April Trip - Catalina Island

Our first stop on the cruise was Catalina Island. It was gorgeous weather and the an adorable town! The trees and beach vibe reminded me of Hawaii, but smaller. In fact, it's small enough the we were able to walk to all of our destinations!

One of the most popular spots on Catalina Island, besides the "downtown", is the botanical gardens at the top of the hill. We looked it up on google maps and saw that it was only a few miles. We hiked our way to the top and enjoyed the gorgeous, desert gardens. From there, we did an additional hike called "Garden to Sky" which takes you to the very top. By the time we walked back down to the ship, we had hiked over 10 miles! We thought we had saved money in doing so . . . all other tourists paid for taxis, mopeds, or scooters. But then we heard someone talking at dinner about how there was a golf cart that takes people to the gardens for only $2 a person! Whoops.

view from the ship

Wrigley Botanical Gardens

This is my "cactus" pose

Wrigley Memorial

 Garden to Sky Hike - view from halfway

You can see our ship wayyy down there. We walked that whole way!

made it to the top!

 This is for you, Mom!

walking along the board walk

Our last Catalina destination was Lover's Cove. I had read online that this is a popular spot for snorkeling. After eating lunch on the ship, we grabbed our snorkeling equipment and walked to Lover's Cove. What we didn't realize was how COLD the water was! There was a large group of snorkelers, but they were all wearing dry suits from head to toe. So instead we sat in the warm sun on the rocks and watched all the snorkelers :)

April Trip - Los Angeles + Day at Sea

From San Jose, we drove 5 more hours down to Los Angeles and stayed with our friend Taylor. One of the best parts of our entire trip was being able to see friends and family along the way! We stayed up late chatting and then she showed us around LA in the morning.

We went to a delicious bakery in the morning for breakfast. Well, actually second breakfast. We stopped first for acai bowls because we couldn't decide between baked goods or fruit. Thanks for showing us around, Taylor!

That same morning we boarded our ship for the cruise! 

The next day of the cruise was a day at sea. Besides eating delicious food every few hours, we played mini golf, Brodie tested out the water slide, and we dressed up for the evening. 

Even though it was a cruise to Mexico, it was still windy and chilly out. I was too chicken to get in the cold water, but that didn't stop Brodie!

all dressed up

While waiting for the evening show to start, they called some lucky people onto the stage. Brodie got to strut his stuff in an awesome wig :)

Even though our anniversary isn't in April, we were celebrating early. The dinner staff brought us a delicious dessert! 

We think this is a dinosaur . . . but we weren't quite sure!

April Trip - San Jose

We arrived at my grandparents house Saturday night and were able to stay through late Sunday afternoon. I hadn't been to my grandparents house in years, and it was such a treat to stay with them for the day!

We had a delicious warm breakfast, picked fresh fruit in their backyard, made real lemonade, and watched General Conference. It was a perfect Sunday!

picking lemons from the lemon tree

My grandparents showed us how to make fresh squeezed lemonade and it was the most delicious lemonade I've ever had!

Here is a video of the lemonade making process. My grandpa's narration is what really makes this video awesome!

April Trip - Umpqua National Forest

Unlike February and March, April was very eventful! The highlight was a 10 day trip that Brodie and I planned last minute. We have been on several trips together, but we hadn't planned a trip for just the two of us since our honeymoon.

Ever since Brodie started school at UWS we haven't had a spring break together. What typically happens is Brodie has two weeks off between quarters and then after his break ends, my one week spring break begins. 

This year, however, was different. We had one week off at the same time! The only problem was we didn't know about our aligned breaks until a month beforehand. So we quickly threw together a spontaneous trip. Flights were too expensive, so we picked a drive-able destination. We planned a road trip down to Los Angeles so we could take a 3 day cruise to Mexico. Because of the long drive, we decided to take our time and make several stops along the way. 

Our first stop was Umpqua National Forest in Oregon. We left Friday night after school for the first 5 hour leg of our trip. We were hoping to leave at 5pm and get to the campground around 930pm. But we didn't get out of the house until about 8pm, which meant we didn't pull into the campground until midnight. . . and it was closed! This was a free campground, so we didn't lose any money, but it meant that we had to find somewhere else to sleep.

Luckily we planned on sleeping in the back of our car anyway, so we found a quiet spot along the road and made it our campground for the evening. Not part of the plan, but it sure made us feel adventurous!

our view in the morning when we woke up

In the morning, we visited the Umpqua hot springs. It was a about a mile hike up, which then led to about 6 different hot pots warmed natural hot spring water. We left early, at 7am, in order to get there before the crowds. We read reviews online and learned it was a rather popular spot and to get there early. Especially before the "clothing optional" crowds arrived! 

the tiered hot springs overlooked the river - gorgeous view!

tired, but excited to have the place to ourselves!

Afterwards we drove to Toketee Falls, also part of the Umpqua National Forest. We weren't sure what to expect, but it was an amazing hike! The hike takes you to a look out point, and then from there we ducked a fence line to get down to the base of the falls. 

There wasn't a trail down to the foot of the falls. . . we had to scramble down some rocks and drop through a few holes. Brodie is always up for adventure!

all the work was worth the view! 

We left the national forest in the afternoon to drive to San Jose and stay with my grandparents. We got there in time just for dinner and really appreciated sleeping in a real bed that night! 

March Photo Bomb

Another not-so-eventful month. With the freezing weather, we didn't get out much. However, I did get out with my fifth graders for a field trip!

Each spring we take a field trip to Steigerwald Nature Refuge. The students take a nature walk and do a service project. Every year it's a chilly, so everyone has to bundle up! It's a true northwest field trip - rain or shine!

planting trees

March includes character dress-up day, so of course I chose Hermione!

I snapped this candid shot of Brodie cooking in his onesie. Our heating system couldn't quite keep up with the freezing temperatures, so we did what we could to stay warm!