First and most important – my note of appreciation to all those who have and will serve in the armed forces, protecting the peace that I hold so dear in my heart. For those men and women and their families, I am thankful. For their willingness to risk and give their lives defending our country and ideals, that is the greatest gift and one that I can never express enough thanks for.
Living in the San Francisco Bay Area, we all sometimes forget how fortunate we are to be able to enjoy the weather and all that the area has to offer. Four seasons are for other states, and we basically just get to enjoy two different types of summer – one with rain and one without. This year was made special with a few trips to Truckee, California (up near Lake Tahoe) where we got to see it snowing and see snow on the ground. Both really firsts for Sofi and Natalie, who have been in the snow before, but not in a way that they could either remember or play in it.
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I’ve decided, as we get closer to the end of the year, that I am going to make every effort to write about the holidays that have passed in 2009 before they come around again in 2010. That said, I was looking through some of the pictures that we had from Mother’s Day 2009 and realized that I hadn’t shared a wonderful experience brought along by my beautiful wife, mother-in-law, and my two daughters. If you don’t see it, the symmetry in those three things is that combined they are my joy.
There are some positives and negatives about not having posted for a while, and for most they should be pretty obvious. On the negative side we have – restless readers, big gaps between updates, and a waste of space on the internet. All terrible things, but none-the-less countered by the positives of so many things to write about . And, with that, I thought that I would share a little about a exploration day that we had on Mama’s August 4th birthday (she was turning… 29, again).
I’m way behind in writing about some of our recent adventures, but thought that I would take a moment to catch everyone up on our recent New Brighton State Beach camping trip. For those that haven’t heard of it or visited, it’s south of Santa Cruz and is touted as a beach-side campground, which is probably about as accurate as one can get. You don’t get to sleep on the beach, but it’s a short walk from the campground and adds quite a bit of fun to what otherwise might just be a trip into the forest. Hopefully the pictures and following story will share a little of the experience from our perspective.
In a perfect world I would have a way to spend every minute of every day with my children, but it’s not a perfect world and sometimes it is necessary to just accept that there will be days that I miss and time that I can’t be as close to them as I might otherwise desire. Fortunately, during the summer months, Mama has the time and opportunity (being a teacher gives her summers off), and this year, as the girls are older and more able to get around, they’ve been making the most of the summer months and it would seem as though they’re really enjoying themselves.
I’ve come to the conclusion that for as much as we try to educate our children based on our experiences, what they teach us (or remind us) is infinitely more important. Take this weekend, for example, and the big, blue ball at the park just outside Capitola. The big, blue ball, is huge – bigger than me by a lot and that much more bigger than both Sofi and Natalie. Fortunately, it’s not intimidating and actually looks kind of fun. And, of all places, it’s perched at the top of a hill (with others already having started their decent), begging to be pushed from it’s teetering spot. I asked if they wanted to try and push it, thinking that they would think I was insane.
Instead, they were excited about trying to push it down the hill, and even as they were saying, “don’t be silly, Papa, we can’t push this down the hill” they were asking me to help to see if WE together could push it down the hill. ‘Cause, just the thought of this was too exciting an opportunity to pass up. So we pushed and strained and pushed a little more, but the giant ball did not move. One lesson learned; one to go.
As we walked away, Sofi said, “that’s okay, Papa, maybe next time” with a big, giant smile on her face. It brought tears to my eyes and made me realize that what I had forgotten is the simple joy of trying something – even when your mind says it can’t be done. Because, for all of us, that trying may be all that is needed. That little bit of effort brought Sofi, Natalie and me that much closer for trying together to see what we can accomplish and what we can’t.
These pictures will be my reminder, and “maybe next time” I will try that much more to do what I think can’t be done.
Papa
As an interesting side-note for any of the geeks in the house, all photos for this post were taken with my iPhone 3GS – and the quality seems pretty darn good.
For my birthday this year I took the day off work and we made the trek up to San Francisco with the girls to see the California Academy of Sciences. This amazing museum, which just completed a multi-million dollar, five-year renovation, is a must see for everyone. The only downside is that everyone knows they need to see it so the lines are very long, and the museum is very crowded. Most days they sell out and unless you arrive early it’s unlikely that you will be able to see any of their shows or get into the centerpiece rain-forest exhibit.
The best part of not having written in a while is that there is so much to talk about. I want to catch up quickly, but think it might be best to talk about current events first and roll back into the older stuff. That way everyone knows what’s going on now as well as having a chance to catch up on what’s been happening.
I’ve aways been a fan of the ocean – and the water in general – so this weekend we decided to take the ferry from San Francisco across to Sausalito to talk around for a bit. It would be a great way for the girls to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather and for us to introduce them to the experience and fun of riding the ferry. Needless to say, it was an awesome day and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
It has already been a few weeks since I last posted, but not for lack of want or content. With the beautiful weather, we’ve all just been out enjoying the “winter.” I did want to share, though, so that everyone could see, some of the video that we took on a recent trip to Moss Landing, just south of Watsonville. The weather was awesome -- especially so for the end of January -- and we spent a few hours around the beach enjoying the sun, sand, water, and local wildlife.
The videos below will show off some of what we saw there, with the main attractions being the beautiful (and very friendly looking) sea otters who were both enjoying the sunshine and getting a little lunch to pass their day.
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