California or Bust part 2

If you missed the first part, click Here.

So, after San Francisco, (and an emergency gas stop where we had to pay $4.45 a gallon, yuck!), we drove down U.S. 101 to meet up with my parents where they were camped at Leo Carrillo beach.  My Grandparents aren't up to hosting anyone, so having my parents there with their tent trailer allowed us to have somewhere to stay, but more importantly, it was a great opportunity to spend time with them and strengthen those relationships.  

The campsite was awesome, full of wildlife (mostly squirrels and birds, but also this cute little bunny who must have had a home nearby), and the centerpiece was an enormous tree that just begged to be climbed by little boys.  If fact, it was so enticing, they were at it before changing out of pajamas for the day.

It also came in handy for keeping the baby entertained.

And Daddy.

And Grandma. (But I'm getting ahead of myself, this was taken later that afternoon).

First we went to the Beach!

Classic.  Favorite pastime: running from waves.

Other highlights include, cool shells, cormorants, climbing, and caves.

My personal favorite is the never ending treasure hunt of the tide pools.

The baby wasn't impressed however. Notice how he's still holding tight to his toy, even while asleep.

 

We decided it was time to head back for lunch and naps ourselves. So we hauled our booty back to camp to look over our treasures.

Some of them were still alive, and were taken back to the beach later.

And climb on the tree some more --recall the picture of boys and Grandma, here's an outtake from that episode.

Already an aspiring dentist.

Oh yeah, and to look for bunnies. The boys tried to get closer as I attempted to take a picture from the car where I was feeding the baby.

How do you catch a unique bunny?  U-nique up on it! Haha.

After naps, we loaded up and went back for more beach fun.  This time there were surfers there, and we  were also delighted to find the beach even more picturesque.

My mom built a sand castle with the kids, and I attempted to fly a kite, since you know, we had to pack all the things you can think of to do at a beach into our one day there. 

I'm glad my parents were there. 

 As the sun got lower, we decided to go exploring to see what other cool caves and such we could find.

A kind passerby offered to take our picture.

Poor kid, never even got to touch the sand. Oops.

With one last glance over our shoulders, we bid the beach farewell.

 On the way to and from the beach, we got to go under this cool overpass that was covered in beautiful murals.

Much better than graffiti.

As a random point of interest, they just happened to be filming an episode of the Mentalist (never seen it, but that's what we heard) at the northern part of the beach while we were there.  We didn't get any photos of the set as they turned us around, but we did see them preparing for some night scenes and the trailers were all lined up in the parking lot near our camp.  Of course, it's definitely not the first time this has happened here.

Back at camp, we had dinner and then built a fire to roast marshmallows for Nutella s'mores.  Mmmm.

A perfect ending to a perfect day.

To be continued...

(Click here for part 3)

California or Bust, part 1

For Spring break, we decided to take an epic road trip to southern California to visit my father's parents.  They're getting up there in age, and I felt a certain amount of urgency to see them this break.  Not because I think they're going to die soon, but because I don't see another time in the foreseeable future that we could go on such a trip.  And our tax return permitted it, despite the exorbitant gas prices.
So, to make it harder on ourselves more interesting, we decided to go a longer route and see the sites.  We went to see San Francisco, stopping for the night at a hotel on the way, and visited the aquarium there first.  The trip was long, and we broke it up by stopping at various parks and play places along the way.

The trip over the Sierra Nevadas was snowy and scary, and I didn't even think to take out the camera.  Luckily we made it, and to our Hotel in the beautiful hillsides of Auburn.  We got settled in and went on a little walk to explore and stretch our legs.

Our first palm tree sighting. I know, we're such nerds.

The next morning we drove the two hours to Fisherman's Wharf, enthralled with the loveliness of the  lush green landscape, and getting excited over first views of the bay, the San Francisco skyline and the cool bridges we had to cross as we neared our destination.

This is our only picture of the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.
We thought we were going to get closer, but we  ran out of time.

Alcatraz.  What a cool name.

The Aquarium was definitely one of the highlights of our trip.

This was the real main attraction for the boys.  They kept asking for coins the entire time. sigh.

Then we had lunch on the pier, where Gabe had fun chasing pigeons, and I had the lovely experience of breastfeeding a baby while standing up in a stall of a public restroom --not recommended. Just as we finished lunch, it started raining, so we ran back to our car and then drove through town to get back to the highway.

Yum.

This picture doesn't do justice to how steep these streets are, we were actually peeling out just to get up them.
 Of course, that may have been the water on the trolley rails, but still...

After that, we headed down U.S. 101 towards Los Angeles.

It was a pretty scenic route.  Lots of beautiful green rolling hills, a few forests, happy cows, vineyards as far as the eye could see, mountains, grassy fields, tree-dotted fields, oil fields, and finally, our first views of the open ocean.

There's deer there if you look closely.
We actually didn't know they were there until we reviewed the pictures afterwards.

We didn't get to the campsite until well after dark, but we were glad to be there, and excited to see what our surroundings looked like, as well as what new adventures awaited us in the morning.  

To be continued...

(Click here for part 2)

"...but the fruit of the poor lemon..."

Was April Fool's Day created as an excuse for us to get a little harmless mischief out of our systems?  

We all know it lurks there in the back of our minds --perhaps an elaborate hoax, just for a laugh; or more often, merely a mild curiosity, hoping for an entertaining reaction.

 

 

Taste: Acquired.

Surprisingly, that one face was all he made, and then he went at it with a vengeance.

How disappointing. 

Not so "impossible to eat" after all.

Kids Need Zen Gardens Too

I just wish it wasn't on my patio.