Johnson's Beach

Johnson's Beach

My goal this summer is to get the kids used to the water.  I didn't really do a good job with this last summer with Luke so I'm making up time this year.  My friends decided to create a "Monday bucket list" during the summer.  We want to have the best possible summer for the kids.  So on Monday we went to Johnson's Beach in Guerneville which is on the river.  It was so much fun.  We couldn't get Olivia out of the water, so loved it.  Luke loved throwing the rocks into the river and eating ice cream.  It was a great day.

Point Reyes Lighthouse

This weekend decided to go to the Point Reyes Lighthouse. First we stopped in Inverness and walked a little path to an old boat. However, Inverness didn't have anywhere to eat lunch, so we back tracked about 5 miles to Point Reyes Station and ate at The Station House Cafe. It was a good lunch.

We had plans to do a hike at Point Reyes but it took us so long to get there that we decided to just visit the lighthouse and go back for a hike another day. We had to take a shuttle bus from the visitor's center to the lighthouse. We saw lots and lots of cows on the ride. Luke liked seeing the cows and saying "moo". The lighthouse was great, but there were 300 steps down to the lighthouse and back up to the shuttle bus. Olivia did about 200 of the 300 steps back up.

We also saw some elephant seals on the beach. There was one just sleeping in the bushes and two others on the sand. We saw the two on the beach jump in the water and start playing with each other. It was an amazing sight to see them go into the water. Their play reminded me of Gus and Lucy playing.

Luke had his first sentence yesterday. He walked up to the me and did his "I want sign" which was suppose to be his "milk" sign but isn't and said "I want crackers". It was a pretty good sentence. Of course I haven't heard him say crackers before or since he said this sentence.

Jack London SHP

This morning's adventure had us heading east on a beautiful drive through Bennett Valley to Glen Ellen.  Our destination:  Jack London State Historic Park.  Tiffany and I had visited the park back in 2004, but we don't remember a whole lot about our visit. 

After strapping the kids to our backs, we headed toward the Wolf House, Jack London's dream house that tragically burned down right before it's completion.  The rock structure stands amongst the wildlife in an eerie state, its perfectly preserved fireplaces and chimneys the only reminder of "civilized" life. 

We unpacked the lunches we picked up at the Glen Ellen Village Market and enjoyed a quick meal at a picnic table right next to the house before heading back up the trail. 

 Following an informative stroll through the museum, we headed over for a more strenuous hike, which started a few yards away.  We were able to view many of the old buildings from Jack London's farm, before heading up a moderately strenuous(1)  hike up to London Lake.  While a beautiful setting, London Lake was little more than a dirty pond of silt and mud.  We look forward to more extensive hiking in the future on the miles of trails that await beyond London Lake.

On our way home we picked up a couple of drinks(2) in order to replace any calories we had accidentally burned off during the hike.

Another successful day in our quest to enjoy all that Sonoma County has to offer.


(1) Moderately strenuous because I had to push Olivia up in the BOB stroller.  Olivia is a bit under the weather.
(2) Coca Cola for Dad, some kind of fruit infused tea for Mom, and a chocolate milk for Olivia (to be enjoyed later).

Armstrong Woods

We've been to Armstrong Woods before this year but we enjoy Armstrong Woods and it was Celene and Naomi's first time. Brandon wanted to get some good pictures of Armstrong Woods to frame in our house too. As always Armstrong Woods was nice, peaceful but cold.

Hike in Shiloh Park

It was a beautiful day in Sonoma County so we decided to take a hike in at Shiloh Park. I've been to Shiloh park before but I wanted to take Brandon. The worst part about Shiloh Park is that dog aren't allowed, so Lucy had to sit this one out. We hiked a long way up but we could see Windsor and Santa Rosa from the view point. Unfortunately we didn't bring our camera, which I'm going to have to remember to do in the future.

Both kids were very tired so we decided after lunch to take a drive. We drove on Chalk Hill Road to Geyserville. It was a very pretty drive and both kids slept peacefully during most of the drive. It was there we decided that we need to try and do as many things as possible in Sonoma County this year because we live in such a beautiful place and there is so much to offer.