The Beach Babes California Adventure - Day Three

Sunday morning it was time to head south back to Oakland to the airport.

We decided to have brunch in another small town that was on the way back to the freeway.  Fortunately for us we had discovered a much shorter and much less winding route back to the freeway!!!

We stopped in the town of Upper Lake at the Blue Wing.  What a treasure we found.  The atmosphere was wonderful and the food delicious and the best part was we found it in the middle of this no where town.  The last place I would expect to find a restaurant like this.  So fun!!

 

Brunch was delicious - I went for the fish tacos.  So good. 

 

Brunch came with mimosa's - we got ours virgin of course!

It was a perfect morning.  Wonderful atmosphere and scenery, delicious food, good conversation and beautiful friends!  The only bad part was we had to leave and head home!

We even had our own paparazzi!!

We decided to make at stop at Muir Woods on our way back to the airport. It was a busy place that day but after trying to find a parking spot for ten minutes or so we finally did.  We enjoyed a peaceful and beautiful walk through the woods.

The redwoods are BIG and BEAUTIFUL!

Finally, thanks to GPS we found an In n Out on the way to the airport and enjoyed dinner before boarding the plane home.

How grateful I am for these amazing women in my life.  The first Beach Babe outing occurred in March of 1994 - so the Beach Babes are celebrating 16 years of togetherness!!  Lots of life has happened in those 16 years - lots of unexpected twists and turns for all of us.  But through it all the bonds we share and the life and moments we have shared make us each stronger and better women. 

They are all incredibly strong women in different ways and the strength and fortitude they show through life's joys and sorrows is amazing!  I am better just for knowing them and being in their presence!

"Gentle ladies, you will remember till old age what we did together in our brilliant youth"

The Beach Babes California Adventure - Day Two

Saturday we woke to another beautiful California day.  The weather is ALWAYS good when the Beach Babes are together!

 OK - so I might look a little silly but the scarf helped save the hair!!

We headed north in our convertibles, with the tops down of course, to the quaint town of Healdsburg.  We had fun window shopping and browsing through the many art galleries and shops.  The whole downtown area is built around a town square with gazebo in the middle - it reminded me of Stars Hollow in Gilmore Girls!

There was lots of pretty to be found.

 They even had a fan museum in town!

From there we continued north and had lunch at Francis Ford Coppola's new winery. Some days he even shows up and cook sin the kitchen. It was fun looking at all the old movie memorabilia.  We enjoyed some delicious food and celebrated and toasted to Shauna's 50th birthday!

We then hit the road once again and wove our wave through a VERY windy mountain road to get to Nice, California, our next destination.  I was very glad I was driving so I didn't get car sick (sorry Patrice!)


Nice is a very small town, in the middle of no where!  As we entered town I saw a sign for Foster's Freeze which I remember from my early California days.  I was so excited.  The Beach Babes indulged me and I enjoyed a root beer freeze - yum!!!

We hit town in time to enjoy an amazing sunset over Clear Lake (the reason you go to Nice)

The end to another fun Beach Babe California Adventure!

The Beach Babes California Adventure - Day One

Two weeks ago the Beach Babes headed to Northern California to celebrate Shauna's big FIFTY.  Her sweet husband Merrill had put this trip together.  He outfitted us with two convertibles and made us reservations at two condos.

We met at Shauna's early Friday morning and Merill chauffeured us to the Portland airport for our early morning flight.  April and Julie had outfitted us all with cat eye glasses and scraves (Thelma and Louise style)

When we arrived in Oakland we picked up TWO convertibles.  5 Beach and Babes and their bags just do not fit in ONE convertible.

I lucked out and got to be the designated driver for the blue mustang convertible.  It was a bit of a stressful job, especially through that city traffic but once we got out in the country it was great.   I think I look pretty good in blue.

Shauna drove the red convertible, can't remember what kind it was!

We headed North and enjoyed the beautiful wine country scenery on our way.

We were all starving and decided to look for an In n Out.  We saw a couple but too late to get off the freeway!  We arrived in Windsor where we were staying and headed over to Old Windsor for some lunch.  After lunch we browsed through the small quaint town and found a great candy shop.  The girl's had fun with all their Halloween stuff!

I found blue pop at the store - I remember drinking it as a kid!!

We enjoyed some gelato for dessert.

We then took a drive to drive through a Redwood park that was close by.  So beautiful and so BIG!!!

We had a pizza delivered to the condo for dinner and watched a movie - girl's night!!

The Real First Day of School

This was our last first day of school - so sad! 

Maybe it is a good thing since our Back to School banner has seen it's better days.

I think it is time to retire it.  The girls think I should frame it and hang it on the wall.

Here is what Tessa's Real First Day of School breakfast looked like!

Of course she looked darling and spent quite a bit of time figuring out and trying on her first day of school outfit the night before!  It is definitely Totally Tessa!

Ready to go in the old bomb!

Off she goes!

Back to School Breakfast

I have a little bit of blog catch up to do!  I realized I never posted about the first day of school.

We actually celebrated the first day of school one day early.  Our high school starts early - about 7:30 a.m. so Tessa leaves the  house about 7:15 a.m. so I have lived with Tessa long enough to know that trying to have a nice, sit down breakfast the first day of school before she left was just  not reasonable.  So instead I decided to do it on Monday and have her invite a few of her friends.

It was great fun and I think the girls really enjoyed it.  It was a nice chance for them to sit, relax and visit before the whirlwind of school and their senior years begins.

Of course I had to set a pretty table....  with the help of a few items from the Dollar Store and the craft store I think I succeeded

Tessa requested blueberry muffins and we also had yogurt/granola/fruit parfaits, an egg frittata and breakfast potatoes.

The girls each had their own little chalkboard place card.

 The girls had a toast to their senior year with their orange juice.

It was fun to see them enjoying each other.

Here's to the start of a great senior year!