Beat the Heat

When it's going to hit 108 at home, there really is nothing else to do, but head to the beach for the second day in a row. We ended up back at the same beach we'd had dinner at last night, this time with a family of friends.

This family happens to have a dad who is into sand sculpting, so he came equipped to make little towers for the kids to carve.

Bug and Peanut worked on this one.

"Do you want to build a sandman?"

Peanut decided he liked the seaweed.

The kids spent HOURS in the water. The water is not warm, but it doesn't stop Bean and Bug from boogie boarding until their whole bodies are numb. They would come in for a bit, and then go right back out. Peanut was more of an in-and-out guy. But for how easily he gets cold, I was impressed with his water time, too.

And now we have a weekend of crazy temps while we're stuck at home. I'm not brave enough to try the beach on a hot weekend. Traffic and crowds seem like it wouldn't be worth it, so we'll just have to hide out in the air conditioning.

Yet Another Redwood Forest

We found another place to hike in the redwoods, and this may be one of my favorite Bay Area hikes we've found. Purisima Creek Redwoods is part of the Bay Area Ridge Trail, so I got to add a couple more miles to my total, and explore a new area. The trail runs along the creek for most of the first couple miles, so that is where we hiked--shady, cool, and absolutely gorgeous.

We stopped to play by the water in a couple different spots, but there were a lot of flies and mosquitos, so we didn't last long.

Found a couple dozen banana slugs in the first half mile.

Don't let the smiles fool you--Peanut was really not a very happy hiker this time. It's hard to know if it's going to be an easy day or a rough one ahead of time, and this one was not particularly easy, but even that didn't stop it from being amazin.

Quite a few mushrooms--it's pretty wet even this time of year.

Deep in thought. . .

And more creek walking.

More of the long moss that we found in Big Basin, as well as mushrooms.

And, of course, another way to make me panic. They love to see how far they can push me before a freak out and beg them to come back to solid ground.

These butterflies were everywhere, both here, and in Big Basin. They must like redwoods.

Because the trailhead was in Half Moon Bay, we went to the beach after we finished. No sense in heading home, where it was in the 100s when we could just stretch our time out on the coast. We found a small beach to hang out for the rest of the afternoon.

Then, we went to Venice Beach where we could cook dinner at one of the picnic tables. Peanut had been begging to have ramen, while camping, and then all day long today, so that was our dinner. I'm getting used to this idea of camping cooking on day trips. It's kind of fun, and nice to increase our food options. Sandwiches get old really fast with this group.

We had a lovely view during dinner.

Love catching these sweet moments.

Little Basin Campout

As we try to squeeze in as many summer adventures as we can before we become slaves to the computers and online school, we keep finding more redwood forests to visit. This time was an overnight camping trip to meet up with friends who were spending the week nearby in Big Basin.

We went hiking through yet another redwood forest (and they never get old).

Found a really cool tree.

Explored the creek.

The kids actually spent a lot of time running around the campground area where this creek was located. I love camping because they can just run wild and they don't seem to get tired of it.

This boy--he's always pushing those safety limits just a little. I'm glad he decided that he was NOT going to try to go all the way across. My stomach was queasy just watching him go as far as he did. But he did decide that he could do it if he was being chased by dinosaurs, which is how we evaluate every situation in our family. "I know you don't WANT to jump off that cliff/drive the car down the riverbed/swim across that half frozen lake, but would you do it if you were being chased by a dinosaur?"

It seems like we find something new every time we're out in nature. I've never seen moss like this.

After hiking, we went back to set up camp and make dinner. There was a huge, hollow stump next to our site and Peanut spent a lot of time perched at the top edge, covering it with sticks he found. I was happy that even without friends camping right by us, he found plenty to play and do while the rest of us set up camp and read.

After dinner, the M family came over for a campfire. We made s'mores and sang with the guitar and ukulele. Even though it was a short trip, it felt like we got all the camping musts squeezed in. We tore down camp the next morning, spent a few hours hanging out at the other campground so the kids could all run wild again, and then headed home, dirty, tired, and happy.

Pescadero State Beach

Beach days are the best days. And this day was pretty incredible. After a slow, kind of rough start (Bug had an ortho appointment which slowed down our departure, and then had a little incident that involved almost fainting in a gas station--don't worry, it was a little random, and he's totally fine), we made it to the beach and the rest of the day was magical.

We met up with friends, which just makes it even better. The kids were able to play together, while mostly staying distanced and/or wearing masks and it was almost like any other summer beach trip.

We all needed just a little bit of normal, and a whole lot of fun.

Peanut is going to miss his friend, E. They move next week and it's been hard to have our time with them not be quite as easy as it normally would have been. But they are making the most of it while they can.

This girl was so happy. She swam, she played, she got to talk to people--all what she needs to thrive.

We went to Pescadero State Beach, which was a little harder to get to than some beaches we frequent, but had so many fun elements--the ocean, of course, but also these rocks and the river that flows past them. 

The little kids were in heaven, being able to safely swim and paddle around on the boogie boards.

The kids also organized a sand castle contest between each of the families.

Bug and Bean worked for a long time on this monstrosity. It's hard to see, but the layers of moats were very elaborate, and protected their castle in the middle for a long time before the tide finally took over.

There is also access to a marsh area with trails, so we went for a little hike when it started to get a little chilly at the water.

I wish I'd gotten a picture of all the kids besides this one. They all masked up and happily followed the leader :). 

It would be fun to come sit out here and watch for birds.

I didn't get any bird shots, but found this bee on a really cool flower--California buckwheat.

And the ultimate playground--a gum tree that was climbable by all of the kids.

These monkeys had so much fun. They could have stayed here for hours.

Climbing is one of their favorite things. 

What a perfect day! 

We loved getting to hang out with friends. We loved being outside all afternoon. We love the beach, always. This was an adventure that we needed right now. Things are feeling stranger, and so much is up in the air--we have no idea what is coming next, or how hard this next school year is going to be, but right now, we're going to grab on to every opportunity that we have to feel normal--to get outside, and play, and explore, and see our friends. I'm just so grateful that we have a few people who are still being careful so we feel like we can see them in these ways. So many people we know have just given up on taking any precautions, and for us, it feels reckless. We worry about Daddy-o's autoimmune disease and what it could mean for him if he gets sick (we're hoping, nothing, but we just don't know.) We also worry about the direction our state, and most of our country, is headed because of the haphazard cautions. It's sad to think that we could have had things in control and this summer could have mostly been open, if we'd just responded more like some of the other countries had responded, but here we are. And so, we take our precautions, and we find places where we can be outside and be free.

Summer School at Hogwarts

Peanut convinced his siblings to play Hogwarts with him this summer. Sometimes, the age gap between him and Bug and Bean is too bad. They spent hours and hours playing Hogwarts back in NC with the neighbors. 

(After taking Polyjuice Potion)

Peanut only sometimes joined in, and had absolutely no idea what any of it was about because he hadn't read the books or watched the movies at that point. But now, he KNOWS.

And he takes it all very seriously. He came up with 9 classes and they each teach three of them. Classes are held three each day, M/W/F. When something else interrupts the schedule, it is a huge deal and often means make up classes at 8 p.m. or on a Saturday😂. Just today, he said, "Isn't it a bummer that water polo is on the same three days as Hogwarts?" He doesn't like any other responsibilities getting in the way of those classes.

And even though he takes it a little too seriously, and stresses the other kids out sometimes, I think they are also enjoying planning their classes and creating awesome visuals.

I even convinced them to get the chemistry supplies out for potions one day 

and they had fun with actual science disguised as magic.

I can't decide if all the arguing and worrying is worth it, but at least it does give them something to do for a few hours a week.