Well I thought April was a slow month 😬😳

We started out April with every intention of taking a breather from our busy schedule (looking at you March). This didn't last long, as we began the month spread all over California. Lucy and her friends came to LA to hang out with Lilly (and crashed the first of many parties on their rooftop patio) and to take in a concert. 

Meanwhile, Ben and I finally made it to a Gulls hockey game (very belated birthday present for Ben). 

    

Jim is now working in DC in the Pentagon, and he spent the weekend down in Deltaville, VA with his sister Lindley and her family. That also included a trip over to William and Mary to take in a baseball game as well as an oyster roast with oysters from Coby's oyster farm. Not typical Easter activities for us for sure, but now that the kids are all but grown, I guess we will have to pivot to find new traditions.

    

    

The next weekend found Jim on the move (again). His first stop was in Victoria to visit with his parents before heading down to Swansboro for a quick check in on my family and to meet with our tax guy before tax day.

Lucy went on to the Colorado River with her outdoor group from UCSB. This trip is very similar to the trip Ben and Jim did in January of 2025. She started from Willow Beach, AZ and paddled up the river 8 miles to Arizona Hot Springs Campground. They then paddled up the river 4 more miles and saw the Hoover Dam up close. Several more hot springs and a super cool sauna cave rounded out the trip. The last day they woke up at 4am to paddle 8 miles back down the river (in the dark/sunrise) to Willow Beach and then loaded up the vehicles and drove back to Santa Barbara. 

    

Next up is Ben's National Football Federation awards dinner. He was nominated by his football coach and along with 25 other high school seniors in the San Diego area who are student athletes and who shine both in the classroom and on the football field. It is an impressive group of young men who all have bright futures ahead of them.

        

We also headed over to the beach to get some senior photos taken. We had been trying to coordinate this for MONTHS, and finally the planets aligned. They are all great and certainly capture Ben's current life here in San Diego. So Proud of him and all he has accomplished.

While we are talking about Ben, track season is in full swing. He changed things up a bit this year. He started out doing the shot put and sprints but decided to try something different his last couple of meets by adding the high jump and long jump. He has shown some promise in each. 

The next weekend Lucy and friends went camping at Pismo Beach . Their first stop was Morro Bay where they saw sea otters at Morrow Rock, had lunch at Cayuos and explored Estero Bluffs State Park. Moving on to Pismo Beach, they hung out in the dunes, drove on the beach and the next morning did a hike at Montaña de Orro before driving back to Santa Barbara.

    

    

Got Ben's senior yard sign - I guess I need to actually start prepping for him to graduate cause it is for sure happening. YIKES! In some ways he is more than ready to take the next step, but we are trying to soak in as much together time as possible before the big day!

In the meantime, he is spending as much time as his schedule allows doing his new favorite thing.

 

While he has been hitting up the surf, I have started ticking off some boxes by doing some local hikes that people have been recommending since we arrived in 2024. First on that list was Potato Chip Rock. Jim got to do it last year with the Marines and I got to do with it like-minded friends! I decided on NOT jumping over to stand on the thin rock suspended over a cliff cause I didn't want to die. But there were others on the hike that day that didn't hesitate!

    

We closed out the month with Ben's Senior Night for Track. I remember track lasting forever with multiple track meets a week. That isn't really the way it works out here. Anticlimactic ending to Ben's High School athletic career. It was hard to watch Lilly and Lucy's last high school soccer game and this also brought some tears, but track is different since it is more individual achievement oriented.

    

Lucy headed up to the Bay Area for a quick weekend trip with her boyfriend and family to celebrate some birthdays. While there they played tourist and saw Twin Peaks and the Sutro baths. 

    

In case you are wondering what Lilly has been up to, I will share what she was willing to tell me. She started out the month interviewing for a summer internship in DC which she got! YAY! She will be hanging out with us in DC this summer and we couldn't be more thrilled for her and for us!

She is now the President of her beloved excursion club at UCLA. Through that club she led a weekend trip to Yosemite and had a staff retreat to Catalina round out her month. 

        

        

May is going to be a lot - so don't say I didn't warn you.