Family Weekend

First water polo tournament of Bean's last season made a good excuse to head to San Diego for the weekend. Bean played great-- scored a goal against the UCSD A team and had some amazing defensive moves. They only won one of the three games, but they played really well.

After the games on Saturday, we went down to Sunset Cliffs, which turned out to be a very popular place for Valentine's--so many couples having picnics and we even caught a proposal.

Family Valentine's Day together!

Love the beautiful clouds, even if it did subdue the sunset.

And then we went down to Chula Vista for some Tacos El Gordo. The lines were crazy long, but waiting in that line, looking around at all the people from all over--just made me grateful for this America, with tacos and diversity and communities of people from all over the world. This is the America I choose. (And those tacos are dang good.)

Sunday morning, we were back at the pool for the best game of their tournament, even if they came up a little short. Bean skipped out on the last one so we could go to church with her and meet all of her friends. She's got such a great life down here.

We went to La Jolla Shores after church for the low tide.

I was hoping for some nudibranchs and maybe even an octopus, which we didn't find,

but there were lots of great worm holes,

and I did find my first tidepool lobster!

He cruised along this rock, and then crossed over to a spot of thicker algae and tucked himself in where he could hide.

These little family moments are always so great. I miss the days when it was easy to all be together, and we are definitely missing Bug these days, but it's also fun to see the lives that our kids are making for themselves as they go out into the world.

Before the Return to College

Before Bean went back down to SD for her LAST semester, we had a few more adventures!

She and I went to Pescadero State Beach for the low tide and saw a gorgeous rainbow right after we arrived.

We had fun poking around in the tide pools for a couple of hours. Nothing particularly unusual, but lots of sea stars, crabs, limpets and chitons.

And maybe not so adventurous, but we had a cozy afternoon of reading by the fire on Sunday, which was delightful.

And then, that Thursday, Bean, Peanut and I went up to Dodge Ridge to ski and snowboard.

It had snowed a couple inches the night before, and a couple of feet just a few days before that, so we actually had some powder runs! Bean did her first double black diamond and I did a powder black run for the first time in a couple of decades. It was a lot of fun. . .

until the last run of the day, when we pushed Peanut a little out of his comfort zone, and abilities for that point in the day. He had done a level 4 lesson all morning, and then was practicing his turns all afternoon, and I wanted to do one last run with him before we left, but probably shouldn't have picked something more challenging. Between the wind, the cold, and the exhaustion, he decided it was easier to slide down on his butt for awhile, poor kid. Hopefully we can end on a better note next time.

We had dinner and games with friends on her last night.

We all hate to have to say goodbye, even Poppy. She loves her "baby" time with Bean.

And then, because we wanted one more fun day, I followed Bean down to Monterey on her drive back.

We went to the aquarium for a couple of hours,

and managed to at least quickly see pretty much all of the exhibits before we grabbed lunch and then said goodbye.

Glad I got to send her off! It's hard to believe that she's almost done with her bachelor's degree. We can't wait to see what this next chapter holds for her.

 

Spring Break, Weekend Together

We only had 2 days with everyone home this year, so we headed to one of the most beautiful places to hike on Saturday.

Pt. Lobos in Monterey is an incredible park, right on the coast with ocean on 3 sides.

The views are just amazing.

We did a 7 mile hike along the bluffs.

We watched cormorants nesting,

and found a deer wandering along one hillside.

Found a couple of monkeys in the tree, haha.

And we made it to the tide pools just in time for low tide.

We found several types of anemones, crabs, snails, limpets, and chitons.

Lots of tiny treasures.

So glad that both of these kids came home to spend their break with us, and that they got to see each other.

It was a wonderful day together.

 

Not All Rainforests are Tropical

Olympic NP is huge and we knew we couldn't see it all in one day, so I asked my brother which part we had to see (it's their family's favorite park) and he said absolutely the Hoh Rainforest. So, that's where we went and it did not disappoint. We are huge fans of the redwoods, and this had a very similar feel, but with more variety in the plants.

And from the very beginning, I found mushrooms! Tiny, perfect little mushrooms in a carpet of moss,

 and bigger ones, too. All types of mushrooms. It was fantastic.

Also loved all the different mosses and lichens.

They're so beautiful. The first trail we did was called the Hall of Mosses and there were a lot.

It's like a whole second forest, in miniature, on each log or under each shrub.

Also found a couple of banana slugs.

After we finished that first loop, we went back to the car to get out our picnic lunch.

And were quickly joined by some visitors. These canada jays were relentless, and despite our best effors, were rewarded with 1/2 a graham cracker when they swooped right in front of Peanut and grabbed it from him. We defended the rest of our lunch pretty well.

And then it was back to the hiking trails to do a few more miles, and find more fungi, like these bird's nest fungi,

and this slime mold.

There were some very large trees around. Our biggest take away is that an old growth forest, whether redwood, or Douglas fir and Sitka spruce, is stunning. They have a lot of similarities, and are so impressive. It's sad to realize how many have been completely destroyed.

We walked to the first river spot on the Hoh River Trail and watched a couple of fly fishermen for awhile.

These trails were just so green! It was a lovely area to hike in.

After we were done, we stopped at Beach 4 on our way home. The low tide was still a couple hours off when we got there, and it was drizzling pretty good, which meant we got completely soaked in the hour we were there and didn't even stay for the lowest tide.

But we saw lots of barnacles, snails, and mussels.

And a lot of anemones and sea stars, too. It was a beautiful beach and I'm sure a great spot when you can time it with a negative tide.

But we were cold and wet, so we'd had enough for the day.

The hike to and from the beach was a beautiful stretch of rainforest.

Back at the house, we got warmed up, made dinner, and played video games. Peanut has been wanting to do stuff with Bug more than usual--trying to soak up the brother time before he's gone. It sounds sweeter than it usually is, haha, because the interactions aren't always fun, but I still feel a little sad when I think about how much our house will change when there isn't the daily sibling interaction. We're all going to have to get used to it.