Crystal + Dan

(stole this picture from Crystal's Facebook)

Crystal (Justin's cousin) and Dan got married in San Francisco City Hall.

The festivities brought out a bunch of Hollobaughs.

And the Hollobaughs know how to have a good time.

Beautiful building, inside and out.

Right across the street from city hall was food truck heaven.

And being new to food truck heaven, I didn't realize how slow they are at filling orders.

Sally and I had to sell off half our meal (straight out of the food truck window, don't worry) to make it in time for the ceremony.

Would have been there a little more on time if the workers hadn't directed me to the county clerk, thinking I was the one getting married.

 The bride and groom are in there somewhere. I had to keep my loud child away.

(another stolen Facebook picture)

The reception was at Pacifica Beach.

(still more stolen Facebook pictures)

We were happy to have so many of Justin's family up this way. Sally and Payten were joined at the hip. Owen & Drew didn't want to miss school, so they stayed behind with friends.

My favorite wedding details were the cute photo backdrop and the individual picnic lunch boxes.

Casual beach-side receptions are my favorite.

On the way home, we stopped at Pigeon Point Lighthouse.

It was cool to see at night...just hard to get a good picture in the dark. Justin got this one:

Post Edit:

A couple more fun pictures showed up on Crystal's Facebook that I had to steal. These are inside San Francisco City Hall after the ceremony.

Kid-Free Disney

We went to Disneyland with no kids and it was awesome.

But also kind of weird!

We got around so fast and did a ton of rides (helped that it was dead).

But once we were on most of the rides, we would think about which kid would especially love it,

and wish they were there.

The single rider lines were pretty great.

Most of the time we ended up near each-other with no wait.

Case in point:

Plus we got to be in a lot of pictures with our new friends.

 We finally tried the Blue Bayou restaurant.

I've heard mixed reviews about the place, but I loved my meal.

It was almost worth the price.

 Two favorite rides, Space Mountain and Haunted Mansion, were closed for Halloween prep.

But it was fun seeing more Halloween decor go up every day.

 Special request from my dad.

Back at the hotel:

Justin didn't trust the hotel staff enough to leave his Fritos out in the open.

So he hid them in his drawer.

And I left my wallet in plain sight.

The hotel was one of my favorite parts of the trip.

I just really loved just coming back to a freshly cleaned room.

That, and getting a break from the crazy after school and bedtime routines.

And watching HGTV.

Last notes from Disney:

Other people's crying kids made me more happy than they should have.

 Souvenir hunting is fun.

We got through so many rides, there was even time to do ones we don't care about

(i.e., the Toon Town roller coaster).

Selfie sticks are funny and they were everywhere.

I know, they're Go Pro sticks, and I'm sure they're awesome.

But it is hilarious to watch a group of people pose with those things.

We also took a break from Disney and went to the Newport Beach temple.

Ate at Crab Cooker.

And shopped.

Back at home:

Erica enjoyed her morning runs.

And the kids didn't get the break from chores they were hoping for.

9/8-10

But really, they had fun, and were in no hurry for us to come home.

Erica did amazing.

And we can finally cross kid-free Disney off our list.

A Saturday with Erica

 We got Justin's sister Erica for a week.

She came to watch the kids while Justin & I went to Disneyland(!).

Before we escaped, we took her to one of our favorites, Point Lobos.

I don't ever get tired of that place.

But that day, our favorite spot was blocked off for a wedding.

Still saw plenty of prettiness.

And Erica introduced the kids to the world of selfies.

Auggie is still learning.

We checked out the Italian Festival in downtown Monterey.

They danced.

We ate some pizza, though not the overpriced slices at the festival.

And an imposter Mickey tried to entice us into buying some taffy.

9/6/14