4 posts tagged “beach”

My dear four and a half year old has a lot of energy -- and is so very joyful. I feel so lucky to have been able to experience these years with her. She slays me with some of the things she says and does. Here are a few of her antics from the past few days... 

This past Sunday was glorious in the Bay Area. We had one of those flawless blue skied days that makes my heart hurt. So perfect. It started out just right, with a trip to the farmers' market where I got these fantastic ranunculas

Gorgeous, huh? Two dollars! Kevin always laughs when I tell him the name for these flowers. He thinks it sounds like a disease or some sort of terrible growth. I must admit, it isn't quite as poetic as "peony" or "camila" Ah well.

After unloading our fruit and vegetables for the week, we loaded up a picnic basket, all of our sand toys, a blanket, a kite and pretty much anything else in the garage that might be of use on a gorgeous day in the city and set out for Ocean Beach. The day was perfect. So it was pretty crowded. But we got a parking space right on the curb, at the steps that led to the sand. Ahhhhh. We lay in the sun and ate our lunch. Maggie dug in the powdery sand and we all watched the fabulously geeky kite guys go through their trick kite routine. I am assuming they are preparing for the 4th of July...

It was so relaxing and  deliciously warm. We could have stayed there all day. But we had things to do, places to go, movie premiers to see! We jumped in the car and raced to our next destination: The Victoria Theater in the Mission District. We were really pushing it. We were supposed to be there by 2pm. We got there at 2:05. AND got the super parking in a notoriously difficult place to find it. Behold:

We were going to see our friend Aaron Newman. He was premiering the movie that he has been working on for over a year now. It is called Iran is Not the Problem Here is a trailer for it. He did the whole thing through a group called Scary Cow. I can't explain the whole concept, but if you go to their website, they explain how they help beginners make independent films. It is really inspirational. And Aaron was the first one to successfully do this from the scary cow group. And the film was phenomenal. Really professional. I am a lover of documentary films, so I know what they look like. And Aaron's was amazing. Plus, I really learned a lot.I didn't know much to begin with, but probably as much if not more than the average American, so I was glad for the chance to find out about our history with Iran.

There were tons of people at the showing. We got there before it started. Slid into the back row and fired up Maggie's portable DVD player with the headphones (best invention ever!) So while we all watched about bombings in Iran, my sweet 4 year old watched Finding Nemo. All went well until the entrance of Bruce the Shark which freaks her out every time. But I forgot, so there was little bit of stifled screaming in the back row. But we managed. We got to see one of our best friends realize a life long dream of making a movie. And it was a terrific experience.                                         

 

Maggie just really loved the whole idea of going to a thing called "scary cow" and has been wearing the free button we got all week.

The next stop? A treat for my friend who has just had a baby. Fiona's Sweet Shoppe. The best place in the Bay Area to get British Sweets for a lady who has a hankering for sweeties from her childhood. Mmmmm. We got a few ourselves. Those lemon bonbons are addictive! And it was really fun to drive around downtown near Union Square on a day as beautiful as Sunday was. We just rolled the windows down, put on good music, and drove.

But it was still sunny, and we wanted more. So we drove to Pacific Heights and gawked at the mansions. Gasped as we came over those steep steep hills, and looked out over the Bay. Breathtaking. I knew of a park nearby, so we ended up there, with all of the little blond haired, blue eyed children dressed in Baby Lulu and BabyPhat clothes -so very trendy and expensively casual.  Not exactly the crowd we are used to in Fremont. But still, a good park is a good park, and Maggie had a blast on the play equipment. Need I even mention that our car was parked in the closest possible parking space?

We played there until 6pm, when it was getting windy. So we packed up our stuff and headed out. We were near one of my favorite little places in the city Crepes A Go-Go. It is on Union Street -- a place where you can never find a place to park. Never!  Do I even need to tell you? Right in front. Yeah, baby. Parking Karma. I got it.

It was a perfect city day. Even without all of the parking happiness. It  was a wonderful day in San Francisco.

To those of you who wonder HOW I could ever live so far away from my home town, so far from the family I love, and so far from the landscape of my childhood... My answer is this:

The California Coastline. I need to be near it.

There is nothing else like it. It is gorgeous and inspiring and it makes me want to cry with happiness when I walk out onto the cliffs and look down at the rocky shoreline from high above.

This past weekend Kevin and Maggie and I went to  Steep Ravine State Park just north of San Francisco.  This place kills me every time we go. The first time I went I was with Kevin. And he proposed. So, I guess I am maybe a little biased about Steep Ravine... The next time we went was two years ago, and Maggie was two, almost three. We had so much fun. This video is from the first time we went with her:

This year, I actually snagged an ever elusive cabin! But, sadly, we had to cancel our reservation due to a wedding planned on the same day. I honestly considered bailing on the wedding -- that is how much I wanted to go and stay in one of the cabins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I mean, right?! Holy Crap, that is gorgeous! But, it was one of Kevin's really good friends from Highschool. So, we went to the wedding. And then the weekend turned out to be rainy anyway, so, okay.

The only time I could get a weekend reservation for camping was in October. This past weekend of the 6th and 7th. And while it was quite chilly at night:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The days were glorious. Absolutely make your jaw drop perfect. So, we spent our weekend out on the rocky beach below our campsite (just a short walk there, with absolutely NO ONE else there, just us. And the sea stars. And Pelicans.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I got to hunt for shells. And seaglass. And heart rocks. These are all things that I love to collect. I keep the seaglass in bottles, and the shells in a box and the heart rocks in my back yard.  I have all kinds of sea treasures that I think are so pretty, I just stick a string through them and make them into jewelry. If there is one thing on earth that soothes my soul, it is walking along a seashore hunting for shells. The sound of the waves is so calming. And the smell of the sea. Even the stinky seaweed drying in the sun, I love it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After we had had our fill of tidal pools and shell searching, we headed out for a hike. A hike on the Steep Ravine Trail. Two miles to the Ranger Station and two miles back. We brought the backpack for Maggie, just in case. (Thank God! Or we never would have gotten 50 feet!) This hike was phenomenal. It wound itself through redwoods, and over bridges and under waterfalls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And we got back to our campsite just in time for sunset, dinner and smores.

I can not leave this place. My heart would break.

I went out with a friend and her kids last week. The last day of preschool. Yay! Let's go swimming! We took our kids to the quarry and set ourselves down for a nice long day in the hot sunshine. I got out my brand new bottle of SPF 30 sunscreen. You know the kind -- the new "continuous spray" kind. Yeah. Looks cool, huh?!

Mmmm hmmm. DON'T BUY THIS! I saw it at the drugstore and thought "wow, hey great, a sunscreen I can put on my back and not have to worry about someone helping me!" Well, sure. In theory. In the actual world, apparently even a teeny tiny breeze can send that "continuous spray" spraying everywhere EXCEPT on your skin. But I didn't know that. I didn't realize that fact until too late.

When I got home, my back was a mess. I don't remember the last time I had a burn this bad. It is the kind of burn that you show people, and they suck in their breath involuntarily, and then apologize for having reminded you of how bad a burn it is. Here is a picture of my back taken three days after I burned it:

 Okay, I am looking at that photo, and it doesn't look all that bad. But it was. Really! And how about those fabulous quarter size white dots? Cool, huh?! I guess that the continuous spray managed to touch down in certain concentrated areas. Nice.

Well, the worst part of this whole ordeal was when I wanted to put some aloe gel on my back. And Kevin was already at work. But my back was KILLING me! So I asked Maggie to please please please help me. Here is how the exchange went:

Me: Honey, can you put some medicine on Mommy's back, please?

Maggie: Okay.

Me: Alright, here is the gel (squeezing the blue, gooey mentholated aloe gel into her little hands) Now just put it on my back and rub it around...

Maggie: Mommy, I don't like it. I don't want to.

Me: Please honey. Just blop it right on the red parts. (she does -- right on the shoulder blades where I could never in a million years reach by myself) Good Sweetie, now rub it around.

Maggie: No. Mommy. NO.

Me: ( feeling the aloe sitting there in huge sticky piles) Please sweetie? I can't reach it.

Maggie: (starting to cry) Mommy, I don't want to!

Me: (getting frustrated and also feeling helpless) Maggie, please. I will let you watch Dora the Explorer!

Maggie: (crying in earnest now) Nooooooo!

And then, when I turned to look at her, I saw that she had tears streaming down her face and her hand over her mouth and she was gagging! She was so grossed out, she was going to vomit on my back! OH MY GOD!!!! What kind of a monster am I?! I was reminded of that scene in Pet Semetary, where the creepy woman with the Spinal Menengitis makes her sister touch her back. And she is haunted by it her whole life.  Zelda!

Holy crap. I have scarred my child. This will amount to YEARS of future therapy. Damn. I would like the therapist to know, that I STILL let her watch her Dora the Explorer video. Even though she didn't hold up her end of the bargain. That should count for something.