15th wedding anniversary trip

For our 15th wedding anniversary, Chris surprised me with a trip to Sequioa National Park and tickets to the Broadway play "Hamilton."  But because I think half the fun of trips is the anticipation, he gave this gift to me a month earlier for my birthday.  Marriage=Constant compromise.  This was the house he rented  in Three Rivers, CA.  

This was our view from that house.  

Because it was the end of November, it gets dark very early.  We went for a walk and then had wine and cheese and snacks and watched TV.  The best.  

We were at the park bright and early!

See the video "that's a windy road."  

This is Moro Rock.

And here is the top of Moro Rock.  If you're Chris (guy sitting on the bench in the distance), the edge of that rail is very scary.  I was not scared at all without the kids.  

I mean come on this is just too much loveliness.   

Speaking of lovely, it was a romantic anniversary get-away.  I wanted to be sure to document that although I wore an ugly hat and flannel in 85% of the photos, I did get my nails painted for the trip.  

I think I'm getting to him.  He looks genuinely happy to be hiking.  And to be with the tall-lady in the ugly hat.  

Luckily, the hike had a worth-while ending.  

FIFTEEN YEARS!  

This sequoia fell down over 120 years ago.  There was a little kid who said "can I go through again?  That tree is just my favorite tree ever?!?!"  Yes indeed!

I gave the kids a speech about the importance of being outside and why forest bathing is good for them this past summer.  

Bathing-it-up.  

Chris and I both agree that Sequoia National Park had the the best smell we've ever smelled. Cedar mixed with pine but without any weeds or smoke or pollen or anything.  Just an amazing smell.  

The California Hoax, as it was called in the early 1900's.   But this is for real!  The trees are that big compared to the cars!

Chris was lucky because it gets dark so early;

this was the last hike we could do.  

Panoramic point in Kings Canyon National Park did not disappoint, especially that most of this uphill travel occurred in a vehicle.  

And because we were in bed by 9pm, we had plenty of time to hit the beach the next day!

This trip was perfect.  But I could not have handled the stress of some of these things he planned.  Here we are waiting for 20 minutes for the lady who says she's going to bring us the keys to the apartment we rented.  I'm slightly nervous.  

And although the apartment was not upstairs from SoulCycle as he thought it was, it was only a block away and all the fob/electronic things to the apartment/parking garage that made me want to throw-up due to nerves worked perfectly (once we got to the correct location) and we were only 1 block away from a morning spin class and the theater.  

"Look around, look around, at how lucky we are...."

And then Chris found this perfect hidden-gem-of-a-walk before our flight.  I found the ugly hat again.  This walk was before Chris attempted and perfectly executed his next make-Erika-nervous trick of switching our flights after a delay, returning the rental to the airport in Burbank, getting an uber to LAX and getting on a flight to make our connection on Sunday afternoon of Thanksgiving weekend.  Traffic was just a slight nightmare around LAX.   

Here are our kids pretending they miss us.  But they don't.  Because as Luke said "Duh!  It's grandma's!?!?!" 

Other fall happenings of 2017.  

My new, fall walking buddy Luna.  
Just loving her to pieces on those walks.  

Loving her enough to give her a very expensive 2-night stay at the vet after she ate 5000 mg of ibuprofen that was in my purse, in the van, from a root canal I had an hour prior.  

#tallpeopleproblems   Your mom doesn't have any high heels you can play dress-up in,
but luckily her friends are not as tall as she is.  

It is a fun tradition that the Kemps come through town on their way to Hallock at either Thanksgiving or Christmas.  This is Ingrid and I showing Svea and Marie how friends can be the same age, yet different heights.  

Hanson, Hoffmann and Kemp kids!

Eva's swim season, documented by some parent who takes much better pictures with a much better camera than myself.  Thank you to whomever that is!!

Eva, Kara and Luna trick-or-treating.  

Tailgating 2017!

Marie the saleslady.  Her tactic?  Say please often in a 8 year old, little girl voice.  

The biggest Bison fans of the Hanson clan.  

The Hansons favorite thing to bring tailgating to those late August games?  Fruit kabobs!

The one Bison game I got fancy for.  

Magic tricks. 

Pecan pie for my guy.  

Recycled candles.  

For some reason, I thought it was a good idea to take a phone call during this activity.  I mean, Chris was around?  That phone call ended abruptly when they decided to paint their hands to make hand prints. 

Halloween.  Marie is a Tiger again because I said that if there was a costume that fit, you had to wear it or buy your own.  But the neighbor girls' mom knit her this hat for her birthday, so at least that was new.  

And when it was still this light out, I said that they could go to the neighbors we know well and then come back and wait a bit.  I guess Luke knows everyone well because he took off and after we found him, we ended up being THOSE kids out EARLY.  

Luke the Bison player... again.  Luke and Marie each got 10 pounds of candy.  The early bird catches the cavities.  

Why are they sitting in a yard and having a picnic?  HDH!!  
Hot dog house!

Travis and Teegan; some kind of Splatoon characters.