Mother's Day Hike - Piedra Blanca

Mother's Day Hike in the Sespe

 Although it was a lovely day in Ventura for Mother's Day this year, it was a little too foggy and dreary to hang out, so we went inland in search of the sun.

 We drove up Highway 33 above Ojai to Rose Valley, about 3,500 feet up in the coastal range. It was very warm up there and the boys were soon thinking back on cool, foggy Ventura with longing.

 

 

Here we're sheltering from the sun in a shady cave.










Piedra Blanca means White Rocks in Spanish.  It's a bizarre and huge outcropping of these white sandstone boulders looking totally out-of-place compared to the typical terrain in that area.
 
 

 

I've often wondered what causes the deep grooves etched into all of the rocks in this area?  Glaciers?  I don't think so.  This sandstone erodes too quickly to record events from so long ago. 

We let the boys explore on their own.  They got pretty far away.  Can you see where Marion is pointing them out in this picture?

It was a wonderful Mother's day for Marion, and for all the rest of us, too.

Easter Bunny Came Last Night!

We decorated our eggs and left them outside the patio door last night, and sure enough the Easter Bunny came in the middle of the night and hid them for us to find.












Easter Bunny left nice baskets for the boys, too! They both got a new watch. Nik was so excited! This was his first watch and he has really wanted one.






Ready to hunt for eggs.















Some of the eggs weren't so hard to find.















Got it!















It was a beautiful spring day for us.


















The Easter Bunny had a BIG backyard to hide those eggs in.
























Happy Easter everyone.

2011 Holiday Piano Recital

The boys both did a wonderful job playing piano at their recital. They both were featured more than once. Nik got to ham it up after his rendition of Greensleaves. Don't stop watching this video when he stands up to take his bow.



Brodie was the final performer in the 3 hour show. He did a great job with America the Beautiful.



And then Brodie played the entire cast of the show on stage for the Grand Finale with Pomp & Circumstance.

Yellowstone National Park

Each year our school district in Ventura takes a week off at the end of October for our fall break. It's a great time of the year to visit popular tourist spots without the crowds of summer.

This year we took a chance and booked our trip to Yellowstone National Park and Grand Tetons National Park. We knew the weather might be iffy; Yellowstone is scheduled to close completely on November 6th, so we were visiting during the last week before the closure. We got very lucky with the weather. Although it was bitterly cold, as low as 8 degrees farenheit on some mornings, we only had to contend with some snow and icy roads on our first day in the park.

In exchange for our gamble, we got to enjoy this popular area with no crowds at all to contend with. We could drive as slowly as we wanted and even stop in the middle of the road if we saw something interesting without worrying about blocking traffic.



Click the picture below to go to our Picasa sight to view the pictures larger.

Marion is inducted in the Antioch Sports Legends Hall of Fame

Marion was selected to be inducted into the Antioch Sports Legends Hall of Fame at the Antioch Historica Society Museum in her home town of Antioch.

To be honest, she is not the type of person to revel in the limelight, and she had very mixed feelings about recieving this honor. But when it was all said and done, the Historical Society did a wonderful job of assembling her display and it truly is something for her to be proud of.

Brodie and Nik were very impressed to see their Mom celebrated.

Oktoberfest!

Mud Run