Icing on our cake

We celebrated in the desert last year and this year we decided to stay close to home.

We headed to Laguna for a little paddle and a hike.  

The water was cold, but luckily on a paddle board you can stay almost completely dry.  Almost!  Andy won't ever let me forget about the time I fell in fully clothed...fully, as in jeans and a sweatshirt.  I blame it on the couple on the bike paddle boat who had no idea what they were doing, haha.  I'm pretty sure it was a funny sight, but cold wet jeans has got to be one of the most miserable experiences.  

I would still wear jeans and a sweatshirt when I need it, but luckily the sun was out and it was a beautiful day.  

This was our day.  

As we paddled out there were two leis floating there just waiting for us.  

It was pretty amazing and they smelled so good!! 

We explored the coast and found a couple of tiny little coves all to ourself.  The water was so clear, we were wishing we would have brought at least our masks.  I can't wait to take the kids there.  It's kind of funny how when we get a day to ourselves minus the kids, we spend a lot of the time talking about how the kids would have loved to be doing whatever we are doing.  We also had a lot of time to just talk and finish conversations without interruptions.  That was really nice.  

The most beautiful sunset was the icing on the cake as we hiked in the canyon.  

It was a good day.  

Love you babe!!

Born Free 5

 This past weekend we headed out to the canyon to go to a vintage motorcycle show that Andy had been wanting to go to for the last 4 years.  It always seemed to end up the same weekend as Julian's birthday until this year.  We braved the heat and traffic getting in and filled up with lemonade every stand we came to. 

New hats for both the kids thanks to Vans and their generosity. 

We headed home with sore dusty feet, belly's full of lemonade and memories of some pretty cool motorcycles.  

Chasing an adventure

 Hello spring and thank you time change.  

We now have beautiful warm afternoons and plenty of sunshine to chase an afternoon adventure.

Ella and Andy sped ahead while I coaxed Julian along.  

He rode on my back for a while.  I could feel his warm breath on my neck.  

"Go faster mom, I can't see them anymore".  Easy for him to say. 

The trail became narrow and steep.  His forty pound weight was too much.  

He hopped off and started up in front of me.  A minute hadn't passed before he decided he couldn't do it.  

It was STEEP! I helped him up a big rock almost as big as him.  We made it up.  

"You're like a mountain lion!"

 That's all it took.  He was off on all fours...hands and feet, not knees.  He scaled the steep trail without anymore hesitation.  Sometimes getting a little creative with our words is all it takes.

Even when the trail leveled off a little, he still wanted to continue on all fours.  

   I sat there staring into the water looking for the frog.  We had seen him in the same spot a couple of other times and I knew he would be there.  The murky water all looked the same.  I scanned the water back and forth.  I couldn't find him.  Ella walked over to my little quiet corner after throwing a couple of rocks in another part of the pond.  

"Wow, look at that big frog!" she said as she walked up.

WHAT?  I don't know how she spotted him so easily.  

There he was, just a couple feet out into the pond right in front of me.  

He sat there staring at us.  Eventually he hopped away and when he did we realized just how big he was.  He was bigger than a large grapefruit.  

New trails and old frogs. 

This was exactly what we needed!

Progress :: Raised garden boxes

 A lot of progress was made over the weekend. 

Yea!! 

We have three new raised plantar boxes all set and ready to go.  The third one is hiding behind the bushes and is closer to the back of our yard.  The orange stuff on top of the soil is just the leftovers from juicing.  We have been juicing off and on for a while and now I have something useful to do with the leftovers.  I am going to let if dry out a little on the top, then turn it over and mix it in.  We have about another week before our little seedlings are ready to be planted.  We planted our other flat of seedlings this past weekend also.  

I hope we have enough room.  

We made two smaller boxes, one is 4 ft x 3 ft and the other is 4 ft x 5 ft.  Our big one is 7 ft x 3 ft.

Everyone helped.  

Andy pretty much made the boxes and the kids and I attached the weed screen to the bottom.  Any time we let the kids use a hammer they are so excited.  There was some teamwork going on between the kids which makes this mama so happy to see.  

This is how we made our boxes.

We used 2 x 8 pieces of wood for a little more height.  

Andy put the first level of the box together with outdoor screws, then we put 2 layers of weed screen on one side of the box using small roofing nails that we had leftover from another project.  Any small nail with a bigger head or a staple gun can be used.  I really didn't want the grass or weeds coming through, that's why I used two layers of the weed screen.  Then we flipped the box over and put the second level of the box on top.  Andy used a 2 x 2 piece to put into the corners to keep the two levels of the box together.  You can see the corner piece in the picture below.  

 Then it was time to fill them up.  

This was such a satisfying project.  

I can't wait to see how they look mid summer!

heading to the hills

We headed to the hills this past weekend to get a breath of fresh air.  There is something about the open space that speaks to my heart.  We are always dreaming of living a slower life and this weekend left us longing for this just a little more.

We met our first beeffalo.  I'm not even sure if that's how it is spelled, but she is a buffalo and cow mix.  

She let me know this was the closest I could come to her.

So much beauty out there!

I can't stop thinking about what our daily life would look like.

pretty clouds

Huntington Beach -Dec 2012

Just some old pictures from like 2012

This made me laugh...A LOT!!

I am gathering supplies to make these concrete planters.  Fun huh?

Love you sun, you can stay all weekend

Have a great weekend!