Monarch Sanctuary

Last month we visited the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary in Pacific Grove. The little garden is quite a special place, and its neat to learn about all of the special characteristics about the Monterey Peninsula that bring over 10,000 monarchs to the area, like a mild temperature that is neither too cold (freezing temps kill them) or too warm (the warmer the weather the harder they have to work to fly), and an abundance of eucalyptus trees that bloom in the winter, providing them with a food source. All monarchs west of the Rockies come to various locations on the California coast in the winter, but Pacific Grove is one of the largest overwintering sites. Its really quite neat!

At first glance it might not seem like there's much to see at this park, but if you look closely you'll see hundreds of butterflies nesting in the trees, and almost routinely, they'll come together and sweep and swirl overhead. Magical, I tell ya.

We had a great time visiting a special locale on the Monterey peninsula and watching Curran enjoy all of the beautiful monarchs----

Leaving Washington.

I've really been missing Washington a lot this week so even though it was two months ago, I decided I wanted to share some photos from our last day in the evergreen state and our last ferry ride to Seattle as we began our move to California.

Curran and Remy making a good effort to tackle the windy ride.

The wind turned out to be a bit much for Curran....

....and Remy.

Little man had so much fun walking Remy around the sun deck.

checking out our view of Seattle and the Space Needle before bed

I'm glad we had one night in downtown to enjoy some of our favorite Seattle things (oh Rachel's Ginger Beer, my heart aches for you!) before saying goodbye. Washington really has a special place in our heart. I can't wait to visit---and I hope that its soon!

Camping at La Push

We are getting to down to our last days in Washington! Sixteen days from now we'll be saying goodbye to our home here and setting out on a new adventure. 

We had a list of things we wanted to do or see while in the PNW but since we're leaving over a year and a half before we planned, we had to whittle down that list to the bare minimum. Originally a visit to La Push got cut but after Joey took his scouts there for a campout the weekend before, we decided it was too beautiful to miss. So we repacked the tent and headed out for an overnight at the beach.

Camping at La Push was a different experience for me because you had to do about a mile hike to the beach, so whatever you needed, you had to be able to carry (and one of us had to carry Curran, so that left one pack to hold everything we needed for the three of us). No car-camping here--this was the most real deal, didn't even bring a toothbrush, bare bones camping I had ever done. But it was actually quite liberating! Its nice to leave behind every extra thing for a couple days. Its amazing what you can get by without.

After getting to the beach we found a cozy spot to set up camp. We pitched a tent, found a stream of fresh water, and started dinner. Curran is a bit of a graham cracker fiend, so he was constantly begging Joey for one more.

After dinner it was all about exploring the beach. From the moment we got there, Curran was in heaven. Finding driftwood and stones, crawling over trees, digging in the sand....I'm not sure I've ever seen him so content or smile so much. He really was in his element, and it was such a joy to see him play and explore. 

He probably indirectly ate half his weight in sand, but who cares? Let them be wild and happy.

Curran was also extra lovey. He wasn't afraid of the ocean but he wanted to hold our hands, and he spent about twenty minutes running back and forth between the two of us, giggling and giving us the biggest hugs his little body could give. Seriously the best.

Before we called it a day we enjoyed a stunning sunset and, of course, lots of s'mores.

Did I mention that this kid did absolutely fantastic on our campout? There were no major crying fits, he slept really well, he wasn't scared of the ocean, and there were no injuries or crises. It was awesome! 

After sleeping in and lounging around in the tent the next morning, we warmed up in the chilly weather with oatmeal and hot chocolate. And it was just the perfect morning. A beautiful beach, idyllic Washington weather, hot chocolate, my kid happily playing in the sand, and a hunk of a husband sitting next to me--what could be better?

We packed up our things and then set out to explore the beach at low tide. We found too many jelly fish to count, infinite mussels, and lots of interesting seaweed. It was fun to point them out to Curran and watch him go "ooooh!" as we showed him something new. 

Seeing this little guy be free and happy exploring the world will be one of my favorite ways to think of him. There were so many reasons that we thought about not going, like rain (it rained our drive there and back, but never at the beach--can I get a hallelujah?!), timing with our coming move, work, Remy, etc etc., but I'm SO glad we did it and got to make those memories with our boy. We're really going to miss Washington, and this was a great memory to leave with.