Lugmere & Divora

            On May 5th, 2018, we celebrated my sister's 10th birthday. We invited some of our closest friends to Sea-Bright Beach., an awesome beach right next to Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, which you can see from the beach. The party was fun. We ate chips and sandwiches, and my sister opened presents from all of her friends. What you see in the picture above might stump you. Well, I can explain. About halfway through the playing and fun,  we noticed a sad seal peering at us through the waves. As if it was a Selkie, it dove through the water and slid up onto the smooth, sandy shore. Its large black eyes seemed to cry without tears. A crowd of different people gathered around the frightened seal. The lifeguard had to shout, " BACK AWAY FROM THE SEAL, PLEASE!" All the people had different opinions about why the seal was on land. Most of the people in the crowd agreed that the seal was not itself, including us. About an hour later, a crew of Ani...

On Thursday, April 12th, my family and my best friend's family went on a trip to Red Hills. (I have written a previous post about this place!) And yes, we swam in the swimming hole! It was much more full this time because of the rain. But, of course, all the more better for five kids to swim in! We swam for a long time in the swimming hole, and by the time that we were drying off in the luscious sunshine, the hole was as kicked up and muddy as a Wild West road! We also spent a bit of our time relaxing near a the main stream, where we caught a giant water bug (that is also known as a toe-biter) with eggs on its back! Surprisingly, you might know,  the male carries the eggs on his back until they hatch, just as the male seahorse carries the eggs as well! We had to let him go, though, and you might know that we had had another male toe-biter that died. (Possibly of stress). Unfortunately, I cut myself twice on a rock, and my bestie fell in the water several times. At leas...

On the 7th and 8th of April 2018, my family went on a vacation to a camping spot we all know and love. Anthony Chabot is a beautiful eucalyptus forest encased by gorgeous rolling green hills. We call the campground: Lake Chabot, because there is a amazing green lake that laps the land below the campground. Yet, the lake is diagnosed with a sort of lethal allergy that prohibits swimming. Too bad, you might be thinking. But, its not that bad. There is hikes that loop about the campground, and being close to Tilden Little Farm, we went there and hiked a majestic hike called Sylvan Trail, (we suffered much gobs of mud from the rain) that led us to an stony overlook that covered all of San Francisco, the Golden Gate, and more! Now, you might know what to do when you see a mountain lion sashaying across your path in he wilderness. You make yourself as loud and big as possible (even if it includes taking your shirt off) and throwing items at it until it runs away. This probably won...

On March 16th, 17th, and 18th, we went on vacation. Where to? Monterey Bay! Yep, I'm pretty sure you've heard of at least that place before. Well, our vacation was phenomenal! We stayed at a hotel with a heated pool and spa!  You have to pay to get into the spa house. Of course, we didn't bother. Our first day was at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. If you haven't been there, I suggest you put it on your list. The quiet water, the flipping and fluppering animals. I wonder what would happen if I set them all free. The second day, we went to Point Lobos and went hiking along the coast. We also saw whales spouting far out in the water. The guides were very concerned with the health of their preserved habitat so they scolded us when we were eating lunch in our car, because of. So we left. We went to Lovers Beach, where we stayed awhile and played in the cool clear Californian water. It was very cold. In fact, this top picture is a picture of of China Cove, a beautiful, ...

On Saturday, February 10th, me, my dad, and my brother and sister drove up to a personal favorite hiking place, The Red Hills. A.K.A Spider National Park. This place was teeming with them. Yet we come for three reasons: to enjoy nature, to catch millipedes and such, and to swim in The Swimming Hole. The Swimming Hole is a beautiful water hole created by a cascade of river water. We always come to swim in it, and somehow, it always stays full. There is always spiders though, basking on sunny rocks, until three kids come along and bash them off, shove them in glass jars, and take them home! That is exactly what we do there. I take the pictures, my sister grabs the jars, and my brother scoops them up (or puts them in his pocket) into them. We always hike up a massive mountain\hill, also. At the top, we can have a birds-eye view of the snowcapped peaks of Yosemite gleaming on the other side of the Sierra Nevadas, fields and meadows full of emerald grass and bountiful trees. There i...

Every year around early October the Modesto Library hosts an amazing craft fair with over 50 kids every year selling homemade crafts. We tried hard to do it last year, but time crept up and ran out very fast. So that was unfortunately unsuccessful. But this year, we started creating about August and kept it up until October 14th, 2017, the date of the Craft Fair. Our friends decided to do it too, and created lots of crafts each, and so did we. I created my shop--" The Hobo's Lair", and weaved potholders galore (the most unpopular too) and themed bookmarks galore (those sold fast but in slow amounts of time) and recycled t-shirt bags, (which sold like hotcakes!) My sister sold Thwaps in the "Thwap Shop", a copyrighted-(don't tell!) creature from the Wingfeather Sagas by Andrew Peterson. They are pom-pom creatures with google eyes and paper/plastic/wooden/fabric and more accessories. They sold, " Like moldy hotcakes!" she later announced, bu...

 Last Saturday, on September 16th, 2017, we dressed up in our Renaissance finery and drove out to Hollister for one of California's biggest Renaissance Faire! Our cousins met us there too. The oldest cousin dressed up as a huntress, and me and my sister as medieval maidens, my brother as a knight, and my mom as a peasant. My dad does not like to dress up at all. But his experience was heightened just as much as ours was. It took a while for the vendors to set up their booths, just as we had to wait for a long while for the gates to open. Soon a band was leading the crowds inside the Faire gates. Everywhere, there was vendors that were dressed as the Renaissance peasants, selling medieval clothing, baskets, glass mushroom lamps lit up with an LED light, turkey drumsticks, Gelato iced cream, real live swords and wooden shields and swords, and much, much, more! The Queen of England was there also, but she was an imposter, just like everybody else who was pretending to be someon...