Sand Sledding

Apparently every year at the beginning of "winter", the city of Carpinteria tries to save their sandy beaches by pushing all of the sand up into a big burm across the entire beach. It seems like it probably blocks the view of all the ocean front homes, but it sure makes for a fun time for a toddler. We headed down to check it out and got to make some giant jumps from the top and then go sledding down the hill on borrowed boogie boards.

 
 

Birthday Party

We headed to a friend's house last Saturday for their baby's one year birthday party. Cake is always a big hit and Braedyn now knows that it comes with parties!

 
 
 

Hammonds Beach

We recently purchased the book Santa Barbara Fun and have been exploring different places out of the book. Hammonds beach is a nice beach that is nearby and we hadn't been to it so we decided to head up on Sunday afternoon.

Sandyland Beach

We realize that our blog has become a little boring lately as all we ever have on it are beach pictures, but really it's the main thing that we do. Just about any day will find us heading out to a new beach we haven't been to in order to dig holes in the sand, throw rock in the waves, chase some birds, and watch the sunset. It will be a long time before we tire of going, especially when it brings so much joy to us to watch Braedyn thoroughly enjoying himeself in what we've dubbed as his favorite playground.

 
 
 
 

Happy Thanksgiving

We have been so blessed and are so very thankful for so many things. Our family and friends are the top of the list to be thankful for. And although we don't get to see you all every day you are in our thoughts and prayers constantly. Have a great holiday.

 

Birthday Parties

It seems like everyone we know in Carpinteria is turning one! Here's Braedyn hanging out at a couple of different one year birthday parties.

 
 
 
 

Working out

The beach park in Carpinteria has a nice little outdoor workout area that mom and dad sometimes stop off at during runs. Braedyn has really taken to it lately and has even begun to tell us that he wants to go exercise.

 
 
 

Saturday morning coffee

We typically take it pretty easy on the weekends, maybe a hike or a trip up to Santa Barbara for something, but most of the time we just hang out. The one ritual we have on these no-plan days is a morning bike ride to the coffee shop in town and then down to the beach. Here's a little photo journey of our trip from home to the coffee shop.
On the second photo you can really see the smoke billowing out of the foothills up in Santa Barbara. It looks like smog but it is smoke. This was the fist Saturday after the Tea Fire. The fire broke out Thursday evening as a result of a bonfire left to smolder by a group of 10 local college students at the Tea house, an abandoned mansion in Montecito. When the winds kicked up well that was that. Note to those unaware, Never leave fires smoldering in this state, especially in the mountains. We never got smoke in Carp but it was definitely obvious as you drove into Santa Barbara for the first few days following the fire. This fire looked so close, to Talisha, on the night of the actual blaze. Turns out it was quite a ways away from our house anyway. In her credit you could supposedly even see the flames from Ventura on the night of the blaze. Ventura is another 25 minutes S on Hwy 101.

Camping

Last weekend Braedyn and Daddy decided to make a try at camping! We'd been talking it up for weeks and even had a little paper chain to count down the days to our camping trip. On the day of the trip we packed up the car and headed 2 miles down the road to the Carpinteria State Beach Park and Campground. We had reserved a nice spot right on the beach and got our tent setup pretty quickly. We went and played on the beach for awhile before getting our fire going and cooking up some hotdogs and marshmallows. After sitting around the fire for awhile we decided to get in the tent and get ready for bed and read some books. We got all ready and started into reading, but the darkness and all the new sounds were a little frightening for a two year old even with daddy close by. After many attempts to console him we decided to give mom a call. She drove back over to the campground and we ended up deciding to pack it in for the night for the comfort and safety of home. This made Breadyn feel a lot better and he went to sleep right away once we got home. He still remembers the trip as a fun time with a big fire and tasty hot dogs. We'll give it another try again soon.

 
 
 
 

Santa Barbara Beach Park

Braedyn and Mommy tried to head to the zoo on the day of the Tea fire in the Montecito foothills, but the smoke from the fires had closed the zoo down. So instead of heading home they decided to hit a local beach park for a little playtime.

 
 
 
 

Tidepools and Sunsets

We spent enough time at the tidepools to watch the sunset on this evening. One blessing of the fires that have been going on around here is that the sunsets get a lot more colorful! We are saddened for those that have lost there homes nearby but hold fast to our hope without wavering for He who promised is faithful [Heb. 10:23].

 
 
 
 

Exploring Tidepools

Our local beach has some great tide pools when the tide gets really low. The timing worked out just perfect on this day with the lowest tide of the month hitting right after naptime. So Mommy and Braedyn picked Daddo up from work a little early and headed the 2 blocks down to the beach to check things out.