July 2012

 The month of July always starts off with a bang for us as we celebrate Ellia's birthday.  Once again Dad makes a fun pancake for breakfast.

Then a quick cake as we prepare to leave for a little weekend drive/camp trip up the Northern coast.

 

Not before presents of course.

ROLLER SKATES!

She also got some 'adventure' hiking shoes that she is really excited to take on the trip.

Ash just wants to open the presents and play.

 We got a little more breakfast and did a quick swim at the ward fourth of July party. This year Ellia did better at riding in the parade.

 

 She really does love her shoes!

She even went into the garage and got out hat and gloves to take.

Our first stop was a campground called Cerro Alto inland just a few minutes from Morrow Bay.  There was a hike we started that was very pretty and some of the other hikers were headed to the top to watch Fire Works over the ocean...we didn't quite have the stamina for that, but it turned out the fog was too heavy to see the fireworks anyway.

It was nice and cool -such an awesome releif from the heat of Bakersfield.

 In the morning we continued our drive and made a stop to watch the sea lions. This time of year it was just the males but it is always impressive to watch and listen to them.

We even spotted one of the Hearst Castle zebras out grazing with the cows!

We stopped to play at a rocky little beach and got to see all the mussels on the rocks which the girls liked since they had been learning all about them on Magic School bus.

It was a little windy though so we found a cove to hide out in and play with our shells and rocks.

 

 

For our second beach of the day we hit Sand Dollar beach near Big Sur.  We spent a lot of time there playing in the sand...as people had before us!

 

 

 Ash's shirt got soaked right away so she had to go without for most of the day.

 There was a mom and her little boy there making cool arches in the sand and they let us play with them..and taught us a few techniques.  Ashlyn was SO entertained.

The hike to get there was a little steep but a fun pretty little jaunt.

 Across the road to camp spot 2 just in time for dinner. This was Plaskett camground which was nice and grassy with big trees. The girls had a lot of fun riding their scooters around.

 In the morning we went to the Julia Pfieffer Burns preserve which had this beautiful waterfall overlook and the remnanats of her amazing home.  This beach is actually somewhat 'man made.'  Many years before just up the shore there had been a slide that washed away the road so tons and tons of dirt was pushed in the water to build the hill back up for the road. Well a lot of the dirt washed down the coast to create this beach area (but its inaccessable).

 They are starting to have fun sister moments together which is a joy to see!

 Another stop for lunch and a hike...which included playing among the big trees, both fallen and standing.

 Full of silly faces.

 

 With a short nap in the car we were ready to see what all the fuss about Pebble Beach is.

 We could see and hear seals playing in the water which was kinda fun.

 The 'wild' just chillin on one of the courses - where a lot of people were just hitting balls right out to them.

 Our last camp spot of the trip was at Saddle Mountain where they had a pool, playground and SHOWER!  The swimming was pretty cold but the girls really enjoyed the tire swing.

After getting all cleaned up we went to Monteray where we staying in a hotel and visited the world famous Monteray Bay Aquarium.

 The sea horses were my favorite.

 Can't believe this is actually an animal not a plant.

 They had some really cool technology like this image thing that explains how jelly fish have repeative parts to make up their sphere shape.

 This was a fun one too.  You drew your own Jelly fish and then watched it swim with the others on the screen.

 Last but not least was an hour or so playing at the large Dennis the Mennis park.

Oh, I can't forgot the candy shop we went too!  Jeremy was surprised at the cost, but man we got some good stuff. Plus I got taffy to make a cute decoration for Lia's friend party.

 

Ashlyn feeding our magnet family some gummy bears.

 When jer's family came out we took them to University Park to try ice blocking...we were surprised Gunner and Addie hadn't ever been.

Ashlyn kept finding grandma's big diet coke.

 

 The girls also had a blast playing on the playground with Gunner while Addie practiced softball.

The next weekend my parents came out and we took the chance for free babysitters to go see Willie Nelson in concert.  I'm so glad we did this.  Not only was it a great date night with Jer but I've always wanted to see Willie perform live!

We were also very fortunate to have good weather that night.

Then of course we have to celebrate Lia's birthday again! (so many cakes)

 Even Ash got a little present, which she named Buggy and likes to take EVERYWHERE.

 Penny Jar!  Ellia made enough that she filled up a coin book she has to make a total of $20 all her own!  Mom and I also enjoyed putting together the new playmobil toys.

For a little something different we visited the Bugseum. I think everyone had fun except when, 30 seconds after buying it, Ellia's ladybug went down the storm drain.  They wouldn't replace it which was understandable, but about 5 minutes after getting the second in the car the vibration function broke. Poor girl.

 After swimming lessons at McMurtery one day I took the girls to Jastro Spray park for lunch.  They had so much fun.

 

 

 End of the month, Jer gets serious about teaching Lia how to ride without training wheels, and after two night she's got it down!

Ashlyn really took off swimming this month. She started wearing her goggles and would barely take them off. She wanted to dive a ton and would hardly take a breath in between each dive, she just kept diving and diving...it was exhausting just watching her!