Cameron, Arlo and Jack

Emily, Cameron and the boys are in Ohio. Even though Em and Cameron are not still married they are doing a good job working together raising Arlo and Jack. The boys will spend June with us this summer. We will have a family get together, explore the sights, rocks and wildlife of Cambria and go to Yosemite.

Arlo and jack are enjoying their childhood in Ohio. Good schooling and good outdoor activities

Mike and Sues life

Mike is doing fantastic, fully recovered from the bacterial infection that almost ended his life 5 years ago. He plays tennis and  is enjoying a woodcarving group and making native american inspired baskets.

I have a wonderful group of friends, enjoy a woman's topic group and a few of us are training to hike part of the John Muir Trail this summer.. We try and do a challenging hike at least once a month. We often go along the coast but have just returned from a steep and strenuous trail in Pinnacles National Park.

Catching up

Well its been a while since I wrote here. I could make all kind of excuses like....we got a new computer and it changed the system....I haven't been spending much screen time.....I have better things to do. etc.....
Actually all of the above.
   Life is still great here. Lots to do, good friends, good scenery and family close by. My mom and dad bought a house here at Christmas time and then sold their Sherman Oaks house for full price in 3 days and moved here permanently last month. It was a challenge at the age of 84 but now they are happily settled. We have 4 generations living near each other.

Bixby is now 4 years old and Kelly is working part time City planning for the city of Atascadero. Bix goes to Cuesta College Pre-school and spends a day with us now and then. We have just returned from camping at the beach with them.

Another great time at the beach

We had Bixby for the Memorial Day weekend and spent time on his favorite beach. We built a fort, dug and when his shovel blew into the lagoon, grandad had to lasso it with seaweed !!!

 

It's June....

 

 

My Dads work is part of an exhibit at the Getty Museum. Its an exhibit about the development of architecture in LA in the 70's and 80's. Here he is pictured with an exhibit on the structures he designed for the '84 Olympics.They were temporary decorations for LA and made of canvass. I remember it well and it is great that he is getting some recognition for his work. Tomorrow I will look up our photos next to this piece and add those to this blog.

 

                                                  A cactus is blooming in our front deck garden

                                    I enjoyed a talk by a fish and game guy down at our local Santa Rosa creek.

                                     Mikes latest interest is making Pine Needle baskets. He makes                                           them with our local pine needles in the old ways of the
                                                            Native    Americans

Mothers Day Campout

We celebrated mothers day camping at El Capitan State Beach with Kelly, Brian, Bixby and friends, my nephew Alex who is graduating from UCSB and my mom and dad who came for the afternoon.It was fun watching Bixby playing with his friends, kids riding bikes and scooters, playing baseball, making smores, drumming around the campfire at night, enjoying nature and for just Mike and I, being on the beach for a humpback whale breaching 5 times right in front of us. (no camera with us of course). Here are a few pictures of the weekend.

Kelly and the kids enjoy banana boats

Nana Gwen and Grandad Oscar play horseshoes.

 

Mike and Brian master kite flying.

 

Bix and dad enjoyed the water

 

The moms enjoyed sand castle building

                                                           Brian and Kelly play Frisbee

 

kids enjoy cupcakes

 

 

And music

Update

I have to apologize for not keeping up with our blog for the last few months. life is just great for us here in Cambria. Better than even we could imagine. We have time to walk, talk, read,garden, do music with friends,and spend time with Kelly, Brian and Bixby. Mike is back to playing Tennis a couple of times a week (he is over the joint issues he had for a couple of years ), he is making pine needle baskets and bird nesting boxes. We have a good social life with great friends. Today we walked on the bluffs in the morning and the afternoon, riding our scooter down the road to the beach, collecting shells for Mikes baskets and then eating cheese and crackers on the bluffs watching a pod of 6 humpback whales go by. Wonderful. We are having a big family camp out at El Capitan this weekend with 4 generations and friend and family., honoring moms, especially my mom who is 84 years young. We love observing the nature happening in our back yard. nesting Chickadees have just left the nest, the woodpecker has almost finished pecking out her nesting hole and the wild turkeys and deer are checking out our front yard for tasty plants and water.
  

                        These are some photos taken on the Ranch by our good friend Brad Seek.
Brad and Mike discovered that they went to St Cyrils school together and Brad has a picture of them in the same 4th grade class. Its a small world and we have found several similar connections in Cambria. This is a great community.

                                                  We have seen this Red Fox on the Ranch.

     

And the Burrowing Owl

                                     This is similar to the Chickadee that nested in our box.

                                           My parents came at Easter and my mom and
                                                  Bixby went over the plans
                                                   to remodel Kelly and Brian's kitchen.

 

Mikes reading puts Bixby to sleep

 

This is the nesting box Mike made that the Chickadees used.

 

And our woodpecker tree. We thought we would remove this old snag when we first moved in but now realize how valuable it is to the woodpecker community. It also stops them from pecking on our house. !!