Carp Bluffs Cont'd

Just a few more shots of the Carpinteria Bluffs hike we took.

 
 
 

Carpinteria Bluffs

The Carp Bluffs is a little nature preserve that the citizens of Carp worked pretty hard to save from development. It is a neat park with a bunch of trails winding around and all ending up down at the water front or on top of the cliffs overlooking the water. We spent a few hours wandering around checking out the sites and exploring the area. The waves were pretty big right down by the water and there wasn't a lot of room between water and cliff so we didn't stay at the water too long, but the trails we're nice.

Dinner

We found a great little place to eat in Carp called the Beach Grill at Padaro. The food is decent and cheap and you eat outdoors next to the beach. They have a great open grassy area to eat in with lots of big rocks, hills, and trees for kids to play around in and then there is a big sand pit for kids to play in with lots of toys! Braedyn loved this place.

Hanging with Daddy

Ever since the incident with the wave, Braedyn wants to stay pretty close to Daddo. I certainly don't mind the close company of my favorite little boy though! It's been a lot of fun exploring the many fun things at the beach. Braedyn is so interested in all the shells and rocks and little critters that are here.

 
 
 

Mud Pies

Rocks are certainly still number one, but Braedyn is starting to see the fun in digging holes in the sand and making pies out of the sloppy, wet sand.

 
 
 

Carpinteria Beach Park

We spent lots of time on the beach enjoying the sand and sun. There were tons of dolphins and seals swiming and playing in the water.

Santa Barbara

Our last minute beach vacation brought us to Santa Barbara, CA. Unfortunately the first couple days seemed a lot like Seattle with the sky being overcast with some occassional drizel and a touch on the cool side. Things are getting better though! We're actually staying in the sleepy little beach town of Carpinteria (the answer to yesterdays quiz), and just headed up to Santa Barbara on Sunday to visit a church and to hit the beaches and shops there. Even with the weather not cooperating this is still a beautiful town with gorgeous beaches.

 
 
 
 

Trains

We took off on a little vacation to find the sun this week. The big excitement of the trip for Braedyn has been the Amtrak train that goes through the town we're staying in. It's a few blocks from where we are and so we get to see it quite often. He's been running around saying, "chugga-chugga-chugga, ding-dong" the entire time we've been here and gets really excited everytime we hear the whistle blow. He's also been wanting us to read his "Shiny Dinah" train book a lot more than normal.

Contest: First person to guess where we are gets a t-shirt from the town. Post a comment with your answer. The answer is easier to find than you might think.

 
 

Tall Grass

We had our usual Friday night tradition of Swimming at the Pro Club and then heading to Ooba Toobas for Mexican food. Since it's staying light later now we walked to the nearby store and then played in the "big grass" for awhile.

 
 

Tiny Treks Week 4

This week at Tiny Treks we headed to the Botanical Gardens in Bellevue, WA. This was a great place, and was exceptionally pretty. Lots of nice water gardens and flowers and pretty bushes. Braedyn had a lot of fun exploring the area. The people working at the garden didn't seem to be to keen on kids as they were continously telling the kids to stay out of areas, or stop throwing things, or whatever else. We mostly just ignored them or gave them some nasty glares and kept on exploring... They have a large list of things you can't have at the gardens (dogs, glass, radios, etc.) maybe they need to add children to it if they are going to be so anal about curious little minds wanting to explore their flowers.

 
 
 
 

Jumping

Braedyn has been getting better at climbing up onto higher and higher things. Well, what do you do when you get up to the top? Why jump off of course.

Hanging at the river

Mommy and Braedyn usually meet daddy down on the river trail by our house at the end of the day when he rides his bike home. Then we walk around exploring the woods, throw rocks in, watch the model airplanes and rockets, wave to bikes, or just explore the other neat places.

 
 

Talking

Braedyn talks a lot. It's just amazing to watch him learn and pick up new things, and it's amazing some of the things that he says that it takes us awhile to figure out where he picked them up from. His words have turned to sentances and his talking has moved from jabbering to having real meaning of things that he wants or is feeling. We started keeping a little list of the things that he says that make us smile or laugh and here are a few of the highlights:

• "Almost, try again" - usually said when he misses throwing something in a bucket or is trying to catch something.


• "Rocks in the Beach?"


• "Ready, Set, Go" - knealt down in a starting stance...


• "I need those."


• "Oh! Dori needs food."


• "Go to the Park?"


• "Go to the Gym?"


• "Toe Jam, get it out"


• "Nose kisses, wiggy, wiggy, wiggy"


• "Mommy farts"


• "Bath time, ride daddo's head" - wanting to jump on daddy's shoulders to ride up the stairs.


• "Get on big bed" - let's go play on mommy and daddy's bed


• "Watch Boobies" - meaning movies


• "Braedyn do it" - I don't need your help


• "Check this out!"


• "Horking Down!" - I like this food!


• "Daddo go to work" - said either when daddy is leaving for work or when daddy is annoying Braedyn and he wants daddy to leave


• Ask Braedyn what Daddy does at work and you'll get, "Push Buttons"


• "Oh, I see the moon!"


• "Sun's out!"


• "It's a yucky day out there"


• "Raining on my head"


• "Oh! Big Puddle"


• "Oh, there it is, I find it."

Our neighborhood

It's starting to green up in our neighborhood a bit. All of the trees are getting leaves, the new grass is starting to poke through the dead, the garden seeds are poking their heads out, and the blackberry bushes are thinking about providing juicy treats to us on our walks!

Idylwood

We headed to Idylwood park for a picnic lunch and some time enjoying the rare sunshine.