Black Diamond Mines

Photo from our extremely rainy adventure to the coal and sandstone mine in Antioch! The storm was enough to keep anyone inside, but we were glad to have braved it. The old Atlas mine is a true glimpse into history. (And we saw a rattlesnake that they keep in the visitor center!)

Monarchs at Natural Bridges

This day was beautiful. The monarchs were still fluttering about among the Eucalyptus trees. We spent some glorious time by the pond, smelling 'buttons', floating leaves, and climbing a precarious fallen tree - precarious in that it ended in the water! And then walked in to see the graceful butterflies. Kaia and Mari sketched in their notebooks in the quiet peace of this place. Then we ran off to Blue Balls park to play and eat burritos with JRAT!

Elephant Seals at Ano Nuevo

The elephant seals at Ano Nuevo were incredible! We went with other homeschoolers and were within feet of these enormous creatures. And what a sight... we saw everything: weiners, mamas, bulls; mating, fighting, sleeping, lounging in pools, chases and everything else. The day was unusually sunny, especially for the coast. And we were lucky in more ways

than that: the wildlife was out for us to observe and wonder at! Coyote, garter snake, raptors, rabbits, and of course the stars - the seals.

Skeletons were out at the ranger post to compare head size. The grizzly bear's head is much smaller than the elephant seal's. I also held all the kids up to the life size wooden cutouts of the seals and none of them were even as long as a pup! We ate our picnic lunch while the kids ran and hid in the bushes, making new trails, and worrying us when they were too far to hear our calls. They had a blast.