On the summit of South Boulder Peak

Yesterday Marcy and I celebrated our 18th anniversary. We decided to go for a hike not too far from home, so we chose South Boulder Peak. It was going to be a hot day, but we didn’t think it would be that bad. We reached the summit, hiking up 3,000 feet of elevation in three hours. It was nice and cool up at 8,300 feet.

We realized we didn’t bring enough water, and it kept getting hotter and hotter on the way down. Marcy was fine, but I was struggling, as was Olive. The last hour was brutal, 95 degrees, no shade, and no water, although we luckily stumbled across a creek that made Olive a very happy camper. We all made it back in one piece and had some cold sparkling water waiting for us in a cooler in the car. Phew.

That night we ordered sushi and shared a bottle of nice champagne. It was a delicious end to a challenging day.

Sunset on the beach at Dana Point

Last week I spent three days in California for a work conference we hosted. The event went really well, although attendance was lighter than we had hoped. But we stayed at the Ritz Carlton right on the beach at Dana Point. It was spectacular. My room looked out on the ocean and had a fire pit outside my doors. The room came with a Smores kit that I did not use but brought home for the kids, and they made it their dessert on Saturday night.

Roasting marshmallows on the grill for their S’mores

Apart from our anniversary hike, it was a pretty quiet long weekend. We cleaned the garage and now have two cars in there for the first time in over a year. It was hot every day, but Jude still made it to the park for soccer practice each day, and Anna went for her daily walks.