SLO it Down Now

We decided to end summer with a bang. We rented a beach house in SLO for the weekend with our friends, The Andersens. It was warm, beachy, and the perfect end to a fabulous summer.

The house backed right up to the Oceano dunes. We had our own private little dune in the backyard. I can't lie--I would have been fine playing in that patch of sand the entire weekend.

The private dune. You can't play with us unless you rent a fancy house.

The kids played well together. Kai has mastered the art of the chase. He acts like he could care less about Beezie, and she pursues him relentlessly. It's pretty cute.

Beach babies busy in the sand

Lance and B taking a stroll along the coastline

B found some tasty sticks and sand to chomp on

The boys did some modeling for the girls. We were impressed.

Carly decided to wear as much white as possible before Labor Day deemed her unfashionable.

B continued to create a gigantic mess with her food. This kid is a total pigpen!

She also got some snugs in with Pops. I love family snuggletime.


We gave B a makeshift bath in the kitchen sink since the only bathtub in the house had black sludge coming up through the drain.

B decided that being nekki was the best way to enjoy the beach house, and spent a good deal of time wandering around without britches.


She had so much fun in the big, spacious house. She climbed the stairs over and over...usually supervised. She made a few quick breaks.

After packing up, we hit the road and headed down to Solvang--MY FAVORITE FAKE TOWN EVER! I love this faux little Euro village. It's such a delight.

We started off at Paula's Pancake House. It was a home run.

I had the eggs benedict, and Lancer had this monstrous Dutch pancake

He shared with B, who ate up a large corner of the fluffy delight

Some of it may have ended up on the floor

After brunch, we walked around the town, shopping and munching on caramel apples.

Begrudgingly, we headed back home to face reality. The laundry, dishes, and sandy blankets were worth the weekend of fun, though.

Once home, B dazzled us with her newest bag of tricks. They include:

Playing with the water dispenser

Climbing into the dishwasher

Stealing washcloths out of their bin

Pulling the dishes out of the bottom rack

And my new favorite trick....pulling every single book off her bookshelf.

So long, summer!

So-Cal Baby--Day Two!

Next stop was Solvang, a little Danish town. You can pretty much sell *anything* here as long as you describe it as "Olde" or "Danish," whether or not it really is. Methinks the fudge recipe is neither olde nor Danish, but I'm not one to split hairs. Fudge is fudge is fudge.

You can't stay in Solvang without eating aeblskivers from Arnie's Famous Aeblskivers. I can, of course, because I'm allergic to wheat. But the rest of you must have at the jam and puffed pancake concoction (lucky!!):

Licking my lips and rubbing my tummy in anticipation of Lancer's tasty delight:

After a day of Danish living, we headed back to the Hadsten House for a nice, long nap before dinner. Our dinner was incredible. Lance had the halibut, and I had the salmon atop a risotto cake, drowned in butter.

After dinner, we chilled in the room, and then decided to pop on down to the indoor pool and spa.

The town fireworks were cancelled, because, well, all of California happens to be on fire, and they don't want to purposely add to the troubles.

We were okay with this policy:

Because we were hanging out here all night instead!