we just said farewell to the old jetta--ryan drove it away an hour or so ago on his way up to san francisco and as he was pulling away owen shouted: "RYAN! Go get on the FIVE FREEWAY!". ah, my little road warrior.

it was a great, if brief visit-- we went straight from SNA to crystal cove which i keep returning to for the tide pools and spectacular cliffs. owen marched up and down the beach playing his seaweed trombone, sat knee deep in tide pools and sang to anenomes, and searched for sea creatures and pretty rocks with uncle ryan.

we then went back to the ranch where sierradog was nothing short of ecstatic to see his old master and hoped for more squireling adventures. after a busy day in the sunshine we joined the beals for some yummy sushi. today was a lazy sunday and we made sure to send ryan off with some homemade winter minestrone soup--a perfect way to use up the remaining butternut squash from our muffins last week! (i substituted celery for fennel and spinach for swiss chard and the tj's quattro fromagio is always a superb soup-topper)--and now we're just left counting days until michael returns home. it has definitely been a bittersweet weekend--our neighbors thought m. came back early when they saw his twin bro walking the dog and owen kept asking "and daddy is going to be at the airport too?". don't worry sweetie, we're saving up the best sunshine and the most beautiful sea rocks for you!