Fort Bragg 2015

The other beach we frequented every day was called Sand Dollar Beach. Named for the obvious, because of all its Sand Dollars! You can find Sand Dollars almost every time you walk out into the surf, if you can withstand the cold. We went to the beach each day at low tide, so we could collect fresh, live muscles from the rocks.  Any seafood lovers out there will know how awesome that is.

The dark things on the rocks with the hint of blue on them, are muscles. They're sort of like clams. Just a little live muscle within a shell. And they're delicious. Especially fresh. I can't believe the locals don't feast on these like every day. Who knows, maybe they do? But I never saw another person collecting them while we were there. Look at how many there are! We took them back to the house and steamed the entire bucket. We ate them with some fresh fish we bought there. Kallan loved them and ate about 1/3 of the bucket. I'm craving them as I type this!

This little cave was so cool, because you could only go through it at low tide. Once you walked through this opening, and turn left, you come out on your own little personal beach. But at high tide, it basically fills almost to the top.

We filled up a bucket of muscles to eat each day and took them back with us for dinner. The

The boys LOVED the sand. Talk about hours of entertainment. On our last night there we built a little fire and roasted hotdogs, and had a little cookout.

 One of 4 whole Sand Dollars we found

 This guy was outside of the Fort Bragg house on the side walk. I have never seen a Banana Slug that big before! Kallan wanted a picture of it.

Just look at that view. Can you imagine seeing something like this almost every night where you live? The sunsets each night were all awesome, but this one was by far the best. The whole town smelled salty, and ocean-y and freash the whole time.

 This is looking out from Noyo Harbor. This is where all the fishing boats come in and out with all the fresh caught seafood, and fish. And below is Cap'n Flints Restaurant, where some of the scenes from one of the greatest movies of all times called Over Board with Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, was filmed. So I had to take a picture.

We stayed in Fort Bragg from Monday, until Saturday morning. We woke up early Saturday, packed, cleaned the house and started the 3.5 hour drive to Livermore, where the wedding was being held. We checked into our hotel, and then we dropped the boys off at a total stranger's house. Stranger to us anyway haha. My brother-in-law had a friend that lived right in Livermore and had a teenage daughter whom we hired to babysit the boys. Her dad was there the whole time and they had some nieces and nephews come over to play with the kids. Kallan was thrilled. The second he set foot in the house, he was off and playing, without even a hug goodbye for us. Jace toddled right on after him. We then went to a Catholic church where the ceremony was held. I have never been to a Catholic Mass, or wedding, or Catholic anything, so it was very interesting to see how Catholics get married. I felt super cultured afterwards haha. Then, once the ceremony was over, we headed over to a Winery venue for the reception. It was amazing. I have never been to a wedding like this before in my life. The place was huge, and had a massive bar, which it was open bar for all guests, and they held a little cocktail hour while the bride and groom took pictures.  Servers brought around little trays of horderves, and they were delicious! I probably made a meal just out of them. There was a photo booth, a live band, and all the liquor and wine anyone could want. Then, we picked up our name cards, found our assigned table, and sat down. They had a DJ who introduce the whole wedding party, and then they served us a full meal. We order the pan seared Wild Alaskan Salmon, and it did not disappoint! We ate and listened to all the toasts. It was beautifully decorated. The reception went until 11 PM but we had to leave just after 8 to pick up the kids. We went back to the hotel, and the next morning we had a big breakfast down with a whole bunch of Buck's family. After breakfast, we said goodbyes and jumped back on the road to start the long drive home. This is the only picture I have of us at the wedding.

We drove all day Sunday. All.Day. It was the longest drive ever and I swear we were never gonna make it out alive. But we did, and now we're home, with tons of great memories, of a quick little family trip. It was so needed for me. For all of us. School hasn't just taken a toll on me, but on all 4 of us, so it was so nice to sleep in every day, and be together, all day long. Until next time Fort Bragg...or as Kallan said as we left and said goodbye to the house, "See you in 30 years!" Only I hope with a few more trips before then.