As a teenager, I remember the first three of the months of the year as boring. No holidays, no vacations, not too much going on. Now I wish this was still the case, as it seems life will never be boring ever again. When the kids start complaining that they're bored, they get, "It's not my job to entertain you. Go find something to do or I can find work to keep you busy." Life is too full of work, church, school and kids to be boring!
We got out on a couple of hikes in January. This first one was up to the top of Turtle Rock, a hill near our neighborhood. It's a good viewpoint for sunsets.
When it's not smoggy.
The smog is so gross when it gets really thick like this. You can see me making a face. It smells and it makes me feel like I'm going to contract lung cancer just for breathing it. The hike was a good one for our kids and we went to In 'n' Out afterwards (calorie replacement ;).
The next week, some friends we had just seen in Utah surprised us with an invite to our favorite beach area. They were in town visiting family. It was such a gorgeous day, no smog, and not too cold. When we drove over the last hill before the beach, we could not believe how clear it was and how far we could see on the horizon - all the way out to parts of the Channel Islands we had never seen before. Lots of people were out taking advantage of the superb weather.
After saying bye to our friends, we drove up to a different lookout point to watch the sun set. Once again, we were able to see parts of the landscape we can't see very often due to smog. The kids loved being able to see the barges out on Long Beach Harbor, and you could easily make out downtown LA and Malibu. We talked a little bit about perspective with the kids and how important it is to take time out of the routine to get a little perspective once in a while. Problems don't seem to be so overwhelming when you're standing on a hilltop with a great view.
Maybe you knew it was coming: Bike pictures. Because that's our family's hobby. That and playing Mario kart on the Wii. I think the former is a better hobby.
Ben and I took advantage of the clean skies the next day and rode our bikes out to Newport Beach where we could see the ocean.
Right now coastal Orange County is a beautiful place to ride bikes. It never got green like this last year in Bommer Canyon due to the lack of rainfall. Ben is finding some fun rides in there.
Panorama of inland south Orange County. Ben is doing a lot of hill climbing in preparation for the 'Breathless Agony' bike ride on May 2nd. 12,000 feet of climbing spread over 100+ miles. Whoa.
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