Last Day

Our visit with the family ended on a perfect Santa Barbara day.  FINALLY, 70+ degrees, no wind and no sign of rain or fog.

Perfect day for the zoo.

Grandma and Poppy packed a nice picnic lunch for all of us.

Later that afternoon we played around in the yard.
 

Some volleyball...

Some dancing....

 Some tattooing...

And another stop, this time for dinner, at Los Gallos.

And then back home the grandparents went (always kiss the car to make sure you get home safely).

The rest of us (well the grown ups) were so tired but we had mentioned the bowling alley over the previous few days and the kids were not going to let us forget it.  In fact, when I asked Dylan what had been his favorite part of the trip so far, he said the bowling alley.  How sad is that?  We hadn't even been there!

 So, here we are at Zodo's Bowling and Beyond!

Calm down Michele, you only won tickets.  And those tickets only buy you an eraser for your #2 pencil.

They actually won pretty good crap, I mean stuff, for $20 AND we made Dylan a happy camper ;)

And that my friends, was the end of our Spring Break with the family!  Which means my kids are back to napping, sleeping in their own beds and are really, really sad that their cousins are gone :(

Saturday...

Our time with the Colorado crew continued that Saturday with a trip up to Solvang.  We strolled around to the different shops and snacked on Danish treats.

It wouldn't be a proper trip to Solvang if you didn't stop and take a picture in the clog.

Next stop, OstrichLand.

Oddly enough, this shot is sort of reminiscent of family dinners at our house some nights.

At one point, we lost sight of Thatcher and realized he had climbed into one of the pens. Thankfully, the one he climbed into had no ostriches in it.  Seriously, who is in charge of this kid?!

Aggressive little buggers!

Next up, the Quicksilver Ranch miniature horse farm.

The baby miniature horse was about the same size as Lollipop.

The girls were more interested in dancing.

Here Lauren performs her "Bow and Arrow" dance.  Fast forward 12 hours and I was doing the same dance out at a club.  When you are 8, it is cute, when you are over 30, not so cute... 

Next stop, the Sunny Fields Park.

Love this laughter!

A special shout out to Reese!

We headed back to Santa Barbara for a late lunch at Los Gallos.  Hands down the best fajitas and nachos you will ever have!

Later that evening, we headed over to the neighbors for a barbecue so that Dylan and Lauren could meet Sofia and Alex.  They are all about the same age.  Sofia performed a flamenco number and then played guitar and sang a Beatles tune.  I need to take video and post it on You Tube because I'm fairly certain some type of Bieber-esque phenomenon will happen to her.  If her parents don't take her to the American Idol auditions when she is old enough, I will!

While Todd got the kiddos ready for bed, Michele and I met up with some friends at Holley's house for dinner.  She made an amazing chicken dinner that you must try, recipe here.  Thank you Hols!

After dinner, our limo (yes, we are now "friends" with the limo-taxi guy), picked us up and we headed downtown to The Savoy.

Once there, we all took turns trying to get a long-arm shot of all of us.

Clearly, our arms weren't long enough...

Or perhaps this had something to do with it.....I know it had to do with my "bow and arrow" dance....

Much better when someone else takes the picture!

Cheers to a fun night out and coming home to these two sleeping cuties!