Back to Nature

Last Saturday we began our day lazing around the house. It started out as a nice peaceful morning and at some point it started to change into a bickering session between the kids.

It was at this point that I made an executive decision to get out of the house and get back to nature. I figured the children needed an attitude adjustment and a hike was just the motivation they needed.

After much grumbling and groaning and "do I have to?" asked numerous times, we loaded up the van and drove to the beginning of the trail.

This handsome fellow was the only one of my children that was very excited about the idea and he willingly jumped in the van with a big smile on his face. Isn't that smile gorgeous??

The hike started slow with the age old questions - "how long is this going to take?" "how far are we going to go?" I just smiled at them and kept walking. I knew that nature would soon weave her magic on them and their attitudes would soon change.
Remember the wildflowers Dave and I collected last week? Like I promised, these are the seeds from that bouquet.
The kids had a blast distributing the seeds among the hills. I think Baron thought they were scrumptious dog treats, he was sorely disappointed!!

We found numerous animal tracks and were able to identify raccoon, deer, coyote, and mountain lion. We even found a set of tracks that looked like a coyote hunting a small deer and taking it down. This led to a very interesting discussion about the Circle of Life, prey/predator relationships and their impact on the environment. I love these conversations with my children, it warms my heart.

We also made a new friend. After a brief relationship, she flew away.

As I expected, nature cast her magic spell on my children and the attitudes miraculously changed. Soon they were running and laughing and having a wonderful time. A bit of fresh air, some exercise, some conversation, and a lot of laughter is definitely the best medicine.

Here are the children at the end of our hike. Look at their gorgeous smiles, the happiness on their faces warms my heart. The magic is definitely working here. An hour earlier they were bickering and arguing and definitely not smiling.

More magic. I also love watching the children and dog running together. It is a truly beautiful site.

Spring Hike

I found this trail a couple of months ago quite by accident. I was walking my dog and saw an entrance to a fire road and decided to do a bit of exploring. I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. The trail/fire road winds its way through the hills around town and goes on for miles. We have been walking it regularly. Baron can get some off leash time, which he LOVES, and I can enjoy the quiet of nature, which I LOVE. It is about a 2 mile walk from our house, up hills, to the beginning of the trail and then we will walk the trail for about a mile before going home. The other day I decided to go on a wildflower walk on the trail. We have had a lot of rain recently and the wildflowers are just beginning to bloom. I knew we would walk quite a distance, so we drove to the beginning of the trail, and I am glad we did. We ended up walking for almost 2 hours and it was pure heaven.

This is my favorite time of year. The hills are green and lush, the skies are blue, and the air is full of birdsong. Oak trees are one of my favorite trees, redwoods being the other. They are so majestic and strong. I love seeing an old oak tree in a sea of green grass. Baron has decided to have a rest in the shade of this beauty. Doesn't he look small and insignificant next to the tree?

We won't be able to hike this trail much longer. All this beautiful green grass will soon be a deadly carpet for Baron. Fox tails....thousands of them are just waiting to bloom. I have spent thousands of dollars at the vets due to these pesky little critters. I avoid them at all costs. Also, this area is rattlesnake heaven. These creatures will soon be out of hibernation and I do not want to encounter any of them. One of my childhood dogs was killed by a rattlesnake...it was horrible. We will enjoy the beauty now and pack it away in our mind until next spring.

Just gorgeous...more oak trees...more lush greenness. Soon all these hills will be golden brown in the hot days of summer. The greenness will be gone for another year.

Our first wildflowers. I don't know what these are called, but they reminded me of baby daffodils. I loved them.

Purple lupine and California poppies. California at its finest!! What a winning combination.

Lupine in the background and I am not sure what in the foreground, but it pleases my eye and soul. I think I need to do a quick tutorial on wildflowers!! I must educate myself.

The hills are definitely alive with color. This picture does not do it justice. The poppies, the lupine, the oaks, the sea of green...it does not get much better than this.

Baron and I enjoyed our wildflower hike. We will be back again, but not until next year. The fox tails are blooming and the rattlesnakes are waking up. We will be smart and safe and find a new walking trail. I also saw mountain lion tracks on the trail....it was very exciting!!

A New Year Day Tradition

Our tradition for New Year's Day is to go on a family hike. This year we challenged ourselves and went on our hardest hike to date. If you remember we found a new hiking trail in November and since we loved it so much we decided to hike it again. The first mile of the hike is uphill, some parts steeper than others, but it is a definite uphill grade.


We reached the ridge line and looked to the left and saw this trail snaking its way up another hill. The day was very foggy and the trail looked like it was going straight to heaven. We decided to keep going uphill, this is after a mile of uphill we just completed!

Up we went, into the fog, our lungs burning, our thighs burning...it was gorgeous.

The last portion felt like we were walking up steep stairs. I felt like I would have fallen backward if I stumbled at all. It was quite unnerving. Of course the dog and kids just ran up the hill like it was nothing while Dave and I were sucking air and dripping sweat.


At the top we looked back and our trail was swallowed up by the fog, a gorgeous site. I love foggy days and I love hiking on foggy days.

Foggy days are somewhat eerie and when we walked by a dead tree full of turkey vultures, the eerie factor was escalated.

I was able to capture a profile of these gorgeous scavengers. They may be eerie, but I think they are beautiful birds.
On the way down the hill the kids found this crater and decided to explore it. I think it is an earthquake fault line, but I didn't tell them that. I think Baron is trying to rescue them.

Speaking of Baron, isn't that a gorgeous face? He looks so happy. He loves nothing more than to run free in the hills, exploring the wilderness.

Speaking of gorgeous faces, this is definitely my new favorite picture. They look so healthy and happy.

Happy Poop

On the day before Thanksgiving, before I started my hours and hours of cooking...we went on a hike. It was wonderful. We found a new hiking trail near our house where the dog could run off leash and we could enjoy the beautiful views.

Our hike started out uphill and continued to climb, and climb, and climb. It must have been at least a mile straight uphill. My lungs were burning and the air was cold...it was very invigorating.Of course Michael not only ran up the hill, he did a few leaps along the way. Youth is wasted on the young. I could have used some of his energy. He wasn't even out of breath!!

When we reached the ridge line we were afforded some incredible views. We could see for miles. It was overcast and raining, but on a clear day we would have been able to see San Francisco. It was well worth the trek.

We hiked through cow grazing territory. We didn't have any close encounters with the cows, we were unsure how Baron would react to them. My wonderful husband found the following and recommended I take a picture of it. He said it would be good blog fodder. He was right.

Everyone guessed correctly...it is Happy Poop. We did not create the Happy Poop...a previous hiker did!! If you want a great laugh...read all the comments in the post below....they are hysterical. Marmite and Tea pointed out the weed that resembles a bow on her Happy Head...too funny...I had not noticed that.

Our hike was wonderful until we got back to the car and we realized that our shoes had 3 inches of mud on them, our clothes were soaking wet, the kids' pants were wet and muddy, and the dog was wet and muddy. Dave had the wonderful idea of all of us taking our shoes and pants off for the drive home. His thought process went a step further as he thought how funny it would be to be pulled over on the way home. The policeman would see a family of four without pants on! Needless to say, we left our pants on, but we did have the kids strip, much to their chagrin!! Did I mention it was raining that day? We were freezing...but happy....just like the Happy Poop Face.

Cub Scout Adventure

This is one of my favorite pictures of my children. It was taken about 2 years ago at one of my favorite places - Pt. Reyes National Seashore. This is one of my "Happy Places"....whenever I go there I feel very peaceful and spiritual. I love hiking in the redwoods, smelling the clean air, watching the butterflies, basically communing with nature....My "Crunchy" side comes out to play!! We went there today, and although I usually go there to find peace and spirituality....today was a bit different. Today we went there with Michael's cub scout den. I am talking about 6 - seven year old boys and their families..siblings included!! We had a blast!! Not much peace was found today...but a lot of laughter and learning was. We did a short .5 mile walk to the "authentic, recreated" Indian village and did the Junior Ranger program for the site. I did this program with my Girl Scout troop years ago and thought it would be fun for the boys. Since this month's theme is Indians...it kind of all fell into place!! The boys loved it, and the families did too. No one got hurt...nothing got broken...the village looked the same when we left as it did when we got there.....all in all a successful adventure!! The boys were able to go into a sweat lodge, a house, grind acorns, and learn many things about Native Californians. I am not sure how much they actually retained...but they loved the running and screaming parts the best....especially the screaming done in the sweat lodge...the acoustics were great in there, so I heard!!