Friday Beach Day

We spent Friday afternoon at the beach, Law Street Beach in Pacific Beach, to be exact. The fun came when the boys discovered quite a large crab tangled up in some string.

A nearby dad came to the rescue, helping to patiently unsnarl the thin but strong string while T held the crab.


At last the crab was free, and T held him up for all the little kids gathered around to see before letting it go back in the surf. After a few waves washed over him, he scuttled away to deeper water, the watching children shrieking with a mixture of fright and excitement. It was quite a little adventure, and certainly the first time in all my life at the beach to see a crab a third that large!


The beach was so very crowded that a Friday felt at least like a weekend, if not a major summer holiday. We barely found a place to squeeze in our beach chairs and blanket. The ocean warmed up to the warmest temperature of the summer, 72 degrees, and despite the roughness of the waves that had dragged huge mounds of seaweed to shore, the boys could scarcely "boogie" board because of the sheer number of people in the water. But a day at the beach is always a treat, and it's so convenient with my parents living just half a block from Law Street Beach.

By Any Other Name....

Roses are blooming in my garden which looks much improved after a visit from the Lake Murray Youth Group who spent all Tuesday morning up here, weeding and deadheading and cleaning out my very messy laundry room. I love this rose, with its speckled effect of yellow and peach. It rocks.

Boys!

I came out this morning and found all three boys oblivious to me and very involved in their game. I don't quite understand why all three boys were playing a racing game on the X-box upside-down, but at least they are sharing without arguing, right?

Poor Dash looks as bemused as I feel. I can see his little doggie brain thinking, "What ARE they doing????"

Cloudy Days of Summer

Our mountain weather has been unusually humid lately, with clouds passing overhead during most of each day. The clouds have brought blessed relief from the 105+ degree weather; I can handle weather under a hundred without much trouble. But this is HUMID heat, not the dry heat to which we mountain dwellers in San Diego County are accustomed. Two-and-a-half minutes in the sun watering my garden means that I get to experience makeup sliding down my forehead and stinging my eyes. Joy. But I suppose I'll take the muggy high 80's, low 90's over the dry 107 degrees of early July. And I guess I'll take the clouds, too....

Family

On Saturday evening, we descended the hill to Keith's sister's place to celebrate the safe return home of her youngest, Steven, who just spent six months in Baghdad. Today Steven returned to Hawaii, his original deployment before he volunteered for six months in the Middle East. In the photo above are Keith's dad and nine of the fifteen grandkids present. (E was in Phoenix, spending the week with the three female Arizona cousins -- she needed "girl time" with three brothers.)



Three generations of Barrett men: Keith's dad Ken; Steven, Keith's nephew, and Keith's younger brother, Kevin.

California Tower, Balboa Park

The California Tower in Balboa Park is perhaps, besides the Pacific Ocean itself, the best-known landmark in San Diego. Almost all air flights pass by this beautiful tower, built for the Exposition in 1916. Family tradition states that my great-great grandfather help to design it; however, in my genealogical research, I have yet to corroborate that fact. But it's still a gorgeous landmark that now houses the Museum of Man right next to the magnificent Laurel Street Bridge that separates Balboa Park from downtown San Diego itself. I took this shot from the Skyfari in the San Diego Zoo -- a unique perspective that the boys and I very much enjoyed on our trip to the Zoo this week. See further photos from our Tuesday trip below.

Another Zoo Trip

After T's early orthodonic appointment Tuesday, we decided to not waste our gas for a ten-minute check up and to proceed on to Balboa Park. When we realized that the only free museums this Tuesday were ones we weren't interested in, we decided on a short trip to the San Diego Zoo. On our last two trips, the Zoo happened to be quite crowded, but this morning the Zoo was quite sparsely peopled. Finally, we had a clear shot at the Reptile House before making quick visits to the meerkats and otters in the Children's Zoo. T took the first three shots; I took the final one. Enjoy!


Iguana in the Reptile House


Desert Tortoise in the Reptile House


River Otter under water -- not easy to catch these guys in motion as they move FAST!


B sitting in the window welcoming a River Otter moving his way.

San Diego Zoo

With my sister and her family from Montana in town, we've made the rounds of the San Diego landmarks this week: Julian, the beach, the San Diego Zoo. It's rather tiring doing them all within a couple of days, but it's also been fun as well. T took the otter and meerkat photos as they are his favorite animals (and because E doesn't share the kids' camera well).

Beach...

We walked up the beach from Pacific Beach toward La Jolla, looking at the cliffs and watching the kids search for shells and rocks. It was an overcast day just along the coast, definitely not the most beautiful day for photography but it was the day we were there. The cliffs were especially intriguing; I loved the colors and the stripes of the layers. My brother went up to the cliff and examined the stripes: they are made up of a multitude of small clear crystals in the rock.

Julian and Cuyamaca

This area in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park is part of our "old stomping grounds" from our childhood. Almost every summer we stayed at the horse camp (destroyed by fire in 2003) and would walk up to the mine where I took these photos at sunset, watching for deer coming out to feed at dusk. Or we would ride our horses up through the mine on our way to ride around Lake Cuyamaca. We also used to climb Stonewall Peak (top photos) on every trip: two miles to the summit and two miles down of narrow pathways. Most of this area burned five years ago in the Cedar Fire of 2003, and the evidence of the fire is everywhere. We miss our camping trips to Los Caballos Horse Camp -- my mom camped there as a child, and my brother, sister and I camped there almost every summer, and even my own kids have camped there when they were very young.