So Many Twins

After some wacky airport travel woes, we made it to California a day late. Our gracious friends, Stephen and Jessica, welcomed us with a beautiful plant based lunch in their amazing, xeriscaped backyard and we wasted no time getting on to some adventuring. 

But first, the reason for our trip was to meet their three month old twin babies! Is it weird that we and the two couples to which we were closest in our early 20's all had twin babies?! It was a true pleasure to be a part of their early parenting journey. And, oh how precious are Clara and Theodore!

Also, the central coast of California is this mystical place where the mountains meet the sea and we ate it up! Graham surfed his butt off and if you didn't already know this about him, surfing is his spirit animal. 

Day one hike with the twins strapped to mom and dad. Adventurous little nuggets!

The twin tent. 

The Crutchfield twins and the Rockley twins.

The aforementioned backyard. This is just a tiny piece of it. They have made a little paradise back there. 

We are ballers on a budget. We can afford ZERO Airbnbs on the coast of CA. So we were happy to stay at a campground at the beautiful Montana De Oro State Park, just 10 minutes away from Stephen and Jessica's. The Crutchfields supplied us with camping gear and we had a sweet little setup. 

The girls had their own tent and Alastair had his own one-man tent. That's in-tents!

I cannot imagine a campground with a better view than this!

The kids and I climbed around Coon Creek (basically at our campground) all morning while Graham went surfing. They were in HEAVEN! 

Stephen lent his truck to us for this week. That's Morro Rock behind it. She's a massive piece of stone.

Alastair and Graham did quite a lot of surfing. Surfing here is scary. The water is dark, deep, and FREEZING. It is filled with seals, aka, shark food. No thanks. But I'm not very committed; Graham says the surfing is a dream. 

Cactus Cooler. A special, nostalgic sodi-pop from Graham's childhood. 

Franci Mae and the CA wildflowers. Too good. 

Hike up to Valencia Peak.

The summit was super foggy, but celebratory. We had some attitude issues on the way up. That steep incline is a mental struggle, a good lesson for our whippersnappers. 

We took a Big Sur day trip with Stephen. Checking out the elephant seals. 

Those redwoods, though!

Coastal lunch break

Not a bad picnic spot.

Waterfall hike in Big Sur 

Maisy is a climber!

Named by us, The Goonie Cave. Makes for fun exploring. 

Stephen and Baby Clara.

Our trip out west was both adventurous and heartwarming (lots of babies!) and I think I can speak for Graham and myself that the "lead is all out!" The mountains, the rivers, the sea, the forest...they all offer some sort of clarity that we needed post-cancer. We left feeling grateful and ready for our warm, sunny weather!

Last, but not least we had a one day layover in Denver. So we headed up to old stompin' grounds in Longmont. We hit up all the necessities: Lucille's Creole Cafe, Ziggi's Coffee, Malee Thai, Spirit Hound Distillers, and our beloved neighbor, Ellie's house. 

We had to kill some time before our redeye flight, so we found a spot on this rushing river in Lyons, CO and just chilled. 

Farewell, Colorado!