Adventure to Big Sur

We had a day before Ryan's family would be coming to town, so I decided to take ride down the coast.  I don't recall ever driving down Highway 1 to the Big Sur area.  The weather was supposed to be beautiful so we decided to make an adventure of it.  My mom decided to come along as well.  We left later than planned and had lunch in Monterey.  There ended up being traffic in Carmel so the kids were getting antsy in the car.  There were so many turnout spots along the road to see the gorgeous coast line.  

Even though it was a clear day, it was still a bit windy and brisk.

The area I really wanted to see was McWay waterfall.  The waterfall falls directly on the beach.  The beach is unreachable by foot, so it says pristine.  I wasn't counting on it being so crowded.  There were cars everywhere and we had to wait until someone came out of the parking lot before being able to go in.  By this point we had been in the car almost two hours so the kids were done.  They were doing road construction on Highway 1 which caused a long delay.  The hike to the waterfall was only 1/4 of a mile and very flat.  

The water was Hawaii blue.

In the mid 1900's there was a house at this location  When the wealthy family left the land to the state, they wanted the house demolished.  My mom and Andrew were reading about the house and the landscape.  The waterfall used to fall into the ocean, but due to a fire and landslides it now falls on a beach. 

Andrew took this artistic picture with the fence - I like it!

Back near the parking lot there is another trail in the redwoods.  The goal was to take a short hike to another waterfall, but we didn't find it.  The trail wasn't marked very well and we didn't have a map.  So we just walked through the redwoods and along the stream for a while.  This is the stream that flows into the waterfall.

On the way back we stopped at Bixby Bridge for a photo op.  The sun was starting to set and the sky was beautiful.  You drive across this bridge on Highway 1 and again, there were a lot of people parked taking pictures.  It is amazing that this bridge was built in 1932.  It was a fun but long day as there was major traffic on the way home.

Winter beach day

On Monday, December 29th we went to Natural Bridges Beach.  Every year around this time the monarch butterflies come from the Rocky Mountains to stay while it is cold.  I have never been to see them and I thought that it might be fun for the kids.  We went with my friend Breann and her kids.  We left a little late, so we first had lunch at Santa Cruz diner before heading the beach.  We soon found out from one of the rangers that there are not very many butterflies in Santa Cruz this year.  Most of them were down in Pacific Grove.  It was still cool to see them up in the trees bunched together.

A ranger had set up a small telescope to see the butterflies better/

We definitely weren't the quietest people there as the kids were running up and down the boardwalks.

After that, we went across the parking lot to the beach.  Claire thought it would be nice enough to wear her swim suit so she was prepared.  Andrew put on shorts and Grant just got his pants really wet.

They ran and played in the surf even though I thought it was a bit cold.  Luckily this year I remembered to bring them extra clothes.  It was a really fun day with friends as well as a gorgeous trip to the beach.  It was foggy when we left San Jose, but really sunny at the coast.

Christmas programs and Christmas

Apparently I didn't take very many pictures in December before Christmas.  This short post is pretty much all of them.  Grant's preschool had a program where they did a quick re-enactment of the nativity.  Each child had a costume.  Grant was a wise man and his friend Jayden was Joseph (in blue).  The director read the Christmas story and the kids came in in various groups at their parts.  They then sang three songs.  They were all so out of sync it ended up being more humorous than I am sure everyone planned.

After the performance they had milk and cookies and a visit with Santa.  Doesn't Grant look thrilled?

The second grade classes at Claire's school did a singing performance.  Each class sang two songs and then they sang two more all together.

The pool club had a visit with Santa.  They each got a chance to sit on his lap.  As you can see, Grant wasn't any more thrilled than the last time.

My parents went to LA to spend Christmas with Erik's family, so we had the house to ourselves.  We made Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner.  I was tempted to order it from Safeway, but we ended up making a turkey on Christmas.  I should have taken a picture of our beautiful bird.  This picture is from Christmas Eve.

Finally Christmas morning!  The kids got up about 7:30 which was great.

Then it was a mad dash to open presents as quickly as possible.  Claire got lots of American Girl items, Andrew got some video games and clothes, and Grant got Cars and Planes figures.

The last large gift was from Danny's parents.  It was an electronic keyboard.  Claire is going to start taking lessons.  I am still hoping to get Andrew to as well.  We had a great Christmas weekend that was really low key.  We went to the movies and hung out around the house playing with their new toys.