Catalina Island: Part II

Sophia's favorite parts of the trip...


Endless supply of yummy food from aunties, uncles, grandma, grandpa and cousins. Here she is enjoying some chili cheese fries from Auntie Charif.

Glass bottom boat tour - all kind of fishies!

Riding in golf carts all over the place without her car seat!!!

Spending time with her family.

Catalina Island

Our fun in the sun and sand was definitely had this past weekend on our visit to Catalina Island. I would say it was a very successful first beach trip for Sophia.

So many shoes, so little time.

She's only 17 months old, but already learning how to walk in 'heels'. Anne would be proud.

Future marathon runner.

Summertime, summertime

I can smell it in the air, see it in the morning when I leave for work, and almost even sense it in my bones: Summertime is coming to a close in Alaska. Are we ready for Fall? For colors changing, and (more) rain falling, and daylight leaving? It would seem that, for as long as it takes for Summer to get here, it would want to stick around for a while...



We went camping up at a place called Squirrel Creek last week. Sophia gravitated toward the water immediately, but didn't actually see it until she emerged up over a little hill of dirt between it and our campsite. She yelled out, "Oh, WOW!" and looked at us as if to say, "LOOK, what I just FOUND!"

As this was the last thing we did before I returned to work this hitch, I feel like it was my chance to say farewell to the summer. We roasted hotdogs over a fire, and threw rocks into the lake (Isaac skipped rocks, we just threw them). Sophia and I even watched as her daddy landed a beautiful rainbow trout for her to look at (to which, she responded, "fishy, fishy, fishy"). It all seemed to be the perfect way to move into Fall.

We'll play in the sand...

In all the times Isaac and I have visited his family in Southern California, we've never had a chance to go and play on the beach. We've been to the beach a couple of times while visiting family there, but only on cooler, windier days that require jackets and long pants. This first picture is of the first time I went with him - when we surprised his mom, Becky, for Mother's Day three years ago, and I had a chance to meet the whole gang. We went to the beach that weekend, but it was beginning of May and still pretty chilly, especially with those ocean gusts.

It has always been quite the novelty for me to be able to play in the sun on the beach. The first time I can remember ever going to a "real" beach (i.e. light-colored sand, sun overhead, and water you can actually swim in) was when I visited
Central America on a school trip as a 14-year old. My mom tells me that when we were little, my brother John and I begged to go to "the beach" on nice days - which consisted of a man-made lake surrounded by piles of dirt at the end of the highway in Cordova...
The beach trips since then have been few and far between- I can probably count them on both hands. Isaac and I had one week's worth of fun in the sand on our honeymoon in Costa Rica (2 1/2 years ago!). I'd say we're about due for some more beach time.

Hence, my excitement for our upcoming Catalina trip next week. We will swim, and build sand castles, and look at pretty fish through our snorkel screens. Sophia will play in the sand (and require the use of sunscreen!) for the first time. I can just imagine her with her little plastic bucket and shovel - taking big scoops and filling up the bucket, and then dumping it out only to repeat the process again.

I almost forgot to mention the whole reason we're even meeting in Catalina. My father-in-law Fred is having a birthday - Happy 60th Fred!