the SLO life

                                          It was a busy summer. 

                                        Full of pool time and play,

                                      Bright skies and sunny days,

                                  Starting with sand between our toes

                                   And ending with a sunburned nose.

I have gone through a couple thousand baby wipes, drank about 

100 cups of coffee, and slathered on countless tubes of sunscreen.

 I have laughed a little, and cried a lot. It was amazing, busy,

 heartbreaking, fun and fulfilling all at once. There were some bitter 

disappointments as well.

 I was so happy to be there, in spite of all of that. 

And I got to spend it with some of the most beautiful, funny, and 

frustrating little people that I know. Little miss Avie, about 2 months 

old here. She smiles, coos, sleeps through the night most of the time, 

tries to laugh, loves to nurse and cuddle, and is about the sweetest

 little baby you could ever imagine.

My other girls are all stuck on my iPhone...oops. More pictures of them 

later. 

   I learned how to drive on this road, back when I was fourteen, and my 

   dad would come to visit.

   I also drank a good amount of wine... It's a good place for that.

   I just love all the succulents here, near the coast as you're getting

  close to Carmel and Big Sur especially. Did you know SLO county 

  is considered the happiest place on earth to live?

   This does not surprise me...

Avery and I went to Avila one day, what I call my "baby" beach, and did a little shopping. 

(Is it just me or is it so laughably easy to just have one child with you?!)

And of course it's not a proper girls day out if there's not shoe shopping...

   A bend in the road....

We also took a little hike in the Morro Bay estuary area. It was gorgeous, 

you'll have to take my word for it and not the pictures which aren't the best 

due to the fog.

You can see the sun struggling to peak out here overlooking the 

valley...from where I was standing it was all darkness and fog, but in 

the distance, there was a brilliant sun. You can just barely see it 

here, but in person, It was there, just beyond reach.

I loved this rock, kinda wanted to relocate it home to my patio, not 

sure how that would work though...

There were these big cracks in the ground, thought I would break my ankle... 

Minimalist running shoes = No so bueno for hiking. But, I left my hiking shoes in 

Washington, and you gotta work with what you got.

   It took awhile to figure out which way I needed to head. There are paths 

   everywhere there, all different trails, and some are marked and some are not.

      After a bit I discovered that all the paths seemed to eventually 

     end up in the exact same place.