So since some of my family is reading this now and looking for pictures, I guess I'll go back and start where I left off.

In April we had The Boy's birthday! He turned NINE! Yes, that DOES make me feel old, thanks for asking.

So we had a little party for him at the pizza place he loves here in town, and when I went to take pictures, I discovered that a dear part of our family had lost a VERY important appendage ... my camera's SNAP button was MISSING!

Pretty scary ... I KNOW. So I have no pictures of that. But the following weekend we decided to take The Boy out on a little day trip for his birthday and I decided I deserved a present too :-D And a new addition to the family was adopted. She's 8.1mp and blue and has quickly become a part of the family.

So after the adoption, we headed out west, toward the coast. DH and I are absolute soul mates, we really are. I never thought I would meet a man who loved the beach and the coast and the waves and the smell of the ocean as much as I do. A man who would drive hours, even on a whim in the middle of the day, just to see it smell it and be a part of the ocean, like I would. But he is that man, and that is exactly what we did.


Looks positively THRILLED doesn't she? ;-) So we packed up The Boy and Terrible Two and a bunch of snacks and hoped in the car. We didn't really have a destination in mind, just the beach.

On the way we stopped and had lunch and found that coloring is not just Terrible's idea of joy, it's also the Boy's. Coloring makes him very very happy appearently ;-)

So we drove and drove and drove some more. We went all up along Highway 1 and it is just the most beautiful coast line. We drove through a little town called Stinson Beach on the way out. It is one of those little coastal towns cut off by the mountains just enough to feel totally set apart from the world, and yet only 20 minutes from San Francisco.

We didn't end up there this time. This time, we drove and drove and drove some more and ended up finding a little town that is appearently where all hippies go to die. We were a little scared and kept driving. After a long time more, we discovered that the road we were on ended and we would have to go back to Hippietown for the beach or face a riot from the back seat as it was almost 4:30pm.

So we stopped. They played. The shivered their little blue lips off. Then we left.

But all was not lost! Before we left, DH looked up a brewery he has always wanted to visit in San Francisco. One of our favorite brewers is Rogue Brewing. They have an awesome beer I love called Dead Guy Ale - sounds a little more menacing than it's intended. The brewery is out of Oregon, near the Rogue River, the most dangerous river somewhere I guess or something, and a portion of the profits of that beer are used for something or other having to do with all the poor souls lost on that river - or something like that ;-) I just like the beer :-D

So we stopped at the brewery for dinner and found that it was a total FAMILY style joint! And OMG their FOOD! It was awesome. And well, any beer is twice as good out of a tap than it is out of a bottle :-D And OMG THE KIDS WERE AWESOME TOO! Look at that other picture! They just colored and colored and colored! and were quite! and ate their food! and loved it! So basically, it was THE BEST DAY EVER!

And um, that was April :-D

May coming soon!