Tiana Turns Ten

There's nothing in a young life that is quite as exciting

as having a two digit number represent your age.

Suddenly you feel so grown up

and are sure that wisdom and respect 

are just around the corner.

She had requested to go to either Disneyland or

Columbia State Park for her birthday.

She quickly found out that Disneyland wasn't even an option

and she was just fine with her second choice.

Mid-morning we headed up the hills to the Gold Rush era

town of Columbia.

It was a beautiful spring day; not hot and not too cold.

After a picnic, we set out to tour the town.

The first order of business was a stage coach ride.

She thought the "hold-up" along the way was pretty lame

and declared that the "robber" must have bought his gun

at the dollar store.

There were some cute shops to visit.

Sarsaparilla was consumed.

The candy store was so busy that there was no time
for pictures while we selected our treats.

{photo credit: columbiacandykitchen.com}

Candle dipping was great fun.

She made sure she dipped her candle into each color

that was available.

Daddy and his pretty girls.

Because the boys can't pose for normal pictures...

Mid-afternoon we decided to head home but our

vehicle had other ideas and presented us with a dead battery.

Thankfully, the day was comfortable and the windows were down

so we sat in our Suburban while waiting for AAA service.

Sharing some tunes on the way home.

Our evening was relaxed with presents, pizza, and Key Lime pie (her favorite).

Ten candles makes quite the glow.

She snuggled in bed that night thankful that her new advanced

age had not resulted in wrinkles and achy joints

and satisfied that her special day was spent with the family.

Spring Break

This highly anticipated week never seems long enough
but is always a welcome diversion as our

endurance and spirits wear thin.

Day 1

Recovery

We bid my parents good-bye after their three day visit

and spent the rest of the time recovering from a big

church weekend, doing laundry, and putting stuff away.

Day 2

Flea Market Shopping
We saw lots of stuff, bargained for some stuff, and 

bought very few items.

I think we often go for the experience rather than

lugging home lots of great deals.

Day 3

Attack Tiana's Room

Tiana was off to an all day play date so Bethany and I rolled

up our sleeves and attacked the mess that had been 

put on the back burner way too long.

Day 4

Field Trip Day

One son asked if we could go to the ocean during break.

On further inquiry as to what beach he had in mind,

 I found that he actually meant San Francisco for the sole

purpose of dining on sea food.

I told him that the city was out but I was not opposed to something

a bit closer with less traffic.

We settled on a general vicinity but I threw in the requirement

that we first stop at Mission San Juan Bautista as part of 

Tiana's 4th grade California history studies.

 San Juan Bautista is named after St. John the Baptist and was founded in 1797.

 Father Junipero Serra founded many of the CA missions.

One of the bells that mark the historic El Camino Real (The Royal Road or The King's Highway)

which runs 600 miles through CA and connects missions, presidios, and pueblos

from the time of Spanish rule.

A large and active fault line runs right along this rise we are standing on.

The fields sit significantly lower that the park property due to earthquake activity.

 At lunch time we wound westward and settled on this restaurant along the highway in Moss Landing.

 This was our  lunch-time view.

 Exactly what we came for.

After lunch we drove between strawberry fields to get to a near-by beach

but our road suddenly ended.  All of the rain must have expanded the estuary.

  

A few miles down the highway we were able to access a fairly unoccupied beach.

There were no bathing suits on anyone this particular day.

Hoodies and long sleeves were the most comfortable attire.

Everyone managed to stay out of the water and stay dry.

I think that is the first time that has ever happened in our family.

Day 5

A some point we needed to stay home and do a little work around here

but I ended up doing some errands in the morning.

Tiana had her American Girl book club to go to in the afternoon.

Their current book series is "Rebecca" which is about a Jewish girl, so to 

dive into the food experience we made challa bread to share with the class.

There was one loaf for the class and one loaf for us.

It was amazing bread. 

 I wouldn't be opposed to eating it every Sabbath.

Day 6

Project Day

Rudy and I were able to do some rearranging to give

Bethany a private room-within-a-room.

It takes some muscle and lots of creativity but

when one person does not respect boundaries

drastic measures have to be taken.

We had a productive week with some down-time mixed in.

It was just what we all needed.

What makes me want to rant and rave though are the college

professors who see the week as an opportunity to heap

on more work and even make assignments due that week.

I am not sure what they don't understand about the word
BREAK!

Zoophobia

This was one field trip that Tiana begged me NOT to sign up to attend.

She has an extreme fear of reptiles and she imagined them to be crawling

and slithering all over any place that features animals.

I finally decided that she needed to go to the zoo so that

she could learn to cope with her issues.

I promised her that the snakes and lizards are housed separately

and we would not need to visit their building. 

The tortoises would be in deep enclosures that prevented them

from escaping a chasing her down the walkways.

With trepidation, we both set out on this trip.

She was hoping that I was telling the truth and I was hoping

she didn't encounter anything to set her off on a screaming fit.

This zoo was great; I would recommend it to anyone local.

Thankfully, the small enclosures that used to characterize zoos, 

are a thing of the past.

This one featured large natural habitats and generous enclosures

that were set among meandering paths and lush landscaping.

Feeding the giraffe was serious business.

After all, that long tongue might actually touch her hand.

She initially didn't believe this was a lion because the mane was missing.

We had a quick lesson on the differences between male and female lions

and their jobs in the pride.

The meerkat was about the size of our dog.

We thought they would be good playmates.

She would only touch the tip of the stingray.

That was quite enough for her.

Our favorites were the orangutans; we went back to watch them

multiple times.  They were very active and were quite the crowd pleaser

as they swung from rope to rope and interacted with their audience.

For our souvenir, we stepped into a photo booth and picked

a "theme" that included our favorite animal of the day.

All in all, we had a good day.

She was a bit perturbed every time we stopped to look at a tortoise

but she kept herself under control while urging me to hurry on.

She even looked for awhile at the sleeping alligator.

We steered clear of the reptile house.

She learned that she could enjoy a day at the zoo

where there were no slithering snakes or rascally reptiles

running free.