The Joys of California Living

We have been Californians for almost 6 months now, and we are finding many things that are really wonderful about where we live. 

One that has us laughing fairly often is the difference of weather between where we live in the mountains compared to the valley.  The other Sunday we were getting ready to go to church and outside it was maybe going to be 45 degrees out for the day.  Then we realized we had better check and see what the temperature down in the valley was going to be, a whooping 75 degrees!!!  We are realizing we have to check the weather in Visalia if we are heading down the hill.  A few times we have been caught wearing too warm of clothes once we get to town.  For the month of February and the beginning of March we had snow on the ground and it would be pleasantly warm in the valley.  It also gets me that we only live an hour and a half away from palm trees and cactus. 

Another joy is the fresh produce of the area.  I have discovered the local farmers market.  Who knew what was available in the winter when you live in the biggest AG state in the US(I had no idea before we moved here how much agriculture there is everywhere in California).  So much fresh fruit and vegetables.  And the citrus is ripe in the winter!!  We have been eating fresh oranges for the past few months.  Plus we have gotten to expand our palates by some the local produce available to us.

The other week we tried Nopales, or the pads from prickly pear cactus.  We grilled them with chicken and avocado and it was a unanimous decision, they are not our cup of tea!  They have a very strong flavor and a little slimy at the same time.  Maybe if they were chopped up very small and added to a salad dish it might be a different story, but I think we will pass next time.

Some goodies from the farmers market; heirloom carrots, cilantro, oranges, blood oranges, local honey and a buddha's hand.  A buddha's hand, also known as a fingered citron, it contains no pulp or juice and is used for zesting in various dishes.  We used it on our fish tacos and enjoyed it.  Zane loves the carrots and would eat them all if I let him.

In just the past few weeks the wild flowers have started blooming, especially the California Poppies.  They are most evident in the hills on the way down to Visalia. 

The pictures don't do it justice.  It is such a vibrant orange yellow color.  Other areas are a blanket of white or purple depending on the flowers that are blooming. 

One more amazing thing about living here are the trees.  We were hiking just a few miles from the house the other day and came around the corner and this amazing tree was on the edge of the trail.  They still amaze me every time I see one.

                                  This is the base of the tree in the above photo!!


We are really enjoying our new home and the area around us.  Here are some more pictures of some hikes we have done around the house in the past few weeks.

                                          Hiking along Eshom Creek

                                            Sunset Trail, watch out for those pine cones!!

                                      The cross on the hill behind the dining hall at Hartland.

                                             Enjoying the woods

Zane and I are starting our next Hike it Baby challenge on April 1.  The challenge is 30 miles in 30 days or 30 minutes outside three times a week.  We have easily hit both of those goals in the last challenges so we will see what we get this month. 

Well we are off on our next adventure this weekend with a camping trip to Joshua Tree National Park.  Pictures to come in the next post.  God Bless!!

Snow, Snow, Snow and Camping at the Beach

We have had snow on the ground for the whole month of February, all total around 3-4 feet of the white stuff!!!

We started the month by heading over to my brother's house in the bay area to celebrate Kyla's birthday. On the drive over we took a break and rode a small train.

 
We had a great time at the ice skating birthday party and Zane is finally starting to figure out how to move his skates, it was his third time ice skating.

                                         Zane trying to make those feet move in the right direction

                                               Zac, Keanan, Zane and Casey on the ice

                                                            Getting better!

                                                   The birthday girl skating like a pro!

We headed home and ended up in the white stuff!!  Zane has really been enjoying the snow.  Every day we go for one or two walks, while our walks often turned into me pulling him on the sled all over Hartland, what a great way to get some exercise.  Thankfully he is still pretty light and easy to pull.

                                                           The first snow of the month

                                                     Taking a walk around Hartland

And then it snowed some more.  The second weekend of February was a Junior Winter Camp at Hartland.  The poor buses had some struggles getting up the hill to pick the kids up.  One of the large charter buses got stuck coming up and had to call a tow truck.  The tow truck got them out but followed them up the hill just in case, good thing he did because the bus got stuck two more times!!!  Praise the Lord all the kids got home safe and sound, just a little bit later than planned. 

                                                 The second snow, it's getting deep!!

           Casey spent lots of time on the tractor plowing snow for cars to get in and out of Hartland.


Even with all the snow we still spent plenty of time at the play ground.  Snow makes for a fun time on the slides.

                                                                   Enjoying the swing

                                         Going down the slide with friends


Hartland has a man made tube run that we checked out on one of Casey's days off.  It was a lot of fun.  Zane loved it(as evidenced by the laughter in one of the videos) and even did a few runs by himself.

                                                             The laughter!!!

                                                                Zane on his own


We ended February be heading to the beach for a camping trip.  For Christmas we gave Zane a camping trip to the beach and it was so fun to redeem it during the month of February, especially when we still had so much snow on the ground at home, one of the many joys of living in California.  We headed to San Simeon State Park.  From our tent site we could see the ocean.  The weather was great low 60s and sunny.  Zane had a great time digging in the sand, we had to make sure his shovel was packed!!

                                                           Climbing on the rocks

                                               They both had their shovels, ready to dig!


Just north of us there was an Elephant Seal Rookery.  A place where the seals come to shore to give birth.  There were hundreds of them on the beach.  Zane especially liked it when they moved around and made their funny noises.  They are huge, the males can get up to 18 feet long and weigh around 5000 lbs!!!

                                            The smaller dark grey ones are the babies

As we headed home we went past the Hearst Castle and they have a herd of Zebras!  They are hard to see in the pictures but Zane enjoyed watching some of them play on the hillsides.

                                                         Zebras!!

All in all we had a great month.  Now the snow is almost all melted away, we have had amazing amounts of rain this past week, but more snow is on the way!  God bless until next time.