Local Fun in Apex...

It brought back good memories of gem mining in our backyard when we went to this funny little place in Apex. The kids enjoyed finding polished rocks; Veronica also found an arrowhead among the discarded rocks on the ground. Later in the day, we went to Apex Lake to introduce Rachel and Ben to geocaching.

Our 5-night stay at Erika’s was very relaxing and low-key with several delicious meals courtesy of chef Michael. It was very sweet of Erika to host a swim party at their community pool for some of Veronica’s 3rd grade classmates; Ashlynn was thrilled to see Holly from our old neighborhood. We also enjoyed seeing our old neighbors, Dave and Elise (and really appreciated the loan of Dave’s car), and visiting our house for the first time since the reconstruction. Jon Provost, our contractor, was nice enough to meet me over there for a walk-thru and I was really impressed with his work.

Best Friends...

After Florida, us girls went one direction while Jimmy went another--we headed to Raleigh to stay with Erika and Michael while he went to DC to stay with Jim and Nina. Veronica was especially excited to see Rachel, who’s been her best friend since she was five (her mother Erika is one of my closest friends and her brother Ben is great friends with Ashlynn). One afternoon, I took the girls to the North Carolina Museum of Art. It had a major expansion since our last visit in 2009 and we were very impressed with the new building, which included both of these cool contemporary pieces (the massive one on top was made out of recycled aluminum and copper wire). It was especially fun looking through the Dutch and Flemish paintings in the Northern European collection.

Let the Real Adventure Begin...

The calm of our trip changed abruptly when we arrived at a spring where a local hermit lives. The rental guy failed to mention that this particular hermit was Naked Ed. He had a series of funny signs on the path to the springs, where he’s been hanging out since the mid-80s. He told us that if the kids wanted to get naked, then us adults would have to get naked, too. We appreciated the offer, but kept dressed. While the kids enjoyed swimming in the spring, Jimmy and I explored his hut and had a nice chat with him. Just for the record, despite standing next to him, he was discreetly positioned so I didn’t see him in all his glory. During the next portion of our journey, an electrical storm hit. With two kids in a metal canoe, we quickly tried to get to the side of the river. I stupidly stepped out of the kayak too quickly and managed to fall into the swamp. Later when we pulled over again to get out of the storm, a giant spider settled on my foot. Then when we thought things couldn’t get any stranger, we paddled past a dead deer in the water. While we had a great time, we were all ready to get off the river. Check out the video that Veronica made about our day.

A Kayaking Adventure in Central Florida...

After our visit to the Alligator Farm and dinner at the beach, it was time to head to Gainesville for a few nights with Vivynne and family. Our big adventure was a 4-hour kayaking trip down the Santa Fe River. Tony had to work, so he missed out on all of the excitement.

The first half of the trip was actually very calm. We had a picnic before we hit the water. We had one metal canoe, one double kayak and three single kayaks. There were no rapids or even a current; there also weren’t any signs of alligators, but we did see a lot of turtles. Part of the river was wild and part had houses along the banks. We laughed when we saw this sign: Trespassers will be hogtied and told they have a purty mouth.

Zipping over the Gators...

It was impossible to capture what they were zipping over, but they assured me that they were going over a lot of behind-the-scenes enclosures with small gators and crocs (they would have had to sign up for the longer tour to go over the main enclosure with the giant gators). Clearly I’m the only chicken in this family!

Crocodile Crossing...

When the girls heard that there was a high ropes course over the enclosures at the Alligator Farm, that couldn’t wait to sign up. Unfortunately, Johnny had to leave for a sailing regatta and Jimmy was too short, so the girls had to go without their cousins. Of course, their dad went along, but their mom stayed on the ground to take photos.

Alligator Farm...

Yet again, we expected the Alligator Farm to be cheesy and it wasn’t. Debbie and Jimmy arrived to join us in time to see big Jimmy and the girls zipping along. Then we went to see the rest of the park,  included a feeding demonstration in the main enclosure (the caretaker is about to toss a rat in a gator’s mouth with just a stick to protect her).

The Fountain of Youth..

 I often joke that the Fountain of Youth is all that rain we get in the Netherlands that helps wash away the years. But, we all know that the real Fountain of Youth was discovered by Ponce de Leon in Florida in 1513. Jimmy remembered visiting the Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park as a child, so thought it would be fun to show the girls. We were expecting it to be cheesy, but it was actually pretty cool. We started with a drink from the legendary fountain, which smelled like sulfur and tasted horrible; hope it was worth it considering there’s no evidence that the fountain was even in St. Augustine.

Then we saw a planetarium show and a cool multimedia show before exploring the grounds. Afterwards, we walked around the historic district and saw America’s oldest wooden schoolhouse built in 1716.

Jimmy’s Family...

It wasn’t easy getting everyone ready and smiling at the same time, but we did it twice. And thanks to Jimmy’s advanced abilities with Photoshop, the photo on the beach wasn’t completely washed out as the sun was actually rather harsh by the time this was shot.

Family Portraits...

 Jimmy and his girls!

 Jimmy’s sister Debbie and her boys: John, Johnny and Jimmy

 The cousins! Veronica is the oldest at almost 14 and James is the youngest at 1 3/4.  Notice that all the boys’ names start with J’s.

Brother Joe with Shannon, Arden, Jack and James

Brother John with Lara, Justice, Joseph and Jacob

Ashlynn Takes a Surfing Lesson...

Ashlynn decided at the last minute to join her cousins for a surfing lesson. She built on some of the basics she’d learned back in Holland and managed to stand up on the board in the low waves. Glad that Debbie was there to capture the moment since I was hanging with Veronica back at the condo.

Ashlynn enjoyed being with Jimmy, Johnny and Justice for the lesson at a beach north of our condo. Once back at our beach, she was more hesitant to try out her new skills. Jimmy liked zipping along on his skim board, which brought back memories of my one attempt in 1996 that led to a broken ankle--needless to say, I just watched.

In Search of Turtles...

Sea turtle nests are scattered across the Florida coast. We grabbed flashlights and ventured out in search of any sign of life. We got very excited when we saw a group of people with flashlights near the water’s edge, but it turned out to be just some folks playing with crabs. There were several areas marked as nests, but we have no idea how they were identified as such since the sand there looks like all the rest of the beach.

We may not have found any turtles, but that didn’t stop the kids from having fun.

Fun on the Beach...

Our days were very unstructured with plenty of time to play in the surf and the pool. Unlike other beaches, we had to keep alert so we wouldn’t be hit by the cars that are allowed on this beach.

We had great weather! It was cooler than previous visits and never rained. Ashlynn scraped her nose in the pool and had to be extra careful not to get it sunburned.

Off to the Beach with Jimmy's Family...

 After 2.5 weeks in California, it was time to head to Florida. This year, we were meeting Jimmy’s family  in St. Augustine for four nights in condos. We did some major grocery shopping with Debbie, then decided to skip cooking in favor of dinner by the water. Here we are with John and Justice.

Service was incredibly slow, but it was fun having dinner in these cabanas. The other nights, we took turns cooking dinner then serving it in Debbie’s condo, which had the best location and a giant wraparound porch.

Celebrating our Birthdays with Family...

Every year, Dad throws a summer party. It just happened that this year’s party fell on his 71st birthday. In addition to the whole family, he had his oldest college buddy, some old work friends and a few neighbors. The Mexican caterer made great fajitas and Leigh made great margaritas. Alex had to work, but he came to pick up Eden and we gave them our wedding gift. Eden especially liked the baseball cap we bought her in Scotland since Alex is from Glasgow. Dad’s showing off his new jacket from the girls’ school.

Full Immersion on the American River...

On the 2nd day, we did the 11-mile Chili Bar run, the upper run on the South Fork of the American River, which is the most popular white water run west of the Rockies. We did 7 Class II and 4 Class III rapids (Meatgrinder, Maya, Triple Threat and Troublemaker). Here you can really see that when we hit a Class III, we’re completely immersed in the water. What a rush! It still amazes me that we never fell off. We also managed to do a little surfing in our raft (which is usually something kayaks do, not rafts) when Colin found the perfect standing wave for us to balance on. We stopped for a picnic lunch at Sutter’s Mill, where gold was discovered in 1848, then went back there in the afternoon to try our hand at panning for gold. Afterwards, we made a stop at Holly and Carl’s. They’ve lived in Sacramento for over 22 years and this was the first time we’d been to visit. We sure managed to cram in a lot of fun in these three days!

Can’t Keep ’em Out of the Water...

Despite cold water temperatures, the girls went into the river several times. They especially liked going down small rapids in their personal flotation devices (they’re not called “life vests” while white water rafting because they’re not guaranteed to save your life). I finally gave in and went in for one small rapid. Have very fond memories of doing the same thing when I was in summer camp as a kid, but somehow didn’t like it nearly as much as an old lady. Back at camp, Ashlynn got recruited to help cook dessert, which was a cake baked in an cast iron pot over a charcoal grill; it was delicious as was the rest of dinner. Jimmy enjoyed teaching some of the raft guides how to juggle. I enjoyed that I had two thermal pads under my sleeping bag so I could actually sleep comfortably.

White Water Rafting...

 It was quite exciting once we got onto the river. I hadn’t realized that we’d be balanced on the side of the raft with just a tube to tuck our feet under, which left me very nervous about falling overboard. Lucky for us, we had an awesome guide. Colin was brought up rafting; when he’s not on the river, he’s an artist in Oakland.

After lunch and the orientation, we did the South Fork gorge, which was beautiful. We paddled a total of 10 miles with 12 Class II rapids and 3 Class III rapids (Fowler’s Rock, Satan’s Sesspool and Hospital Bar). Our raft was the only one of the five with OARS that didn’t drop anyone overboard thanks to Colin’s expertise. The top photo was taken by photographers standing along one of the rapids. The bottom photo was taken on Jimmy’s new GoPro video camera especially designed for adventure sports, which he’d tied onto the front of the raft. Colin and Jimmy also took turns wearing it on their chests.

Adventure in California...

Ashlynn really wanted to do something adventurous this summer. She suggested that we go kayaking with the orcas in Washington, but that was a bit too adventurous (and expensive). So, we told her to scale back her ambitions and she came up with white water rafting. She also wanted to go camping, so was thrilled when I found OARS. They had the perfect set up for us: two half days on the water with a night camping and they provided the meals. I was very calm until our orientation and I learned all the ways that I could fall off the raft and drown. On our way to the American River, we spent a night at Darlene and Mike’s. Not only was it great to see them, but it was nice to finally visit their home and town of Martinez.

Our 18th Wedding Anniversary...

Despite overheating on our hike (as you can see by my red face), I was happy to be in the hills. I was scared on the downhill, but Jimmy was nice enough to hold my hand while I took baby steps down the steep path. After our return and a shower, we headed out to a few more wine tasting rooms. Our favorite was the Snosrap wines at Parsonage Winery.

We enjoyed our anniversary dinner at Vineyard Bistro. The following day, we stopped in Monterey for a  walk along Cannery Row and a nice seafood lunch before heading back to Dad’s. It was so nice to have some alone time!

Our Carmel Valley Getaway...

When Jimmy asked me what I wanted to do for our 18th anniversary, I said I wanted to go hiking. We weren’t sure where to go, so we were happy to follow Leigh’s advice and ended up spending two nights in Carmel Valley. Our first afternoon was spent wandering the small village and visiting some wine tasting rooms, followed by happy hour at the Country Garden Inn and a wonderful dinner at Café Rustica.

The next day was our anniversary. After breakfast, we went to the market to buy fixings for a picnic, then set off on our hike. Little did we know that the route we chose would take us basically straight up and straight down; at least we enjoyed the views from the top. We didn’t see much wildlife, but Jimmy almost stepped on this snake. Luckily, it wasn’t poisonous or threatening.

Love Those California Sea Lions!

On our way back to the harbor, the boat swung past this dock that was overflowing with California sea lions. Sure would have been fun to kayak among them – maybe next time. Anyways, just had to include these cute creatures.

Who’s Driving the Boat?

After the boat had turned back towards the harbor, the captain invited Ashlynn up to the bridge to take over the helm. We thought it was just for show and that he’d keep his hands on the wheel, so were surprised when he stepped outside to take a call. Veronica thought napping was more fun than taking a turn, but that didn’t stop her from putting together a video of Ashlynn’s big moment, which you can see here.