Summer catch up part 1

The past couple months have been so craaaazy. But we had some good times.  Before we left California, we had our last hurrah.  Or last hurrahs.  We made sure to have fun.

 

 A friend who works for the Oakland A's posted on facebook all the cool signs she made for her friends that attended games.  We jokingly told her Ben wanted one for his birthday but it was too late.  Well she wasn't kidding about getting a sign done, and since our anniversary was in a few days, she did one for that and told us to jump in the car and get to the game. So we did!  Benny and I enjoyed our first pro baseball game, and Ellie did great.

 

We then did a beach trip. We visited Ben's dad and stepmom in Cambria.  Things were crazy there as well since they were in the process of selling their Bakersfield home and making the permanent switch to Cambria.  We were lucky they were willing to have us over:)

 One cool thing I never knew about all these years was the San Simeon elephant seals.  No idea why I never heard they lived right by Hearst Castle.  They were big, loud, and stinky. 

Then we headed to Lompoc so I could go to the Thai Cuisine one last time.  I'm sure we'll go to Lompoc and Cambria again, but it won't be as frequent since now we live 13 our so hours away. I really wanted a good beach day, and the weather magically cooperated.  We went to Regugio a couple times (well, Benny and I did. The fair skinned ones stayed home on day two). Refugio Beach is also where Ben proposed 9 years ago. We enjoyed the freezing water, getting bitten by sand crabs, viewing sea lions and dolphins in the distance, and watching kamikaze divebombing  pelicans.

We celebrated our annversary while we were in Lompoc and had my parents watch the kids while we went to dinner.  Ellie screamed the whole time:( Needless to say we don't go on many dates.

Benny has sure enjoyed his trips to La Purisima Mission and feeding all the animals.  This longhorn's horns span about 9 feet or something.  Am I remembering that correctly?

Then we came back and started packing.  I can't remember where I was but I think I took the kids somewhere so Ben could be productive and pack.  He got a little sidetracked and texted me the below pic while I was out.

And Ben finally made it to the Bay Discovery Museum in Sausalito.  I took Benny several times when we had a pass, and I know Ben thought it sounded cool by how much I raved about it.  Benny loved being able to show his dad everything there. It really is an amazing view of the Golden Gate Bridge.