Mendocino and Fort Bragg in the Summer

After we got back from Dylan and Christina's wedding, we had more adventures in Sacramento! The first night, we celebrated Grandpa's 70th birthday with the close family. And by celebrated, we mean that he cooked himself a prime rib, we made a few side dishes, and we ate our hearts out. Pete got him an old map of China, which Cecilia helped him open. It was a pretty cool map, and Grandpa spent a couple hours looking at it that night. This picture is a little dark, but it is of Grandpa holding the gift-wrapped map, and Cecilia about to help him unwrap it:


The next day, we left for Mendocino and Fort Bragg. Although a few people didn't feel so well on the curvy roads that took us there (Auntie Karen, Grandma), it was well worth the drive! The very first day, we went to the Point Cabrillo Lighthouse, which was super fun.


It was maybe a half mile walk to the lighthouse, and we played the entire way, partly to keep Cecilia walking on her own so that we didn't have to carry her up and down the hills. She did a great job walking. :) Here she is running to Grandma:



Here she is spinning around and around with Daddy:



And one of the winners of the day - walking like an old lady (po-po in Cantonese), which brings back a lot of memories as I used to do it when I was her age:


If you look closely, you'll notice that the proper way to do it is to walk a little hunched over (like a little ol' lady) and have your hands clasped behind your back:



And here she is blowing dandelions with Auntie Karen:



Before we got to the lighthouse itself, on the way was a tiny aquatic museum, which Cecilia really enjoyed:


We finally made it to the lighthouse:


Although they wouldn't let us upstairs (tours were only once a week), inside there was a little gift shop, where Cecilia spent a lot of time reading some kids books. She especially liked Dr. Seuss' "Clam-I-Am". Of course, Grandma was all too happy to buy her the book and some stickers:


We walked around on a few paths outside of the lighthouse, which were next to sheer cliffs that dropped off into the sea below. It was only separated from the path by a flimsy low rope, so we made sure to hold on tight to Cecilia.


We were looking around, and then Daddy spotted a couple sea lions frolicking in this protected cove area!


Cecilia was pretty excited about them, although I think she may have had a hard time spotting them consistently since they were so far beneath us in the water. They kept going underwater and playing, and surfacing only occasionally.


As a bonus, we got a great picture of Grandma and Grandpa together.


And pictures of the amazing view we had:



For those interested, here is a video of Cecilia taking a bath that night (a little long and repetitive).

And what would a trip to Mendocino be without going to Auntie Karen's favorite ice cream shop in Fort Bragg:


The next couple days were spent exploring Mendocino, Fort Bragg, and making stops at any one of the millions of small beaches the line the California coast. The first beach we went to was awesome - at low tide, it was actually pretty wide and had a couple different sections. A small stream also fed into it, and there was a shallow pool where the stream hit the ocean. It was perfect for Cecilia to walk around in:


Of course, she also enjoyed running in and out of the waves. We would stand on the beach, and wait, and if the waves came high enough and crashed over our legs, we would run away screaming. I think she could have done this for hours...


At some point, Grandma went a little nuts and started collecting tons (I mean TONS) of seaweed, with the idea of drying it into something like those tasty snacks we eat from Trader Joe's.

She managed to get everyone involved. Auntie Karen...


Grandpa....


Even Cecilia!

Grandma washed all the seaweed in the stream and put it all in a bag with Grandpa. It stunk up the whole car. Funny thing is, when we eventually got home, we were so busy she didn't get to do anything with it for a couple days, and it got so rancid, she eventually threw the whole thing out.

We ventured onto a different section of that same beach which was much more sandy and less rocky. Here are Daddy and Cecilia in a sword fight with a long ocean reed


And climbing on some logs:


Cecilia went into a little stick teepee someone else had made:


We stayed so long that I think everyone got a little tired at some point! A few of us took a little rest:


And this is just a nice picture of Grandpa and Auntie Karen:


The next day, we went to a completely different beach. The previous one had actually been nearly submerged because it was high tide! It was much windier and cooler that day, so we got a kite up in the air, which Cecilia managed to hold for a little bit.


It was pretty funny because she's so light, the kite was almost dragging her around, so we had to keep an eye on her.


We ventured out onto this little island of sand. It's difficult to see, but on the other side of this horizon of sand, there were waves crashing angrily onto the beach.


We didn't realize it, but the tide must have been rising. We had crossed a tiny rivulet of ocean water to get to this island, but with the water and waves crashing in, that tiny rivulet became a pretty strong-flowing stream! It was a little hairy getting back to the main beach. I carried Cecilia across a pretty strong current, and Grandma struggled to get back with the kite in tow.


Here's the breaking news story as covered by Mommy:



Finally it was time to go home. We drove through a redwood forest on the way their and back, so we stopped along the way for a few pictures:


For those interested, the full set of pictures from the 2nd half of our California vacation can be found here.