A great day

 Saturday was a fun day...for our family here on the central coast and for our son in Ohio.

First, in Ohio, Cameron's wife Tina gave him a wonderful gift for his birthday. Our son Cameron was always into airplanes and flying and spent much of his childhood time using the flight simulator on our early, crude computers. For his 13th birthday he asked for flying lessons and he was a natural, amazing his instructor, Alan with his understanding and ability to fly a plane. He continued to take lessons from Alan and "soloed", flying by himself' at the age of 16.Fast forward to this, his 40th birthday and once again he is in the sky, flying this beautiful vintage plane. He will be continuing his lessons, aiming to complete his small plane license.

Meanwhile back at the ranch...aka Kelly's in Atascadero,

We walked the trail opposite her house to cut a 

Christmas Tree. Bixby chose a beautiful one.

And cut it down himself using a hand saw

We all agreed it was a winner

We  proceeded to carry it the mile

 to the paying booth.

Then home again

We climb back over the fence to leave

the tree lot in front of Kelly's house

Kelly and Mike get the end cut off

Then to decorate and play games

Camerons 40th birthday

 Today, November 25th, is Camerons 40th birthday. I remember the day fondly. He arrived almost two weeks after his due date so we had prepared for the day a few times. In the morning I felt that birth was imminent so Mike and I made a quick trip to Doctor Rubenstein who said "not yet".  I knew he was wrong  so I went home and cleaned the house. At 2pm I made a quick trip to get my hair cut and the hairdresser asked when my baby was due. Today, I answered and she cut noticeable faster. Then I have a clear memory of feeding Kelly, then 2 1/2, a hot dog while I hurriedly paid all the bills (a side on this...a week later and the bank called and said that I had written a credit card payment for $2,000 instead of $200). Mike and I dropped Kelly off at Nanny and Grandads at 6pm and headed for the hospital. The Doctor still said not quite yet but soon for sure. He left to go and watch a basketball game in the Drs lounge...I went to go pee and yelled to Mike that the baby was coming. He ran off in search of the Doc and when they returned they found me crawling towards the bed. Dr Rubenstein said " You gotta get onto the bed if you want me to catch this baby" I made it...just. Cameron was born a little after 8pm. In those days you didn't know the sex of the baby until they were born. We were thrilled to have "one of each", Mike cut the cord and we were left alone to bond. They brought us food but Mike said he was tired so he lay on the bed and held Cameron while I ate and took photos. Mike went home to Kelly and I kept Cameron with me until we left the hospital the next day.  The following day was Thanksgiving...but no plans were made and I wanted to show off our son. Mike called my parents and put together a delicious meal.  Our first Thanksgiving as a complete family.

A GOOD OCTOBER

                        October was a good month for us. 

                         I captured this picture of Mars with my cell phone.

                        

                           We got to visit with my dad again

             Chair dancing to live music once again at Creston Village.

                       We were allowed to  bring him to visit his house in Cambria... .                                                                                             celebrating with a simple lunch on the deck.

Then I had a wonderful day at Montana De Oro

with Michelle and her two girls, Eden and Lily.

Children see everything on the trail.

and we stop to look at the scat...poop...

Lily thought it looked like bear...

one was spotted  near by that week.

Maybe coyote that was eating berries?

Celebrating "A sense of Wonder"

a la Rachel Carson

Lily likes to smash things apart on the beach.

"Its the only way that you can see what's inside"

Everyone has good balance 

as we perch on the side of a cliff.

and sit and listen to the ocean.

Eden makes yellow ochre paint from 

the chalk like cliff.

Lily is the explorer/climber

Eden notices the cormorants

Mom Michelle is always on her toes...

following her youngest. But not too close...

allowing for independence to develop.

Eden feels like dancing, twirling her skirt 

On Saturday our hiking friends met for a hike up Stenner Creek

Mike enjoyed swinging on the gate

The train tracks were interesting.

The golden, rolling hills of California.

Mike showed us how to make

soap out of Yucca

While Dave and Janet looked at the trail

This "bench" is for the mountain bikers tricks

and a good spot to rest.

 On Monday I joined Chris and Matthew 

and we explored the dinosaur caves at Pismo Beach.

The colors of the rocks are amazing

And Halloween was celebrated by 

Jack, Dani and Aislinn and Arlo in Ohio

Jack was Slenderman and said 

"I was told that I was good 

at it due to my lankiness"

And back in Cambria, 

Bixby discovers a minotaur head 

that my mom made for a school play.

Bixby said "I have no shirt on because 

I spilled my drink on it"