Rocklin Rocks! Part 3: More Apple Hills

Our next stop in Apple Hills was to visit some farm animals! The boys were much braver than Leyna when it came to getting near the animals and feeding them....too small to ride horses for now...

Matthias' close encounter with a cow got a little too close for comfort! haha.Leyna finds something interesting...

...oh a rock..to taste?! ewe gross!

Time to clean up and move along...There's tons of picnicking areas scattered wherever you go. Along the road we found this great spot to stop and enjoy our sack lunches in the shade. More great space for the kiddos to run around and there was even a little waterfall and stream running through it. Grandma and EJ enjoyed picking wild berries!

Melissa and I relaxed in the nice scenery with the lil ones..

Sticks are fun. Leyna shows off some more fighting moves (I think she's a natural)...

After this the kiddies were tired out, so while grandma watched them napping in the car, we strolled through High Hill, a popular spot with a lake surrounded by various shops, vendors, activities...We tasted apple cider milkshakes, visited the fudge factory, and grabbed some homemade apple pie at. Just so much to do in Apple Hill. Definitely a place to come back to. Couldn't leave without bringing a box of fresh fruit home!

Rocklin Rocks! Part 2: Apple Hills

If you drink apple juice and eat apple pie, likely you have consumed the fruits of Apple Hill. Apple Hill Growers consist of over 50 ranches that contribute to produce and ingredients for foods all across the states, and they include Christmas tree farms, wineries, a micro brewery, spa and vineyards. It's an enormous community, each ranch providing visitors with a different assortment of old-fashioned fun -- picnics in the orchards; petting zoos; pony, train, & hay rides; crafts; open markets; homemade goodies, pies, jams, fudge, fresh pressed juice; and of course loads of tree ripened fruit and farm fresh veggies! It was a great day to spend with the fam. Grandma even drove up the same weekend that Leyna and I arrived, so she joined us on our excursion to Apple Hills.

First stop, Rainbow Orchards famous for their homemade apple cider doughnuts! We held off on breakfast to try what my brother was raving about all morning. They were delicious! Judging by their sugared faces, we know the kids loved them too!Leyna did more cinnamon sugar tasting than actual eating though...that's one more doughnut for us!These are my brother's favorite, can you tell?! haha
After all that sugar, thank goodness there's lots of space for the kiddos to run it off......hay to climb (or chew)......and don't forget to take the tractor out for a spin!
Matthias' shirt got stuck while climbing haha
Enough tractor fun. Off to the next stop!

Rocklin Rocks! Part 1: Meet the Cousins

Thanks to the only commercial airline that travels to/from GITMO, we avoided the Space A route, and getting back to Cali took half the time as getting there. We first flew 3 hrs in a small twin-engine propeller plane of about 10 passengers, stretched out on the last row of seats with nothing but the luggage piled behind us (no lavatory), earplugs in our ears (but a challenge to keep in Leyna's while she was awake), and soda cans in a small cooler sitting near the pilot (thanks, but again there's no lavatory). Surprisingly the flight into Florida was smooth with little turbulence. The most uncomfortable it got was enduring the thick heat in the cabin before take-off, the freezing cold air while up in the sky, and dodging the sun peering through the windowshade-less windows (I chose the wrong side of the plane to get comfy on!) Finally, the remaining 3 legs of flights via Southwest brought us safely into Sacramento where fun with my brother and his family began!

This was the first time they all met Leyna so it was her first time to mingle with her cousins. It's great they are all close in age, EJ is few months shy of 3 yrs and Matthias recently turned 1. Leyna had a lot of toughening up to do though since she's typically surrounded by so many girls back in Oki. Girls just don't unpredictably "rooaar" at you like boys do, so sure enough our lil Princess came crying to me many times! Nevertheless, they had plenty of happy playtime together. The clear skies and cool air in Rocklin made for a perfect day at the park.

At the start, they were more interested in playing in the ground cover and grass rather than the actual playground. It's nice how kids can be so easily entertained.Leyna takes a moment to practice her Tai Chi!

...and a quick ride on a seahorse...

Then onto the big stuff. Leyna followed the boys up to the slide...then realizes she doesn't know what to do next. haha. She wanted to walk down it instead of sit......walking up could be easier... ...or not!...the boys show her how its done...and Matthias (a climbing expert since before he could even walk) wins the race back up again.

Swing time! EJ loved running around trying to push them......soon they will grow out of these baskets *sigh*...

Nothing like the air flowing through your hair...and your mouth!

What joy!

Up Next...good times at Apple Hills!

It don't GTMO better than this!

After a series of commercial and "Space-A" flights (free flights via military), a quick trip in a smart car and a ferry ride...24 hours later since departing CA Leyna and I finally made it to see Danno. What a journey it was to get to the "Pearl of the Antilles," but well worth it! Thanks to his light workload at the time, we were able to spend a large amount of time together. We kept busy with frequent trips to the library where Leyna could run books back n forth and wrestle with huge stuffed animals...watching free movies under the stars at the outdoor theater...trips to the various beaches around the island...bowling...and it wouldn't be base life without killing time at the Exchange practically everyday. Dan also finished his scuba certification while we were there (so I'll catch up with him and get mine once we return to Oki). The clear, warm water makes so many great diving and snorkeling spots. Leyna enjoyed trying on daddy's snorkeling gear. Here's pics of our first visit to one of GTMO's beaches. This was actually Leyna's first time to play on the beach and get in the ocean! It's so hot there, this is Leyna before she even got into the water!

Gimme gimme the ocean!

Surprisingly she didnt eat the sand.

In between the fun, we feasted. I actually grew to love the food at the galley (cafeteria). I'll never forget the day lunch was steak and gigantic king crab legs, and all for the same everyday low price of $4.25! As for Leyna, she enjoyed packing her belly with unlimited fruit and her favorite green veggies! With wildlife everywhere, you just look around and find things. Each day we saw at least a handful of big iguanas, vultures always soaring overhead (if not feasting on something), lizards big n small, large land crabs congregating by the road at dusk, tarantulas (though not the funnest thing to find near the front porch!), and banana rats at night (giant furry rodents the size of cats!).Iguanas hang out with us everywhere...including our favorite beach spot.

Overall it was a great lil adventure and I'm happy to know Danno is surrounded by such nice people out there. We're so fortunate to see him during this deployment and especially thankful he got to spend ample time with Leyna while she's growing so fast and learning so many new things. We don't expect to see Danno again until he's done and there's still many more months to go, so we'll miss him tons!

Leyna's Crazy Trick

Lil ones are surprisingly flexible. We discovered Leyna has a crazy trick up her sleeve...or better yet, over her head!

Locks of Love

I really expected to chop my hair short once I got in Okinawa...now a year and a half later I finally got it done, but funny thing is I got it done in SoCal! Well at least I got it cut at a reliable Japanese hair salon which is a place I've been to a couple times before moving to Oki. Once you experience Japanese customer service, it's hard to settle for anything less! This place reminds me of a dental office...there's several people who will be working on you, but one main guy comes around later to do the critical stuff and the other people just follow his instruction, hand him tools and whatnot whenever he needs it. It's not a big deal in a dental office, but sure is a neat feeling when that happens at a salon! haha.

Well I'm surprised I've lasted this long with a lil one that can tug at my hair at any moment. I can kiss these days goodbye...So here's what went down (thanks to Ila for taking the pics and running after Leyna in between). Since I wanted to donate my hair to the Locks of Love charity, it meant cutting at least 10 inches off. A bunch of people ponytail/braid my hair so it all stays put when I mail it.
..and the chopping begins! Dun, dun, dun......the resulting donation pile. And a lil more gets cut as they style... ...and voila!Feels good to get all that weight off my head!