Top 10 of our Trip- # 9

9. Extreme Flagstaff
Ziplines, rope crawls, and swinging from tree to tree is what this place was all about.  I sat this one out too, and the cousins had lots of fun cheering on their grandpa, uncles, and aunts!

Love this one of Aunt Becky!

Gabby watching Aunt Sarah

They hadn't seen each other in like, 15 minutes.  What a reunion.

The Top 10 of our Trip- #6

6. Slide Rock
 This event was probably the most exciting for the family.  There is a state park called Slide Rock very close to Sedona.  There is a small river that runs through lots of rocks, creating some natural slides and lots of rock drop offs to jump from.  Water Shoes are a must.  Without them, you WILL slip and fall.  Even with them it is easy to fall.  Chris fell once and landed on his elbow.  He developed Bursitis from it and still has a HUGE bruise a week and a half later.  (we also spent a good portion of our anniversary at Urgent Care to get it checked out)  Besides the slipping and falling, everyone had a blast!

Sun Bathing.  The water was COLD!!

Sliding

Small Jumping

Tall Jumping

So proud of G here!

Elia and Chris jumped from the rock later, as did I.  It was scary, and COLD!  But so, so fun.

A Week without the Girls

After our fun filled camping trip in Colorado, Grandma took Gianna and Elia back to California with them for a week so that I could get work done to prepare for this upcoming school year.  Chris and I drove 17 hours back to Dallas from Grand Junction, CO on Sunday.  Then, while I went to boring trainings and made my classroom look awesome here in Dallas...
 

Leveling and categorizing my library took me all day Saturday!

The girls had a blast hanging out with the Rowles!  I got an iphone (finally!) and so we were able to share pics and of course facetime every day!

Aunties and cousins

Gianna is channeling her inner Gabby Douglas

Crafty stuff

I wasn't at school every waking minute while they were gone, so I managed to surprise them with some crate chairs for the playroom.  Of course I found it on pinterest, and it was surprisingly easy.  Chris and I managed to get out for a few dates too!

Bedtime story.  Elia conked out while I was reading a Care Bears book.  So happy to have them back!

Camping

I know you have all been waiting, so here is my recount of our wonderful camping trip to Rock Creek.

The trip started early Sunday morning with a 6 hour drive to Rock Creek, a campsite on the

other side of Yosemite. The drive had lots of wonderful scenery, as we drove through the mountains. We arrived in the early evening to our tents already set up. (you see, at 2am that morning, Grandpa took some of the boys early to scout out a good camp site and set up camp- having teenage boys to do anything at your beck and call is awesome!) This is Chris and I's tent, which basically became Gianna and Elia's tent as well.

We took the girls all around the campsite to explore. Our campsite was nestled between two mountains with a large creek (small river?) running behind us. With the river drowning out any noises from other nearby campers and with the wall of mountains, it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. These were all taken not 10 steps away from our site.

It got dark quickly and as soon as the sun went over the mountain, it got cold. We were feeling 85 during the day when the sun was out and in the dead of the morning it was getting down to 40/45. Bone-chilling for what this Texas girl is used to!

Monday we did some small hikes near a town called Mammoth. We saw an earthquake fault, which was pretty cool. There was a place where you could climb down into it and there was snow down there. We also went to a June Lake, which was so cold, but the water was as clear as glass. It was gorgeous. Of course, I have no pictures from that day. We came home to a wonderful dinner of Mary's chili. I could probably dedicate a whole post to the food that we had. For some reason, camping makes food taste better. We also had a lot of fun each night sitting around the campfire. Elia learned to put her hands up when we were holding her and say no to the fire.

Tuesday was amazing. We went on a 4 mile hike- 2 miles up and 2 miles down the mountain. Our campsite was at about 8ooo feet and at the highest point in our hike I think we got up to 10200 feet. So beautiful. Only pictures can really tell you how beautiful it was, and even pictures don't do it justice. We bought another baby carrier through craigslist so now Chris and I I have matchy matchy backpacks. Its nice to have those teenage boys (and Chris) around to help carry the babies.

It was a wonderful day, but sadly Ana developed elevation sickness from this hike. Well, we don't really know if the hike actually did it or if the hike just exacerbated what she already had, but nonetheless, Mary, Jenny and Phoebe spent the night in a hotel with Ana at 4000 feet just to make sure. And she got better right away, so alls well.

Chris and the boys spent Wednesday morning hiking up the mountain that overlooked our campsite. Once they got back, we packed up and headed home. Such a wonderful trip! Can't wait for our next camping trip!

Top 10 of our California Trip

Ah, California. So beautiful and amazing. Can't wait to go back in November! In no particualr order, here is my top 10 of our trip!

1. Camping outside of Yosemite.

This was probably the highlight of our trip. It deserves its own post with lots of pictures. Stay tuned for that!

2. The Giants Game

The Giants played the Dodgers, so it was a pretty exciting game. We seriously almost died of the cold though. San Francisco is frigid in the summer!

3. Fresno

Visiting Fresno to see Nichole and Max. So good to meet him and let the little ones play!

4. Wine tasting.

It is quite possibly the perfect date. Lots to see and talk about and the wine is so good! Quite possibly the most expensive date ever though!

5. Aunties.

G and E are so lucky to have them to play with and dote on them all the time. We miss them already!

6. DOG

Elia called everything dog. And since there were at least 2 dogs with us at all times, she said dog a whole heck of a lot. So cute. She would sometimes walk behind one of the dogs and just say dogdogdogdogdog! She is learning a few other words but dog is just so stinking cute.

7. Getting my baby fix.

Chris' uncle Eric has a 4 week old and his aunt Erin has a 6 month old. Add to that Phoebe who is 8 months and Chris has a cousin who is pregnant. I could never have a baby again and still get enough baby in my life! (don't worry people, I'm sure there are more McHugh-Rowles babies down the line)

8. Poker and Potluck

These are always fun events- never a dull moment and it is so great to catch up with Chris' extended family. Aunt Erin, Jenny, and Mary made the most amazing cupcakes too.

9. Babysitters

Chris and I went out quite a bit. We celebrated his birthday at a bar, and went to lunch quite a few times. Sans babies. It was awesome. It is so great to get out!

10. Phoebe

She is the cutest little asian version of Jenny ever. She took to Uncle Chris more than Aunt Moe, but thats ok. I still like her. Gianna is obsessed. Loved to giver her kisses. Here she is driving the car.

There is much much more, but I have stuff to do. Stay tuned for that camping post! Love and miss you all!

Top 15 list of our California Trip

I could bore everyone with the wonderful, gory details of our trip, but decided to construct a top 1o list instead. It quickly turned into 15! In no particular order- enjoy, dear readers!


1) Sledding in Tahoe. Watching Gianna enjoy something I loved as a child was especially cool!


2) Gianna and Elia were Ana's show and tell for a day. All the kids were excited to meet them, and they were all so sweet!


3) Playing games each night we were in our cabin in Tahoe. Highlight- We were playing Cranium and I was trying to get my team to guess "temporary tattoo" by drawing it on a piece of paper for them. Everyone could guess the tattoo part of it, but I could not for the life of me figure out how to represent the word temporary with my drawings. Time ran out before I could get them to guess. When I told my team it was temporary tattoo, Mary looked at me (with a straight face) and said, "Moe, you should have drawn a picture of Ryan from The Office! Then we all would have known- he is a temp- temporary tattoo!" It took everyone forever to stop laughing over that one!


4) Taco Tuesday at Compadres. Highlight- taking a tequila shot with Vince and Becky!


5) Leaving the babies at home and going to see Avatar with Vince and Jenny. It is a beautiful movie! (yes, I know there was a political agenda, and some people hate it for that reason, but I took it for what it was- a night out, and a cool action movie!)


6) Meeting little Phoebe- it was so cute to see G dote on her! What a gorgeous baby!


7) Gianna and Marley's beautiful friendship: "Hi Marley, its me, Gianna! Do you remember me?" and "Marley is my best friend." and "Look mom, I'm sharing," as she shared part of her mozzarella stick with her.


8) Going to the KOC Crab Feed- yum yum. Highlight- watching Vince's face as a stranger smelled Phoebe to see if she had a stinky diaper-heehee.


9) Watching Gianna run around with her Aunties Ana and Beth. Chris and I hardly saw Gianna! She got to sleep in their room and there were quite a few nights we had to go in there and tell them to stop giggling and get to bed! Beth is determined to be Elia's favorite auntie, since we all know G's is Auntie Ana!




10) Elia getting her 5th tooth (3rd on top) and finally sleeping better afterwards. She has also learned to say mamamamamama and I am pretty sure she uses it in context!

11) Opening presents from Santa/Grandma. Spoiled spoiled is what we are! We got a cool hd flip video camcorder and G and E got lots of fun toys, puzzles and clothes. Highlight- Aunt Jenny made the cutest little apron/chef hat/oven mitt set for G.

12) Poker night- Chris and I both lost fairly early, but I love playing and talking with all the family and eating yummy snacks from Trader Joe's. Why are there Trader Joe's everywhere but here in Dallas??

13) Mary's fabulous cooking- enough said!

14) Catching up with my dear friend Annie the day before I left- for 3 whole hours at Starbucks!

15) Elia falling sleep on Mikey- too cute!

See you Rowles soon!

Tahoe!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a quick moment before it gets crazy here, but we just got to Tahoe a few hours ago. Gianna has been out in the snow in her snow pants and having a great time! We have a cozy 4 bedroom house rental that all the Napa Rowles, Dallas Rowles, and Albas (a total of 16) have squashed into. Little cousin Phoebe and Elia are passed around by all the aunts and uncles. Gianna is in hog heaven getting so much attention from auntie Anna and auntie Beth. We are about to sit down to dinner and afterwards we will all play some crazy, competitive family games!

I am writing the next day now. This morning we went sledding and even Elia got in on it! The above video is of Gianna sledding down the hill. Last night we played Cranium, which is hilarious to play when there are Rowles and alcohol present. We might go out sledding again soon, Gianna is having a ball!!!! During breakfast she couldn't stop waving her arms around in excitement and talking about the snow. I think the plan is to have a snow man building competition- more on that later!