:: What a Morning ::

Today was a morning like most of our mornings. Each day just after Analise eats breakfast I get on my walking clothes, tell her I need to get my socks, to which she responds "SHOES!", and then we get ready to go on our morning walk. About three minutes into our walk, this is where we end up...just before going down the big hill. Not a bad view first thing in the morning!

This is one of my favorite times of the day (the other is late afternoon). The air is cool, the sky is most often times clear, and every morning I am able to look out upon the beautiful ocean and be thankful for where I live. I mean, come on...I am two blocks away from this beautiful Pacific ocean, about a 3 minute drive from the Redwoods, an hour from San Francisco, we have green, green grass, beautiful flowers, great trees, lovely neighborhoods...it really is great!

We walk down at Seacliff State Beach. The great thing about this beach is that there is an area where tons of RV's park and camp for the week (or more) along the water's edge. It is amazing how these people will literally 'move in' for a week or so down there. Most of them have satellite dishes, flower pots, lights, and some even set out little mailboxes for their stay. Needless to say, it gives us lots to look at on our walks, and allows Analise to say hello to quite a few people.

This really doesn't do it justice. Monday's are the days people leave and new ones come.

Our walk takes about 50 minutes. In this chunk of time we get to race down a big hill (going up is not as fun for me), walk along the water (for about 40 of those minutes), see LOTS and LOTS of dogs, watch the birds sing, play and fight, and get to meet lots of new people. We usually do it over again in the afternoon when Markus gets home. Here are some pictures of the beautiful scenes we get to see each morning...

One of the highlights of the mornings is that we get to see a lot of the same people. For the past few months, we have seen three older men every day. They talk to everyone along the way. Their names are Ezekiel, Francesco, and Jesus. They love to talk about their motherlands - Francesco from Italy, Ezekiel and Jesus from Spain. They love to see Analise every morning. They talk to her, make her smile, and call themselves the "Three Grandfathers". They are pretty cute. I took a picture of them today just to post on here and have Analise remember who was part of her life at one point.

This is Francesco (on the left) and Jesus. Ezekiel is in the Bahamas this week!

All of this to say, we love where we live, we love to walk, and we love to see new things and meet new people every day!