Despite the many negatives of living in California (the politics, the cost, the taxes ... um ... Gavin Newsom), it's easy to see why people love living in this state - especially on the Central Coast!
Today (Thankgiving) we discovered Fiscalini Ranch Preserve in Cambria. We started off walking through the woods and then came out to a huge clearing which led down to the coast. It was the perfect day for our adventure!
20 years ago, Jonathan and I had our first date. For as often as we could, we'd celebrate by going to the same restaurant, wearing the same clothing, ordering the same food ... and trying to reinact our conversation. It was all pretty funny!
Obviously we cannot go to the Albuquerque restaurant any more, but we still have the same clothing and wore it today. :)
Oh my goodness ... how can it be? How can Christian be a teenager now? WOW!
Our trip to the pumpkin patch looked a bit different this year. Rather than being a family outing, it was a field trip with Scarlett's small learning pod of just three kids. Since we went mid-week, it was nice and slow, and we didn't have to wear masks.
And here we go ... MIDDLE SCHOOL!
Even though we're homeschooling Christian through the district's homeschooling program, because he has an IEP (individual education plan), he gets to take two classes through the school: 1) modified math and 2) a math tutorial class. So he's on Zoom calls three days a week with other kids from school.
Today they distributed all of his materials for the entire school year - wow! We're in for quite a ride!
In a couple of weeks, Christian will start at his "learning pod" with a group of 4th and 6th graders. A good friend of ours is teaching at at her home and she'll be covering science, history and PE.
Hair salons haven't been open in forever due to COVID, and so it was time for the Lucero Men to get home haircuts, courtesy of Miss Scarlett. 😄
Despite COVID restrictions, we took advantage of Chloe's week of dog training and headed to the Ritz Carlton in Santa Barbara for a long weekend. Certainly not an adventure we could afford during "regular times," but we got a nice discount because of COVID (and also because there were no amenities - no pool access, no resort restaurants / bars, the spa was closed, etc. There wasn't even daily housekeeping services or trash removal. Not really a resort experience at all. But, it was a nice trip, esp. given our cool spring break plans got cancelled because COVID shut everything down).
Nevertheless, it's a beautiful property and we truly enjoyed the downtime!
