Dillon Beach

Went camping for the past three nights with Angelina and Aiden, our grandchildren.  The wind blew and the rain came down for the first two days.  Got a little cabin fever because we had to stay inside the fifth wheel and play games on Monday and Tuesday but when the storm passed we were free to play outside all day on Wednesday.  And what fun we had!  Angelina made a list of all the things we wanted to do and we went through the list and checked them off.

A couple of things we didn't get to do because there just wasn't enough time or we were too tired.

Angelina's List:

1.  Climb steep hill and take pictures on the other side.  Check!

This isn't the steep hill.

It's the other side.

Running and exploring the other side.

Time for a quick shot.

More exploring.

Coming down the steep hill.

It's steep!

2.  Climb Strawberry Hill.  Check!

The big hill in the distance is a must climb on every trip.

3.  Go on a bike ride.  Check.  (little check, it wasn't much of a bike ride)
4.  Go to the store to buy caramel for apples.  Unchecked. 
5.  Melt marshmallows and caramel and dip apple slices to eat.  Check.  (partial, no caramel.)
6.  Go for a walk at night with flashlights.  Unchecked.  We were too tired after all the fun we had on Wednesday:

Our view and playground.

Angelina taking a picture of me taking a picture of her.

The budding photographer.

Aiden's special find.

Played paddle ball.  (I took this one with Angelina's camera)

Not on the list that we did:  Go out for dinner one night: William Tell House, play Mexican Train Dominoes, Aggravation, Pick Up Sticks, play paddle ball, play scoop ball, play with the slingshot and all kinds of other things.

The following pictures below are Angelina's shots.

Aiden.

Aiden and Strawberry Hill.

Screech...

A gorgeous shot she framed.

Love this.

Aiden with the slingshot.  Shooting small rocks into the water and practiced hitting a water bottle on the post.

Crab on the rocks.  Sounds like a drink name.

Serving the paddle ball.  Not as easy a game as it sounds.

Preparing to wade.

The week flew by so fast.  Hoping we can get another camping trip in with them before the school season starts up and they get busy with all their activities.

Hello

Hi.

Some of my pink flowers and our angel keeping guard over the arbor.

Wild rose.

Hydrangea.

Gerbera Daisies.

Delicate succulents.

Several years ago, Angelina and I made this window mosaic.  Angelina included a couple of her Perler bead creations and I included a crab tile that a friend made.

Floating Shelf

Floating Wood Shelf

Our newly acquired (old reclaimed) wood.  Has lots of character and age.  

Bare wall and flea market finds.

Here's our newly decorated wall.  At first I was leaning towards doing a wall mural.  Mike wanted me to paint an ocean scene but I was thinking of a tree with birds going across the wall.  We got lazy and decided to hang an assortment of things from handcrafted tiles by our friend, Matt of Point Arena Tileworks, a handcrafted metal heart painted Robin's Egg Blue, a handcrafted barbed wire framed tree and some various art.

Our new retractable awning is great.  Really beats having all that hot sun beat down on us and trying to maneuver umbrellas around.  It's only partially open here, when fully extended, it's 11 feet 8 inches.

The new fire pit that Patrick and Nancy gave us.

Looking out into the yard.

My flea market find.  An old three legged wrought iron chair.

I painted one of my old chairs bright bubblegum pink.  Angelina suggested that I paint green dots on it and I kind of like that idea.  Lime green?

Two flea market chairs we picked up.  Not sure if I'm going to paint them or leave them green.

More garden things.

Winter

Spring

Summer

Autumn

Glashoff Sculpture

Above is the last part of the backyard that is unsightly  It's going to be so pretty when finished.  I have some special plans for this section.  Some big changes are coming.

The enclosed porch.

Looking through the porch window from the back area we're currently working on.

A little bridge in the path.

The path leading to the back area where we're working.  I'll post some more pictures if I get a chance tomorrow or Monday.

Once the backyard is completed, I can focus on planning a date for our summer wine tasting garden party.