Elliott and Caiden Visit the Stables

It was quite the (hot) adventure at the horse stables last week: feeding horses, losing teeth, having a picnic, finding a horseshoe, and meeting a cowboy.  And we just thought we were going to have a little look around...

"For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!); 'I am the LORD, and there is no other.'" -Isaiah 45:18

Stinson Beach

[long twisty drive]

It took an invite from a friend accompanied by a screenshot of 80 degree weather for Stinson Beach to get my lazy butt to the coast.  We live fairly close, but Northern California presents unique challenges for reaching the shoreline.  Either brave traffic through the heart of downtown San Francisco or avoid traffic in exchange for super windy roads--both options require a toll.  Once you actually brave the traffic, tolls, drive time, and motion-sickness, you really roll the dice on weather the sun will ever come out.  If the sun comes out, it may still be really cold and windy, the tides are super strong so you might get swept out to sea, the water is really cold, and there are sharks.  Yay!  As much as I love the ocean and need the ocean, those deterrents are pretty effective at steering me clear of the beach.

But I'm so glad my friend, Holly, convinced me to join her at Stinson Beach this week, because we had so much fun together.  Most things are just better with friends.  It started out foggy, but turned into a beautiful day.  We basked in the sun, chatted, played, flew a kite, explored, dug for sand crabs, saw lots of jellyfish pieces, played with seaweed, tried a new burger joint, carpooled, and got ice-cream. Plus, we got to check another item off our "Summer Checklist." Win, win.

 [foggy morning start]

 [seagull]

 [Jadon & Holly]

 [jellyfish]

[Stinson Beach coastline; foggy end to the day] 

Summer Hit List

Summer has been good to us so far.  I took some advice from a friend who told me "The best remedy [for not letting summer slip by] is to try to enjoy each moment you are in..." or something like that.  And that is what I have been trying to do instead of stressing out about how fast it is going by or wondering whether I am really enjoying it or squeezing enough out of it.

So far, we've made our own Yogurt Berry popsicles (pro-tip: if you don't have popsicle molds, you can use paper cups and popsicle/craft sticks instead), bought a basketball to use at the park, got new sneakers, had a campout slumber party, went fishing with some really special friends, signed up for the library reading program (and earned a free ice-cream), rearranged the kids room, made a purse out of old jeans, and started playing ukeleles.

Of course, I couldn't help jotting down a quick "Summer Plans" list with the kids before time really got away from us... You know how much I love lists!  We're doing pretty good, so far, I think!