Lovely Leo (Carillo, that is)

In honor of Lee's birthday, and as a kickoff to Christmas vacation, we took off after church and went to Leo Carillo yesterday for a quick camping trip. We decided to go sans trailer in the name of simplicity and also to show the kids how to set up a tent. There were a handful of other campers there, but we mostly had the place to ourselves.

Across the PCH there are tidepools, caves, tunnels and beach. It is just north of the Ventura County line and a favorite spot.

There was an amazing sunset and unfortunately, our camera just doesn't do it justice, but it was radiant.

We cooked old school style with the outside stove and lots of canned things, but it was delicious! We even made stovetop popcorn!

Now it's time for Lee's big celebration!

Snowy Christmastime

We made it through night one of the deep freeze - it was only 24 degrees. Lisa and Emily Steed on the other hand are snowed in and Greg can't get home. They have over two feet of snow and the old neighbor with the snowplough died last spring! Lisa says she is fine but lonely.

Tonight is our last very cold night for this storm. Only one person on the block had a freeze break in a water line but several had frozen lines that cut off their water supply for the early morning hours. I love it when the street is covered with snow and the traffic lanes overlap.

Mom is hard at work getting stuff ready for the big ward dinner on Friday. Somehow the Christmas lights look better with all of the snow on the roof and the ground.

I snapped this photo just after six pm and it was already below thirty degrees. I almost went down on my keester when I slipped on the ice as I picked my way down the driveway. This one looks cool enlarged. Tonight it is hard to imagine the summer heatwave that we shared back in July. I hope everyone is staying warm.

Fireworks and Snowfall

We joked about the weather service never getting it right when they predict a big storm but this time they were right on the money. We got about ten inches of wet snow on Monday morning.

Branches began snapping and falling on the house at about 4 AM. We lost our electric power at 4:45. By that time Shanna and I were on the couch in the great room. We were sure that a limb was going to come into our bedroom. We watched the flashes of brilliant blue light as trees fell all around the neighborhood blowing up transformers. I have never seen so many trees down on power lines - even more than in that storm in 1988.

Wouldn't the grandkids have fun on this swing. Great snowball snow, too! No school so many kids out in the snow. I saw one snowman that was at least eight feet tall!

Some of the carnage from the heavy snow on the Live Oak trees. In all we lost about ten major branches but without any damage to the house or electrical service. Kathy Beavers lost a large Live Oak which fell across her power hook up leaving her blocked in her yard without any power. Jeremiah to the rescue! He cut a path through the downed tree and then flattened out the snow so she could get her car out. She went to stay with Lisa.

Didn't move the Dodge all day and with a low of 20 predicted for tonight she may sit in her spot for another day or two. Many cars over the side of the little roads on this ice and snow. It would have been fun to have this storm when the family was all here but only for about five hours. We now have our power back and are ready for the next round.