This Beautiful Place We Call Home

I love where we live. From the redwoods to the bay to the ocean...we just have a little bit of everything. I feel so lucky to live in this beautiful place. We've gone exploring a few times during the last month and had a lot of fun exploring new places and revisiting old favorites.

On Memorial Day we went on a hike with friends in Huddart Park. It was a beautiful hike through the redwoods, despite the heat...my goodness it was hot that day! All the kids were troopers and we had a lot of fun. Unfortunately Ellie brought a tick home, which was quite possibly one of the most disgusting and disturbing things I've dealt with in my 8 years of parenthood. 

One Sunday last month after church we went on a walk along the bay. We used to do this often, but hadn't been in quite awhile. The kids love exploring, and finding rocks, sea shells, and little creatures. As a bonus we can also watch the airplanes taking off and landing on the airstrip in the bay. 

A couple weeks ago we took advantage of a very rare free Saturday and drove to one of our very favorite places here, Pescadero. We went to the tide pools first, and even though the tide wasn't very low we were able to find lots of little sea creatures. 

Lots and lots of little crabs!

Matthew was so excited to find this baby starfish that was still alive

Jon found this huge crab. It quickly ran up his arm and onto his sweatshirt. He wasn't going anywhere!

I love this place so much!

After exploring for awhile we went into the town of Pescadero for some dinner at a little restaurant (amazing pizza!) and to get a loaf of our favorite artichoke bread from the general store. It was a pretty perfect day in a pretty perfect place. 

Photo dump from the last couple of months

 Love this sweet face and her fuzzy hair :)

 Easter Sunday...not our finest picture day, but hey, they're all in it!

Easter at Grandma and Grandpa Farrell's house with cousins

 This girl loves food. Watermelon is definitely one of her favorites!

 This face again...and those arms!

 7 month pictures. She was tired and weirded out by the grass, so she looks very serious.

 Did you know you can stand on eggs and they won't break!? I was impressed! (but I wasn't brave enough to try it myself)

 Matthew and Emma got to go to Bring Your Kid to Work Day at Dreamworks on Matthew's birthday. The theme was dragon trainer's camp, to celebrate How to Train Your Dragon 2, which comes out this month. They had a blast! The little girls and I picked them up at lunch so we could celebrate his birthday with friends in the afternoon.

 Miss Ellie cut her hair AGAIN. We made it through two kids who never touched their hair with scissors. I think she's making up for it. The top is SUPER short...like chunks of hair that are maybe an inch long. But I was able to blend lots of layers in and I think it looks super cute now. 

 I love this! I went to a neighbor's yard sale and got 25-30 books for $5. The kids spent hours reading through them. Best $5 I've ever spent at a yard sale!

 Blurry phone picture, but it just kills me!

 Just practicing

 Hand foot mouth disease made the rounds at our house last week. Thankfully it was a very mild version. This was the day she had the fever...I don't know that she's ever slept so much in her entire life!

My Costco helpers

Mother's Day

 Last Sunday we walked along the bay in the afternoon. It was a gorgeous day and the perfect way to pass the afternoon. The kids found lots of crabs, shells, rocks, and other "treasures". :)  

 The kids' school has a Discovery Day every year where they get to go to 3 mini classes. I volunteered to lead a group where they made crafts out of recyclable materials. It was a little crazy, but fun. Emma was in one of my groups, and she also got to learn to make flower leis. 

 These pictures are from tonight. Jon and the kids had a backyard campout, complete with hot dog and marshmallow roasting around the fire and sleeping in the tent. This is his third weekend in a row sleeping in a tent (the joys of being a scoutmaster!). He's such a good dad!

Spring Break in Portland

We decided, kind of on a whim, to head up to Portland during the kids' Spring Break this year. It was a whirlwind trip and we were completely exhausted by the end, but I am so glad we went. 

It took us about 12 hours, including 3 stops for eating, bathroom, and running around. I don't know that Alyssa would have lasted much longer. The kids all did really great the whole time, but Alyssa was just done the last 1/2 hour. 

We stayed with some new friends, the Zundels. It was a nonstop party! 9 kids all under 11...they had a blast! 

Their older kids had school the first day we were there, so we went to Pump it Up in the morning and then the kids swam in the hot tub and played hard the rest of the day.

The next day we headed into Portland and rode a tram up a small mountain...lots of gorgeous views of the area and a fun way to pass the morning.

After the tram, we went to Voodoo Donuts and got our fill of crazy flavored doughnuts...Fruit Loop, oreo peanut butter, Cocoa Puff, strawberry lemonade, and maple bacon. Talk about a sugar rush!

After lunch that day we took the older kids swimming while the younger kids napped/watched movies. We finished up the day with homemade pizza and the most amazing milkshakes. The kids got to sleep in this massive fort together and were basically in heaven.

While we were there we all tried out the Oculus Rift. The demo is a roller coaster ride and it was one heck of a ride! It felt so real that none of us could stay standing while we were wearing the Oculus Rift. Emma loved it. Poor Matthew was terrified!