Re: 4th of July trip--Mendocino (Part 1)

We took a nice week trip up north on the 4th of July and into the next week. We first drove to Mendocino to see Megan's good friends, Jessie and Brooke, and to meet Jessie's new baby, Max! The first day we spent on the beach, which was quite lovely. Lots of 4th of July revelers, which also included a fun crowd of volleyball players. Ahrash and I got a very tantillizing game in...and a few more the following Sunday. What fun!!! Unfortunately, it was also a humble reminder of how rusty we are.


Here is a shot of the Mendocino headlands (above). Here are the kids playing in their matching shirts just before we left our house.

Dahrius had great fun playing with Liam, Brooke's 5-yr old son. They were hiding under this tarp and enjoyed many good adventures.
More boy activities, this time with sticks and banging.
We met up with Jessica and Mark and their baby Max, and went on a hike through the woods near their house. The boys had fun with this cool fort that Mark led us to.
Here's proud daddy, Mark, with baby Max (less than 3 weeks old!)
Me with Ranier, Brooke, and Jessie on our hike.
We camped for the trip in a gorgeous spot just a couple of miles north of Mendo, in the redwood forest along the coast. The kids had great fun in the tent, exploring the nearby beach, and just being outside. In the morning, everyone met at our campsite for a hike in the nearby woods. It was a lovely shady hike through the ferny, redwood forest, and Liam and Dahrius had great fun, especially with Mark swinging them around. What we thought would be a lazy day was actually a 4-hour hike. The boys did great, but most impressive was Jessica, who did this hike less than 3 weeks after giving birth! AND after almost no sleep with little Max up a lot. Of course, he slept soundly for almost the entire hike. Big babies Ranier and Callie, however, did not cooperate with sleep and only took 30-min naps each.

Dahrius decided he had to pee, and Liam had to join in, of course.
Wendy (Brooke's sister) came along and is carrying her baby Callie (also 1, like Ranier), with Jess and Mark behind. Brooke is just behind Dahrius.
The boys (above)
Liam is quite a fearless and coordinated climber. I've certainly never seen a 5-year old do this.
Happy mom Jess with her baby Max! What a cutie!!!
The boys.

Still on our hike (above).
Shots of the coast from the evening, just a short walk from our campsite.
The above shot was taken of the coast the next morning. We hiked out to a cool punchbowl.


More coming soon on our next leg...Oregon