California

taking a moment to find joy in the little things

Maybe (?) you noticed I was missing last week...we spent the week in California. My husband had meetings for work, and the girls and I decided to tag along. Here are some photos from our travels.

{pretty}
first stop...Lake Tahoe. We drove pretty far out of the way to see this, but it was worth it.

next stop...San Francisco area

an afternoon drive through Napa Valley

a day trip to the ocean

{happy}

On Monday, my girls and I met up with fellow Compassion advocate and blogger Yvonne and her daughter. I've collaborated with Yvonne on several different things (including the weekly link up "Photo Treasure Hunt" we used to have here). It was so good to meet her in person and really, it felt like we were old friends. It was a gorgeous day and we walked across the Golden Gate Bridge (1.7 miles each way). 

We saw sea lions and dolphins from the bridge. On the other side of the bridge is Fort Point. It was being built before the civil war and was finished just as the civil war began. When the Golden Gate Bridge was built many years later, they built it over the fort. My girls LOVED running around and exploring this place. 

My girls also loved our afternoon trip to this castle in Napa Valley...Castello di Amorosa. We got to tour part of it and then do a wine tasting (the girls got to taste some delicious grape juice).  It's not a historic castle, but was built to resemble a medieval castle and was furnished beautifully.

We also spent a day at Half Moon Bay...walking the beach and watching the waves.

{funny}

I think that the funniest thing about our trip is that we didn't actually go into the city of San Francisco at all. We were there 4 full days, but we were staying outside the city (two different locations) and I didn't feel brave enough to venture into the city by myself. We were there 3 years ago and I was overwhelmed by all the people and all the things we don't normally expose ourselves to. I guess you pair that with the fact that I'm just not a city girl and it was easy to find other things to do. 

We stopped at a couple wineries in Napa Valley and this one (Hall Vineyard) had some very interesting sculptures and clever signs to go with some. 

I loved these twig huts...I thought my girls would love going through them and exploring, but instead I found this....

{real}

The gray skies have settled in...often accompanied by drizzle or plain old rain. This will likely be the norm for the rest of fall, all of winter and much of spring. But this is what makes this area so lush and beautiful I guess.

I'm linking up with  It's the Little Things, {pretty, happy, funny, real}, 

Wednesday Around the World, Image-in-ing and Little Things Thursday