The M-R family

We were so lucky to have Tocco's dad and sister visit us from Germany for a week over New Year's. It was great to catch up again and to show them around our little piece of California. It was especially nice for Tocco's dad to see for the first time where we live and what our life is like so far away. Here are some photos from our trip to Muir Woods, Muir Beach, Mavericks, Half Moon Bay and Pigeon Point Lighthouse (with whales!) with Tocco's family. 

I could make a whole album of Tocco pointing to things

Seals!

We spent the weekend at four different beaches which was pretty amazing and kind of insane that that's even possible. My favorite spot was definitely Half Moon Bay (duh, I'm in love with HMB). We left early and beat all the traffic the whole way, bonus bonus. We caught the light along the way so beautifully I've made it my mission next weekend for Tocco to drop me off at the start of my favorite street in town so I can take all the photos I want, uninterrupted, and not from a vehicle going 50. He'll get a coffee, and then meet back up at the end of the road, perfect. This will make me obscenely happy. Anyway, we got to town super early, had a nice laid back breakfast with the locals at our favorite spot outside and then found a beach we've never visited. Front row parking. We set up and went paddle boarding and it was so, so, so! nice. The sand was golden, the water was perfectly glassy and we nearly had the place to ourselves. There were about a dozen boats anchored in the water to paddle over to and check out the sails, ropes, portholes and general shippiness of. But the best part were the two big fatty harbor seals, white with black spots, like snow leopards, with big black eyes, who were swimming all around us. They kept coming around to check out our bright yellow board, snorting water out of their noses, and spinning up, down, and around us in the water. At one point there was one seal directly in front of me and other at my back sooo close and I did get a little terrified. I'm not used to being out on the water with actual sealife that's not seaweed or minnows. They're so big and at home in the water and it's a little nutty when you're standing on top of the water on a wobbly board. But it was the kind of scary that's fun and thrilling so I spent the rest of my time in the water trying to anticipate where they'd pop up again so I could surf over for a closer look. Next weekend we're going to do it all over again. :)

MOM

I had such a nice time with my Mom! Tocco keeps saying that the house feels like a home now that she's been here, and I think that's true. Come back soon, Mama!

We went to the beach...

Stuck our toes in the sand... 

Watched Tocco kitesurf...

Checked out nature... 

Went to jail...

Worked in the yard... 

Painted the fence... 

Chose a color to paint the house...

Had Tocco's famous giant burgers...

And tons of other things! I love you Mom!

a successful end

the rest of the holiday weekend was a huge improvement over saturday - tocco redid the stairs, i started a couple container gardens (with tomatoes, arugula, mint, cilantro, rosemary, and sage), we went to half moon bay, saw our first kitesurfers for the season (!), had a nice lunch out, checked out some greenhouses, found temporary outdoor seating in our crawl space (yes!) and made a homemade berry tart, curried carrot soup, and banana bread...