happy holidays from dylan mac and cheese!

...in which we say goodbye to 2011. we had a BLAST this year.

hugs,
the dylan mac and cheese crew

le shack: our new vintage trailer!

we did it--john, dylan and i are now the proud owners of a very old camping trailer. we now have a surf shack and cabin on wheels.

i'm still in disbelief we did this--after searching and trolling ads for months, we ended up buying a 1973 constructam caravan, originally made in belgium, shipped to california years ago that eventually found its way on craigslist.

before taking it on its maiden voyage last weekend, we were fraught with questions--will we be able to tow this thing around? have we lost our minds? will it be fun?

a resounding yes, yes and yes.

we usually visit ojai in the fall, and we ended up taking 'le shack' to camp comfort since it's located a mile from downtown ojai--i imagined if anything went wrong or we needed supplies, we wouldn't be too far from civilization.

so the experience was all very civilized...



thank goodness the camp had electrical hook ups--we were able to plug in a coffee maker, toaster oven, ipod player, and of course, laptop for playing DVDs for dylan.

driving up the 101 wasn't too bad; we did lose a cracked skylight on the way (yikes) and it did start  raining as soon as we hit the campground. john put up a tarp, and the rains fell like mad. we fell asleep listening to the thundering rain--and thanked our lucky stars we brought along that tarp.

mini kitchen

dylan plays sommelier and waiter for mom and dad. he had a ball. 

in the morning, we woke up snug, warm and dry. nothing really works on the trailer--the sink needs to hooked up for running water, the european mini fridge runs on 240 voltage and needs to be replaced with a u.s. model, no bathroom on board; the trailer is rusty and crumbly and it will need work, inside and out.

but we absolutely adore it.

our site at camp comfort was nice, next to a babbling creek and john and dylan built a fire--what is it about men and boys and fire? the camp host donated firewood, and some of the other campers (who brought huge rvs complete with satellite, big screen tvs, etc.) shared firestarter and they were all very friendly and convivial. some even complimented our little trailer.

snacktime under the trees. those granny curtains will have to be replaced, asap! 

i couldn't be happier.

kickin' it: ukulele and story time in the 'dining room'

being goofy, our dylan

dining room turned into bedrom

the other dining area turned into a sleeping area

camp comfort: like a glorified parking lot, but peaceful and quiet. 

dylan had the most fun being tarzan--getting dirty and wet, and dragging everything through mud and soot and just having the time of his life. that's what happens when you go camping in the rain--the experience was akin to waldorf preschool--letting a kid run wild through the forest. it's just what this kid needs.

at this very moment, i'm impatient to hitch up 'le shack' and head out again--to the desert, beach, mountains? and we keep asking ourselves, why didn't we do this sooner?

autumn days: halloween, terranea and cold season

autumn and halloween festivities came and went with a bang with parties and trick-or-treating and pumpkin patching. dylan's school hosted a harvest fest where the kids rode ponies, played with baby farm animals, and decorated pumpkins. so many events eventually will lead to one thing: colds! both dylan and john ended up with seasonally bad colds, with runny nose, cough and icky fever.

blech. we're glad that bout of sick is over.

dylan as an incredible...hand me down costumes are the best! thanks kayla! 

now that we're no longer sick, let's drum!! dylan leads a deafening drum circle.

the jalama beach crew came by to cheer us up and to form a 'chase away cold virus spirits' drum circle--all that drumming must've worked, because we've been fine ever since.

apres-drumming, the crew headed down to the bar at nelson's at terranea resort. now, this place wasn't jalama beach. (terranea is a glorified mirage of a resort with its too pristine lawns, golf course, faux spanish architecture and golf carts whisking you here and there). but the place has nicely maintained trails which are accessible to the public.

our unofficial photog, sophia, took some lovely photos of us on the trails; we checked out the remnants of the old pier at marineland and climbed down the rocks.

heseon, jesse, one tired kid, john and mienah

after a rain, you could see the clear outlines of catalina island; the little harbor at avalon looked practically like a hop, skip and a jump away.




terranea lies on the site of what was once marineland;  i remember as a little girl, my parents bringing the family here to see dolphin and whale shows and the aquarium in the 70s. i remember bringing home a plush orca whale toy as a souvenir.

that was a loooong time ago.

can you see catalina island in the distance? isn't it just gorgeous?








if you listen to the waves and look out at catalina in the distance, you can imagine for a moment that you were the only soul discovering, for the very first time, these rocky shores and dense marine life under the turquoise waters.

does anyone else remember orky and corky too, the great whales that used to perform at marineland? do you remember the old marineland?

thanks sophia for the photos! 

kauai, the wild life on moloaa bay

the temperature in l.a. has been getting a bit chillier with the chance of rain imminent this weekend. and our thoughts of course, go to memories of tropical, humid, beach-y places we've been.

we flew to kauai last month (thank you frequent flyer miles!) and the place left a warm impression on us: the friendly locals and their kids, the wild rivers, roosters and chickens running around, fiery, blazing sunsets and sunrises. all of these things.

kauai was this lush jungle isle and nothing more. intersecting the island were wide, navigable waterways, amidst flowering trees and vines, swaying palms, hurricane-damaged properties--it was all very old hawaii.

not only famous for its kodachrome sunsets, kauai was, for me, these smells--burnt beach bonfires, decomposing seaweed, guava, and everywhere you turned--white and pink blossoms. you string them together and make a lei, i told dylan, a necklace of flowers.

at kamokila, a reconstructed hawaiian village on the banks of the wailua (where many films have been shot), a tour guide talked about village life in old kauai, pointing out medicinal leaves and herbs, showing us altars, ruins and singing songs with her ukulele. we peeked inside the birthing hut, where women used to give birth, the natural way, straddling two flat boulders. fascinating.

the 'birth hut' at kamokila. just squat! 

we also stopped to pet the village cat, napping in a woven palm-leaf basket. cozy.




dylan picked flowers, fed chickens and wild boars, and stayed clear of heavy breadfruit falling from the sky ; then a rain broke, forcing us to take shelter in a palm hut. it was dylan's first tropical rain storm.

let it come down.

the plumeria kid.

dylan befriends breadfruit at the hawaiian village.

how fantastic, we thought, to be a child and living in a place like kauai--rowing down its waterways and swimming in bath-warm waters, traipsing through forests and fern grottoes--all of it.



we had rented a house on moloa'a bay so we could be steps away from a locals-only beach; dylan said he wanted to stay there and live there. every morning, dylan and john boogie boarded and played gilligan's island, building driftwood huts and forts.

this was just fantastic in my book.

dylan watches out for waterbirds (and indiana jones) on the wailua river. 

this is hawaii when you're three and a half:

you befriend local kids, and together, swing from vines and look for frogs hatching in the marsh. it was like tarzan, indiana jones, tom sawyer, huck finn, gilligan's island and robinson crusoe tales coming to life.

the most memorable scene: dylan and his friend tristan, a kauai local, are rafting through the moloaa river on body boards; they're catching frogs and pulling each other onto the riverbanks for hours on end. the sun is about to set, the light streams through the trees, making the marshy water sparkle and turning everything into a deep haze.

of course, the time came to go back home, and none of us were ready--we needed more time for neighborhood meetups at moloaa beach--we still hadn't tried all the shave ice stands, and we needed more time to hike the napali coast--and dylan would reply, 'i want to live here. in hawaii.'

what are the names of those flowers, we'd ask him.

'plumeria, hibiscus, ginger,' he would say. 'look! there's the bird of paradise!'

a huge thanks to dylan's buddies in moloaa bay for your generosity and friendship--we hope to meet up with you on our next visit! 

DIRECTIONS TO MOLO A'A BAY:
heading on the kuhio highway toward the north shore, turn right when you hit the molo a'a sunrise fruit stand (pictured below). follow the road to molo a'a beach, where they filmed the pilot for gilligan's island. you should have the entire beach to yourself.

check out more moloaa bay photos here.

the moloaa sunrise fruit stand for fresh smoothies, local fruit and veg, and healthy snacks. 

aloha from molo a'a beach!  

away we go to jalama beach (glamping revisited)

a getaway was in order for october. we caravanned up the 101 past santa barbara to the coastal area of the santa ynez mountains, past cow pastures and meandering valleys and vineyards and orchards, to a place far from civilization. we wanted to take the kids camping while the adults wanted the comforts of glamping; lucky for us, there were cabins available for rent and we managed to snag a reservation--when we got there, we could see that these cabins were some of the hottest bookings around.



where else in california can one camp at the beach, hike, explore coves and caves, roast marshmallows, hobnob with hippie surfers AND get away from it all? and go glamping in your very own furnished cabin? jalama beach, that's where. it was fabulous and relaxing, in a sort of magical way. jalama beach is the ultimate hippie surfer refugee camp. and i mean a refuge from l.a., from pollution, from cell reception, directv, from noise, urban blight and miles and miles away from any freeway or mall.



just the sound of the wind whipping over sand dunes, the sound of babies and kids frolicking in the sand. that's it. that sound.




and we went with the best bunch imaginable---everyone sharing stories, playing with the kids, cooking, tending to the fire, beachcombing, grilling, gathering sticks and stones, and most of all, we shared the sunset with each other, knowing that life is a good thing, indeed.










everyone contributed--even the little ones. dylan and his buddy benito built sand castles, tunnels, and rock and seaweed sculptures--as if they were born to do exactly those things.

they even did a breakfast party dance for their babysitters, mienah and sophia.



we love camping!!



and best of all, we sort of did nothing. in a very grand, nothing, sort of fashion. meaning, no reaching for smartphones, cells, emails, internets, no burying oneself in the art of facebooking or youtubing.  none of it.

instead, we made up songs and games.



and we pretended that we were shipwrecked on a castaway island, in the middle of nowhere. we played pirate ships on the high seas.



fierce pirates land ho!



we reveled in the nothing....







and captured more ships....and treasure too. and we went to go hide the treasure in our secret limestone cave:



sophia led the way...



we buried our treasure, and then we had to go home.





it was the best time. ever.  a big thank you to our jalama surf camp crew! you guys are awesome.