Summer in California
Here are my summer favorites.
It’s been a good summer so far. The first summer since 2013 that we didn’t travel to Germany for the summer break. My plan was to enjoy the endless Californian summer to the fullest. After we had to say goodbye to my parents (definitely not on my list of favorites), we just chilled, went to the beach, swam in the pool and met friends. Good times!
Summer Camp
Then, our girls had a fabulous second week in sleep away camps. One went to the mountains and one to the beach. Read more in my Camp Drop-off Day post. At the end of this week our girls were blissfully happy. They came back with lots of great memories, new songs and camp cheers, new surfing skills and lots of self-confidence. It was just wonderful to see them beaming. Sleep away camp was probably the best this summer and we definitely want our girls to do it again.
Because of summer camp, we had a kids-free week with lots of couple time and time to work on several projects in peace and quiet. Priceless! Having coffee in a kayak was pretty amazing, too.
Eight wonderful days in Colorado
We visited wonderful places like the Garden of the Gods, El Dorado Canyon State Park, Pikes Peak (one of Colorado’s 53 fourteeners. We did a rafting tour on Arkansas River, hiked along Colorado River in the Rocky Mountains Ntl. Park, had a lovely dinner at Larimer Square and recovered a lost kitten. I highly recommend the tour of the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. It was very impressive, interesting and surprisingly not terribly patriotic.
Volunteering at the Food Bank
A friend of mine organized a charity facebook group for our community and this time we went to help sort food at Tri-City Volunteers Food Bank in Fremont. The kids were super enthusiastic about their job and we sorted a palette of each: seaweed snacks, yams and onions.
Bike ride across the Golden Gate Bridge
My girls, one of their friends and I went up to San Francisco. It’s the best thing when you finally have the time to play tourist in the place you live. We rented bikes and rode along the Bay. Followed by riding across the bridge, a lovely lunch in Sausalito and taking the ferry back to the city. And it was a very spontaneous pleasure.
A girl’s trip to LA
We had so much fun! Hollywood, hiking to see the sign, Universal Studios, Santa Monica, fancy coffee and the pink wall. Three girls were in heaven. Finding famous Instagram walls in LA has become a thing. And we will go back soon to find more. Somehow we forgot to have donuts though and this was the only flaw of our trip.
Hiking and biking in Squaw
On the last weekend of July, my friend invited me up to Squaw. We did a beautiful bike ride up to Alpine Meadows, along Truckee River and the Westshore of Lake Tahoe. Furthermore a gorgeous hike up to High Camp, stopping at Shirley Lake. I never before hiked slopes in California and I was impressed by the beauty of the hike. And by the elevation we covered!
Welcome August!
