more beach rock hounding... and a surfing contest

Brad and Francesca show us another beach, a bit further north and closer to jade.

Some of the rocks are staring to look shinier on their way to Jade

The colors in nature are amazing

 Mike finds a rock that "calls" to him

He think it looks Jade like. Francesca says "...maybe"

And a different kind of beach activity

Our friend Roya and her 12 year old daughter Brooke came for a surfing contest at Pismo beach. The waves were gnarly but Brooke held her own and walked away with 3 trophies. She had to compete in the under 18 year old category as there was no under 14's . Mike enjoyed reliving his surfing days by helping with the wax job and it was a delightful day watching.

And another nice time with Bixby
A tea party and basket making

Camping at El Capitan Beach, Bixbys 6th birthday, beach exploring and firelighting.

We enjoyed a weekend camping with Brian, Kelly and Bixby at El Capitan State Beach.

This is a favorite place for us because we spent so much time there as our kids were growing up. 

The weather was warm enough for "the boys" Mike, Brian and Bixby to go swimming. 

Bixby wears a cool helmet to ride his scooter.

These are the very same sycamore trees Kelly climbed as a child

Here is Kelly jumping off the same trees when she was about six

Three year old Cameron is on the right

For Bixbys 6 year old birthday I made him a book titled "When Mommy Was Six" and here are some of the pictures...Me and the kids hiking up the mist trail in Yosemite, Mike and Kelly, Kelly and my mom and dad..All in 1984

 At Bixbys 6th birthday, the boys made Ninja swords and had lots of boy fun.

My dad even got into the action.

 

How many engineers does it take to hang a pinata?

 Those boys sure can sing

Kelly organised the pinata line...and everyone survived !!!

Evan from Outside Now usually works with children but does some workshops for adults. We attended his fire making one... a very pleasant time spent outdoors learning new things.

And then there is the time we spend with our friend Brad.

(Brad and Mike were in the same 4th grade class and we discovered  that when we first moved to Cambria.)  Brad knows so much about geology and the area and we love exploring with him.

This time it was a native site on the bluffs and wonderful rocks on the beach near San Simeon.

We discovered a huge rock of jade planted in the water, only accessible at low tide.

I am clutching my bag of rock treasures.

We love to look for moonstones, which are the special agates found on a few of our beaches