Santa Barbara Museum Of Natural History

After my trip and before trail of 100 giants trip we took the kids to the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History for a fun day trip. 

These three had become such great friends over the summer. I wish that they lived closer so that we could see them all time. Isaac doesn't ask about many of his friends but he always asks about Paris and Garret.

The many faces of Garrett

Fossil digging

There was a butterfly exhibit and it was pretty cool. TONS of butterflies just flying around in the netted area, if you sat still long enough one would land on you. With the kids we didn't really have that chance, but many others had said that they had.

Trail of 100 Giants

On July 16, 2011 we loaded up our Expedition with 8 people on 4 dogs to make a 4+ hour drive up to the Trail of 100 Giants in the Sequoia National Forest. It was a fun drive full of laughs and great memories. The kids did great on the drive up for the most part. We had brought a picnic lunch which we ate before heading out on the mile or so trail. 

 Isaac had just been told that the HUGE ants he was seeing could carry him off in a second. THANKS BRAD!!! Huge help!! He was so terrified that he was not happy that I made him sit there long enough to take a picture.

 Noah on the other had could care less and cried when I took him off the tree. HAHA

After the trail we decided to drive through the rest of the forest to see what we could see. We stopped at the Hot Springs, thinking there would be a place we could swimming in a little pond or something, but has been turned into a huge tourist trap and we didn't want to mess with it. So we moved on. We drove on through the forest coming out at the top somewhere, and when we found the highway I was the only one still awake and I was starving. So I woke up Brad to see where he wanted to eat, we pick Marie Calendars and went into feed the crew! It was a nightmare to say the least. Four kids after naps are not really ready to sit still. GRRR I am surprised we didn't get asked to leave. After forcing the kids to eat we hit the road again to make the long 5 hr drive home. All in all it was a nice day. Thanks Brad for the idea to pack up and keep the kids coped up for 9+ hrs.