“The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.” – Anne Frank

Well said, Anne, well said.

Things are happening… new leader, vaccinations. Wonder if many of us have stopped waiting for everything “to go back to normal”… just living a new normal? But in essence, we find our S.O.P. (in Daddy’s army talk) hasn’t shifted too much — work hard (doing what you love), slay the day, love God, love people, cherish moments, stay active, preferably in His playground (aka nature).

So feet on the ground, onward (and sometimes upward!). :)

Yet another new tide pool area…

Kinda can’t beat Heaven’s Light. :)

Goofballs!

After some rains (gasp, yes, that happens in SD!), a waterfall hike is in order…

Who is doh’ing in the background? :D

Who is running on rocks in the background? :DD

Who’s head is in the foreground? :DDD

Solace, truly.

Pedestrian suspension bridge. Started with concrete…

Then forest…

Followed by a pond…

Dirt and lake…

Mountains beyond…

And then tall palms…

And some jumpin’ boys. :)

New year, eh? Hopefully 2021 > 2020 but keeping our expectations low.

Meanwhile, you can pretty much find us at home or in the wild… Beauty in simplicity.

Attempted Iron Mountain again as it rained on us Christmas Eve.

Cloudy and foggy but no rain.

Oft found off-trailing to climb rocks. :D

Sweet slumber is also a good thing.

When most of our play dates are hike dates… Not complaining!

No matter the mileage, they never, ever run outta things to talk about!

See what we mean about play hike dates? :)

Mommy found this new place for Daddy that had chili crab/lobster? He said it was fairly on point, especially the gravy.

He does a bit of trail running now… and has bit the dust. Live and learn!

Hike around a lake we’ve never been to before.

Top of Oakzanita! Loved how quiet this trail was.

Who needs toys? Sticks FTW!

The views all around, goodness! We could see to the ocean…

They signed the guestbook w/ their Chinese names. :)

Then started rock quarrying, lol.

No photo but when we got back down, night had fallen and the stars were literally out.of.this.world without the city lights. And THEN we caught the ISS. Daddy quickly checked https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/ when we got back and confirmed.

Yes, slumber is very good. Remember when getting a baby to sleep was like the most important thing in the world?

He gets a real kick out of his floating head… And his room is becoming a hodgepodge of random sheets and towels. We told him he could build a “fort” of his own for as long as the pandemic lasted and we’d tear it down when it ends (mistakenly thinking it wouldn’t be very long). But alas, here we are.

New meaning to stair climbing… ;-P

Despite everything, we feel so blessed with friends, family and work that send us random surprises in the mail.

Been spending most of the winter in the mountains so went seaside for a change on a day off from school…

Searching for whales!

Bring it on, MMXXI.

… but we still had a “real” Christmas, we think?

Remember when Mommy thought a photo w/ a Santa statue was as good as we’d get this year? Boy were we surprised when we stumbled on this guy at a walk-through lights event. The boys weren’t too convinced though and quickly labeled him “Fake Santa” mainly because he “wasn’t fat enough” (他不够胖). Looks like Mandarin immersion is good for something (aka talking ’bout Santa behind his back?). :D

The light scenes were really well done… We went early, stayed far apart from the few folks there and left right when more people started coming.

These two bugs!

Said it before and saying it again… Love our pod fam! They have been like our special SD angels. :)

Christmas star gazing… To think that a similar star followed our Christ child so many years ago to His birth centers us. The lyrics of “We Three Kings” come to mind:
Star of Wonder, Star of Night,
Star with Royal Beauty bright,
Westward leading,
Still proceeding,
Guide us to Thy perfect Light.

Regardless of the times… He’s still proceeding… still guiding us to that Perfect Light.

We attempted a hike on Christmas Eve but it started POURING rain so we had to cut it short.

Our quiet, intimate little Christmas. :) We’re digging our simple “Charlie Brown” tree, hehe. One thing that we told ourselves after leaving Texas (and the more and bigger is better mentality) is that we really wanted to pursue a life of minimalism where we will value experiences over things. Accumulating lots of stuff in a huge house is not the lifestyle we want to live or teach our son. At the end of the day, we feel the things that you saw and did and felt will be far more remembered over what you owned. Rant over. :P And of course we are still going to buy things… but we always think twice (or thrice+++) about its usage, quality, necessity.

The rest of Christmas Day was spent building, playing, resting… Our living room became a Lego factory, haha.

This year’s Christmas card:

Since we only used two photos from our quick mini fall shoot, here are a few other takes that we liked:

It was almost foreign to be out of PJ’s, loungewear or hiking/outdoor gear. ;p

Sooooo, 2021, here we come!