Who's your favorite famous bear?

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Whale Watching take 2

Today was a beautiful day! We went back out to Shoreacres & did some productive whale watching. We saw spouts & most of us even saw a breach! That's where the whale breaks the surface of the water & you can see the back.
The water was MUCH rougher today. There's a big storm coming in & it was making the water really rough compared to the water yesterday.

But look how gorgeous it was crashing in on the rocks.

Here I am kicked back on the protective rock wall. After we whale watched for awhile we hiked the trails. But more on that in a minute.
After we went down to the beach just south of the observation point, we went North...this way, but the camera battery totally died & so this is the only picture going that direction.

Michelle just really liked the way the waves were washing over the rocks.

And here we are when we hiked down to the cove/beach. It was so pretty watching the waves break over the rocks. It was a really good day to be out.

Michelle tried to catch a spout, but missed it. Oh well, maybe next time.







Tuesday, December 29, 2009

It's raining, it's pouring, the whales are migrating?

The week between Christmas & New Year's is whale watching week here on the coast. We went out today to see if we could see some whales. There is an observatory building out at Shoreacres & since it was raining, we went there. Unfortunately, due to the weather, visibility out at sea wasn't great. We might've seen a couple of spouts, but it was really hard to tell.
We did see some sea lions, but Michelle wasn't quick enough to catch them with the camera. We're hoping that the weather clears up & then we'll try again to see some whales.

It didn't matter which way out you looked, there just wasn't much to see.

But even in the rain the ocean is pretty. There were some sea lions playing out by these rocks, but they were camera shy & kept diving.

The water really wasn't that rough, so if the weather had been better we'd probably been able to see some whales, or at least some spouts. Doug is really hoping to see some breach. I'll let you know if we get another chance.




Saturday, December 26, 2009

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

I had a great Christmas & hope everyone else did too. Here I am getting ready to open my present & my stocking.
Checking out the contents of the box...looks like I made out really well. I must've been extra good this year, cuz Santa was obviously happy with me!

Here is the little Eeyore beanie that Michelle got. I like his plaid Santa hat.

Check it out. I got a soft, fuzzy rug, a crystal ball (will come in handy at work), a pretty ceramic jug with wood utensils, and a copper tea kettle.



Time to check out what's in the stocking.

Whoa! I got a cute little pumpkin teapot & an elephant teapot! They rock!


So, here we have an overview of my presents this year. Can't wait to try out the teapots!






Monday, December 14, 2009

Whew, Busy weekend

Riley had a recital at the Historic Egyptian Theater. It's so gorgeous inside. This is what the walls leading up to the stage look like. She also had square dancing all weekend, and her 2nd to last volleyball game, as well as recital practice. It was a very busy weekend.
Here is Riley, she's the one in the gold dress in the middle, towards the end of the recital when everyone was taking their last bow. She did a good job. She sang three songs.

Here she is in all her recital finery. We had to find a dress last minute because she's out growing everything. We found this lovely dress at Ross, after hitting all the other stores in town. It was not only the first & only one we agreed on, but it was very reasonably priced.

Michelle also finished her 2nd Mother Bear Project bear. This one went out in the mail today. Michelle has fun making up these bears, so will probably be making up more after Christmas.



Thursday, December 10, 2009

Christmas at work


Last week Michelle was wanting a tree at work & found this cute little live tree. My new lion friend belongs to Rhonda & hung out with me for the day. The little tree now lives at our house...a 911 center is no place for a little tree to live permanently.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Christmas at Shoreacres 2009

There's nothing quite like the lights at Shoreacres State Park. They are gorgeous. We went last night because Riley was singing Christmas carols with her Girl Scout troupe.
Here she is next to her buddy Rosie getting ready to sing in the pavilion. It was a clear night, but very cold, low 30's to high 20's...on the Coast that is beyond cold.

Another view of another part of the park. It's just breath taking. Volunteers come out every year & help string the lights.
Inside the gardener's cottage they had this beautiful Christmas tree all decorated.

Here is the view from the front window of the gardener's cottage.

Michelle loves the purple lights.

OOOOh, spooky story time!

They have a lot of lights in the form of animals. There are these frogs, that ribbit when you walk by. There is also an animated lighted frog that "jumps" into the pond. There is an animated Orca that "jumps", some animated sea lions that "jump" off a rock into the water, a grey whale that shoots a spout of water, several different butterflies, some turtles, a dragonfly, a worm, grasshopper, several types of fish, puffins, etc.

There's clusters of lights on bushes like this one that kinda look like flowers.

And our favorite, the lighted version of the crane statues that are in the pond. We had a lot of fun at the lights last night despite the cold.