New favorite place

It seems to be becoming a tradition that Niki visits every May (Two years makes a tradition, right? And makes it reasonable for me to expect you to return next May, right?) This year her sister Tasha came too and even though we gave them our cold, I think they had a good time.One day we went to the Cabrillo National Monument park. It is at the end of a peninsula and...well, I'll have to tell you more about it later because I didn't even look at the monument while we were there. We spent most of our time down at the water in this great little cove that I am hoping to visit as often as we can. Above: O-diddy snacking on sandwich.
It's too bad that you can't tell from this picture all the different colors in those rocks. That was my favorite part I think. That and the fact that the kids could have probably played for hours - throwing rocks, finding shells...


Anemone


When the tide comes in, this whole area is covered - so at low tide you can find tons of little creatures.
Realized recently that our friend and neighbor, Sarah was actually a camper at Camp Westminster while Niki and I were counselors. She had pictures to prove it - those were really unnecessary. Every time I look back at old pictures I see how truly long my awkward stage really lasted...I think maybe an entire decade. I may actually still be in it...
Who loves Aunt Niki?

Well, I'm not making any trifle...

I did make a banana pudding in it once...kind of. I layered my banana pudding and vanilla wafers all beautifully in the trifle bowl then read on the recipe "bake in the oven for..." So I had to dump the whole durn thing in an oven proof bowl and it wasn't so beautiful after that. I'm not against trifle. I just haven't made any. And I am pretty sure I registered for this (it was a wedding gift), so I know I intended to make trifle one day at least. But for now it is our treasure bowl. I had to find something to do with all of the things Olivia comes home with from our walks. And since this is my favorite time of year (also the time of year we were married in and when our first baby was born), I don't mind looking at all of these treasures as we sit down to every meal.
Now I am in the mood for some banana pudding...

In case you wondered

2 green tomatoes - the last before the garden was uprooted

a gumball

a few leaves

lots of rocks - these are only a fraction of what has been collected over the summer and fall

(once live) zinnias - the last basketful we picked before they all croaked

a piggy for Olivia

a piggy for Mommy

(this is kind of like an "I Spy" picture - see if you can find all the objects listed)

a couple acorns from Shaw Nature Reserve - should we have left them there???

a few acorn "hats"

other dead stuff I no longer recognize

Daddy, in case you wondered what we did this morning.

I am trying to teach Olivia the art of exploring. We took a basket and looked for treasures. What you can't see is the only thing she has in her basket is her water bottle. She picked up plenty of leaves, but apparently none of them were basket worthy because she just said, "nope" and dropped them back on the ground.

Just so you know Joe Joe didn't get left at home...