The Farm, Pismo Beach, and Such....

Wow, this is going to be a big post, but we did so many things!! We got to Bakersfied on Wednesday night. The next morning, bright and early, I went with Emily to her quilting guild! It was fun even though I was the youngest lady there by 20 years, but those ladies are sassy! I went out to lunch with them afterward, too! I found out one of my favorite authors is gonna be in Bakersfield in a couple of weeks, and of course, I'm not gonna be there! Earlene Fowler....writes the Benni Harper books....well, I love em! Later that day, we went to what we call "The Farm". Its real name is Murray Family Farms and is just outside of Bakersfield. They grow just about everything you could think of, including Pluots (plum and apricot cross) and other fun crazy fruits you only thought existed in science fiction and about every kind of citrus and berry you can find.....just way too many to list! So, we got there kinda late and they wouldn't let us do the "pick your own" thing, so we just played in the corn and looked at the animals in their petting zoo. We had a blast and didn't spend any money like we thought we would, so....even better! The picture with Jason and Kinsey is of them making "corn angels" as Kinsey called it, in the corn pool. Its just a big deep swimming pool or watering trough filled with feed corn and the kids love it! It really feels good, too. Its like accupressure! Yeah, we found this huge squash-looking plant that had these gigantic green bean looking squashes on it! They were crazy huge! That is my flip flop by it...and I know I have huge feet, but really! That squash is HUGE! The picture of Kinsey posing on the hand chair....I couldn't get her to sit normal! I kept saying.....Okay, now put your legs normal...and she wouldn't, so I guess I have a model in training!








These hazy pictures were taken the next evening at Shell Beach, just down from Pismo. This crazy fog had rolled in and it was fun, but my hair was driving me nuts! Its funny I had to go to California to get Utah hair! That's the only place my hair has volume! hahaha. We went at low tide, around 6pm and we explored the tide pools! I am a tide pool nut! I found one purple starfish that was as big as a my pillow and 4 or 5 smaller yellow/orange ones! I found a ton of crabs of all different sizes and plenty of green anenomes! After I explored for a while, I strapped Jonas onto me and let Jason have a go. The rocks were too slippery and we didn't dare take Jonas along with us. I got a lot of video of the sealions coming up to see what we were. We took Kinsey to shell beach when she was 6 weeks old and had her in the same pack as Jonas rode in....same beach....the pictures even look the same! It'll have to be a tradition! It was fun and kinda spooky to be out in weather like that! Afterwards, we went out for icecream at Dr. Bernstein's Icecream Lab down in Arroyo Grande....for those of us from more spread-out towns, Arroyo Grande was just down the road, but don't try telling them that! The icecream place was fun! They gave it a mad scientist twist and had sprinkles in test tubes and stuff. Kinsey had cotton candy puff (cotton candy icecream with marshmellows) and it really tasted like cotton candy!



We used our credit card points and got a hotel in town for the night. The next morning was the Clam Festival in Pismo. I had no idea that Pismo is "The Clam Capital of the World"! How funny. I only have ever been clamming in the Puget Sound and I still didn't see any clams because we were only there while the tide was in. We walked the Pier and walked all around town. They have a mall right down by the pier and that is where Kinsey rode the merry-go-round. Yeah, it cost a dollar for, like, 45 seconds, but it made for a fun memory! There were fish schooling by while we were there at the beach and the sealions were hunting in packs and the pelicans were dive bombing into the water from like 20 feet up! I couldn't believe those pelicans and everyone around us were acting like it was normal! We even saw dolphins! No one believed me when I said that I saw them and a few minutes later they saw them and couldn't believe I was right! We ate at Moe's BBQ and it was awesome and I got some overpriced Gelato, but it was good! Kinsey and I went down and played in the sand and it was just the most gorgeous day! I have never been to Pismo in such great weather! I pushed Kinsey on the swings down off the pier and we could barely hear eachother talk, it was so loud! There was a surfing competition going on and people were everywhere! The picture of Kinsey making sand castles was the last one we took of her dry.....I looked down to take a picture of some shells I had found and heard a scream! I looked up and the tide had come in on Kinsey, and we aren't talking a little spray, either...it was coming up over her waist! It doesn't even look close in the picture and a split-second later.....she was all wet! We had a blast and didn't want to come home! Its so nice having lots of options for fun things to do when you're in a big city! The kids had fun snuggling the grandparents and auntie and great grandma! We always eat so well that Jason and I joke, (its not a joke, really), that we both come home 10 lbs heavier! Jason even got a Jamba Juice every day, I think! Spoiled rotten!