July fun

July was a great month because our family came to visit; I'll post about that in another blog entry. Here's some odds and ends from the month.

This kid is always doing something physical: learning to whistle, climbing the walls, throwing suction darts on the window, bottle flipping, throwing frisbees/balls/paper/pillows. He's busy and fun.

We celebrated the Fourth of July just the five of us, with burgers and dessert and s'mores around the fire. We cannot confirm nor deny the presence of a pack of sparklers in our backyard.

In June and July I sewed 12 masks for our family, including this Halloween one--never too soon to get ready for the best holiday!

One early Saturday morning we headed to Point Lobos, one of our favorite places on the planet. Audrey and I spent a long time making a rock cairn village, which was quite relaxing. We also admired lots of beautiful creatures in the tide pools.

 

Low tide and other fun

First time on a restaurant date in three months! The closures have been challenging but have taught us gratitude for the simple things. Here we are eating at First Awakening, just after they opened.

We had a great time looking at creatures at low tide at Asilomar one day this month.

Ian met up with some friends here too.

We started hanging out with our friends after we watched their four-year-old while they had their precious second baby. Isn't she so cute?

One day with nothing to do I took the kids back down to the river where we'd camped last month. It's only an hour drive. We walked up the river to the same swimming hole that we access through the campsite.

 

Camping

We got so lucky and our campground reopened just two days before our reservation. I feel for all the people who lost their opportunity to camp and vacation because of COVID-19, and so grateful for the tender mercies we've seen in our lives. We had a great time camping, hiking, and playing in the river in the Big Sur area. We love it here.

 

Fun times with Dad

 Mr. B took the kids several Fridays to go on adventures while I got a break from Mom duty.

Bike ride on the recreation trail (and lunch at The Grill at Lover's Point)

Learning D&D

Exploring Garrapata State Park

Bodyboarding

We got wetsuits and have enjoyed several afternoons bodyboarding in the waves. So blessed to live here.

Ian got to meet up with friends a couple times too!

 Zayne, Coleman, Marcus, Daren, Ryan, Ian

Berry picking

We had a wonderful outing one day in June, picking berries at Gizdich, dining al fresco at Red Robin, and treating ourselves to new books at Barnes & Noble. All of these places are 45 minutes to an hour from our home, so it was a special treat to go to some of our favorite places, even with social distancing and masks in place. We would have loved to eat indoors, but it turned out just fine, and it boosted our spirits to be out and about.