Voyager

 To celebrate the start of summer and our wedding anniversary, the Hubby and I took a road trip to Phoenix, AZ. I found out the weekend we were planning on going Diana Gabaldon would be doing a book signing.  

 111 degrees! 

 Got to met the incomparable Diana Gabaldon. I was so excited to met her I didn't know what to do, so I shook her hand. She revealed that she is currently writing the 9th book in the Outlander series. She also told us that season 2 DVD will be released in September. 

I liked Voyager better than Dragonfly in Amber. The ending keeps you wanting to read more.

Kid Friendly Vegas Exists

 Summer 2014 is flying by and we haven't gone anywhere. A staycation is great but I needed to get out of our zip code. We decided to take a last minute road trip. The boys had never been to Sin City. A family trip to Vegas seemed questionable however midweek you can find a nice hotel in Las Vegas for under $100.

 The drive was long. We talked the whole way, I forgot how fun car games can be.

 We wanted to find a hotel that had a good pool since we would be doing more swimming than gambling. I didn't want a hotel that was in the middle of the strip. We stayed at the Tropicana. The Tropicana has a large pool perfect for cannonballs. At it's deepest point is 4 1/2 feet deep.

 We walked over to New York, New York to see the roller coaster and the Hershey's store

 At night we drove to South Eastern Ave. for my favorite brick oven pizza. The original Grimaldi's is in New York. We ate the pizza so fast I didn't get a picture*. After pizza we went across the street for custard. Nielsens Frozen Custard is amazing! We don't have anything like it in Southern California. If you are in Las Vegas you have to go to Nielsens. Nielsens' custard comes in 3 flavor, Strawberry, Chocolate and Vanilla.

* The only reason I have a picture of the custard is we got seconds. 

Our trip was so fun and relaxing that we are hoping to go again before summer is over. Vegas, Baby

The best thing about Las Vegas according to D...

Pools

Pizza

Custard

The last time we were in Las Vegas without the kids we saw The Beatles Love show. Wish we could have seen it again.

This is us at the Polynesian Cultural Center in La'ie. Here is the bag I made in action. 

Little birdie trying to enter our hotel room.

coconuts on the beach.

Hawaii Nails

Day 6

I didn't want to go to Hawaii with bare, boring nails. I also didn't want chipped nails on vacation. The day before our flight I painted my nails with CND vinylux 7 day manicure. I used the color Romantique #142. The color is very similar to Essie's Bubble Bath. It was really easy, I did my nails in the weekly polish and then the top coat.  CND vinylux really works!

Hawaii Sunrise

 You'd think being on vacation we would sleep in but no!

 That's a lot of whipped cream.

We went to Eggs n Things. It is a popular breakfast spot in Waikiki. 

Snapshots of Hawaii

Nice lunch spot.

 Due to a storm Hawaii has been having super waves. One day we drove to the North Shore to check the waves out.

 This lei smelled so good.

1st time paddle boarding and I was a little leery about standing up. Turns out all that tree pose in yoga really payed off, Mahalo yoga. I really loved it!

DIY Canvas Tote

Big news in 2014!

The Hubby and I are going to Hawaii in a couple of weeks! I am super excited. I've been busy packing. One of the things I was having trouble packing was a suitable bag. Most of my purses are black and not  beach appropriate. I decided I would sew a bag but I couldn't find a fabric I liked. Instead I went to Michael's. I bought some tape, a $3.99 canvas bag and Martha Stewart all purpose paint. 

 I love the Martha Stewart paint. It is good on any surface even fabric. 

The hard part was picking a design…Should I stencil? Do polka dots? Finally I settled on classic stripes.

I was inspired by the Starbucks packaging.  I was originally going to paint the bag brown and rose gold polka dots. After thinking about it I thought rose gold and navy stripes was nautical and look better for the beach. 

 Taped up the bag

 2 coats of paint...

And Ta Da my bag is ready to fill with sunscreen and a book!

Spring Break in San Diego

 At the Ruben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa park. 

Most spring breaks (and summers) I focus on History and English projects. However this year we are all about math and science. We visited the science center in Balboa Park. The museum has lots of hands on experiments. The visiting exhibit is about space but more details on comets and meteorites. I was worried that D was getting a little freaked out because there is a lot of information about how scientist think the dinosaurs died. Scientist believe a 6 mile wide meteorite hit earth. 

 Kicking it old school

 After the museum we went on the carousel. The carousel is so charming it was built in 1910. F.W. grabbed the brass ring so he got to ride again for free.

Gag Reel

 Here are some random pictures that I like...

Break dancing

F.W. looking scary 

 For some reason this day D was really into taking "sleeping" pictures

 Baltimore is pretty hard core.

 YUM!

It is not easy to get this amount of people to smile at the camera. 

 The END of the trip...

waiting for our flight home!

America's first Cathedral

  Under the Cathedral are the arches that hold up the dome. 

A view of the dome.

While we were in Baltimore we went to America's first Cathedral, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was built from 1806-1821. It's a beautiful peaceful Cathedral. The East coast style is so different from California Missions. 

Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Natural Science

 Bees!

 Butterfly Garden

*My nieces in the background.

 While in Raleigh we went to the Museum of Natural Science. D really loved this place. It is a big museum, 3 stories. It has lots of information on regional animals, dinosaurs and insects.  He could have spent all day here. We went with the rest of the family. When we entered the museum everyone scattered and went to what interest them. I stayed with D so that is why I mostly have pictures of him.

Caution people walk up buildings in Raleigh