Category: Travel

My Grandma Petlow passed away in January and we managed to find reasonable tickets to California to attend her funeral. We knew it was going to be a hard few days of travel, but the girls are really great travelers and we knew it would be okay.

Nadia thought this was hilarious.

We stayed at my Grandparents house and they have an orange tree in the backyard. 

My sister Michelle, My mom Stephanie, My Aunt Polly and Me.

Once we arrived in Los Angeles we had to rent a car and head for Santa Barbara. My mom had dinner waiting for us which was a great relief after being in the car through the rush hour traffic. Aunt Michelle had goodies for the girls and they were ready for fun. The next morning was the funeral and it was beautiful outside with the bright sun shining which made me happy and think of Grandma’s bright smile. After the service we had a family lunch at one of Grandma’s favorite restaurants called the Harbor and then took the girls back for a nap.

That evening we headed back to my mom’s for dinner and a visit with family. My cousin Matt brought his boys Byoungju and Jaeyoung. They had a great time playing and when we came in Jaeyoung grabbed Dani and kissed her. It was so cute! My brother was there, but he left early and I didn’t get a photo with him.

Nonnie and Grandpa Brian doing puzzles.

My mom and Michelle came over to tell us goodbye the next morning because we had to head right back to Los Angeles to catch our flight out. I was so happy to see everyone, but it’s always sad when it’s for the loss of a loved one.

We made it back down to LA pretty quickly and had time to stop at Randy’s donuts. YUM! Then we continued on our long journey through car rental return, LAX security and flight delays.

After we got back from Estes Park we spent the next week with the Peterman’s which included Thanksgiving. It was a FOOD fest!! We also did our usually amount of talking and laughing our heads off. Everyone should have friends in their lives like that.

We came home to this sign from the girls

Amelie made pasta with Jessica

So much dessert for 20 people at Thanksgiving

We had lots and lots of fun with the Peterman’s!

In November our dear friends the Peterman’s graciously kept the girls for us so we could take a trip up to Estes Park to celebrate our 20th anniversary. It was off season for Estes Park, but that didn’t matter to us because we just wanted to be together. We stayed at a place recommended by friends that was no kids, no pets, no smoking and got a cabin on the Fall River. It was amazing and just perfect for the two of us. It had a little kitchenette and the fireplace was the heater. We opened up the back window and could hear the river rushing by and the fire kept us toasty. We woke up the first morning to snow and freezing temps with the fire going – it was like being in a Christmas card. We tried a lot of good food (too much really) and just relaxed and slept late with no little voices to wake us up!

After our anniversary dinner at Twin Owls Steakhouse

Cute little old fashioned candy shop

I ran ahead of Mike and yelled, “Quick take a photo of me!” Then I ran for the car because it was freezing!

7pm on a Saturday night and all the creatures of Estes Park were snug in their beds

The Taffy was great and I loved getting a beach treat in the mountains

We almost went to the tree lighting, but didn’t want to be on a schedule so we went out later that night and had the whole place to ourselves. Then we laughed a lot about the size of the tree that had been hyped so much. 

We had a wonderful time on our first trip alone since becoming parents in 2007. We had never been to Estes Park and ended up loving it there. Thanks Randy and Jess… we love you!

The day we had to travel home from the beach was also my birthday so we took it easy because I didn’t want to be scrambling. The girls gave me this card with 40 candles when I got up.

We stopped for a photo of this guy that the girls liked.

We stopped for BBQ for my birthday lunch. YUM!

I told the girls they needed to take a nap. Dani got mad and put her blanket over her head to pout. Then promptly fell asleep. Outside of Austin we stopped at IKEA to give the girls a long stretch break and to check out the beds for Amelie. We also had dinner there and Mike bought the girls each a toy which they love when going to IKEA.

The drive home was nice. I got lots of texts and phone calls wishing me happy birthday. The funniest call was from my brother who told me he was sorry I was turning 40 because once he turned 30 it was all downhill (he is 32 now). The most exciting call was from my sister Tahni who called from Belgium and I hadn’t heard her voice since July.