The Trifecta/Hexigonta

Robby and I both agree that we hit the pinnacle of our lives over the last couple weeks.  It's not possible to get better than this and it must be all down hill from here :)  We literally did ALL of our favorite things all within about a week and a half that was jam packed with the ultimate relaxation, adventure, nature, comfort, amazing culinary delights, family time, and much much more.  The best part was the fact that we got some marathon time together!  It had been too long and there's nothing I love more than a good vacation/adventure with my buddy.

The kick off was when we got invited to go down to Mexico with Jill and Sean.  It was going to be a quickie because Robby took his last final Thursday evening, after which we were gonna drive down to Mexico, get in late, spend all day Friday and Friday might in paradise, then leave early Saturday morning to get back to Orange County to go to the WEENIE ROAST concert...which I will definitely be touching on that later.

Las Gaviotas Mexico is our slice of heaven.  There's really nothing more you need in life when you're down there.  We hadn't hung out with Sean, Jill, and Coco in ages so seeing them was a real treat in itself.  The weather was terrible, but that didn't stop the fun.  The boys went surfing, Jill and I did work out videos and just kicked back, we went to our favorite food joints and watched movies.  Not the typical Mexico trip that usually includes sun, shuffleboard, swimming, hot tubbing, etc....but it was still fun and oh so relaxing.  The kick off to our marathon of fun.

See, Mexico is SUPER relaxing

Sadly we don't have pictures of all of us together, but this Coca Light can proves that this was taken in Mexico.

It was a Mexico Miracle that the border line only took us 1.5 hours to get through, and we raced up the 5 to get to the Weenie Roast festival, which was at the Verizon Amphitheater in Irvine.  We were so extremely tired, but drove straight to the concert because we would've been late if we went back home first.  We stopped off at Walmart to stock up and snacks, and then headed over to the theater.  One of my favorite venues!  The line up was incredible and we got to see some of our favorite bands....including MUSE!!!  We met up with Becky and Taylor and our friends Kailee and Sterling also met us there, it was so much fun and we rocked out to the point of ridicule from the people around us...which is when you know you're getting crazy and having fun.

Fanny pack?? Or Backpack??

Some of the random things I want to remember from this awesome event:

 - Taylor showing up on a hot day in a "wool" sweatshirt with nothing underneath

- Robby and I dancing like crazy together

- Me falling down because I'm headbanging so hard to Muse...falling on top of other people 

- The weird guy sitting on our row who showed up 3/4 of the way through the festival and slept in his seat the whole time

- Packing ziplock bags of "healthy snacks" to sneak in because I was on my stupid diet

- Robby being a BadA and getting out of the crazy packed parking lot after the festival within 10 minutes while Taylor and Becky took over an hour to get out of there

- The backpack that turned into a fanny pack!!!

This is how we roll...

Something about going to a really good concert is so refreshing and good for my soul.  I immediately feel more alive and rejuvenated.  I hope to be the 70 year old grandma rocking out at concerts that teenagers make fun of.   So yeah, so far we have paradise and relaxation in Mexico immediately followed by rocking out and feeding our souls with some amazing music, friends and dancing.  So far so amazing,  But still, just the beginning.

The Monday after that weekend Robby had his LAST FINAL EVER!!!!  It was definitely cause for celebration and I was so happy and excited for him to be done with his all night study sessions, sleeping in the car in the school parking lot, and all the stress that I'm sure comes with that.  Although Robby is my hero because he's always had a smile on his face through all of it.  

Of course this deserved some celebration, and not only that - our two year Anniversary was coming up!  We decided we wanted to do something adventurous and for me personally, Havasaupi had always been on my bucket list!  Robby had been before, but loved it and always wanted to go back.  This place books up fast so there was no way to make reservations, so we decided we were just going to show up and wing in.  In Robby's last experience there he felt we could totally get away with it.  So Monday right after his final we hopped on the freeway and drove to the middle of nowhere.  We were so tired that we didn't make it all the way there that night and slept in our car about 2 hours from the entrance to the hike.  It was a miserable night with Robby trying to get us in the perfect "sardine" position in the trunk of his car.  We both woke up freezing every half hour.  Needless to say, we were exhausted, but got up at 6am to head to the entrance of the Canyon that we would hike down to get to Havasaupi.

This is the top.  A little intimidating, but you hike down the side of the canyon, then about 10 miles through the canyon in to camp.  

The hike was awesome!  It took us about 5 hours because we went slow, took tons of pics...and then I got super tired toward the end.  The last two miles were the worst and I became Robby's annoying child asking every two minutes "are we there yet!?"

 Upon reaching the village that the Navajo Indians live in you have to check in and pay for your nights stay.  Well this is about 8 miles in to the hike.  We get there and they said since we didn't have reservations and they were fully booked....then there was no room for us and we would have to turn back.  WHAT!?!  Good thing Robby has a way with Najavo women and after sweet talking she let us in....but only for one night....  So we paid for one night, got our wristbands...and finished up the 2 miles to campsite...until FINALLY we were there...

It's so gorgeous!!!

We set up camp, which in our case was our two hammocks.  We found the perfect little cove!  I loved that about Havasaupi, that there are no designated campsites so you just explore around and pick your spot.  Ours was so cozy.  Although my hammock that we had just purchased in Mexico turned out to be one that was either for a small child, or more for sitting in rather than laying.  I was like a caterpillar wrapped in a cocoon in that thing and couldn't move an inch without the risk of flipping over!

We explored around the first day at the Havasaupi Falls.  The feeling of adventure there is awesome.  It was surprisingly pretty empty feeling (fully booked my @$$!) and we felt like total explorers.

After an amazing and exhausting day we found ourselves ready for bed by 7:30pm.  And we slept like newborn babies drunk on breast milk.  We were supposed to be leaving the next day, but we figured it would be easy enough to hide out and be able to stay one more night as long as we got up early the next morning to hike out.  Which we successfully did - boo yah!  Two for the price of one!

So our second day we hiked down to Mooney Falls and then down to Beaver Falls.  It took all day even though it was only about 3 miles each way.  But there's just so much to explore!!

Moooooney!

After an amazing day of exploring we had yet another early night.  We got up at 6am the next day to hike out!  Surprisingly the hike out was easier than the way in....at least for me.  I think knowing what to expect helps me to push myself further.  The last 1.5 miles is pure uphill switch backs and are BRUTAL.  But we did it in amazing time!!!  It was such a glorious feeling on top of the world afterwards.

It was such an exhilarating experience.  I love doing adventures like this with my Robby, this is his element!!

The Other Gilberts

The weekend of May 1 we got to go visit Robby's parents up in San Francisco.

In usual fashion we thought...if we're driving up North we might as while try and pack in a bunch of other things that we've wanted to do even if it means going 4 hours out of the way....it's still "sort of" on the way.  Well this time the thing on our list that we wanted to check out was the Sequoias! A quick 2.5-3 hours out of the way, but totally worth it.

We ended up getting a much later start on Friday than we anticipated (but soooo worth it because we scored tickets to the KROQ Weenie Roast by staking out their website as soon as tickets went on sale) and we stopped at Phillipes in Los Angeles on the way for their famous French Dip!  It was awesome, a little shop in LA that's been around since the early 1900s that has an old school and cafeteria feel but serves amazing sandwiches, potatoe salad, pies, etc.  I kept thinking to myself, my dad would love this place!  I bet he used to go there for lunch when he worked in DTLA.

Anyway, we made it to the Sequoias just about 1.5 hours before sun down!  That gave us enough time to hike to the supposed oldest living thing in the world.  Which is a tree called the General Sherman.  Although after googling it I don't think it really is the oldest living thing in the world, but it's probably in the top ten :)  Regardless it's the oldest in Sequoia and it was super cool, over 2,000 years old!  It's crazy to think the tree was just chillin right there when Jesus was walking on the other side of the Earth.

 Views

On the trail to the General!  People were huffing and puffing on their way back on the trail (it was 1.5 in and out the same way) and we were making fun of them for it.  People would pass us the opposite direction as we were going down and they were coming up at not even much of incline and they were out of breath and needing to take breaks!  So we kept joking around as if we were gonna need to stretch and really rest up for the hike back out.  However, we ate our words because I was totally breathless on the way back in even though it was seriously a tiny little hike w/ hardly an incline.  I blame it on the altitude!  Robby of course had no issues though, so him making fun of everyone else was totally warranted.

I split my shorts trying to get up on this rock!

General behind us!

Another Angle

And here is he is again without us taking away any of his glory

Robby loves his sunsets!

Any my favorite

We made it to SF late, late that night.  And spent the rest of the weekend laying low and enjoying our time with the family.  We ate at a favorite Mexican food spot, hot tubbed, had some amazing homemade meals by Robby's mom, and got to hang out with Ruth, Thomas and Megean and our nephew who is almost 2.  It was a super quick trip, but Robby was a stud for being able to drive so much in such a short people of time.  He is a machine!!! Or a robot!  I'll get to the bottom of it!

Still Kids

I'll always love Disneyland.  Maybe it's the nostalgia from growing up going there, first as a toddler connected to my mom by a rainbow leash....(it was the 80s and that was acceptable back thing, why couldn't time have frozen in the 80s!?)....then as a teenager with my best friends having our mom's drop us off for the night and pick us up later.

Now I get to go with my husband who is a big kid just like me.  We spent the weekend after Mexico (April 24th) at home which was a nice change of pace.

We went to Disneyland and decided now that we have passes we want to explore the park from one side and comb through all the way to the other, not missing a detail!

Yep, this meant doing the Tiki room.  This meant (attempting) it's a Small World (Robby made the exception for that ride, he hates it).  This meant the train!!  Which is my favorite!  Robby hadn't ever rode on the train so I got to experience it again through his virgin eyes.  When we first got on and went through a couple of the "lands" I started to get worried that we hadn't gotten to the dinosaur part yet.  I started freaking out thinking that took it out!!!  I would be devastated.  Luckily after being on it for a bit we entered the Jurassic times.  I don't know if anything else can remind me of so much of my childhood and teenage life.  I think I've seen it hundreds and hundreds of times but it will always make me feel nostalgic and happy.  I was so glad Robby got to see it, in all it's 1990 technological glory.

We even explored TOON TOWN.  Which smelled like baby poo.  But was still so much fun.  Both Robby and I realized how much fun it will be to do this again with kids one day...but he says it will pretty much be him and the kids + 1 additional kid (me) that he'll be having to keep under control.  I'm definitely still a kid when it comes to that stuff, but I think I'll share and let my kids have their turns too and won't fight with them too much about who gets to go first on a ride or to use "minnie mouses" computer in her home in Toon Town.  But Robby can't talk, he's a kid too!  If we were on Roger Rabbit's car ride I'm sure it would've been a different story.

Oh yeah, not at Disneyland, but at a Wallgreens nearby.  Which was just as fun.  Suddenly on the car ride over to Disneyland I lost hearing in one ear!  It's happened before....so we went to Walgreens to get one of those things to clean out my ear.  Meanwhile we found some trophies that said everything I couldn't.

St. George or Carland USA (in California Adventure)  Dang, they're good!  It looks real!

 Us at Mickey's House.  How do kids not get scared of this stuff.

The rest of the weekend was a little rainy so we just chilled and go to reconnect with old friends!  We went to Sean and Jills with some Acai bowls and got to see Coco after months and months of not seeing her.  And then went to dinner in Fullerton with Jason and Geri, one of Robby's optometry buddies and two of the most happy/kind people you will ever meet.  They're a year ahead of Robby (used to be Robby's year before we took the year off) and so Jason already has a position lined up with a company in Texas, the one place that they both said they would never live!  It's a great opportunity and a very pretty part of Texas.  Jason is pulling big for us to come out there and join them....although I used to be anti-Texas as well I've been softening up towards it.  What's with Texas suddenly becoming the hot spot???  We know lots of people who recently moved there or will be moving there soon.  Maybe we will end up joining the bandwagon, but it would only be for the BBQ.

Mexico is the Bestico

Weekend of April 17th 2015...our lives changed forever.  After going to Baja many-a-times across many-a-years, I'm disappointed to say that all those times I had no idea what I was missing.

Thank goodness to a referral from a friend of a good friend....we were introduced to the Baja Shrimp Taco.  Sold at a nameless taco stand with light blue painting by K-39.

That, I must say was the highlight of the trip.

But other great, great times include:

• Taylor bowing to the random strangers at Splash as they grabbed her hand to dance
• Taylor not having a bathroom near her bedroom so always wanting to use ours...and us constantly saying no and suggesting alternative places to go (pee on the balcony, the tile floor, take a crap in the shower, etc.)    She even wrote a short story about it.  Apparently Taylor was a hit in Mexico!
• KARAOKE MACHINE! One of the things I've continued to learn and rediscover about myself as I get older....is that I was born to karaoke.  I can't think of anything else that hits the fun level quite so high for me.  It combines every element I love... making a fool of yourself, singing/screaming, dancing, and just losing control completely.  It's number one.  And karaoking in Mexico takes on a whole new level of "who cares what people think about me"
• In conjunction with the above:  taking the karaoke machine to the long line outside of Tacos El Yacqui (our other true love mexican stand in Baja) and singing to the customers.  And having the staff at Yacqui dance on the wooden polls of the taco stand and dance around in the kitchen.  I even asked strangers to come up and sing, but no one took me up on that one.
• "Charlie's Place"  - make sure to use the finger bunnies when you say that one.  Keeping with the karaoke theme, our first night there we went to a restaurant/bar right near Las Gaviotas that Robby had been before and it turned out it was karaoke night.  We didn't get up to sing that night, only because Jose and Daniel had voices like butter and hogged the mic all night.  We didn't mind though, I would've paid to hear them sing
• Piling in the back of Ryan's truck and cruising up the PCH of Mexico
• Laying out on the noisy beaches of Rosarito, getting hit up to buy jewelry and random ceramics every 10 minutes...and having to practice a huge amount of constraint to say no each time..because their so authentic and such good price, just for you mi amigo!
• Hiking up to the Jesus statue at K-39.  We have always driven past it but I've never gone up there!  It was an amazing view and a cool thing to do on a Sunday...visit Jesus.
• Nothing contrary to any previous Mexico visit, but sitting on the balcony and watching the sunset with some of your closest friends and lovers....well...how you say in English?  Priceless
• A minimal 1.5 hour borderline wait to get back across to good ole USA. And I'm not kidding....1.5 hours is minimal compared to the more recent 4 hour line waits we used to have on Sundays!!!

Mexico is probably our favorite get away and I hope to retire there one day and join Barbara at La Fonda every Saturday night.

At our favorite Mexican spot in SD...on our way down to Mexico.  Lucha Libre!  Had to warm up for the weekend....

Looks like a local!

I think that's a real person under there

This is how we karaoke at home.

And here's a little tid bit of the performance at Tacos El Yacqui. For the kids...