Nature Nerding: April 2015

Mount Tamalplais

We headed to Mount Tamalplais state park for one more camping trip and discovered this gem of a campsite right by the sea.

Well, actually they were out of campsites and we were forced to stay in a cabin. Cassia clapped with glee when we told her.

The flowers were out in full bloom and I got busy with my camera. My love affair with California poppies continues.

More flowers that I haven't identified. Once again I searched every book store for a good plant guide and there doesn't seem to be one. Would someone please write a decent guide for California? I nominate Pojar and Mackinnon. Plant guides organized by flower colour drive me batty.

Sunshine, the ocean, flowers and a happy family. No wonder Cassia is suggesting we go on more vacations.

This kid is keen to climb.

A selection of tiny beach treasures.

Morning sunshine.

I'm pretty sure these are a borage.I'd put this in a plant guide if I were writing one. Just sayin'.

California newt out after a rain storm.

Yosemite

We drove out to Yosemite. Google claimed it would take us 3 hrs 45 min. Google was so wrong. Six hours later (and not just because the kids needed to stop lots) we arrived. It was worth it.

Either a ponderosa pine or a jeffrey pine, it's pretty hard to differentiate without seeing a cone.

Half dome

Happy hiker at Yosemite falls.

California

We headed south for an early taste of summer in late March.
Isla enjoyed her first taste of sorrel.

Sorrel and trilliums in the redwood forest.

San Fran sunset.

Isla loved La Boulange as much as the rest of us. It's San Fransisco's version of La Baguette.

This kid cracks me up.

Oh, it's so nice to see her climbing a tree.

Muir woods

Muir Beach

Scotland

Back in November we flew across the pond to spend some time in beautiful Scotland (Cassia will tell you how we took THREE planes to get there). I was lucky enough to get up Arthur's Seat on a sunny day.

We headed out to Ardfern on the west coast to enjoy a weekend by the sea with great friends.

Craigdhu Farmhouse

Fun on the beach

It was Isla's 1/2 birthday (6 months), so Cassia made her a cake and sang her happy birthday.

Ready for a family adventure.

The Blog

Well, it appears that I am really crappy at keeping this blog going these days. I have been contemplating abandoning it all together, but I still really like some aspects of it. It's like a photo album of our family adventures and I frequently use it to look up where we went. I also like that the non-facebookers have a chance to see some of our photos.

I contemplated switching to flickr or Storehouse, but I'm not sure a switch would really help. For now I'll continue putting photos up here as well as on facebook. For those of you on FB, sorry about the double posts.

And now, to catch up on some blogging...

NN