Dos Cabezas Camping

What a nice and much-needed break!  Friday night we received an invitation to go on a one night camping trip in Anza Borrego.  Why not?  I'm so glad we decided to go.  What a stunning area!  Even though we battled 40 mph gusty winds all night it was so nice to get out and discover a new place.  The campground was several miles down a 4wd road.  We barely made it in my low-clearance Subaru (will need to replace it with something a little tougher one of these days).  The spot was at the end of the road surrounded by rocky peaks, which provided some shelter (but not much) from the wicked winds.  We went with several friends from work and some of their friends whom we'd never met before.  It's always great to meet new folks.  We had a potluck style dinner and were treated to hot toddys (sp?),  hot buttered rum, and gourmet smores (made with recees)...  Quinn slept amazingly well given the conditions.  I think he slept better than anyone else.  The kid likes tents!  Yippee!

Cholla cholla everywhere!  Glad I didn't have to map this.
Woke up to Cactus Wrens singing!

Waiting for the sun to hit us

Did I mention that it was WINDY?

Handsome mutt

Anza the wonderdog

Katie with her blanket

Ladder-backed Woodpecker at the campsite

This morning we went on a short hike.  I'm so happy that Quinn is back to his energetic self.  He enjoyed running up the trail, walking the dog, and seeing sssssssnakes!

Inside a little "cave"

Suellen, Michael and Erin

Michelle

Still more cholla

Feeling better!!!

Quinn's bout with the flu made me really question our decision to not give him the flu shot.  I'm thinking that next year we'll get the vaccine for him.  A week of high fevers, vomiting, and no appetite really took its toll on him and on us.  This past week he's been really low energy and not quite himself.  He's wanted to be carried everywhere and has not been interested in playing outside.  Finally today (2 full weeks after he first started feeling cruddy) he seemed to be our fun-loving, happy, energetic little boy again.  We went for a great walk with Merlin around the neighborhood this evening, and when he took off running down the street I smiled, knowing that he was back in action!  :)

Sickies

Ugh, what a week it's been:

This has been the toughest week for our sweet little boy.  I got a call on Friday that he was sick and needed to be picked up from daycare.  It deteriorated from there.  By mid-day his temperature was up to 104.  We went to the doctor that evening, but by the time we got there he had no temp (I had given him ibuprofen) and they found no visible signs of infection, so back home we went.  We attempted to go out that evening, but Grammy called to notify us that his temp was up at 105 and he was throwing up.  Home we went, and so began our weekend/week.  The poor guy's fever has been up and down....high 104s and then down...about every 3 hours or so.  He's been on Tylenol/Ibuprofen around the clock and had tepid baths, cold compresses, you name it.  We've had multiple conversations with nurses and two trips to the doctor.  Today he has been fever-free and we thought we were maybe in the clear.  I went to work in the morning, but got a call from Jeff by 8am to let me know that he was throwing up.  Ugh, he can't catch a break!!  Hoping that he will be better in the morning!  At this point it's been 6 days!!!  Send good vibes!

Fun-filled Weekend

We had a great weekend last weekend...photo tour, beautiful weather, ozokids concert, fun with Grammy.  The day after my photo tour I was excited to play more with some of the settings I'd learned from Steve, so the camera came out for playtime at Grammy's house.  Since most people reading this blog (hi Nana and Gogo) are really only interested in Quinn photos anyway thought you might enjoy these!  :)  

Sad face, which is always followed by him cracking up

And here are just a couple of photos from the Ozomatli (Ozokids) concert last weekend:

Photo Tour with Steve Cirone

For Christmas this year Jeff got me a day-long photo tour with local nature photographer, Steve Cirone.  He showed me a few of the local hotspots for bird photography and let me use his fancy schmancy gear (Canon Mark IV and 800mm lens).  We visited Santee Lakes, which was just crawling with fairly tame ducks and wading birds, making them very easy to photograph.  We then spent some time with jumping spiders and macro lenses before breaking for lunch and heading to the San Diego River mudflats.  The tide was very low, which meant the birds were all very spread out, but we still got some great views of Long-billed Curlews and Godwits.  There were also bunches of Western Sandpipers and gulls galore.  

Steve and his partner, Elena, were awesome tour guides and offered lots of tips and advice on how to improve my own photography.  The photos below are taken with both his camera and the 800mm lens and my own Nikon D80 and Steve's 300mm f/4.  

I wish I could take credit for this one, but I think Steve shot this...love love love it.

Elena

Steve

Group of birders watching us

The Monster

Teapots and Fountains

Here are just a couple of fun videos from recent days.

First Quinn's fabulous teapot imitation.  I challenge anyone to beat it!


This is another favorite activity.  Well actually anything having to do with Glowie is a favorite activity.  Quinn idolizes her and she's still young enough that she actually seems to enjoy running around with him.  I'm sure that will change before too long, but for now we play with her as much as possible!

Zoo Friday

I have every other Friday off and yesterday was one of those free days.  \pplppp[p[p[p'loml ,m,;m'k''(Quinn's addition).  I asked Qbert what he wanted to do and he enthusiastically exclaimed, "ZOO!!"  So off to the zoo we went.  We were among the first people there and got to see some of the animals at their best!  The bonobos were particularly entertaining yesterday...howling and running and chasing.  I'm amazed at how these guys resemble humans...could watch them for hours.  But Quinn was ready to move on...

Bonobos relaxing after morning excitement

Another highlight of the day was the hippo with her week-old baby.  When we first arrived at the zoo I asked Q what animals he wanted to see and he said, "O-us," which I interpreted as octopus and explained that there was not an octopus at the zoo.  Later when we stumbled upon the hippos I realized that he was saying, "uh-oh-us," which is to be interpreted as hippopotamus.

Mama guarding her baby

 Mama hippo got pretty nervous when baby swam up to the glass.  She used her nose to nudge him back into the safety of the corner of the exhibit away from the people.

Nose nudge

one he can play with

The other major highlight was the unexpected sighting of a helicopter.  "Copters" are one of Quinn's favorite things.  It took some doing to get him away from this exciting find.

Our final stop for the day was another special request....the giraffes.  I'm not sure what he likes best here, the animals or being able to climb up on the railing.