Summitting Mt. Tamalpais

This was on my list to do this year, and since we hiked the Pantoll Quad hikes in the past couple of years, I thought it would be fun to climb Mt. Tamalpais from that same campground. And Bug loves a good hike with a destination, so I wanted to do this one while he's still with us (it's a running joke/problem that we set out on hikes but end up having to turn around before we actually reach what was supposed to be our destination. I'm also happy with a pretty trail even if it doesn't really "go" somewhere in particular, so I don't always pick hikes where we summit a mountain or arrive at a waterfall or something.)

It ended up being a pretty warm day and the last half of the mountain was pretty exposed which meant we went through a LOT of water (and Gatorade because luckily there is a gift shop at the top and many beverages were bought.) 

But it was beautiful and such a fun group to hike with. I love having hiking friends for both mom hikes and the family hikes.

And what a view from the top! 

Now, I feel like we've really experience Mt. Tamalpais--it's probably time to find another area and challenge to tackle!

Science Camp, Take 2!

It looked a little different this year, but Bug and I got to do science camp together again this summer. We ended up only holding it for two days because sign ups were a little light, but in the end, we had a big enough crowd to make it worth it for the two of us and we got to have fun with the kids.

The first day, we played with sound--made a wave demonstration, musical instruments, and learned about how sound travels.

We even had one of the campers demonstrate the sound waves with her harp!

And the second day was all about catapults and trebuchets!

Bug built a trebuchet big enough to toss things 20-30 feet which was pretty fun for the kids.

He's so great with the kids, and with the science. I couldn't do these camps without my college kids!

The kids loved designing and testing their mini-catapults.

And then we spent each afternoon in the pool.

This really is the best set up for a camp--plenty of space for all the activities that we want to do and the kids love swimming and just getting to hang out and have fun together. And it helped Bug get a little closer to his financial goals for the summer. Between two summers of lifeguarding, teaching private swim lessons, and these camps, he's going to be pretty close to what he needs for his mission and his part of school this past year. He's worked hard for it!

First Week of School

I don't know why school has to start so early, or HOW this child is already in high school?! But here we are, mid-August and doing the public school thing yet again. We had a nice year off from someone else dictating our schedule, and it was marvelous, but Peanut was ready and excited to try out the "real" school thing again.

He missed the orientation day because we were in the Channel Islands, but had a friend who took him around to show him the ropes and help him find his classes (and tell him which bathrooms to avoid at all costs, haha.) And by his reports, the first day wasn't too bad. He met a couple of kids in his classes, and then at lunch, he sat down somewhere, hoping that someone would join him, and a couple of the older kids who we had been camping with invited him to sit with their group, so he didn't even have to eat alone the first day. I'm grateful that for all the grief we give teens, they are sometimes kinder and more observant than we can hope for.

And while Peanut was experiencing school for the first time, we went with Bug to the temple as he prepares for his mission. It's a big step making official commitments and it was really great to be there with him on such a beautiful and Grandma was able to join us, too.

We had time to grab lunch and ice cream at Fenton's before we had to get back after school.

 There are things I miss from the early days of our family, but I also love the relationships we've built with our kids. I love watching them grow and figure out how to be adults and what type of person they want to be. I love that they still like spending time with us and want to include us in their choices and experiences. I love that they'll still come pile on our bed at the end of the day (even if sometimes I am more than ready to go to sleep and kick them out as quickly as I can, haha.) We're in a very different place than we were 10-15 years ago with diapers and naps and belly laughs and problems that could be kissed and snuggled away. It's not always easy, but it's also kind of beautiful.

Another CA National Park!

We got to visit one of the most unique national parks and one of our last ones in California: Channel Islands NP! A visit to this park involves a 1+ hour long ferry ride from Ventura, which kicked off the adventure right away.

On the way over, we saw so many schools of dolphins.

They were beautiful! Playing in the surf, following the boat, diving under the bow. We probably saw two or three HUNDRED dolphins that day!

And then, we finally approached Scorpion Cove. The ferry drops you and all your gear at the pier and then it's about 1 mile to the group campground where we were camping for a couple of nights.

Scorpion Canyon has some trees, so we had shade in the campground, unlike most of the surrounding hills on that part of the island.

They aren't native trees, but we appreciated them anyway. Seems like the early settlers LOVED eucalyptus--it's everywhere in CA.

Once we set up our tents, we walked back down to the beach to explore.

Found a cool limpet type I don't think I've seen before.

There are kelp beds all around the pier which make for good snorkeling. We had also rented kayaks so our group took turns snorkeling, kayaking, and hanging out on the beach.

That evening, we went for a hike up one of the bluffs to get to where we could see the sunset.

There were beautiful views everywhere we looked.

Brothers.

This was a fun group to camp with--4 families (or parts of families--not everyone wanted to do some rustic camping.)

We waited around to watch the sun

and the kids made some of us parents really nervous as they played too close to the cliffs for our comfort.

What a great day--and we still had two more!

I got up the next morning and did more exploring of the cliffs and the views.

It was a beautiful morning.

I hiked farther along the coastal bluffs than we had the night before.

And made it to Potato Harbor.

There are so many sea caves along the coast here--more than anywhere else in the world, apparently. We had gone in some the day before, and some people went out early that morning, too.

Back at camp for breakfast! The group sites are pretty basic, but they have three picnic tables and plenty of space to set up many tents.

After breakfast, we went back over to the beach--and saw one of many island foxes on the way! They are so sweet and so not scared of people.

Spent the morning taking turns on the kayaks and with the snorkel gear.

After lunch, a group of us hiked back up to Potato Harbor where I had been in the morning.

Beautiful coastline.

And then, the kids went back out for another sunset hike. I decided that three times up the hill was too much for me (I'd already done over 10 miles of hiking that day.)

The kids took some pictures with my phone up there.

Bean was having fun.

Sunset #2.

They ended up staying up there quite awhile and hiked back in the dark.

It was fun doing this adventure with friends.

And on the third morning I hiked in a different direction--up Scorpion Canyon to bird watch.

It was a really foggy morning, which made for beautiful cobwebs.

So misty that morning.

Along with birds, I found some flowers, too.

The island paintbrush is one of the endemic species on the island.

After we cleaned up camp, we had a few hours left to spend exploring.

Some people hiked, most people went out on the water.

It was fun having kayaks right there, ready to go. We went in more sea caves and looked for Garibaldi and sea stars near the rocks and shoreline. The water was clearer this last day and made it easy to see things, even from up in the kayak.

Such a fun trip!

And we really enjoyed hanging out with this group.

And then, it was time to go. The kayaks we'd rented on the mainland were loaded back on the ferry,

and we said goodbye to the kelp forest.

We had another long ride back.

And not as many dolphins as on the ride out, but we did run into a couple of schools and one of them were feeding--it was fun to see the feeding frenzy.