Canoeing across Tomales Bay

Two of my most memorable camping trips as a teenager were sea kayaking trips I did in Desolation Sound, British Columbia. Stunning mountains cascading straight down into the water. Beautiful, pristine lakes hidden between the peaks. The ocean spray, cool and refreshing. Crystal clear springs. The slow, melodious slop-slop of the kayak oars slicing through the water. On each trip, we spent about a week on the water, hopping campsites every couple of days.

So when the scout leaders in our new ward asked for volunteers to help them in an upcoming kayaking trip in Tomales Bay, I quickly raised my hand. Turns out they changed the plan a couple of weeks later to canoes for cost reasons, but I stuck with it and I'm ever so glad I did.

It was just an overnight trip, and the water crossing was only a mile or two, but it was still wonderful to get back out on the water. I've missed it far more than I realized - and I now can't help but check REI's kayak selection every other day since. Christmas/bonus day can't come fast enough.

 Getting situated

(that's me in the black hat!)

 And we're off!

I had a good paddling buddy, so the crossing was relatively quick and painless.

Relatively because we had a dumb canoe that had no tracking whatsoever, so we were constantly spinning in circles.

 Making tin foil dinners

Watching 'em cook

After dinner we went on a long hike. It wasn't really that long (maybe 6 miles round trip), but we'd all expected a 1-2 mile hike - but it just kept getting longer and longer as we decided to go "see that next thing! It's not that far!" over and over.

Beautiful views though

And elk

Apparently some of the oldest dairy farms on the West Coast were started right here in Point Reyes. We walked through an abandoned dairy farm.

And down to the Pacific Coast on the other side of the Point Reyes peninsula to watch the sunset

In the morning, a bunch of the kids went clamming, and they came back with a good haul

 Including geoducks!

 Apparently they were pretty gross - no one brought butter or oil. So we threw most of them back in the water

 Whereas we'd convinced a couple fisherman to help haul stuff over to our campsite on the way over, we had to haul it all back ourselves. That meant most boats had 3 people (one had 4) and all were riding quite low in the water. Thankfully no one flipped!

On the way home, we swung by the Point Reyes Light House. It was quite the hike down to the lighthouse itself - equivalent of 30 stories, so the sign said

As you can see, it was a beautiful trip. I am still in utter awe of the beauty of the land here. It was also a great chance for me to get to know some of the guys in the ward and make some friends. My fingers are crossed I get called into scouts to help keep that up!

[Hint to quadruple your enjoyment of these pictures. Double click on one. Notice how it becomes full screen. Left/right arrows to navigate. Enjoy.]

{Father's Day}

Father's Day! I was so excited to have a special day to celebrate the wonderful daddy of my sweet babies. 

"Thanks... for keeping our family on the right road...and for driving us to be better...and for getting us going..."

"Happy Fathers Day! We love you! Raising a child until she's 18 costs more than a luxury sports car. Thank you for choosing us instead! <3 Evette & Miriam"

Our gifts were car themed 

And this shirt was my favorite! Evette and I colored it together to give to Daddy.

Now Dad can get a back massage while having some bonding time with his little girls :)

 Tasty pancakes for breakfast before church. 

And then after church we went on our Sunday drive to Butano Park.

 Sleeping=Golden

It was beautiful!

Evette is all about balancing now thanks to her gymnastics class 

banana slug - so gross.

Rainbow tree!

I could not have asked for a better father for my girls.

He is the most selfless person I know.

An honest, hardworking, and devilishly handsome guy.

It was great to be out in nature to talk about the wonderful things that our Heavenly Father does for us on Father's Day.

{Happy 5 Months!!}

Oh Little Miss Miriam has turned 5 months this week. Yesterday I just looked at her and cried. I could not believe that she has grown up so much. She's my baby, but she's growing out of her baby-ness everyday.

At 5 months she's in size 3-6 clothes and size 2 diapers. I want to say that we've gotten into a good schedule and routine during the day, but that means a completely different thing with my second baby than it did with my first. We've learned to plan naps and feedings around other day time activities so that Evette and I don't go stir crazy.

We usually nurse 4 times a day and she eats solid foods maybe twice a day. She loves food. Loves it. She's a good little eater and doesn't make too much of a mess.

We're still working on forming better night time habits.... but it's so hard! She wakes up maybe 3-6 times a night. Sometimes it's just as easy as putting a pacifier back in, sometimes she requires rocking, and she also needs to be nursed at least once during the night. It's hard. I'm tired. It's been 5 months. We gotta figure something out.

She's a happy little chicken. All full of laughs and smiles during the day. She seriously could not be more pleasant or good natured. So happy.

We frequently get stopped at the grocery store or on our walks for people to ooo and ahh over the babies. And more than occasionally people have said regarding Miriam, "Oh! That's a real baby, not just a doll!" People seriously think that's she's a doll because she's so tiny, adorable, and has a permanent (mas or menos) smile on her face.

Evette's such a good helper. 

She's so strong! She can nearly sit up all on her own! She needs some propping up, but she does pretty good!

Photo bomb!

Miriam is such a blessing in our lives. She has filled out family with such happiness. She has filled a hole that I didn't even know was there. 

She's my angel baby.

{Sunday Drive - Golden Gate}

This last Sunday we went to go take a gander at the Golden Gate Bridge at Fort Point. It was a beautiful clear day and we thought we'd get a good look at it. Unfortunately, as we had been warned, it was quite foggy (and cold! At least 20 degrees colder down by the bridge) and we couldn't see much. 

This is the best shot of the bridge that we got :) It was huge! Even though our vision was limited, I was still in awe of how large it was!

After the bridge we stopped by a park to warm up and so I could nurse Miriam before heading back home.

Sweet babies.

Evette finally decided to nap on the way home - Thank goodness - nearly thought our Sunday drive scheme wasn't going to work.