the new whip

The new addition to our family. Our 2002 Infiniti QX4! Black exterior and black interior. 4WD for those trips up to the mountains. So exciting!
We have been a one car family for over a year now. Let me tell you that it's rough having one vehicle to share between two people! Trav has been riding a motorcycle to work (yikes!). Now he can drive this in style.
Thanks to carmax, we had the smoothest car buying transaction ever! What a contrast to our home buying experience. This car is perfect for our growing family. It won't be long before we will be looking in the backseat at two car seats!

boating

My Aunt Linda and her family came from Arizona/Colorado to San Diego to visit with us a for a bit. It was great seeing this side of the family as we only get together with them about once a year. They stayed on the boat with my dad for their entire stay. They enjoyed the hobie cat, the nice weather, and a lot of fishing.

My cousin Rachel watching her husband Brian reel in a sand shark.

Lyla and Elvis back at the boat for the first time after the accident (exactly three weeks later).

From left to right: my cousin Glen, Trisha, my aunt Linda (my dad's younger sister), Lyla and me. You can see the back of my cousin Ralph outside the window.
Brian caught several sand sharks off the boat. He set them all free. He also caught a sting ray the day before.
Boat people!

gonna miss this pool!

We will definitely miss having a pool just a short walk away from our apartment. Lyla loves to swim. She grins the entire time she is in the water. It's a crooked grin that she only has in the pool. It must be something special to her.

officially homeowners

On July 9th, we closed escrow on our home and picked up keys.  July 9th also happened to be Trav's 30th birthday.  We got a call from our realtor on the way home from our camping trip to notify us that the nightmare of a home buying experience was finally over.  We headed straight to our new home from Santa Barbara.  When we pulled up, our realtor was standing outside and there was a huge banner on the garage that said, "Welcome home Mitchell family...finally".  It was a beautiful sight to see.  Walking around the house with the eyes of a homeowner was truly amazing.  We toasted with some sparkling apple cider and tried to hold back the tears of relief.  We are finally done with this roller-coaster 100 day escrow!  Hallelujah!

This beauty is finally ours!

The backyard now has weeds that are taller than me and the grass has no sign of green in it whatsoever.  Time to get to work!

getaway from our getaway

Trav and I took off from Santa Barbara to San Luis Obispo for a quick one night side trip while Cheryl and Ron were nice enough to watch Lyla and Elvis for us.  We stayed at our favorite hotel, the Madonna Inn.  You may remember that we stayed there last year for our 3 year anniversary roadtrip up the California coast.  We absolutely loved the experience and were just waiting for another opportunity to spend time at this magical place.  This time we booked a room called "Just Heaven" which was a blue room with a spiral staircase right in the middle of it that led to our own private lookout tower.  We were not disappointed.  We had a wonderful time and felt like we were newlyweds on our honeymoon again...though we did miss Lyla terribly.

In front of the Madonna Inn restaurants.  We ate at the Copper Cafe for two meals because the food was so yummy.
Our heavenly room.  Everything was blue and gold and there were cherubs all over the place.
The first belly pic to make its appearance on the blog page!  I was 16 and a half weeks pregnant here.  

4th of July

We spent our Independence day celebration with a couple of our favorite people.  Trav's parents booked a camping vacation for all of us at Rancho Oso.  It was a one week stay in a quaint cabin set in the picturesque hills of Santa Barbara.  The campgrounds feature stables with lots of horses, cows, goats, and pigs.  The weather was fantastic and the company was even better.  Although we called it "camping", it was anything but roughing it.  We had a cute little cabin with a full kitchen, bathroom, and even satellite TV.  It was the relaxing getaway that we needed.  Thanks to Ron and Cheryl for inviting us along!

Here are some pictures of our 4th of July in Santa Barbara:

This guy's name was Possum, and he comes when you call him.  He came straight for Lyla all the way across the stable yard.
This was another friendly horsey.
I called this one Norman because he looks like the cow from City Slickers.
What a view!  This is what we spent the past week looking at.  Our cabin was just a short walk down this road.
Lyla and grandpa.
Happy 4th of July!
watching fireworks by the pier in downtown SB.

RIP Toyota Sienna

The front end that cushioned us from the impact.  
The inside actually looks pretty clean.  Thanks, airbags!
Lyla's door.  You can see a little blue paint from the Mustang.
The police report says "moderate damage".  I don't think so.  

My parents took these pictures at the tow yard yesterday.  The tow truck driver told them the whole story from his point of view.  He said that the drunk driver was resisting the breathalizer test and even fighting and kicking the police officers.  They had to start running the dash camera and actually prick her finger to get a reading.  The tow truck report says "DUI" for her vehicle, but she was able to claim her vehicle from the yard.  It is no longer there, so my dad was not able to get pictures of it.  It makes me mad that she was able to drive her car away when the accident was 100% her fault.  We love you, Toyota Sienna!  You did such a good job protecting us.  When Lyla sees these pictures, she says, "Baaba car.  Broken, broken".