Moss Beach Tide Pools

On Saturday we took a half day trip to the beach.  We spent the morning at Montara State Beach.  Here's an edited excerpt from a yelp review that does it justice:

"You know how you see a movie scene where people are on a secluded beach, and you snort with disgust knowing such a thing doesn't exist? Cuz every time you go to a... beach it's filled with trash, screaming kids, obese dudes in Speedos,... and, if you're lucky, some dead animals?  Yeah. Well bibbity bobbity boo...!!!!!! Montara State Beach has got to be the closest thing I've ever seen to a private beach...

The problem with this... beach is the staircase of death leading down to the beach...  Speaking of death, this might not be a swim beach. Only go swimming here if you've always wondered what it would be like to drown."


Many thanks to Tracey W. of St. Louis for her colorful and accurate description.  Those stairs were harrowing--especially with our stroller, 2 blankets, towel, baby bag, and Mario's camera gear.  Oh, and the baby.  But it was great exercise.  Windham went to town crawling around in the soft, cool sand and ate a ton of it, despite Mario and my best efforts to thwart him.

We hit the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve in Moss Beach, CA around noon for low tide.  The tide pools are a very short walk from the parking lot.  The beach was rocky and pretty crowded, but the tide pools were neat.  We saw some seals at the far end of the beach, too.

Our last stop was Sam's Chowder House for lunch.  Then bumper-to-bumper traffic to get out of town.  The traffic was backed up for miles and at a total stand-still coming into town, so we were glad we came in the morning.  It was the perfect day trip.

For a few more photos Mario took, click here.

Time Machine Post: Father's Day 2012

I just found these photos on my camera and remembered I took them with the intent to post them to this blog. After all, it was Mario's first bona fide Father's Day.  :)  First, there was breakfast, where I mastered--for the first time--pancakes just like Mario's mom makes them.  They're more like crepecakes.  Very thin yet still light and fluffy.  Also pictured are the huevos estrellados and fresh fruit.

After church, Mario and Windham took a mid-afternoon nap.  That evening, Mario's parents came over for dinner, and afterward Mario staged a mini photo shoot in the backyard.

It was very special to watch Mario photographing Jose Mario and Romilia playing together with Windham on a blanket given to us by Mario's Salvadoran relatives.

Three generations of Mario Ruizes together for Father's Day. 

(These photos were all taken by me. )

Jose Mario has expressed that because he was unable to meet his own first-born son, Mario, until he was 2 years old, being with Windham, his first-born grandson, is all the more special.

Although the day entailed a lot of preparation and work on my part so that everyone else could enjoy themselves, it was important to me to honor Mario as the wonderful husband and father that he is.  Even though we didn't do anything extravagant, I feel like the bar was set high for Father's Day next year.

Lots of Firsts at 7 Months

Windham will be 7 months old tomorrow.  I can't believe how fast time flies!  Here are some firsts he's had lately:

• Saying "Bah, bah, bah."  This is actually a significant communication milestone.  He also does raspberries and lip trills really well (although he's moved on from the raspberry.)
• Singing!!!  He sung his first few notes the other day.  It was **SO** cute. 
• Standing for several seconds without support.  He's been letting go all by himself and is getting better at balancing.
• Pulling himself up to stand!  This includes in his crib and playpen which we've had to lower.
• Asking for his bottle.  We're pretty sure he made the sign for "milk" and will definitely keep up the baby sign language.

Although he likes playing on the floor with his toys and crawling around to explore, his favorite thing to do for the past few months has been standing.  His newest trick is crawl over to me, climb up, turn around, walk to dad, turn around, and walk back.  He's really smart, too.  When he drops a toy and can't reach it, you can see him thinking about how to get it for a minute, then he'll try to get it.

Mario has been home for the week (hallelujah for paid vacation!!) so we've had lots of time to both play and relax together as a family.  He's such an incredible dad.  Fun, supportive; helps with everything.  And I mean everything from diapers to baths to feeding.  He does it all.  It's been so wonderful to have him here for these important milestones.

Super Secret Beach and Redwoods

Hot mamas

We've been enjoying perfect weather this summer here in the Bay Area.  Windham and I took a week day trip to a beach near Santa Cruz (because Santa Cruz is incredibly, ridiculously-- incrediculously-- packed) with some girl friends.  We all recently moved from Utah and had our first child within weeks of each other.  I secretly call them the Trophy Wives Club--not because they're dumb, but because they're so gorgeous.  But I need to come up with a better name...  The beach was clean and quiet, and the public restroom and free beach front parking make it my favorite California beach so far. 

We also recently took a family trip (Mario, Windham, Prince, and me,) to Henry Cowell State Park to see the mini redwoods.  The "real" ones are much farther away.  After being told that dogs aren't allowed on the trails (UGH!!!  Dogs aren't allowed anywhere in this state!) we left Prince at the Visitor's Center while we took a leisurely stroll through the trees.  Our guide was pretty obnoxious, though.  Our group was mostly young families with little kids and strollers, and we were all going pretty slow (because kids have shorter legs than adults) and stopping to take pictures.  But our guide kept yelling at the little kids to stop running ahead of her (she wanted to make sure we heard every word of her tour) and chiding us all for getting her off "schedule," even though we were the only group of the day, and there was no one else on the trail.  But aside from that, the beauty and tranquility of park were refreshing.  We plan to go back and ride the train.

But this trip was definitely more for Mario and me than for Windham, because although he enjoyed the stroller ride, I don't think his depth perception was developed enough to see the trees.  The highlight for him was a redwood twig he found that we let him drool on for a while.

We'll definitely be returning soon to both the beach and the redwoods.

It's a wonderful Win-derful world

Windham will be 6 months old on June 8.  I can't believe how fast he's growing!  New skills he's recently mastered include rolling over, (both ways,) banging his plastic caterpillar toy on the table, laughing, "eating" rice cereal (he mostly mushes it around and some hopefully makes it down the hatch,) and drum roll, please... teething! Two tiny teeth are poking through his bottom gums.  Not gonna lie, it's been a hard road, but not as hellish as I anticipated.  

Besides his laugh which is my new most favorite sound in the whole world, my other favorite thing he does is when I smile and tell him he's doing a good job, his face will light up with delight as if he's just realized he did something good.  Even though part of me wishes he would stop growing, the other part of me can't wait to see what he'll do next.

Hopefully the first of many summer beach posts

My friend, Carrie, and I took a quick day trip to Santa Cruz.  We probably looked pretty funny lugging our strollers, umbrellas, car seats, and large beach bags down the hill from where we parked, across the street, and over the loooong stretch of burning sand.  As dad always says, "Having fun is hard work."  And it was.  But totally worth it.

It was gorgeous weather and the beach was "California empty," which means it wasn't jam-packed.  The ocean was very cold, but Windham didn't seem phased by the frigid water.  He was interested in the sand, and swallowed at least one mouthful before I noticed.  Whoops!  The famous boardwalk was closed so we'll have to come back with Mario in the summer so we can have the full experience.

Easter

The town we live in, Campbell, has the most adorable Easter Parade.  The town provided free sidewalk chalk to keep the kids entertained before the parade started.  There were baton twirlers, classic cars, and a handful of creepy bunny costumes. 

On Easter Sunday we had Mario's parents and brother over for dinner.  After dinner I made everyone dye eggs.  "Traditiooooon!  Tradition!"  Totally worth the whining from both Mario and Byron.  Mario jokingly observed that for having had so many years of practice my eggs were pretty ugly.  He was right.  However, dying Easter eggs is most definitely about the experience, no the outcome.