a beautiful day

A mermaid party in the winter.

That is what my middle child wanted.

And I took a leap of faith that the weather would permit.
And we'd head to the tide pools to explore.

I know how very unpredictable California weather can be.
Sunny and 70's one day, and 32 in the morning with wind and rain another.
And it literally can flip flop like that from one day to the next.

But I just trusted.

And then we all got sick...FOREVER.
So her party was delayed.

And this past week it rained.
And moms asked, so what's your plan?
And I said well the weather keeps showing full sun on Saturday.
So I'm moving forward in faith.  Despite those grey clouds and rain we have today.
And do you know.

It was a beautiful day.

Even in the morning when we woke to ice on our cars and lawns.
My husband said, "If I didn't know you, and someone said
lets plan a beach party in February, I'd think they were crazy."

And I said, "It'll be ok.  Just wait.  It'll be ok."

It was more than ok.

It was a perfect day.

And though I used many ideas from the amazing One Charming Party,
that I purchased during a sale probably two years ago.

(photo courtesy One Charming Party)

I didn't need to do much.
Because God's beauty and creation provided all the activity.

A brown California Sea Hare after I touched it, giving off ink in defense.

Ochre sea star

Excuse this very photo heavy post.
Consider it a photo journal of the Leo Carrillo tide pools.
Which by the way I think are way better this time of year.

The low tide was lower than I've ever seen it and we could easily walk around
areas normally filled with water.  OH, and just in case you were wondering. We did not keep anything we studied.  We only held them or put them in buckets of water to observe.  But they went right back to their proper homes.

Pisaster Ochraceus sea star

Muscles, that the sea stars feed on.

A little tid-bit from this interesting website.

"Each ochre sea star can eat up to 80 adult mussels each year and thousands of barnacles."

They are voracious omnivores.

Do you see that little purple shore crab hiding between the rocks.  He's green and a reddish/purple hue.

And the starburst (Sunburst) sea anemone were everywhere.

Do you see the sea lion among the birds, bathing in the sun?

My friend and a favorite babysitter took this of me spotting dolphins playing in the sea.

A big thank you to Miss Nicole for making it to celebrate and hang with the kids.

The best part is, I got to explore and play too!

Thanks to Miss Nicole for capturing that.  Ah hem.

And for capturing our family...both posed and goofy.

A most happy, happy 8th birthday to our sweet big girl!