Not Even A Cloud.

It seems pretty rare to be able to do something new in a place where you have been going to for over thirty years....., but, since my Uncle Tim got a boat a few years back, he has been itching to take us over to the Channel Islands to explore. We went over to the island of Santa Cruz (25 miles) with the aid of UT's badass 250hp Yamaha outboard! Tim, Chels, and my other uncle, Pete were along for the mission.

Seals fighting for the high rent district in the SB harbor.

El Capitan Uncle Tim, me, and Uncle Pete, flush with motion sickness pills and ready for the open ocean crossing.

We arrived after a kinda bumpy ride with no sickness, ready to explore the "Painted Cave."

It's kinda tough to get perspective on how huge this cave was. We kayaked into it with flashlights and a bunch of seals barking at us.

Then we motored to another little inlet, anchored down and took kayaks and surfboards to the shore.

And went on a hike. We bushwacked the hike and didn't see another footprint the whole way. Looking down at Tim's boat below.

Three of my favorite peeps!

Chels on her way back down to the boat hoping we don't get too cliffed out after taking a different route back down to the boat than we came up. If you look really far off in the distance you can just barely see SB across the channel.

Thanks again UT for the amazing day out to the Channel Islands. Next time we will stay overnight and get a good surf session or two!

Back safely on dry ground, it was time to get down to the business of Thanksgiving. My Uncle Scott showing Jeff how to get things done with the BBQ.

And of course, no beach house mission is complete without a Trike ride.

Cramming 40 plus people into a small house can only be done with a tight knit family!

This will be a Thanksgiving distinguished and remembered for the unreal sunsets every night. Pete and Tim catching the last of the day out surfing. No photo shop help with any of these shots, yep, it was that amazing!

My dad and sister, just back from a session in the water.

Is it a seal, no, it's pop-eye, nope, it's just my dad.

There has been an explosion of kids into the family the past few years, so, of course, Smores had to be added to the mix this year. Tim showing Ashlynn the finer points of Smore roasting.

And the kids then, all hopped up on Smore sugar broke it down on the dance floor.

Chels boogie boarding.

Yea Chels.

We got a visit from Lizzdogger and Jess who were in the L.A. area and brought their hot selves and even hotter ride to the beach to hang for a couple of days. Killer rental car!

Skylar enjoying another amazing evening on the beach.

Ummm, don't really know what to say. Amazing. We had huge low tides in the evenings and not a cloud in the sky every night we were there which made for shots like this.

"Ashy" learning how to properly flip a "Poppy Pancake."

Sunrise on our final morning. We LOVE you Beach House!

So Cal Is Da Bomb!

We just got back from an extended jaunt to Southern California seeing family over Thanksgiving. It was AWESOME!!

Started things off by visiting my 90 year old grandma "Grannie-De" in San Diego. She isn't 90 strong for no reason. She still gets into the weight room almost everyday!

We stayed at my grandma's retirement home and spent a ton of time in the pools messing around with the self timer on our camera.

Hiking near Torrey Pines.

My Mom was down in San Diego too. I guess going on a big ol hike wasn't enough exercise for my mom and Chels?

My mom and her college roomate "Susanna" who joined us on the hike.

Got to squeeze in a round of golf with my bud George who lives in San Diego too.

Did I mention we spent a lot of time in the pools?

Swimming with a friend is not only "encouraged", it's a ton more fun.

Pink was the color of the day, clearly. At the train station in Solana Beach saying goodbye to Grannie De.

Me, on the upper platform waiting for the Amtrak to take us north up to Santa Barbara.

Some of the killer views out the window on our train trip from San Diego up to Santa Barbara.

Yes......! Beach House arrival after a day of train travel.

Hunkering down

Winter has arrived and Stevie has decided this is just where he wants to be for the next 5 months...

Under the covers.

Sand in the Toes

More of our weekend adventures from Destin, Florida...

Not bad, not bad.

Our morning stand-up paddleboard sesh starting right out of Adam and Katie's back door. (The all-natural censor patch on Trevor's butt is quite appropriate. : )

And we are off for an epic lap through the canal, around the jetty and into the open water where I almost fell off my board into a swarm or jellyfish, no big deal. A pic from Tony's (waterproof) camera.

Next up...yoga on the beach! Well not really on the beach, but so close! It was such a cool experience with butterflies flying around us and the sound of the waves a hundred yards away.

I was the only taker for yoga, so while I did that...Trev and Tony took turns taking Adam's bike for a spin down the coast.

And some surf! Even though it was choppy and windy, Trev takes what he can in the ocean nowadays.

Another action shot from Tony's camera of Trev about to get tubed (haha, is that what they call it?)

And why not another round of golf? Trev did travel with his clubs after all. Tony hitting it far.

Tony escorted us (while Adam and Katie went to a wedding) on a little cruise to Rosemary Beach an hour or so away. We took the cruisers and set off exploring the ritzy hoods.

Then we stopped and grabbed lunch at the food Airstreams, pretty awesome.

Me and Tony eating our picnic lunch on the beach with our toes in the sand.

Trev and I with cool sky in the background.

Soaking this in.

Yay! Jumping and waiting for the sunset.

Yes...here it comes!

And it was amazing. We couldn't help but take a million and one photos of it. Sorry. But look at the colors in the water and the sand!

Trev contemplating life.

Now that was an awesome long weekend. Thanks Tony, Adam and Katie...Destin is not too bad.