Arleen's BIG 4-0

Our trip to the Avenue of the Giants was cancelled due to several uncontrolled fires up north. We were notified that even the volunteer firefighters were activated and working hard to contain the fires and the air was poor quality- so Rolf and Greg came up with the idea to spend my BIG 40 birthday at Drakes Beach at Point Reyes instead. So we all piled up in the Eurovan and headed to the ocean.

Although the sky was gray and it was a bit windy, that didn't stop us from playing outdoors. Greg unloaded the Eurovan car seat and the boys ran about to check things out.



You can never keep a sand castle up long enough before Kai comes around to demolish it!

The boys wade through knee-deep water, holding hands. Isn't that cute?

The beauty of Drakes Beach is still present even in weather like this.

The boys decide to go "natural"...

and Kai is caught posing here too.

The Bienert's bake this awesome cake and just about kill us with all the smoke from the candles! I thought perhaps a "40" candle would do the job- BUT forty SINGLE candles??? I never felt soooo much heat! I almost burned my eyebrows off trying to blow them out (hee hee.)

This awesome cake (60- oops 40 cake) Ute made was from the 2-foot Santa chocolate I brought back from Chicago for the Bienert's. I think I got Santa's feet end of it on my serving.

Then the birds flew overhead and "dropped" by getting Ute, Rolf and Greg- but not me!

Ute's blackmail shot of me being goofy (like that never happens! ha.)

They also made me (my favorite coffee cup) of Kai and I at Pismo Beach taken this year. And along with it came a box of Jelly Bellies (I'll tell the story on this later)

Afterwards, we hiked along the beach...


...and messed around with the beached seaweed and kelp there.

The two loves of my life.

The Thomas Family.
The Beinert family.
T
The jellyfish found in the pool of water in front of them.

Kai trying to create his own pool of water...

At the Ken Patrick Visitor Center at Point Reyes National Seashore, Kai checks out the skeleton of a whale.

More whale bones.

Kai comfortably sits on a whale vertebra.

Lukas and Kai stand next to whale baleen- the stuff that filters stuff through their mouths, which was also used by women to make girdles in the 1700s.

Sea lion skulls- male, female.

Going back to the jelly bellies...we played Russian Roulette with it as normal jelly bellies were mixed with abnormal jelly bellies. You could not differentiate between the two types unless you tasted it. You could get Peach or Vomit, Buttered Popcorn or Moldy Cheese, Licorice or Skunk Spray, Juicy Pear or Booger! I tell you, the moldy cheese and skunk spray grossed me out. Rolf tried one and opted out of the rest of the game (was it a booger he ate?), and Greg and I kept getting the bad ones. Ute was lucking out until we started to dare her to eat our bad jelly bean halves.

So here is her face after eating skunk spray!


Then dinner time was here! We had a terrific dish of cheese fondue and bread followed by salad and grilled lamb. Thanks Rachel Rolf (Rachel Ray)!

Even the seals came by to say hi.

The boys run up a steep hill,

...and take in this breath-taking view of Point Reyes National Seashore.

Then we all head home along with the pelicans and caribou.

VIDEO: Kai and Lukas play in the big pool of water at Drakes Bay.

Video: Ocean view of Point Reyes National Seashore.