Spring break

We took our spring break a couple weeks early, while the kids still had classes, and stayed in Crescent City for a week.  We shared a house with another family.  The beach was just across the street; it was nice to see the ocean out the big window.  Those on school zooms did those during the day, and then when they were done in the afternoon we went out exploring.  We had fun hiking around the coastal redwoods.  

We also had fun hanging out with our friends, eating good food, watching movies, playing games, pool table, and doing evening devotionals.  We had great food because our friend is a caterer and wanted to do full meals.  I only cooked one of the dinners.  One of Weston's favorite things was the massage chair.  Alex and I went jogging in the morning, running along the coast.  It was nice to go for a jog and then have a full breakfast ready to eat when we got back.  I wanted to help out with the meals, but Donald pretty much took over the cooking (since that's what he loves to do).  As mentioned, we decided to do a little scripture reading and spiritual thoughts every evening after dinner.  Those were one of my favorite things that we did.  We also were able to do the sacrament the first Sunday we arrived.    

We were pretty lucky with the weather - it rained pretty good one day and a little drizzle another day.  Aside from that, we had clear skies.    

We bought a big block of cheese from the Rumiano Cheese Store - they make it there.  

We learned NOT to pick up slugs - Weston got some really sticky stuff on his fingers that was hard to get off (it's a defense mechanism).  We found a cool newt along the path.  We also realized that the clover leaves were purple on the underside.  I'm surprised I hadn't seen that before.  

We came across a new plant we hadn't seen before - skunk cabbage (the first 2 pictures below).  There weren't a lot of wildflowers, but I took quite a few pictures of the ones I came across.  

We got pretty muddy while hiking.  Savannah, in particular, liked to walk straight through the mud holes and the water when we went to Fern Canyon.  (You'll see our pile of hiking boots in one of the photos below.)    

They had a little project in this area, to figure out a water crossing.  

We stopped by the Trees of Mystery to see the giant Paul Bunyan (about 49 feet tall) and Babe the Blue Ox statue.  We also barely fit through the drive through tree in Klamath.   

We got pretty wet on the hike through Fern Canyon.  We were scrambling over logs and trying not to get our feet wet in the creek. Savannah walked right through.  I gave up in a few places as well - you can see how deep the water was in some places from the photo of our pant legs.  

We had a fun week!  

We got to stop in for a quick visit to Mike and Carrie on the way back.  The kids hadn't seen each other since August 2017 (when we left for England).  I saw Mike and Carrie for my grandma's funeral in May 2018 and Carrie in Ireland for a week that month.  Mike and Carrie had been in Scotland for the last couple of years, so we're glad to see them again and glad they're back in CA. The kids were glad to see Kai again too - she spent the week with a friend back at home while we were in Crescent City.