the first video I’ve loaded so fingers crossed it goes well. I apologize in advance for the shoddy camera work, hehe. I was walking with a cane and kind of hobbling back and forth 😉

He stumbled a bit in this one but he absolutely ran to his hearts content the whole time we were there. There were these blue things all over the beach. I looked them up when we got back to the house. They were really pretty. They are a member of the jellyfish family but not poisonous to people. Their Latin name is Velella velella. They are commonly known as “by-the-wind sailors”. They float on top of the water and have a clear fin(sail) that sticks up and allows the wind to blow them around. I guess they are pretty common here on the West Coast. Funny story; Sam gets in the car to go to work on the last day; car smells ‘funny’; can’t figure it out and wonders if someone “trouted” our car. Turns out he had a few of these stinky blue beauties stuck to the bottom of the shoes he left in the car 🙁   Took a couple days to get rid of all the trout smell but it was funny!

Here are a few more random pics of the evening.

It was a gorgeous sunset that evening. All I can say is I really hope his pain levels stay low throughout the summer. I’m really looking forward to several more beach trips for my little Chuck. He’s the puppy love of my life. I also love saying “We are going on holiday” instead of vacation, it sounds so fancy.

Have you been on holiday this summer? Trips to the beach? We would love to hear about your adventures. Please leave us a message or comment and tell us about it!