Month: July 2010

Visiting Oakland

We went to Oakland… Victor’s parents opened a new restaurant and we were invited. Unfortunately we had left the camera in the car. But later we went for a stroll in Oakland and took it along. We saw some cool skyscrapers

Also found a thrift store nearby where Leilani got a coloring book of one of her favorite movies, “Ice Age 3:”

Sonja saw this reflection and spent 10 minutes trying capture the photo:

In the meantime, Leilani climbed on the stone sculpture that looked a lot like climbing rocks … until the security guard came out to ask her to come down. Ooops.

Mother’s Day 2010 – Sausalito

It was drizzling at the campground, so we packed up quickly and drove down to Sausalito where it was mostly sunny. Along the way, all the cafés were full with Mother’s Day brunchers, so we had our picnic breakfast at a shoreline park in the non-touristy part of town. And we discovered this really cool art-car:

Later, we did have Mother’s Day ice cream at Lappert’s and walked around the touristy part of town. This fountain, donated by the sister city in Chile, makes the area look very Mediterranean:

From there, we went to the children’s museum. Leilani went straight to the crafts room and made the coolest hat ever:

Sonja waiting for Leilani to finish her artwork (and reading email…)

She made a house too:

Point Reyes with Francine and Ruth

A relaxed morning on Mt Tam…

Oh, and Happy Mother’s Day, Sonja!

We drove to Point Reyes to meet Francine, Ruth and Gloria (who had to stay at the Ranger station to wait for airline-lost luggage) Leilani and I looked at the museum and books while everyone else planned the hike (it’s hard to find a hike that suits everyone…). We settled on the 8-mile but easy Bear Valley trail to the coast.

Spring was so beautiful. Writing this now, at the beginning of summer, we see all the dry, golden meadows and remember how green it was. Golden is beautiful too… like ripe wheat.

We had a picnic in a beautiful meadow (Divide Meadow at the “col”):

And finally reached the coast at Arch Rock:

The arch is under the rock, where you can’t see it (only Andy climbed down to explore). Like the larger arch at Honopu (Kaua’i), a small stream flows through it.

Since we hike slower with Leilani, Francine and Ruth went ahead. We took a long rest at the stream…

threw a lot of rocks…

and took more nature photos. This is poison hemlock:

Forget-me-not:

Monkey flower:

In the end, this was Leilani’s longest hike. She walked over 5 of the eight miles by herself. And I will add that she needs less of the story-telling and distractions than she used to (but still some).

As we were driving away from the trailhead, we saw this beautiful blue heron land in the grass in front of the visitor center. What is he looking for?

A mouse! We watched it eat 3 mice, but never got a good picture. Here the tail is still sticking out…

Doe… a deer… a female deer. No two… (Sound of Music is a favorite of Leilani’s, even before she learned this song at her singing class.)

Another Leilani Quote

I’m always good… except when I am naughty.