California, April 2012

 This year when we went to California we brought Mairen Polo along with us - a good friend of mine and of Anna's as well. The drive was beautiful, as always, when you got over the fact that Anna was screaming in the back seat or the front seat or wherever she was. Other than that, it was an uneventful drive... but we got a flat tire a five minutes out from Baker and had to stop on the side of the road to fix it. That was exciting, and then we got shave ice and sat doing nothing for an hour.

On the way to aunt Karen and uncle Verl's we stopped at a little Mexican place right off the road. The bright yellow seats were a shock, and everyone was happy to be finally eating something. Granny's bright floral shirt fit right in with the bright theme of the restaurant.

While on the pier, there was a seal sighting of a mama and a baby seal beneath the pier! That turned out to be the deciding factor for Mairen, who loves seals but hates water since she can't swim. We got her to come out to the end with us, after much cellphoning back from the boardwalk to her mother, who was at the grocery store. The basic idea of the conversation:
Mairen:(To her shopping mother:) Mom, they're making me go out onto the pier! (to Emma:) They're laughing at me!
Emma: I am too.
Mairen:(To her laughing mother and sister:) Mom, Emma's laughing at me... no, I wanted   you to forbid me from going out on the pier!

Some of you might recognize these photos; we went to the tide pools our last day there. They were some of the best I have ever seen in my trips there. We saw many, many purple spiky sea urchins, some fish, tons of starfish, and, as always, sea anemones. It was a cloudy day, like much of our stay.

At the lifeguard station, Adam, Anna, and Sam had a performance to show us. Yay, lifeguards, saving people! Anna refused to jump off the deck afterwards like the 'men' did, and instead opted for the ladder.

We'll be back in August!