Trixie's Travels...

The Best Sister

I have heard that there are people that do not get along with their sister's while others do not have the privledge  of  a sister.  That is not the case for myself, it hasn't always been like that though....there was a time, long long ago, when we didn't get along at all.  I barely remember that time because my sister has been my best friend for so long.

There are so many things that we enjoy doing together and that becomes a little difficult when you live 900 miles apart from each other.  I just received a box of "mutual funness" from her - via parent ground delivery (it's the cheapest delivery service EVER!) There was something significant in the box. You see, we have a "secret obsession" that we have spent whole phone conversations talking about...much to the chagrin of our husbands who think we are absolutely crazy.  

This secret obsession became a reality for my sister not to long ago when she actually got to met her. All I can say is that I tried my darnedest to convince my husband to let me fly down for the evening to be with Karrie and meet this person.  He thought I was some crazed lunatic that was stalking a blogger, of all things!

I couldn't help it - she is a riot.  Alas, my dreams were shattered and so my sister leaped to my rescue and did the next best thing (because that is what sisters do they are always in the business of "rescuing").  Karrie had bought me The Pioneer Woman"s Cookbook as a surprise.....

 

 

and she took me with her and got a picture of all three of us together!  

 

 

What can I say, Karrie is a smart cookie!

I love my sister ~ she is the best, period! 

Same Day Different Place {and the day isn't even half over}.....

Remember how I mentioned that when Hot Rocks plans something...he likes to really cover a lot of territory?  Well, we hadn't even hit 1pm yet and we were already at our third stop for the day. 

Can I just tell you how thankful I am at times like these that I do not have babies.....I will just leave it at that. 

It was just a hop, skip & a jump over to Fort Point from Crissy Field.  The road that you take down to Crissy Field dead ends into Fort Point.  The U.S. Army Engineers began construction in 1853 and completed the work in 1861 as a means to protect the SF Bay. 

GO Army Engineers!  Hot Rocks was in the Army and was part of the Engineer Corp...a little mindless trivia about the him. Just thought you should know. 

You can read more about the history of the Fort here.

I shot from the hip while taking this picture of my Dad. 

It was one of those annoying things that one of his favorite daughters was doing that day.  He was trying to take "family" pictures - you know how those go!

Hot Rocks took over the photography next.....can I just speak for myself, Karrie and my Dad....our cheeks were SO SORE!  He had us posing, smiling and waiting while the perfect background boat appeared behind us on the water. 

He wanted us to have the PERFECT picture of the three of us - he was sooo detail-oriented - it was funny!  Love him!

I forgot to take a picture of the outside of the building...when you walk in, it is three (3) stories high and there is BRICK everywhere. 

I was slightly envious of all the brick.  Buildings like these are just amazing and to imagine that there were cannons sitting on top of this structure....makes you wonder - how in the world did they get them up there?  It isn't like they had the equipment that we do today - the man muscle that it took!

The wind didn't let up.....

as you can see....

neither did Pook's sense of humor....

Even if there are guard rails all around, I still get nervous and my heart starts to race when any of the kids are near a steep drop off. 

 

Someone should take my blood pressure when I am with the kids beside the Snake River! Talk about a steep drop off - NEVER to return alive!

 

Mem is just as happy as a lark - just dancing around like a little butterfly on the spots that the cannons were on....

 

 

We went down a flight to take a group shot - one of these days I will invest in a ZOOM lens!

If you walk inside that open door on the left on the picture above, you will see examples of the bunks, uniforms 

and different living quarters that were available to the men. I loved looking down the open-door hallway that connected all of these rooms.

 

We went downstairs (bottom level) to view a documentary film of how the Golden Gate Bridge was built.  It was about an hour and very interesting.

This shot was taken from the top of Fort Point.  You are sitting right under the bridge when you are up there.

Pook has a fetish with gift shops - to put it plainly, he LOVES them! Our last stop was the gift shop, he didn't get anything this time - {OOPS! he forgot his $ at home} but I am always on the look out for books to add to our homeschooling experience....

obviously, I wanted to remember this book so that I could look it up later - so glad I took a picture of it!

Don't worry the day isn't over YET - still more to come!

Down by the Bay...

When Karrie gets here and Hot Rocks is in charge of entertainment, we usually cram as many activities into a day that doesn't make you keel over and die.  It only gives you a mild stroke or something of that nature.

King Tut was the beginning of the day and well, Karrie wanted to go to places that she could take pictures.  In Karrie's mind that is spending a whole day {usually} in one place...meandering....frolicking....however you want to name it.  To my husband, Hot Rocks, that means a W-I-D-E variety of locations - sometimes with many miles in between.  He aims to please what can I say -

So we leave Golden Gate Park and head down to Crissy Field.  It isn't like Karrie hasn't lived in the Bay Area or anything, but you can never have enough pictures of the Golden Gate....so off we go....

 

Raspberry bushes were everywhere on the hillside and if I wasn't in the City and didn't think that someone had gone to the bathroom on them....I might just try one. 

I was in the City though and that thought did cross my mind.

Windy was not really the correct term for the weather that day.  Once we arrived at the water's edge, we were looking for the nearest gift shop for a jacket! 

 

WARNING: Kids do NOT care what the weather is like when there is water nearby.  All they can think about is how close I can get to play in the FREEZING cold water so that I end up with hypothermia....yes, they really do think that!  Because wouldn't it be cool to be in the hospital and NOT have to go to school!

 

Do you see those rocks at the water's edge?  Now imagine children climbing on them with FLIP-FLOPS! I reminded them that the first-aid kit was UP the hill in the car and that they would have to walk to the top of the hill to receive any type of proper treatment....should they fall, of course.

We walked over to Fort Point and admired the Golden Gate from a different perspective.

Amazing.  Breath-taking.  It stirs up a sense of awe. 

 

You can watch an old newsreel of how it was made at Fort Point. It was really somethin'!

 

It is pretty incredible.  

Where do you think we end up next???? You'll find out tomorrow!

The Graces of a Guest from Glendale

Karrie finally arrived here - it seems like her visits here take FOREVER to happen! She arrived and the world was a better place for us.  We decided to go to SF and check out .....

the King Tut exhibit at the de Young Museum.

Pictures were not allowed in the exhibit and we had so much to do that day that we didn't meander around the permanent collections. 

Can I just say that it was packed in the exhibit....but so very cool.

The grounds outside of the museum are lovely and the kids enjoyed running about the grounds....exploring.

If that is what you call jumping on the statues......

Sis insisted that I take a picture of the pink flower.....

that was after she danced about the cement benches.

Pook wanted to go in the museum store but alas...my little shopper was disappointed (and you can tell).

Karrie was in rare form (as usual).....

My poor Father, I was driving him crazy...while he was trying to take a picture, I was taking one of him.  He kept yelling at his oldest and sweetest daughter to "knock it off!"

Doesn't she look so sweet and innocent here under trumpet vine.....(if only people really knew her)

gosh, I love these flowers!

 I just wish I could grow them....

Just hangin' out with my sis...

We hung up the phone last night with "See ya tomorrow!" and giggles just echoing over the phone.  We sounded like we were teenagers again and it was pretty funny.  The whole family was waiting for this moment,  when Trixie and the Sassy Stamper would be together for a little "stamp-fest".

You see, a couple of months ago, my sister came up with the brilliant idea of "virtual stamping".  This came up after her and the kids were messing around with her Mac camera at Thanksgiving.  It was going to take me a wee bit more time to get my act together up here, as I don't have the "Mac-daddy" of computers as she does - pun intended.....

We had worked the last couple of evenings trying to get the camera running on my computer.  I actually needed to walk away from her for a little bit because she couldn't do the over the phone support desk help thing effectively enough and Hot Rocks had never installed a camera before on the computer, so this was new to him too.  I needed to work with it alone, in the quietness of my home. HA!

I followed what FEW and I mean FEW instructions were given on the package and in the instruction pamphlet. 

So tonight was the BIG night, the Red Carpet Stamp Event, if you might say.  Yes, it was going to be a night of complete stampin' MOJO madness....

That was until we couldn't get the computers to let us talk to each other without our ears to the phone or on (in?) a headset. 

Have no fear, Hot Rocks is near!  He jumps in the chair and takes over.  All the kids are waving to Auntie - she is there - she is really there - and they are giggling as much as we did the night before.

20 minutes later, we are up and running - voices being heard loud and clear over the computer and sisters grinning and giggling like little kids because Karrie's idea really worked and we'll never be the same again!

I would love to report that our stamping MOJO was unbelievable.  That we were showing each other one great creative card after another but after the immediate technical/audio difficulties, we had pretty much lost our stamping creativeness.

That was just fine though, as we had watched our favorite movie together....The Fellowship of the Rings.  We had just sat there with each other for over 3 hours ... just chatting like we were in each other's homes and knew that we would have many more days of stamping fun to come!

Virtual Stamping - the next best thing to the REAL thing!

Surprises

You know, my sister is always feeling left out.  She is really....feeling that way, she isn't really left out - she is the family grapevine.   She lives way to far away to just call and say "Hey, you wanna come over and play?" or my favorite "Can you watch the kids for me?".  It is even worse when it is her birthday month.  I mean, you can't take her out for a random coffee or leave a small bouquet of flowers on her porch (though they might be stolen prior to her getting them!) or even surprise her with a card on her windshield (her car alarm would probably go off).

So... my brother and I had this fabulous idea...we would spend an entire day with her doing the kinds of things we know she enjoys.

We went to our niece's soccer game. 

Her team, the Mean Green Jelly Beans, beat the other team.

Karrie met our brother's girlfriend for the first time at the game.

We also took her to lunch at In & Out Burger, where we had a fabulous time interrogating our bro's new main squeeze...we'll just call her "Gorgeous" - just like he does.

We watched Pook get his knee stuck in the metal fence at In & Out.  I'm tellin' ya that takes skill and we all got a good laugh out of it.  Tornado's (that's our brother) girl (Gorgeous, from this day forward) came to the rescue with some lotion and his knee came slip sliding out.

Finally, we took the birthday girl to a good cup of coffee.  Our barista was ever so happy to meet Karrie and show her how to brew the perfect iced latte.  I love Peet's customer service.

We had a blast  - a totally wonderful day with each other.  Don't forget to drop her a note to let her know that you are thinking of her during her birthday month - there are only 20 more days until it's over!

Happy Trails!

Surprises

They are the best.  Random acts of kindness can't be topped for me.  To get an unexpected box is especially sweeeet!  That is what I got!

This is what I did to the box because I can't wait to see what is inside it!

OOOOhhhhh, it's sweetly wrapped - even better.  I wonder what it is?

Oh my gosh!  Johanna out-did herself, she immortalized one of my utmost favorite people in the whole world....my sister!

My sister hasn't gotten published yet, I don't get that, but she went and got rubberized! Woohoo!  You go girl!

Stampgirl rocks the world again with cute little drawings - way to go!

What would I do without a sister like you to look up too and a terrific stamp company like Odd Bird Planet?

Love ya sis! &  Thanks Johanna!- you guys are the best!  And in true Stampgirl fashion, you must go now and buy them!  What are you waiting for?  You too, can own these amazing drawings/stamps done by her!  Go, don't think twice, there aren't any others like them! Don't you want to have what all the cool stampers have????

P.S.  If you are lucky, I might be able to get her to sign them for you!  I still have an "in" with her.

"Owl"-rageous!

I tell you, that sister of mine is sumthin' else!  I'm always late...hmpf!  Just kidding, I am posting with my eyes barely open; for WHATEVER reason, I woke up at 2 AM today and NEVER was able to go back to sleep. 

When Karrie and I decided to do this little "owl" off we didn't tell each other what colors we were going to do, so when I checked her card out before I posted I cracked up!  We have the same cardstock and we used pretty much the same tones on our cards - too much!  I can't handle it when we think THAT much alike!  But then again, I can just copy and paste all her information and use it for my information - now we are talkin!

I do not own stock in Just Johanna Odd Bird Planet like she does, but I did finally get my own purdy little owls, a tractor, the wagon, a couple of kissing fish and a cowboy hat!  Yeehoot!

Karrie killed me on the competition but I sure had fun.  I actually drew the hay and the grass myself - normally that is not my forte - not like some Sassy & Sweet person who is crazily talented in that area!(That is said in an utmost admirable tone of voice too, I might add or a seriously star-gazed "in awe" kind of look)

So here is my card:

Here are the details from Karrie's blog - ditto for me....

card deets:
stamps: all from Just Johanna's Odd Bird Planet
cardstock: White, Brown & Caramel
inks: Staz-On Brown & SU! reinkers & waterbrush
misc:  MM snaps, a little red hemp twine

And y'owl have a great evening and I'll see you back here at the camp!

Reciprocating

She always blesses me.  You see, here I am "Stuck in the City" when really I should be out in the wide open spaces. 

See what she did for me?

I am sending her flowers because of it.

Happy Friday! Another day to celebrate everything about Karrie!

I know that you can't believe that I am STILL talking about my sister but you know... I need to finish her name and a few more songs, so I am just going to keep dragging this thing out until it's DONE!!!  Sometimes in life, things don't happen as quickly as you would like them to and that happens often in my life. I don't know that patience has become one of my greatest assets but I know that the Lord always seems to be bringing me back to it - so with that said, I also get to "share the wealth" with others.  LOL  But before I begin our little ditty, I have something so cool to show you! 

We were just finishing up a subject yesterday when I went to go get a book that I need from the shelf and Chase noticed this.....

in our shack!  We were going crazy with how awesome it was - we hadn't seen a preying mantis all summer.  I take that back, we had seen a number of small ones but not the big ole' mamba jamba ones!  I ran in to grab the camera and take a couple of shots then Chase removed it from the shack and placed it gingerly on a rose bush in the back.  We love those kinds of bugs!  Here is another shot for you to check it out....

 

Well, enough about us, let's get back to our normal programming...

It is only 5 days after Karrie's birthday and she is STILL totally rockin' out at her house... this weekend she is  prepping for some serious family time - again where it remains all about her...

So to add to her rockin' time, here is the latest tune to groove to...

Rock of Ages by Def Leppard

Rise up!  gather round
She's gonna drag her birthday into the ground
Burn it up, she's gonna be broke
Watch you'll she her birthday money's gonna go up in smoke

Party on! Party on!

Drive her crazier, yes serenade
She'll need a fire brigade, it's Pyromania

What does she want? What does she want?
She wants to celebrate, yes she does
Long live her birthday

Oh let's go, let's strike a light
Her cakes gonna blow like dynamite
She doesn't care if it takes all night
She's gonna set this year alight

What does she want?  What does she want?
She wants to celebrate, yes she does
Long live her birthday

Karrie's birthday, Karrie's birthday
still rollin', keep a-rollin
Karrie's birthday, Karrie's birthday
Still rollin', keeps a-rollin'

WHEW! That took a little mental effort on my part because I am pretty sure she has this one on her iPod. At least I know she has a little Def in there...

Now for her second "R" and to assist me today is my dear friend, The Scholastic Children's Dictionary...here we go.. the second "r" in Karrie stands for...how Karrie never REALLY RAVELS at the thought of RAMBLING about the RATIO of stamps that she keeps RAKING into her ROOM.  She is in her REALM when it comes to READING and will READILY give up REALITY to RECEDE into a little bit of RELAXATION.  Karrie RECENTLY RECOMMENDED a series on her blog.  If you are a RECIPIENT of her RECENT blog gifts, you will not REGRET her RENOWNED work.  I REASSURE you that Karrie is RATHER RESOURCEFUL gal.  A REAL ROSE among thorns.

Her fourth birthday card of the week, waiting to be sent like the second and third....

Thanks for stopping by to keep partying on with Karrie's birthday and we will chat soon as soon as I make another card!  You know being creative really takes a lot out of a person!  ha ha But, it sure is fun!  Happy Trails!