Vacation Pics!! :)

Hey, everyone!  Thanks for your patience in waiting for this post.  Yesterday I was pretty wiped out from the trip.  Plus, I had an appointment scheduled for my middle daughter.  And once I got back from that, somehow in the middle of working on my posts, I managed to zoom out 67%, so everything on Blogger was super tiny.  Being the non-tech-savvy person that I am, I could NOT figure out how to fix it until Hubby got home late.  So instead of blogging, I watched a movie, fixed dinner, put kids to bed, and slept. :}

Anyway, now that you've read through a pretty much pointless paragraph, on to the real post! :)

We had an absolutely wonderful vacation.  Hubby was able to get all 6 days off, which is a huge luxury for him.  It was wonderful to be all together for the whole time. :)  

As usual, my mom, dad, and aunt came too.  My brother, his wife, their little daughter, and my brother's wife's cousin (got that?) were able to come on Saturday and Sunday.  We all stayed with our dear friends who live over there.

Here are Rachel, Charlie, Robby, and Belle (along with Charlie's Buzz Lightyear action figure), all ready to go! :) (By the way, if you'd like to see Rachel and Charlie's take on the trip, you can read about it on Tess and Maggie's blog HERE.  For Belle's perspective, check out her post on Belle's Bulletins HERE.)

As always, the trip over was full of beautiful scenery.  I couldn't help taking a few pics as we went. :)

The day of our arrival we spent getting unpacked and settled in at our friends' house.  We didn't go anywhere else until the next morning.  Our destination was one of my very favorite beaches:  Moonstone Beach.  It's surrounded by lovely rocks and greenery, and also is a great beach for the kiddos because it's so long and flat. :)

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Beautiful Moonstone

This tree and shrub-covered rock is absolutely humongous!  My dad actually climbed it this year...and paid for it the next day.  His legs were really sore! :}  I can't really talk, though, because as they say...like father, like daughter.  But more on that later. ;)

As you can see, the dolls had a great time, too. ;)  I brought Rachel, Charlie and Rontu, and Mom brought her Jess doll.  Some of you may remember that Rachel and Jess were our Craigslist finds from Eureka last year, so we thought it would be fun to let them go back to their home town  for a week. ;)

And here's a Doll Blooper! ;)  Charlie was being very stubborn and kept falling down right as I would take the picture! :}  At one point, Charlie fell backwards and Jess fell forwards at the same time! :(  Ah, the trials of a doll photographer! ;) 

Belle and Robby seem to be enjoying their honeymoon. ;)

The day was so lovely that I literally could not stop taking pictures of my surroundings.  Moonstone Beach always inspires me.  Thank you Lord, for giving us such a beautiful world to enjoy! :)

Sunday morning we ended up staying home, because my little niece kept most of us up all night (she was NOT in the mood to sleep, thank you very much!).  In the afternoon, though, we ventured into Downtown Eureka to get coffee (well, most of us...I still can't stand the stuff!) and do some shopping.  I didn't get any pics because it was raining pretty hard and I was tired and wanted to just live that day instead of documenting it.  :}

When we got back to the house, our hostess set up this elegant tea party for my three daughters.  As you can imagine, they were all thrilled and enjoyed "acting like princesses".  My youngest reminded everyone of proper etiquette as she ate. ;)

On Monday, we did some running around.  We went to what is now one of my new favorite spots in Eureka:  "The Toy Box" toy store in Henderson Center.  It was a huge toy store with high quality toys, but it also had some nice, small, inexpensive things for the girls to choose for souvenirs. :)

Charlie and Rachel enjoyed themselves there, too.  They especially liked the Calico Critters.  I think they were hoping for a Calico Critter family to take home, but I was trying to be good this trip, so I opted for some smaller goodies for them. ;)

We also visited some thrift stores and found a few goodies.  I'm hoping to get pics of all of my souvenirs today or tomorrow so that I can share them with you. :)

One of the things we found during our Downtown Eureka shopping trip was Addy's Cookbook. :)  My oldest daughter saw this recipe for fried apples and decided she really wanted to try it.  Mrs. S (the lady of the house and our gracious hostess) was really sweet and helped Oldest Gal prepare fried apple dessert for everyone there.  They were really good, and Oldest Gal was beaming with pride. :)

On Tuesday, our last full day there, we drove over to Trinidad to make our traditional stop at "Windan Sea", a very cute little shell shop we've been going to since I was a girl.  But first we stopped at Murphy's, the market across the street, to eat some lunch and use the bathroom. :) 

Here are the dolls posing on the front steps.  Normally I take a picture of the whole store, but there was a ton of construction going on, so it wasn't nearly as pretty as it usually is. :}

Another of our Tuesday stops was the Samoa Dunes.  I got some great shots of the bay as we went. :)

Samoa Dunes is another great kid-friendly beach.  (It's doll-friendly, too, as you can see from the pic above.) ;)  Hubby and several of the others fishes on the shoreline (you can see Hubby in the background of this pic...see the little guy in the waves?  That's him!), while my daughters played in the sand and ran in the waves.  Meanwhile, I got some great doll photos. :)

The waves were breathtaking!

Robby and Belle sharing a quiet moment on the beach. ;)

More pretty waves! :)

All too soon, it was Wednesday morning, and time for us to go.  It's always sad to go, but we know we'll be back again next year, Lord willing! :)

Before heading for home, we made our traditional stop at the carousel my daughters love to ride.  It was fun but freezing cold!!  My toes were nearly numb by the time we were done. :}

And here are a few parting shots I got of the Trinity River as we headed home (we had to stop to rearrange pillows in the backseat for 3 tired, crabby girls, so it was a great chance to snap a few photos!):

Just one more thing before I go.  One of the other things I hoped to accomplish on this trip was to get some photos for my books I'm working on.  Parts of them are set in the Trinidad/Eureka area, so I wanted to get some photos to inspire me and help me visualize what I was describing.  So here are a few sneak peaks...I can't reveal their significance just yet, so I'll leave you to your own imagination! :)

Oh, and remember that comment I made about "like father, like daughter"?  Well, to get this shot I had to do a lot of downward climbing over fallen logs, moss, and ferns.  I haven't been that great at exercising recently...and let's just say that I had the same sore, rubbery leg problem as my dad the day after I took these photos. ;)

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! :)  It will take me a while to get the house back in order after our trip, but by next week I hope to have some more posts for you. :)