Spring Break Adventure!

Bailey and I took our annual girl's trip to CA over spring break. One week a year with the horses is never enough! We keep trying to talk my mom into moving to Southern Utah, so we can visit way more often. We arrived on Saturday afternoon, and only had a little bit of time at the ranch. Bailey got to say hi to all the animals, shoot the bow for a few minutes, and take the golf cart cruising around the ranch.

The horses were excited to have their friend back!

Rick had 21 targets set up for Bailey to shoot. She liked the zombies the best! Her goal was to shoot one in the face before we left.

Right through the heart and armpit! Not to bad for just getting started!

The golf cart wasn't working very good when we went to visit last year, so Bailey was excited to take it cruising around the ranch this year. She drives it around like a crazy! And as you can see, she picks up random passengers along the way.

We always spend the first day riding around the ranch. That gives my mom a chance to get the saddles adjusted, and gives Bailey a chance to get used to riding again. We put her on Max first. He's so sweet, but a little bit slow. It didn't take long until she was on Mr. Pal. He is a little bit challenging, but so fun to ride. He keeps Bailey on her toes, and she LOVES him!

Hahaha! The horses love taking pictures with Bailey, but Gunner wasn't a big fan. 

Dude, Bailey, and Gunner (George).

We have to do the chores before we ride! Don't feel bad for her....she loves everything about being around the horses, even cleaning up the poop!   

Bailey and sweet Max.

Riding Max around the ranch.

The fun really got started when she got on Mr. Pal. 

Yes, she's wearing shorts! We were only going on trails around the ranch, so she kept her shorts on so she could get tan. :)

After we rode, we met my brother and Denise and hiked up Stonewall Peak. I haven't hiked up there since I was about 15 years old. It was fun, and brought back lots of good memories. 

Craig, my mom, me, Bailey 

Bailey and Grandma almost to the top. 

A view of Cuyamaca lake from the top. I love this area so much! It was such a big part of my childhood and teen years. It's sad that between the fire and beetles, most of the trees are gone. 

Group picture at the top!

It was a little bit windy up there.

Heading back down.

 After our hike, we met my Uncle for our annual dinner at Bongiovanni's. It was sad not having my Grandpa there. 

The next day we trailered to Boulder Oaks and did a really fun 8 mile ride. 

Grandma, Max, Bailey, and Mr. Pal.

 After our ride, Bailey and I went and did a 4 mile trail run. On our way back, we took a detour down a trail to a cute little waterfall. Bailey can't come up to places like this and not get in. She was just going to stand in it, because it was really cold, but then I told her it was Dan Freeman's birthday, so she took a 'it's good for the soul' plunge. 

Tuesday was our beach day. We spent the day in LaJolla. We go there every year, and love it! We started out at the cove to look at the sea lions. Then we went down to the shores and hung out at the beach for a few hour. After the beach, we went back up to the cove to run along the coastline. It was an awesome run. I think it's one of the most beautiful places in CA. The day started out cold and windy, but ended up nice and sunny. It made for some big waves though!

Sea Lions sleeping in the sun.

A cold and windy morning at the cove. The waves were big, but there were still a lot of swimmers in the water.

A cute pile of sea lions! 

this cute little guy was sound asleep on the rock. He opened his eyes once, looked at us, and then went back to sleep.

Sea Lion selfie! :)

We went to another part of the cove, and there were cute little babies nursing on the beach. So sweet!

Bailey had so much fun at the beach! She doesn't usually go all the way in the water, but she did this year and loved it. I don't know how she can play in water that's so cold, but it doesn't seem to phase her.

Hahaha, she was jumping over waves!

A beautiful run along the coastline.  

After we finished in LaJolla, we met Craig and Denise for dinner, but we forgot to take pictures.

On Wednesday we spent the whole day at San Diego Safari Park. It was so fun! We got there right when it opened, and for the first couple hours there was hardly anyone in the park. We took a safari tour where we rode out into the Africa and Asia exhibits in the back of a truck. We got to feed a giraffe and a rhino! We spent the rest of the day looking at the animals. 

The 'lemur walk' was my favorite. We went in the morning, so they were all active. They are so funny! 

Just hanging out with a bunch of lemurs!

Wart Hogs are very ugly animals!

Some of the gorillas were huge! We saw a cute little baby one too!

Our safari was the coolest! We were supposed to feed a big giraffe, but a cute baby one was following our truck around, so we got to feed her instead! She was so sweet!

Awe!

It's rare to get to feed the rhinos. Only a few trucks that go out each day get to, so we got lucky!  

You can't touch the giraffe's, but we were allowed to pet the rhino all we wanted.

A baby tiger! 

Of course we couldn't pass up the petting zoo! :)

Feeding the lorikeets!

A cute baby elephant! 

We learned that lion's sleep for 21 hours of the day. We got lucky, because he got up and walked straight up to the glass right when we were going by.

Thursday we were back at the ranch. We rode the horses from the bridge in Cuyamaca. After our ride we just hung around the ranch all day. Bailey did some more shooting, we mowed some of the upper field, and played with the dogs and horses. Bailey and I spent the night in the cabin on Thursday.

I dared Bailey to lick the salt block! 

Getting ready to ride her buddy Mr. Pal!

Let's all take a moment to enjoy Bailey's pants! My mom bought some riding pants a few years ago, and had no idea they were gong to be shiny spandex type material. She gave a few pairs to Bailey, and Bailey thinks it's so funny to wear them.  These aren't even the worst ones! She saved the REALLY good ones for our last ride! 

Nova loves Bailey! Anytime Bailey is in the corral, Nova follows her around like a dog. We wanted to bring her home so bad!

Mowing the upper field! 

Bailey got off some great shots! Right through the eye!

Friday was our last day. We got one more ride in before we headed out. My mom wanted to take us to a pond that hasn't had water in it for the past four years, but finally did. It was a cute little spot. 

Remember the awesome pants I mentioned? Good grief! Say hi to Kermit the Frog! 

I love all the pictures I took out on the trail with Joey's ears in them.

Skinny dipping has been on Bailey's bucket list since she was about 7-8 years old. This girl seriously wants to experience everything! We thought the pond would be the perfect spot, but when we got there, there were two hikers there. So, she went in fully clothed (awesome green pants and all). Right when she got out of the water, the hikers left. This was her chance, and it was the perfect spot! My mom held the horses and stood watch by the trail. Bailey found a spot behind the rocks where she couldn't be seen, peeled out of all her wet clothes, and went skinny dipping! Hahaha, so funny! It took her forever to get in, so I said, "Are you in yet?" She responded with, "No, I'm trying to get all the water spiders away!" I was dying! She is definitely an adventurous one!

Going in fully clothed! 

My mom being nice and patient through all of Bailey's shenanigans! :)

If you look closely, you can see all her clothes up on the rock!

So proud of her accomplishment! We couldn't have asked for a better way to end spring break!

As usual, our trip was great! We only have 2 more spring break trips until Bailey graduates. So sad! Bailey insists that we're still going when she's in college, but things aren't always that easy. We'll have to see what happens. Thanks Mom for putting up with us for a week!