Blogged down

It appears, my dear friends, that I have succumbed to being blogged down.

Yep, you read that right. Not bogged down. Just blogged down. Basically, I've written fifty posts in my head but getting fingers to key (hey - it's 2013, and this is a blog... so pen to paper doesn't quite jive) has been a test.

But, one has to start somewhere, and so I'll start with last weekend.

We went of vacation. Yes, a real vacation. Not a moving-and-so-we-will-also-have-fun-while-we-are-driving-for-far-too-many-hours. And it was even to a classic vacation place!

We had the joy of celebrating the wedding of our good friend from college in the Bay Area, and then we spent three blissful family days exploring the mid-north California coast, redwoods, and of course, San Francisco.

The kids LOVED, loved, loved the beach time we had in Half Moon Bay. Brooke spent much of the time split between being buried under her blanket, noting "It's wiiiindy!", and digging in the sand. Nate literally was leaping for joy, running from the waves (and shocked at how cold the water was when a big wave came in faster than expected!) throwing sticks into the waves - and so gleeful when the waves kindly returned them to the beach at his feet.

Admittedly it was pretty windy. And we didn't really think to pack beachy things... like a wind shelter. So, Greg went to town and dug a humongous hole big enough for all of us to sit in and have a bit of shelter from the famous northern California beach wind.

We really pushed the pedal to the metal after the beach when we hit The One and went north to Muir Woods to see some of the old growth California redwoods. It's a stunning sight to see such mammoth trees (and remember, we live in Washington) in such a peaceful place. And for a moment to really pause and think about every person, everything, that these trees have seen and witnessed.

A trip to the Bay wouldn't be complete without a spin around The City. And we made sure we visited some of the biggest, most known things in San Francisco: the Wharves, Ghiradelli Square, Yerba Buena Gardens, the sourdough bread factory (with lunch! Yum!) a cable car ride, and the Ferry Building. The kids got such a kick out of seeing the sea lions at Pier 39, too.

It was a good weekend to be together as a family, and to celebrate Father's Day!