Strawberry with the LaFollettes (August 2 - 9, 2014)

Ah, vacation. There is no feeling like it.  The weight of the world just melts away, and all of those worries you had just don't pop into your head. We took a week-long vacation with Leslie (Gigi), Joe (Happa), Elle (Grandma), Colin (Sharky), Colin's friend Will (Wheel), and our family. It was a blast. 

... a funny coincidence, in the time from leaving our house and getting to Strawberry, which had exactly two stops - the car place to add us as drivers and In n Out burger - we ran into Jama at the car rental place (next to CrossFit) and then ran into Don O'Reagan at the Tracy In N Out Burger. Lily Ali O'Reagan (my 2nd cousin), and I almost collide and she goes "I know you!" and I say "I don't know you." Haha, I am classy as always (I like to think honest to a fault). Anyways, I definitely did know her. Though, the last time I had seen Ali was when I student taught her class at New Brighton Middle School and she was in 6th grade. She just finished her senior year in high school and is heading off to college - so in my defense she looked pretty different. How about that for a coincidence.

Back to the vacation! Here we are only hours after arriving ...

Everyone was just glowing with that vacation happiness

... except maybe Sharky who likes to pretend he isn't having a great time =)

... and then it was waking up early with this smiley one. At first you think, "ugh, it is so early" but then you see her just BEAMING to see you and you just start to smile.

Then it was off to Pinecrest lake with the crew

 ... and the next day, we headed down to Kennedy Meadows, a family favorite place to visit.

I love this photo of Lauren and Chloe, two of my favorite smiles to see ... they just make me perfectly happy =)

... and Lily got to see her HORSEYS!

... and don't worry, she pointed them out to her little sister too!

... then back to the house to cook up some delicious cabin-barbecue food

 Chloe was as much trouble as always, climbing everywhere she shouldn't go and holding no interest in her actual toys we brought - only in the forbidden fruit (the steep wooden stairs, the rabid dog =), eating every dirty thing she found on the ground like dirt and dead bugs, going out the door, opening the cupboards, etc etc ... trouble

Grandma and Gigi had a great time at the cabin and I managed to get a few pictures of their genuine happiness to be there

What?! A photo of Colin not grimacing?! A fluke!

Family dinners on the porch, listening to the sound of the river water babbling over the rocks ... and fighting off swarms of yellow jackets. Ok, not swarms - there were only a few ...

Dad took his girls for nice hikes on the river - one at a time of course.

I freaking LOVE this photo. Lily is so adorable. She just started saying "I love dada" and hugging. It is so adorable. When I read to her at night, all of a sudden she just squeezes me tight and "Love dada" and then that is immediately followed by "I love mama" "I hug mama" and a search for Lauren

Lily even found her own little pool to throw rocks into, which was just the best thing she could have dreamed of

Then it was time for Chloe's hike with dada

Her favorite part? ROCKS! LOOK AT THESE ROCKS!!!

She is so snuggly and happy all the time. She is the perfect little baby.

Then back home for a night or toddler play time. Lily loved being surrounded by adults in one room where she had all the attention. She would run over to people and grab them and say, "Grandma watch" "GRANDMA WATCH" and then go do something once ... and then even though Grandma is still looking right at her and watching, she would run right back to grandma and say "Grandma watch!" like three times. She got everyone to watch and she was just happy and playful all evening every evening. If she wasn't in the living room playing around, she was leading someone around on a walk or "shopping" "Lily buy food"

 All the while, this one was smiling up a storm and getting into everything she shouldn't =)

... and the boys played games. We played five crowns, mexican train dominos, sequence, 31, set, and more. It was a strategy strateganza

Oh, and Lily plays the piano ... or as she calls it, "Peeno" as in, pinot noir

 A nice shot of Lucy, who has been a pretty good sport to two babies running around all day everyday

This is pretty much how playtime goes. Lily moves things around and waves things around while Chloe smiles and keeps trying to grab said thing. Here is Lily trying to hang sunglasses from Chloe's neck of her shirt.

... and the patient one wins in the end. After Lily has lost interest, Chloe slowly crawls over and grabs said thing of interest ... and has it all to herself. What a happily balanced symbiotic relationship.

Gosh Chloe is just too freaking cute!

... and Lily too!

Did I hear PARTY BOAT?! Oh, pontoon boat is the correct terminology? Same thing ...

Don't worry, we didn't just throw the baby off the boat with a floatee. We took a break on shore ... and then threw in her the water by herself. She loved it.

... but you can't keep naked Lily away from her sister for long.

It was beautiful up there.

... and they put in a new dock across the lake, at about the halfway point of the hike around the lake. There is a dock and restrooms, even picnic tables in the shade.

While Chloe napped on the boat with Grandma watching over her, Lily and her parents hit the beach.

... and then took a nap together

Toddler time in the evening! All fun and no stop.

Then the next day it was out and about in the sun.

What a wonderful way to wake up. Step outside and stand in the river while Lily plays around

Happa was happily casting away

... and bringing home dinner. I love this photo

... and then what better to do on a hot day, but hang out on the deck and play with water. We threw a few ice cubes in a metal bowl and that made the girls happy for about an hour.

... and Chloe got some more practice walking

All while the ladies watched over them. I could watch those girls play all day long every day ... why do they have to grow up?!

A great shot of Happa and Lucy relaxing on our last day.

 Ah, then sadly it was time to head home. Our trip home was going well, until we realized we accidentally put Lily in a cheap diaper for the ride home and she peed EVERYWHERE in her carseat ... so Los Gatos sidewalks are great for changing while the freeway is at a dead stop from beach traffic on a Saturday midday and an accident. Other than the 45 minute to hour delay in Los Gatos traffic to move about 6 miles (Camden to the Cats bar), the ride went super smooth and the girls were great ...

... as much as Lauren hated it by the end of the trip, all we needed to do if either girl started fussing was turn on the Frozen soundtrack AGAIN and listen to about seven to ten songs over and over for about the tenth straight hour ... I actually like it and belt out the songs without any thoughts to my singing ability or lack thereof ... come to think of it, that might be part of why Lauren dislikes the cd ... hahaha