Some Summer Pics-The California Trip 2015

Because I hadn't blogged all summer, here are a few pictures from our California trip.  Here is Ellen on the airplane on the way over to Denver, I believe.  Before we leave on our trip she sweats about it; she is a born worrywort, from both my dad and her paternal aunt.  

But once we are in the air going she does great; mostly she reads or colors.  In this pic she is wearing her "Grace" American Girl hat.  She bought this herself; saved up her allowance and birthday money and paid for it herself.

Notice that her hair is not braided nor pulled back.  After a 12 or so hour journey her hair wasn't just tangled, it was dreaded.  Serious dreadlocks.  Next year we will do things a bit differently.



Below is a picture of the tail end of our journey that started on June 18th. We did not get to the Eureka/Arcata Airport in McKinleyville until about 4 am on June 19th.  

All the flights out of San Francisco were cancelled.  The next flight at 6 am was full.  The next flight after that was 10 pm; it was likely to be full as well.  

Picture Ellen in a panic and myself very close to.  But they got 2 vans to DRIVE us up, overnight, from San Fran to Eureka.  The drivers were Asian, barely spoke English, and believed in driving at about 85 mph through the mountain passes.  Lovely.  But we got there and here is a pic I snapped of the van we rode in.  


Here is a picture of Rattlesnake Grass.  At least that is what my dad always called it.  He did his best to eliminate it from our property.  There is a patch of it along the road to the park from where my mom lives.  You can guess how it gets its name.

Here, on June 24th, is a picture of Ellen checking her wingspan.  I have tried to get a shot of this every time we go to CA so I can put them together as a growth chart.  But I never have collated them all yet.  I ought to.   

This year Ellen FINALLY started going down the slides by herself.  I was glad to see this.  Every year she has grown a bit and does things differently.

We went to the Made in Humboldt fair.  This year they had an Australian animals exhibit.  Ellen enjoyed this very much.  



We went out to eat a various places.  At Mazotti's in Arcata I had an Italian soda.  I hadn't had an Italian soda in ages.  Well over a decade I believe.  It was very good.

We did go to the beach a couple of times.  Here is Ellen at Moonstone Beach.  Very arguably the prettiest beach there.  The tide came in while we were there and was got to watch it wash up the river that runs into the ocean there.  We also go to watch a couple of surfers do their thing.  Ellen was fascinated by that.

That was pretty much our trip.  Except for the cool kids' play area in the Chicago O'hare airport:
Ellen enjoyed herself greatly here; even made a few friends while we were waiting.  And since we had a 5 hr or more layover, she had plenty of time to play and make friends.  I even made friends with a lady named April.  She had two kids there too.

That's all for now.

I am thankful for: A safe round trip to California.  Sand between my toes, animals from a different country, family to love and laugh with, a daughter who loves to travel.  Beautiful scenery.

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