Tidepools

On Saturday we trekked down to the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve in Half Moon Bay for an afternoon of exploring. We've been studying the ocean a bit lately... so he was especially excited... mostly to see sea urchins... which of course were the only things we didn't see.

Andrew was a little freaked out by the waves for a bit... but then got very comfortable with the water and had a blast.

He had so much fun exploring that it was practically impossible to get him to stop for a photo, let alone look at me. This was the best I got. I loved Kevin's attempted at creating manpris as well ;)

Little Cate loved watching the waves and cuddling with me. We had typical HMB weather... cold, cloudy, and windy!

The harbor seals hanging out along the beach were our favorite part. It is illegal to approach them, so when we were on the beach there were cones everywhere showing us how close we could get to them. The highlight of the day was when one tourist disregarded the sign that said "no dogs allowed" and brought their dog into the preserve. The dog somehow escaped from his owner and ran down to the beach with his leash trailing behind him. A few minutes later, the owner came running behind... but wasn't quick enough (and the dog was not listening) and all of a sudden we watched as the dog ran into the restricted area and scared almost 100 seals into the water. The mass exodus of all of the seals from their cozy spots on the beach into the cold water was an amazing site! I have never seen seals move that fast!

The dog was finally caught and the owner headed back to her car (laughing a bit)... and was met by a not too happy ranger who ticketed her. Her smile was erased pretty quickly. The tourist, her friends, and her dog made a quick exit from the preserve.

After the entertainment of that fiasco ended, we hiked up through the trees to check out the gorgeous ocean views.

No trip would be complete without the little man taking a tumble. :) My goal for the summer is to teach him how to look where he is going while he is running. I'm not sure how successful I'll be though, since I have the same talent and fall a lot when running too.

I absolutely love these trees... 

After a quick visit to Rite Aid for some tylenol and band-aids, we made the trek back to the Peninsula. The little people both passed out quickly as I drove the windy road back to 280. Tidepool exploring sure is exhausting!

Next stop was the Google LDS BBQ in Palo Alto!