Almost Perfect Day

What is the perfect day? Here in Eureka it requires sun, no wind and a weekend day. Saying this, yesterday was almost perfect. For me it was great, little to do, we went to the beach for almost 2 hours with the dogs of course. Frank, Ronny and I came back a little sun burned, yes in 67 degree heat you can get a sunburn. Niether of us thought about suncreen until we were at the beach and looked at our pasty white-pink skin. The beach was beautiful, no wind and extremely low tide (actually a minus tide) so we could walk out a good distance. After the beach we came home read books and relaxed. After awhile we went to the Gem,mineral,rock and bead show. Very small show but fun. After the show we went to chinese food for dinner (yeah, finally a good chinese place), and home to watch 3 episodes of Battlestar Gallatica. A good day all around.
Even Ben had a good day, he hung out at a different beach with his firends and the mall.
What would have made it perfect, according to Ronny playing with his friends. We had arranged a play date, but the boy was sick and could not come over. For Me maybe some time with just Frank or having a day with all my boys (coming in May).
However I would take an almost perfect day over rain, wind and cold and be happy.
Amy

All I want from Easter are my 2 front teeth.

Ronny lost his top two front teeth within the last 6 weeks. We are having problems understanding him when he talks and he spits alot. Ronny had a great report card in Kindergarten and is reading short stories to us. He likes to build his legos and play sports. He makes up his own games alot such as playing snow leapord in the back yard or of course army games. Since watching Battlestar Gallatica he also really likes to use nukes to blow things up and often roots for the bad guys since they don't really win much.

Ronny very much misses his friends in Sacramento, particularly Atticus and Joey. He really has only 1 friend from school who he can invite over or visit. We tried 5 kids until 1 finally said yes. This friend Kayden, has 1 older brother and 2 younger brothers so they have something in common.

Pictures are of Ronny with no front teeth, with his dog Princess, and at Big Lagoon.

Galoons and other fun places to visit.

What the heck is a galoon? Well in 6 year old language with no front teeth it is a lagoon. We finally had a nice weather weekend. Not too much wind, enough sun and some fog. Easter weekend was great even if it ended with rain Sunday evening. Frank's parents came for the weekend and we had a great time.

Saturday we went to Trinidad head for its 1 mile loop walk and to Big Lagoon. Trinidad head is about 30 minutes away with a trail that walks up along the hill above the ocean. The views of the bay and ocean were beautiful. Big Lagoon is 10 minutes north of Trinidad on the freeway. It is the first of 3 nearby lagoons. Big Lagoon is a freshwater lagoon seperated from the ocean by a sandbar creating what looks like a pond. The ocean side had lots of high, breaking waves and surf. The lagoon was calm and we watched a otter play in the water and people were out in canoes and kayaks. It was interesting to stand and turn to watch both areas. Ben did not come out with us since he came home too late in the morning from a friend's house and needed a nap. In the evening we played Foodie Fight a food trivia game, that actually is difficult.

Sunday, the Easter Bunny brought Ronny and Ben a basket of candy and Ronny some new lego toys. After a breakfast of fresh banana chocolate chip bread (yes, Amy cooks for visitors) we walked the dogs to through Sequoia park, a nearby park and then had our easter egg hunt. Lunch/dinner was a t 1pm of ham, scalloped potatoes and asparagus. Frank's parents left by 2pm. Frank, Amy and Ronny spent the rest of the day watching Battle Star Galatica, the new series on DVD and Ben cleaned his room.

Pictures are from Tinidad Head, Town of Trinidad, and Big Lagoon.

February Updates

February may be the shorted month of the year, but the Whitlatch's made more than the most of it. Amy was gone for two weekends in a row. The first was to Seattle to have a girls weekend with BF Lisa Martin. It was alot of fun packed into a 3 day weekend. Lots of hot chocolate at cafes, the underground tour, Pikes Market, Chinese New Year Parade, bookstores to browse and brunch at the Space Needle. We decided we needed to get away from our kids more often, Lisa has 4 of her own at home in Minneapolis. While Amy was gone Frank took Ben and Ronny to Santa Rosa to help his parents lay new tile in their entryway and around the wood buring stove. The tile turned out great.

The next weekend Amy took the boys to Sacramento for 5 days during the Eureka President's week holiday. Jeremy took an extra day off and came as well from San Luis Obispo. It was great having all the boys together. We spent our time visiting old friends and neighbors, playing poker with Bill's family (Amy's brother) and just relaxing. Frank stayed home, not having the President's days off, but also to get over the flu that had be holding on for over 1 week. I think it took almost 2 weeks for him to get better. Amy and Ronny also had the flu prior to this but not as bad.

February also saw the Sacramento house finally go to new owners hands. Glad to be done with 2 mortgage payments.

We also managed a few weekend days at the beach and Ronny had tryouts for baseball. All in all a busy month.

Pictures: All the Whitlatch boys in Grandma Susie's backyard, Amy and Lisa in Seattle, Ronny and friend Atticus and Amy and niece Layla.

Manila Dunes

Hi Everyone,
I am attaching pictures from a beach nearby, Manila Dunes, about 10 minutes to parking lot. It is across the bay from us on the ocean side. As a kid, I camped nearby about 2 miles on the bayside with my parents and my Dad's parents. It was always fun. We like to go there because it is different each time and the dogs can walk/run off the leash. Last week I found sand dollars on the beach, none where whole, but it was neat to see. This past Saturday Ronny and I went out, it was clear and sunny at our house and cold and windy at the beach and it rained as we left.
From the pictures you can see very happy dogs, almost smiling for the camera.
Amy

Whitlatch Home

We now live in a home that is approximately 1800 sq.ft, 2 stories, 4 bedroom, two bath. Downstairs there is a living room/dining room combo, kitchen, 2 bedroom and 1 bathroom. Upstairs are the 2 other bedrooms, bathroom and attic space. The house is over 70 years old. Not much different from our Sacramento home and neighborhood.

The neighborhood we live in is called Henderson Center because of a small shopping area. From our house we can walk to 2 pizza places, a video store, 2 bakeries, a drug store, hardware store, small shops and many small restaurants. A very nice neighborhood. Ronny's school is about 3/4 a mile away and Ben is about 2 miles a away. It takes Frank 15-20 mintues to get to Humboldt State in Arcata, just north.

The photos are the front of the house, we are levated about 6 feet above the street, backyard, living room and kitchen. Our primary source of heat is a pellet stove, not central heat. We also have an electric heater downstairs if needed. Both only really heat the downstairs. We all have flannel sheets and blanket underneath big comforters. So far we have gone through 1 ton of pellets in 2 months.

Take care.

Local Beaches

Here are pictures from two local beaches. Agate Beach (bottom) is part of the Patrick's Point State Park and the other is Clam Beach (top) a very nice smooth, sand beach.