Saturday

Took time to visit one of my favorite places. Peaceful and uplifting. It reminded me I’m never alone.

Violet believes. I love her joy.

Lydia made it home and headed out to her first Christmas performance despite being burdened with new germs. 

Adelle was down in bed with back pain. I’ve learned to take the good with the bad.

Giving Thanks

Homemade rolls are so divine. I was lucky to be taught by a dear friend how to make some incredible, soft rolls. I decided to pull out the old recipe today and contribute to Thanksgiving dinner. Violet loved rolling the triangles of dough into swirly goodness . They smell heavenly.

Moments

 

I miss having a record of things that are happening in my life, so I’ve decided to do something new. I will be capturing moments. Small pictures of my life. Most will be mundane and small, but they are mine. Life is busy and flying by. I need a way to capture it.

Violet fiercly focused on her Minecraft videogame. 11/23/16 AM. The girls are off school for the Thanksgiving break. I’m working for the day and have school tonight.

Violet’s Minecraft world is entirely food related. She recently found our “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” book and was inspired.

Point St. George-California Vacation 2014

On our last day, when the family was relaxing at the cabin, I decided to do some exploring.  Everyone was too tired to come along. On my lone ramblings I found a gem of a place, Point St. George.  I explored the beach on my own and found the most amazing shells.  I picked up a very large clam shell and some small smaller ones and quickly drove back to the cabin, excited to share what I’d found.

As I was explaining the beauty of Point St. George I heard the girls screaming.  In my bucket, crawling out of one of the shells was a hermit crab.  There was no doubt after that, we all had to go back to explore and return the little hermit to his beach.  Point St. George ended up being one of our favorite spots on the whole trip.  The rocky beach was crawling with life.  There were so many little crabs.  I tried to show one to Violet but she ran away as fast as she could.  She was much more content drawing with a stick on the sand.  She made her own beach house.  Lydia and Adelle were mostly fearless, but at times they’d squeal as the crab’s claws would lurch at them.  It was a breathtaking view out to the ocean with the waves coming in.

It was a wonderful way to end our trip.  The next day we packed up and journeyed home.

 

The Glorious Redwoods-California Vacation 2014

A redwood forest is one of the most peaceful and glorious sights.  It really brings into perspective how small we are in the world, the beauty of nature, and the glory of God.  We loved hiking into the forest and feeling like little ants among the beautiful trees.  The air smelled wonderful and the ground was so green.  I wish we could have hiked even deeper into the wilderness, but since some of us had small legs we went as far as we could.  We enjoyed our lunch on fallen trunks and took it all in.

 

Crabbing Attempt 2-California Vacation 2014

Even though our last crabbing attempt had been unsuccessful we didn’t want to give up just yet.  We made our way back to the fish shop and rented more rings and headed back to the pier.  We had high hopes it would work out this time.

While we waited we decided to explore some nearby antique shops.  I was on a quest to buy a bell for the chicken run.  When we were driving around we witnessed a horrible sight.  A little dog ran across the road, trying to reach its owner.  It ran right into the path of a car and we witnessed the fatal blow.  The dog yelping and twitching was picked up by his owner who sobbed.  We were worried about Violet seeing everything so we drove on.  It shook everyone up, especially Wes and Lydia.  We found a quiet shore for lunch, but appetites were low.

We still had our crab rings to check on.  We pulled them up and sure enough they were empty.  We tried one more spot back in town by a boat dock.  It was very industrial and not a place to hang out in long.  In the end we didn’t catch any crabs.  The crab rings were returned.  Instead of having crab to roast we went into a little art shop and bought art to soothe our sorrows and found a local restaurant to eat in.

 

 

River Time-California Vacation 2014

One of the greatest things about the cabin we rented was the easy access to the river.  We had our own private path down the the clear, cool water.  After the Trees of Mystery the girls decided to put on their swimming suits and play.  Violet and Adelle seemed to have the most fun, splashing and giggling.  They were quite the cute pair!

 

The Trees of Mystery-California Vacation 2014

Nothing says redwoods and the great outdoors like a giant statue of Paul Bunyan and his bull Blue.  The Trees of Mystery in Klamath, California is indeed unique.  You won’t see anything else like it in the world.  We wandered the trails looking at the unique carvings, trees, and even listening to recorded messages.  One of the greatest parts of the Trees of Mystery is the gondola ride which takes you high above the canopy of trees.  At the top are breathtaking views which allow you to see to the ocean.  We enjoyed our own little picnic lunch at the top.

Crescent City Beach-California Vacation 2014

The beach in Northern California is not warm in early June, but that didn’t stop us from walking along the beach.  We decided to go and visit the Trees of Mystery, thanks to a tip from our neighbors, and on our way out of Crescent City we couldn’t resist stopping on this little beach.  We grabbed our bucket in case we found some seashells.  We did run across a young, drifter yelling profanities about how hungry he was.  He likely had a mental illness.  I started walking towards him to give him a granola bar, when Wes grabbed me back.  He was worried the guy would hurt me.  He was a colorful part of our trip.