For our blood outing this year, Katy picked elephant seals at Año Nuevo. No blood this year like we saw last year. We did see one very quick fight. The seals can move reasonably fast, but only between long periods on napping and only it seems like 10 feet. It seems like we will have to go back in a month or so and see it when there are more seals their and when the babies are plentiful.
We got our tree yesterday in the rain. At least the rain made it quicker. It was dry enough and everyone was around tonight an the family got it all trimmed and ready to go. Of course, 2 out of the last 3 years Katy put on the star. Tonight Margaret got to do it.
For our last trip with Katy this summer, we chose another jaunt up the coast north of Santa Cruz. This time in search of tide pools. We went to Bean Hollow and Pescadero Beaches. The most interesting find was a tide pool with 2 Moon Jellies in it. They did not seem too happy.
For father’s day we went to the aquarium then down to Bixby Bridge. Along the way we played around on the rocks near the ocean. It was a nice father’s day for me. We ended up inn Carmel for lunch.
We went to castle rock with the Bigall’s. Climbed around on the rocks a bit, put up the slack line.
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We had a great time going whale watching in the Monterey Bay. It started out kind of what you would expect. We saw otters and seals like you can often see from shore. When we got out just a bit, we saw lots and lots of Rossis dolphins (no good pictures though). Then we went a bit further out and saw Grey whales. It turns out you spot whales by the spouts of water as they breathe in the distance. The grey whales would come up for 4 or 5 breaths then go under for about 5 minutes. As we were getting done with the last set of grey whales, we saw 2 sets join up to make a set of about 5. We then high-tailed it to what our captain suspected was Killer Whales. We got there in time to see the pod of 5 Orcas hunt and kill a seal. (It took 30 minutes or so.) Margaret got a great picture of the final impact (gory).
Of course, we got a few pictures of Katy.
This year, we had to wait for Katy to get home from college to go get a tree. We did the whole thing today. Drove up into the hills to get a tree. Went to see the Festival of Lights in the park. And trimmed the tree. Katy has decided that she will put the star on every year, even though this year was Margaret’s turn. Being the middle child, Margaret got left out again.
Having never been to Castle Rock myself, I decided to take the family up there for a quick trip. Margaret mostly complained the whole way up there about how far it was and that she didn’t really want to go. Once we got to the rocks, Sam, Margaret, and Elizabeth scampered all over the place. Margaret didn’t want to leave in the end.
We all went to Ann Arbor to see what Katy has been doing for the last couple of months. We were able to go to a frat party, wonder around campus a lot, go to the big house, and other things that make up Katy’s college life. The kids also got to see where Elizabeth grew up, her various schools etc. Margaret is ready to go to college now. And of course, we got to take Katy out shopping at the most expensive stores we could find in Ann Arbor.
