Downtown

We're not really sure how long we'll be living in our little brick house and I already regret not spending more time enjoying our proximity to downtown (less then a quarter mile to the river!) with it's lovely river walk and a fun restaurants. Our budget is a little more "Grocery Outlet" friendly and a little less "fun restaurant" friendly. However, a friend's birthday dinner gave us a good excuse to head out for the evening. It's been a remarkably warm May and the river banks are already crowded.

Paddling

Two paddleboards are on our wishlist but until those wishes are granted we decided to use our long boards. It was a little rough on the knees and we certainly looked like gapers but it was by far the most enjoyable upper body workout I've yet to experience. We feel so blessed to live in such a beautiful place!

Santa Cruz

We couldn't of asked for a better weekend at the beach, with calm winds, sunny skies and a highs in the 70s. Denver is actually starting to look like he's surfing, I'm still just catching a few waves now and then. We spent a few hours in the water each morning and after warming up on the beach jumped in the car and headed down the road for some new sites. The tide pools in Monterey kept us busy for hours, deciding to leave is so hard as there is always the possibility that the next pool will hold some magnificent creature. North of Santa Cruz in Point Arenas we found nice hiking trails and beaches that were covered with hundreds of elephant seals. Elephant seals are crazy creatures, always barking, harassing each other, and piling in heaps on the sand. The outlet malls in Gilroy also kept us busy for hours. I personally find that outlet malls are a bit like tide pools, there is always a possibility that next store will hold some magnificent sale. Denver doesn't seem to have the same feelings.

Lights!

St Lawrence exterior before & after

We've been working oh-so-very-hard in the backyard the last two weeks. It was like working in a third world country as power tools were unavailable on the budget and a shovel and wheelbarrow became our best friends. Traveling to Mexico was rather inspirational....if they can build a road without anything but the sweat of the brow and a shovel, I'm sure we can manage the backyard. It's still a work in progress but I took a few pictures after spreading the gravel this afternoon. Unfortunately despite past regrets for not taking more "before" photos we haven't changed our ways. The first two photos below don't even begin to show our backyard disaster. When we bought the place 1.3 years ago the entire back lot was a shaggy mess with piles of rocks and a dilapidated carriage house and a saggy fence. The situation only got worse during the renovation and the backyard became a repellent sight of mangy dead grass, piles of sawdust and gravel and dirt, piles of rocks, broken-down fences and bushes gone wild. Over the winter Denver added onto the carriage house and replaced the roof and windows to make for a much improved working studio. He built the shed on the left side of the lot for wood-working and storage and was fortunately able to reuse the carriage house doors and windows.

The Before:

The After:

Baja

Spring Skiing