Morro Bay

We took a family trip to Morro Bay on Wednesday. Our first stop was the Museum of Natural History. It was small, but pretty good. Then we went into town and ate fish and chips for lunch at Giovanni's.

They were tasty, but I missed having them with vinegar, which is what we got used to in London. We walked down to a shop nearby and got cinnamon rolls for dessert. Then we headed down to the beach. It was cold and foggy, but still a nice day at the beach. The boys were covered in sand almost immediately. Evan playing frisbee, he is such a big boy. We had a nice nap on the blanket while Heather and Mom took the kids to the ocean to play in the water. Morro Rock began to appear as the fog lifted a little, but never cleared completely.

I think, just maybe, the boys had a ton of fun.

And Natalie too.

Jonah and Evan dug a tunnel to each other, I remember doing that at the beach when we were younger.
They all got even more covered in sand as the day went on, it was crazy.
But we know where they got it from.

Michelle and Jonah made a sandcastle. Then we cleaned up and climbed back in the van to drive home. It was a great day.

CC Staff Concert

Jonah, Michelle, Heidi, Jaime, and I drove up to Calvin Crest Saturday for the annual end of summer staff concert. It was good and we were excited to be at camp and see a number of friends and breathe the delicious air and hear stories from the summer. After dinner, Michelle, Heidi, and I went on a walk with Rachel, one of my roommates from my second summer on staff. Rachel and me. We stopped by this log and Michelle and Heidi posed as mannequins. The five of us spent the night at camp, then had breakfast at Mountain House in Oakhurst. We drove to Fresno and split up, Jonah, Michelle, and Heidi came back to Visalia while Jaime and I met some camp friends, Tyler, Christina, and Andrew, for lunch.

Off to the Beach

After a long night at the airport, my best friend Jaime flew into Sacramento Tuesday morning. I got to go up later that day to meet her at her sister's house. We had a great time playing with the kids, going to the store (Jaime's dinner request was to have choices), making dinner with pazookie for dessert, and watching a movie together. The next day, Jaime and I drove over to the coast for a couple days. It was wonderful. The first thing we did when we got there was have BBQ for lunch, and a large basket of garlic fries. We stayed in the Capitola area and the first afternoon/evening we got settled in then went to the beach to walk along the shore. We went down to the pier and saw the cement ship, which grossed me out because it was covered with birds and poop. Back to walking on the beach, Jaime got her feet wet and a little more besides, oops. We stayed to watch the sun go down, which ended up being disappointing because it just disappeared behind some clouds, but it was pretty before that happened. Then we checked out the town and went to Mr. Toots coffeehouse, quite the happening place. Thursday morning was interesting, we had to switch rooms because they were booked, so after breakfast they asked us to just hang out and they would tell us when our next room was ready. That sounded fine and we made tea and drank it on the balcony. However, it ended up being longer than we expected and we started getting hungry, we weren't able to move to our new room until about 1:00. After that we drove into Capitola again and got food and pastries from Gail's bakery; mmm, so good. We took a drive to Santa Cruz and wandered around the shops over there for awhile and found a great deal on canvases. Returning to Capitola, we got Pizza My Heart for dinner and ate it on the beach. Jaime made me get in the ocean with her, which wasn't as cold as I was worried it would be. We were planning to sit in the spa afterwards, but it was already crowded, so we jumped in the pool instead. We woke up early the next morning to go on a walk along the beach while it was cool and foggy, then had breakfast and checked out. We stopped at Hanks for lunch and got great sandwiches then went to a little ice cream shop where they make their own waffle cones. Then we made the drive back home, arriving in time to unload the car before Jonah's birthday party. There were a lot of people who came to celebrate and it was fun to see everyone and eat good food and an amazing cake that Heather made with the boys. It was 4 layers and alternated between chocolate cake and funfetti cake.

Visit with Sheila

I got to take a trip down to southern California with Heather and the kids on Thursday. They were going to visit with some Camarillo friends, but dropped me off on the way so I could visit with Sheila, who was the baker in the kitchen my first summer at Calvin Crest. We met in Camarillo and went to Bandits for lunch where I had a delicious tri tip sandwich with caramelized onions and grilled peppers. Then we went to the Coffee Bean to chat and I got Swedish Berries iced tea which was delicious. We looked at my photo album from the summer we were both on staff and enjoyed being reminded of many good times. Then we headed out to Point Mugu to have dinner with her dad. He lives on the naval base and is right by the beach, so we went down there for awhile before dinner to enjoy the sand and waves. We put our feet in the ocean and watched the waves. We saw a number of dolphins, seals, and pelicans and I tried to get some pictures of them jumping and playing, but it was hard and I didn't get anything great. Sheila's dad made pork chops and mashed potatoes for dinner and we brought salad so we enjoyed a nice meal together with strawberry ice cream and fresh strawberries for dessert. Afterwards, we drove back to Sheila's apartment and looked at my London photo album. Her husband, Josh, decided to spend the night at his grandma's house because he had a final the next day and didn't want to keep us up or be distracted by us. The next morning we had french toast for breakfast and watched the video from Calvin Crest summer '05. Then we went to Target and Sheila baked a cake for Josh's birthday. We had a mini photo shoot in the apartment. Heather was planning to pick me up around 2pm so we went outside to meet her, but they hit a lot of traffic so it was almost 2:45 before they came. The drive home was long and the kids were awake almost the whole time, but we made it. Isaac had pizza going for dinner and Mom brought strawberries, so we ate together before Mom and I came home. All in all, it was a good trip and so fun to get to visit with Sheila again because I hadn't seen her for a long time.

It's Done!

I finished my photo album from London! This has been quite the project as it is a photo album, journal, and scrapbook all rolled into one with over 600 pictures, but I am pleased with the results. The opportunity to study in London for a semester is certainly something I want to remember for the rest of my life. Line up now for the viewing!