Thankful Thursday with Linky: Coastal Natural Air Conditioning

I'm loving Thankful Thursdays.  I'm finding it to be so much fun and easy to come up with things to be thankful for on a weekly basis, no matter how big or small. 

Just recently, as temperatures on the farm reached into the 90's, and a welcomed email from some good friends to join them at their farm beach house was immediately accepted.

Just a short 25 minute drive and we went from temps in the 90's to a pleasant 74 degrees.  It was a girl's trip this time, just Paige and I, Bryce, the 'farm boy' wanted to stay back on the ranch and work with his Daddy and practice target shooting with his BB gun.  I guess I couldn't blame him for his decision.....sandy beach or BB gun....what boy would choose the beach over that?!

So it was Paige and I who enjoyed some of our natural air conditioning and we were thankful to have it on this day.  But we weren't the only ones.  Out in Pt. Reyes, there are a few dairies left and we witnessed some authentically, happy cows. 

There's is no reason these dairy cows shouldn't be happy, what with the ocean as their view, the fog bank just off the coast and temperatures that very rarely, if ever, reaching into 80's. 

Just 5 minutes from our destination, I stopped, jumped out of the car and to our left snapped the photo below.  The vibrant blue of the Pacific Ocean, dairy barns in the center, and if you'll look closely you'll see some dairy cows grazing in the fore front near the pond.

On the right side, Tomales Bay and our destination comes into view.

Playing on a beach in Tomales Bay is just short of heaven in my opinion.  We watched the tide come in, there are no waves to contend with and plenty of sea life to explore and capture.

Paige was very careful to capture a small jelly fish without touching it and then eventually releasing it back to the bay.

My animal lover was loving her day at Tomales Bay, as was I.

What are you thankful for today?  Feel free to link up to Thankful Thursday, a great way to find other blogs or have them find you!  Just copy the code below to paste on your blog post after linking up.

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Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to leave a comment, I love to hear from you!. Have a fantastic day!

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Abbotts Lagoon~Pt. Reyes National Seashore

With Bryce being on spring break this week, and some nice spring weather here, I thought it would be fun to take the kids on an impromptu beach adventure.   We ate lunch and left for Pt. Reyes National Seashore, which is about 25 minutes from home.

Our favorite beach was waiting for us, or so we thought.  Heart's Desire Beach is in Tomales Bay State Park, but it was CLOSED!  Must be due to California budget cuts or just happens to be closed on Tuesdays.

We continued on through the park to see what other adventure we could find.  There are SO many beaches that we haven't explored out in the park, we were bound to find something.

And we did......Abbotts Lagoon. 

Now, I'm a total Gilligan's Island fan, so when I read 'lagoon' I was in.

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It's All About the Lens

As most of you know, it was my birthday in July, but what you don't know {until now} is that I bought myself a teensy weensy little birthday present.........called a macro lens {for my Canon Rebel}. 

And OH.

How.

I.

LOVE.

It! 

It is amazing what a difference a lens can make!  Who knew? Not me......until now. 

When we were at the beach the other day, I tried it out.  Of course I still need lots of practice, but wow,  what detail this lens captures.  I think I'm going to have a lot of fun using it and can't wait to try it out on food shots.

So, bear with me while I share with you some of the shots I took around our friends, the Taylor's, beach cabin.  These shots were taken right before we left at about 5 p.m. after I loaded up the car and realized I had not yet taken any flower or vegetation shots.

Next time I'll get a little closer but I was afraid of being stung by a bee.

Mint grows wild around the beach cabin.

Thanks for hanging in there with me while I learn to use the macro lens hopefully my photos will become better and better!

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A Sea of Jellyfish

Yesterday we drove out to our favorite beach area in Tomales Bay - Pt. Reyes National Seashore with our friends, the Taylors.  It was a foggy day when we headed out but it turned out to be beautiful at the coast a little while later.  A warm 65-70 degrees, bright and sunny, once the fog cleared at around noon.

It must be jellyfish season {is there such a thing?} in the bay this time of year because there were literally hundreds of them we could see.  Tomales bay is really shallow for quite a distance from the beach which is perfect for kids to play in, as long as they dodge the Aurelia Jellyfish that sometime hang out there.....and this was the requirement for yesterday's beach trip.

The 'big daddy' in the photo below was taken at the beach line and was the size of a large dinner plate.

With so many of these transparent creatures in the water, it felt kind of like we were being invaded by alien beings.  Eerie and kind of cool at the same time. 

The beach itself was covered with dead jellyfish.  Of course I wanted to know the reason behind this and looked it up on Wikipedia as soon as I got home.  According to them, the Aurelia Jellyfish die after living and producing for several months.  It's rare for them to live more than six months in the wild.  Apparently, the warm water at the end of summer combines with exhaustive daily reproduction and lower levels of food for tissue repair, leaving these jellyfish more susceptible to bacterial and other diseases which in turn, leads to their death.

Now we know why we found hundreds of jellyfish carcass scattered along the beach.  It's always fun to incorporate some education when the opportunity presents itself.....for the kids and myself.

Well, the dead jellyfish provided HOURS of entertainment for the kids.......okay, mainly for Bryce who took it upon himself to collect all of them {with a stick} and pile them up neatly.  Beach 'clean up'.

This was only the beginning.....the pile grew and grew into a blob-like creation.

Paige played on the sand bar while the clean-up was happening.  She didn't want to have anything to do with the jellyfish...dead or alive.

After the clean-up, the kids fed the seagulls.

This seagull scored a wheat thin.

We drove home at around 5p.m.  Here is a photo of the ocean side with the fog lingering and ready to move back in.

All in all, a great day at Tomales Bay......warm, educational, and fun all wrapped up in one afternoon.

Happy Wednesday!

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Tomales Bay - My favorite beach area!

The other day we attended such a fun birthday party for our little friend, Eva's 2 year birthday.

The party was held at the family's beach house in Tomales Bay State Park that has been in their family for years. 

This is a photo of Tomales Bay, just as I was cresting the hill before the drive down to the beach.  Thankfully I was following Eva's Dad, John out to the beach house because I don't think I would have found it on my own.  We drove down a dirt road, through the dairy ranch (that is leased by one of their cousins) and then took a right at another dirt road, through a gate and down a few miles to the beach.

There are many beaches that are open to the public on Tomales Bay.  But it sure is nice when we have one all to ourselves!  The fog had already moved in from the Pacific Ocean over the hill.  One of the things I LOVE about Tomales Bay, is that it's protected from the wind.  It was foggy but it didn't feel cold.

I love this rock formation that sits at the base of the adjacent hill and was fortunate enough to snap a photo of it before the tide rolled in.

Our friends, the Taylors, were telling me that at one time this formation used sit atop of the adjacent hill many years ago and that they have an old painting of it when it was in it's original location.  How cool is that?!

I can't wait to check out that painting the next time I'm at their house.

Here's the beach house with a great back deck looking out on the bay.  This beach has a TON of clam and mussel shells for the kids to collect.  They had SO much fun.

The other thing I LOVE about the beaches on Tomales Bay is how shallow the water is with no waves to contend with. 

Bryce and Paige each experienced their very first Kayak rides.  Bryce was chomping at the bit to have his turn.

He was so happy Camilla gave him the next ride.

Paige was loving it also.

Mr. Gopher made an appearance at the party as well.  Didn't know gophers lived at the beach!

No B-day party is complete without cupcakes.  YUM! 

Here is a map of the area.  The circled area is where we were on this particular day.  On any given 100 degree day, we always head out to one of the beaches on Tomales Bay.  We only live 25 minutes from this beach area and the temperature change is normally 20 degrees cooler at the beach during the hot inland days.  It's great to find some natural air conditioning so close by.

Happy Sunday!

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