December already!

I am simply in awe that we are already into December. My goal for this month is to share all my November (and possibly October) photos. These pictures were taken at an undeveloped coastal preserve near where Mae practiced soccer. Lucy came with me and we had a great time exploring. The light was beautiful, just about sunset.

We found a lot of these caterpillars on a willow tree which will become Spotted Tussock Moths. I continue to be fascinated by life cycles of moths and butterflies. Such amazing diversity.

We also found a tree swing. Loads of fun!

This is the path along a creek. We saw an egret and a kingfisher!

In my opinion, this is the best way to spend a soccer practice. Well, knitting in a warm car is a pretty good option, too.

Keystone

A couple of days after we got home from NJ, we went up to Keystone for a short visit with Grandma Cindy & Grandpa Bart. It was so beautiful! We went on an amazing hike with the most gorgeous wildflowers.

Cold Springs Hike

We did another creek hike the other day, this one was spectacular! After a short hike we came across this pool and water slide area. Too bad it wasn't sunny. We all would have played in the water for longer.

Mae came close to going down the slide.

Very close, but ended up just jumping in and swimming.

I was the only one who actually went down the slide into the pool, but of course there was no one there to photograph that, so you'll just have to take my word (and wet hair) as proof. It was cold!

SB Botanic Garden

The other day we decided to go for a creek walk and the trail we chose was packed, couldn't even find a place to park. So we ended up at the botanic garden. A lovely second option. Same creek, just lower down the mountains.

Above is their redwood grove.

Fishing (catch and release) for tadpoles.

It is really hard to take pictures in dappled forest light, but in person it was beautiful.

Rocky Mountain National Park

On Monday the whole family loaded in the car and drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park. We are so lucky to have such an amazing place so close to us. It took us about an hour and a half at most to get there. We decided to hike to Cub Lake. It is a 2.3 mile hike that starts at 8,080 feet and finishes at 8,620 feet. On the way up, Chance mentioned that the last time we did this hike, in 2004, he ran the whole thing. He challenged Isabel to run it. She said, "ok" and the next thing I knew I said, "I'll run it with you." I thought this would be a good training run for the race I am doing in August, The Colorado Relay. It is a 197 mile run from Georgetown, CO to Aspen, CO. You have a 10 person team and each person runs 3 legs of the race over the course of about 24-36 hours. Needless to say, I have some more training to do. I am not sure that sea level is going to be too helpful to me this summer. Oh well, anyway...Izzy and I ran it (at least most of it) in about 35 minutes. Not bad I would say.

Yes, that's a moose

And yes, it was pretty close

That is an elk, and it too was pretty close.

Those are all elk. There were billions of them. I didn't even capture them all in this photo.

A short fall hike

Grandpa Dave and Grandma Carol came to visit last weekend and boy were we busy. There was a play, 3 soccer games, 1 soccer practice and we went to our annual 'Los Olivos Lunch'.

These ferns were on the wall of the waterfall.

We don't get many signs of fall, especially this year. Since October began, we've had 3 heat waves of 90 plus degrees and very little cold, so I'll take any fall leaf I can find.

Mae at the base of Nojoqui Falls.

The light was beautiful, bright and cheery through the green leaves.

Yay! Three kids smiling in one photograph. That almost never happens.
Hope fall is lovely wherever you are, except those of you who are in spring.

Over the hill

The agreeable siblings (for this moment, at least) and I headed over the foothills in search of sun. We went over about once each week during June Gloom and Cool Early July and found exactly what we were looking for. A short hike, blue sky, cool water and sunshiney happiness.

This is the wonderful Santa Ynez river.

This pool was at least 10-15 feet deep. We swam across and jumped off that rock you see.

This guy was in a mud puddle. Pretty big by my standards. The crayfish, that is, not the mud puddle.

The hike out was during the warmest part of the day. Everyone cooled their heads off, like Mae here, but she did it with the most style.
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This week has been full of beach, beach and more beach. We are so thrilled that the sun has decided to stay.