We’re thinking of heading to the beautiful city of San Francisco for my birthday. It’s been two years since we have been and it was just a quick stop on our Pacific Northwest road trip. This time Ben and I are eager to explore a little bit more. I will be pricelining a place to stay and yelping places to eat, but if you have any recommendations of some good eateries (or shopping!), please do share!

I can’t wait to get on the road again. I love sitting in the car for long drives! Actually, I like driving a lot too. The driver gets control of the music, so I am all about driving! *wink*

It’s tradition we go every year and pretty much the only reason we go is because of the photo booth (and to make more memories together). The past couple years, we have gone first thing on Saturday morning because it is only $2 to get in. We’re kind of cheapskates when it comes to certain things. There is always so much fun festivities going on and the girls have a blast riding a few kiddie rides and getting some lemonade. Our first time there was the night before I went into labor with Brave, so the fair definitely is a special place for us. Plus, I just love being with my family!

One of my favorite memories of this year’s fair is how the whole ride there, True and Brave kept singing, “Our state fair is a great state fair. Don’t miss it! Don’t even be late!” They love Rodgers and Hammerstein and know most songs from the musicals!

Do you have a fair that comes around once a year?

on me: shirt, the DIY polka dot shirt. shorts, vintage. shoes, c/o modcloth. necklace, shop miguez. hat, urban outfitters. on true: dress, misha lulu. hat, stolen from me and claimed as her own. shoes, salt-waters. on brave: dress, misha lulu. shoes, vintage. on soul: dress, etsy. shoes, vintage. on glow: seashell sunsuit, c/o mixie. on ben: shirt, vintage. shorts, dickies.

We take a family picture every year at the OC fair and we try to get the same spot, but we never exactly remember. Anyhow, we are glad to have this to compare year by year. We also take a photo booth picture every year, but I am sure eventually it will be hard to keep squeezing everyone in. We’ll keep doing this for as long as God allows us. Just looking at this a few things stick out to me…

I am pregnant every other year. Next year, we will break this cycle.

2009 was a bad hair year for me.

2010 & 2011 True was not happy about the picture.

Ben wore the same shirt back to back. Anyone notice which years?

50% of our visits, Ben wore a guayabera, though in 3 different colors and all were bought at a vintage shop. Would it surprise you if I told you, he doesn’t shop much so that he can shower his girls with treats?

Ben never really ages, but it’s that beard that makes him look much older, so it probably just makes him look his real age. His friend told him a few months ago, “You have a young man face with an old man beard.”

True still really never smiles if it’s someone other than me or Ben behind the camera.

I’m always on the same side because it’s my favorite.

Anything stick out to you looking at these year-by-year pictures? Wouldn’t this be fun to keep doing it for another 20 years? Let’s hope the kids think so too!

Not only did we get to see the town and farms of Abernathy, but we also got to spend time on a ranch in South Texas. I guess we were pretty much were all over Texas. The annual Castilleja Family Reunion, his mom’s side of the family, was at Ben’s cousin’s ranch and it was a pretty amazing place. During our drive in North Texas and in South Texas, we would talk about how nice it would be to have a house on some land where your neighbor can’t peer straight into your house to see all your business. This is kind of a funny thing because when Ben’s dad passed, he left us some land (Ben shared it with his sister and his aunt) in North Texas that we sold and was pretty much the only reason we were able to ever buy anything in Southern California, so the fact that we talk about wanting land in Texas is kind of ironic. For now, we will just keep the wide open space dreaming conversations happening every time we drive through Texas. I think Ben and I are such homebodies and pretty much do all our shopping online that we could pretty much move to the middle of nowhere.

The reunion was so much fun and it was especially wonderful to see the girls running around everywhere and playing with their cousins. They don’t have any cousins here, so it is so great that they were able to spend time to with some over there. In addition to little cousins, there were horses, chickens, roosters, cats (and kittens), dogs (and puppies), oh and lots of mosquitos (I look like a spotted leopard now). There were family meals, games, hay rides, horse rides, auctions, picture taking, swimming, eating again, and basically just a whole lot of family bonding. The fun this past weekend was pretty endless.

Ben’s cousin and her husband, the owners of the ranch, would tell us all about ranch life and particularly the horses and we really loved hearing all the stories. We really just love hearing stories. You could tell they were so proud of this place they have built and the beautiful family along with it. We were in such awe at all of it. It is also evident that a lot, I mean a whole lot, of hard work goes into maintaining it, but it’s what they love, so it makes it all worth it.

Abernathy is a small town in North Texas and there is a family there that makes this particular town quite special… the King family. Ben’s dad passed away a year before we got married, therefore he never ever met his grandchildren. We tell the girls stories about their grandfather and show them pictures from time to time, but it just isn’t the same. Besides Ben, his mom, and sister, his father is survived by his sister and her family.

The last time we had visited Abernathy was the summer that his father passed away. Since the girls never got a chance to get to know their grandfather, we wanted to make sure they would get to know his family and so when we were planning our summer road trip, we made sure Abernathy was on our road map. It had been 8 years since we had seen any of them, so it was definitely about time!

We met everyone at the town pharmacy, which is run by Ben’s cousins Mark and Laurie. Laurie knew exactly what the girls liked and had the perfect gifts waiting for them. Anyone who gives them My Little Pony is pretty unforgettable in their book. We chatted a bit, then had lunch at a little restaurant down the street, then went back to the pharmacy to spend more time together.

It was really cute to see the girls with them. There is part of them in my girls and I think that bond is really special. Family is just really special. Besides seeing the girls with their Grandma Mayna, Grandpa JD, Aunt Laurie, and Uncle Mark, Ben and I really enjoyed spending time with them and hearing old stories. I love hearing old stories.

One of my favorite things of the visit was seeing how cute Aunt Mayna and Uncle JD were with each other. It was a playful sarcasm and teasing, but you can definitely see how they have grown to love and appreciate each other through the years. And Aunt Mayna kept raving about how good Uncle JD is with this or that and that reminded me of how I am a bit biased with Ben and that I think he is best at everything too.

They live on a farm so we also loved hearing the farm stories. At 78, Uncle JD still tends the cattle and there is pretty much no such thing as retiring. Ben and I have dreams of a farm, but we can only imagine the real intense work that goes into having one and we don’t think we are ready for that. It sounds ideal, but really to have one there is a lot of labor and love that is involved. Having a farm isn’t for the faint of heart or fickle minded for sure. Maybe we’ll stick to dreams of a blueberry farm or maybe a tomato farm, we get better at tomatoes every year after all.

We were only a few short hours in Abernathy, but there are for sure plans to go back. We are so glad to reconnect with them and can’t wait for all of us to spend more time together. Life is busy and family who live faraway can easily get forgotten, but it is important to always stay connected. Ben and I will both be working on that. We both tend to be bad at that.

Dear King family, Thank you for sharing your afternoon with us and we love you guys and hope to see you again soon! Love, the CA Bratchers.