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!