This week has been hot, so hot! We're talking highs of 34 degrees CELSIUS! It's insane. Lucky us though, we live near the ocean. So off we went on the hottest day of the week. Santa Cruz was also very hot (it doesn't always work out that way), too hot to just sit on the beach. Fortunately the ocean is frigid and kept us cool. Holly and Greta are so enamored with the ocean. It is so fun to play in the waves with them! It makes me so so happy. We spent a solid 4 hours at the beach before we dragged ourselves home (to our hot house). It's going to be an amazing summer!

A couple notes: Holly is really into making things "stylish," like her food. She initiated a towel modeling show. Greta makes sand angels a lot these days and it's adorable. Love my turkeys.

There was a rec center with an outdoor pool at Sea Ranch. It was cold (the ocean was very close), but it was really fun for Conor to see the girls swim. They've improved so much since he last swam with them. And lucky us, there were hot saunas in the change room!

On a sunnier day in The Sea Ranch, we ventured North to Point Arena where we climbed to the top of the tallest lighthouse on the west coast. The entire time we were there, I was in disbelief. California is stunning! I could hardly believe I was sitting on a picnic blanket with my family with the views surrounding us. What a treat! I'm so grateful to live in CA.

We just took a 4-day trip to The Sea Ranch, which is about 3.5-4 hours north of us. It is a really beautiful place to be.

It was rainy and wet for the first couple of days. We did our best to enjoy the outdoors, but our girls were tired and grumpy. I keep forgetting how hard traveling with children can be and then I travel with them and ask myself, "why is this so hard?!" But we want to travel so we need to figure some things out.

Taking photographs helps me to remember the good and forget the bad and ugly. Thank heavens for cameras. Because there really was a lot of good. My favorite was the lighthouse at Point Arena. California is so jaw-dropping in its beauty. I just can't get enough! I feel so blessed to live in such a beautiful place!

More posts to follow, you know, once I catch up on sleep and laundry and life!

This week we went to the park with some friends. We love getting together with our friends to play! I had brought my camera along because we were seeing some friends who were visiting from Utah. We were some of the last to leave. I took some photos of my daughters just playing together at the park. It's been a while since I've taken photos of a regular activity. I love that Holly stopped at the bottom of the slide to smile at me - I'm so proud!