Kayaking, Fishing, Horse Puppets, and Cupcakes

A couple of weekends ago we had a jam-packed fun time.

Edward and Jennifer came up to visit us the weekend after my birthday. They arrived Thursday night and Jennifer worked remotely Friday while Dave worked. I did some school stuff, errands, took Eddie to school, etc. and then spent a good amount of time getting our fishing gear organized. We all bought fishing licenses that afternoon after having an adult-only (!!) lunch downtown. Fishing didn't work out on Friday because we failed to check the tide calendar.

That evening we had a hot dog and deli salad dinner at one of John's burn piles in the woods. We've done these a lot recently and it was fun to have more people with us this time. I love these dinners because preparations are a snap and there's virtually no clean up!

Papa John and Eddie messing around while we got dinner organized.

Saturday morning I went up to Point Arena to the school to be a judge for the cupcake wars fundraiser. I had to taste all 28 cupcake entries...ouf. Luckily our friend was there selling his coffee and there was a kid selling hotdogs to cut the sweetness.  The event was a raging success, selling out of cupcakes and raising just over $2000 for the school.  I'm glad I participated and hope that I can do it again next year...unless I enter in the adult category!

Edward and Jennifer brought Eddie up to the school once the cupcake thing opened to the public at noon. Dave had met up with a fellow daycare dad to haul big rig loads of donated wood chips up to the preschool. He met us at the school for cupcake treats when he was done.

As soon as we had gulped down our coffee and hot dogs, Jennifer and I met up with my friend Naomi and went down the street to the Arena Theater.  We saw a showing of the London Theater's War Horse play, using the most amazingly engineered puppets. The story is sad but the puppetry was just incredible. You should check out this video of a horse puppet meeting real horses--the acting done by the puppeteers is so life like!

After getting back to Gualala that afternoon we lazed around a bit before having a nice dinner.

Sunday morning we took off to Cook's Beach for another fishing attempt, this time at low tide. Edward, Jennifer, and I biked there (it took all of 5 minutes down Highway 1) while Eddie, the dogs, and Dave drove.  We climbed out onto the rocks to fish, using squid for bait. No one caught anything but we did get some nibbles. I'm not sure if they were from fish or crabs, though. Regardless of the lack of fish for supper that night, we had lots of fun. Eddie had a gaggle of adults to build castles in the sand, the dogs convinced random people on the beach to throw sticks for them, and we all enjoyed the warm sunshiny weather.

Auntie Jennifer fishing!

Eddie, the dogs, and Dave prepping the fishing gear. Well, I guess the dogs are just there to lick up the squid juice.

Edward and Jennifer.

Edward immediately hooked his line on the rocks below us. He spent about a half hour dealing with it, including a climb down the rocks to the water's edge. I would cut the line!

Eddie's pointing to a purple star fish we spied on the rocks in the tide pools. 

That afternoon we rented kayaks and took them up river.  Eddie and I were in a double and it was his first time kayaking. He did great, even paddling a little. Mostly, though, he collected sticks on the beach and then launched them like arrows from the elastic cargo bungee on the front of the raft. We were happy to run into Naomi and her two doggies playing in the river. Eddie wanted to go home with her and the dogs!  But we convinced him to keep playing in the water with us.

We picnicked on a gravel beach just south of a fly fisherman. Our egg salad and chips lunch was delicious.  Just nearby the beach we saw an otter, which was very cool.

Me and Eddie!

Our picnic on the beach.

Edward.

Jennifer in her single and Eddie and I in our double.

After getting home from the river, our visitors packed up their stuff and took off down the road. I sent them off with butterscotch lattes to go so they could have an enjoyable ride. It was a busy, fun, and somewhat exhausting weekend...I can't wait to have them visit again soon!