Anacapa Island

On the last Saturday in March, we went with some friends on a day-trip to Anacapa Island, in Channel Islands National Park.  (It had been rescheduled twice already due to weather problems.)  Visiting the island requires a ticket on a charter boat, which left around 8am.

We had start our drive really early.

  

 

  

  

The island itself is entirely surrounded by drop-offs, so there isn't any beach access, and it's a bit nerve-racking with toddlers, but it was absolutely beautiful!
   

Stairs from the Dock to the Island

    

This is supposed to be one of the greatest views in California.

  

    
The island originally had a ton of unique native plants, but most of them were taken over by invasive ice plant years ago.  The Park Service is in the middle of a huge restoration project, and has been slowly killing off the ice plant and planting natives again.  Since it's such a small island, it's doable, but still a huge job.  The island is famous for its Giant Coreopsis, which look dead most of the year, but burst into bloom in early spring (we were there at the prettiest time of year!)  There were also thousands of seagulls, standing around the island.  Their nesting season was about a month off, but they were getting good spots, I guess.
    

  

Giant Coreopsis

  

    
Connor and Elise did Junior Ranger badges while we were there.  We had to take all our own water and food, since there were no services other than restrooms, and the boat didn't return until 3:00.  On the way home, we got a more scenic tour of the rocks and sea lions.
     

    

 

Things we did Around Here

One day at Joy School we did a unit on trying new things.  I made "Green Eggs and Ham," and had them draw a still life picture (fruit.)  Half the kids liked the eggs, and all tried their best to draw the still life.  Corinne was later caught eating it.
  

Just Eggs and Ham and Spinach

Ryan showed up at the end of our Friday park day once, and brought Evan's long-ignored big-boy bike.  Evan coasted for a few minutes, then found the pedals and took off!  Yay Evan!  Ryan took all the bike-riders to Hansen Dam the next week, and Evan led the pack.
    

  

That's Evan in the distance.

    
I went to a crafting party at my friend Jennie's house.  I am not a very good crafter, and my FHE board looked the worst of anybody's, but I still love it!  It has made our Family Home Evenings exponentially better organized and more ambitious.
    

    
Corinne's got the cutes.  Pretty badly.
   

Eating or Playing an Instrument?

We joined our friends at the Los Angeles Arboretum in Arcadia one afternoon when I just needed a field trip.  Corinne obsessed over flowers, the little boys kept getting way too close to the turtle pond, and everybody spent an hour climbing trees, with lots of scrapes as trophies.  It was awesome.
  

Don't eat the flowers.

  
Ryan had the chance to take a curling lesson when our friend's wife broke her toe at the last minute (It was the husband's birthday present, and was nonrefundable, I guess.)  I think he has a future in the sport:
  

  

Death Valley

I finally decided to scan the kids' school pictures from last year and this.  It's really cute to see how they've changed in a year.
  

Connor - 2nd Grade

Elise - Kindergarten

Connor - 3rd Grade

Elise - 1st Grade

    

The week after we got home from Utah was crazy.  We had a church bowling activity, regular school and lesson stuff, and Connor's actual birthday.  We celebrated with presents and ice cream (he still requests it over cake.)  Then, we left Friday afternoon for our long-awaited Death Valley trip!

   

He's flashing "9"

We arrived at the Stovepipe Wells campground around sundown Friday night.  Our camping-expert friends arranged a huge group from our wards (never mind that over half the jr. primary teachers skipped town over a Sunday.)
  

  

Saturday morning, we went to Badwater Basin to see the lowest point in North America.  It was covered with an awesome salt flat - the kids even tasted it.

  

To the top left of Ryan's head is the "Sea Level" sign.

  
After Badwater, we hiked Mosaic Canyon.  All the kids in the group tried to give their parents heart attacks by climbing the rocks.
   

  

Elise went on ahead . . .

Late Saturday was set aside for the sand dunes.  This was the kids' favorite part, I think.  They hoped to sled down the dunes on plastic signs, but the sand was too sticky.  They had fun, anyway.
  

I turned around, and realized Evan had been left behind.  He didn't care.

  

Connor, reading Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Sunday was my favorite part.  We went to Salt Creek to see the pupfish.  We got there at the height of their mating season, so they were super active and colorful - like blue and yellow guppies.  The males chased each other around, defending their little territories. 
  

You can barely see them in this picture, but Connor thought the fish were cool, too.

    

  
The trip home was annoying due to our losing our right front window.  Actually, the window was there, but it wouldn't roll up (same thing happened to the left window a couple years back.)  We duct taped this box to the car to keep from being blown away - it peeled the paint when we took it off the next day.  There was a peephole in the middle for checking oncoming traffic.  Super safe, huh?