The 5th

Well, if I say I hardly believe he is 5 it not only sounds too cliche but also is not true.  I know he is 5, and I love it.  And he seems to enjoy his days too!  He had a family and friend party last weekend and then a school party.

We picked him up early from school today and I told him he could ask for any thing he liked and we would make that happen.  He wished for Cold Stone ice cream first, so we headed to Down Town Los Gatos; then he requested Main Street Burger, then he wanted to feed the pigeons in the park, and right then he wished to go home!  I was thinking if it was my day, I wanted to walk the down town, possibly go to Sur le Table and buy some fun kitchen stuff, then sit in a coffee shop and watch people come and go and possibly chat with a couple chatty ones, and finally, I would like to have a delicious steak in a great restaurant at a table filled with laughing friends and family.  But my sunny son wanted to go home.  So home it was.

On the way back he asked to go through a car wash.  I thought that was a fun birthday wish, so car wash it was.

At home he wanted to play Monopoly; then to read a book, and finally made a shuttle with his Lego's with daddy.  Watching a couple kids programs were the last wish.

I have a lot to wish for him, I summarize it in wishing him a Happy Healthy Birthday and Many Many More!

Dying Happy

"It's a new world

It's a new start

It's alive with the beating of young hearts

It's a new day

It's a new plan

I've been waiting for you

Here I am"

"Take Me Away"

I open the door to leave.  A bird flies away frantically, small wood sticks drop in front of my foot.  A bird nest is broken.
I walk to the car and turn back, look at the white and blue house, the old-fashioned carpenteries atop the window.  I like this old-fashion house.
I get in the car and close the door.  Sitting in, I look into the rear view mirror; the whole street behind me is stationary; in front of me the sun is rising from behind the buildings.  All is still quite.  And I am leaving the house.
I picture my A, my sunny son, breathing sweetly in his dream, calm, his face is all wide, his long black eyelashes protecting his eyes so nurturingly.
And I am leaving the house.
I think about calling my brother. I propose to me calling Sh.K.  She had been thinking about calling me yesterday but thought I was at work, she emailed me instead.  Pass.  Radio on.  Radio off.  Take the iPad out, leave it there.
I find that I have been driving for a long time, more than half of my usual morning rides, and I don't remember it all.  Auto pilot.
Radio on:

"Take me away, a secret place

A sweet escape, take me away

Take me away to better days

Take me away, a hiding place

There's a place that I go that nobody knows

Where the rivers flow and I call it home

And there's no more lies in the darkness there's light

And nobody cries, there's only butterflies"

Montana de Oro

After more than three hours of driving with an almost 5-year-old A and a thousand questions of "are we there yet?" we got to the camp ground 3E in Montana de Oro, a few miles south of Los Osos.  In the camp side instruction which was given to us upon check in it read that the car stop was down a hill at top of which was the camping location which made M sigh. It read that it was a few hundred yards of steep walk to the site. So we parked as instructed, each grabbed a piece of camping equipments, and headed up hills.

A few feet on the steep walkway we got greeted by a huge and grumpy lizard. "Hey Mr Lizard" we said, but he didn't say any thing back. So we continued walking when we bumped into a half a dozen college kids walking down with a dog. They said it had a nice view up there; that was encouraging.

Walking up hills usually makes me look down, don't exactly know why but it's more difficult to keep my head high. Suddenly, I sensed a familiar sent. Eucalyptus. I looked up and yes, it was a short but dense eucalyptus grove we were walking through. I love that smell; reminds me of my mother, so I smiled cheerfully. A kept complaining about the long and steep walk but he tried to be a good player. Closer to the top we got when we spotted a small hut, our very private pit toilet equipped with an all wind-powered ventilation system.

Short walk after that the hill got flat exposing our penthouse campsite, complete with three eucalyptus trees, a picnic bench, and a small cabinet attached to the bench. For sure there was no bear in Los Osos otherwise food cabinets were not practical.

We set up the tent and made another round to the car and back. On the way back we got greeted by a black beetle. "Hello Mr Beetle" we said, "hello humans" he responded.

M and A prepared the bedroom while I organized the kitchen.

Then we head off for a hilly oceanic hike.  A had a blast at the beach, playing with the waves running away from the cheerfully.

An hour before sunset we made it back to our ocean view site, set up the camping stove, made dinner, and had it all while watching the ocean.  Then at sun set we sat down watching the Sun going down the horizon.  M had already built up too fires on which we BBQ-ed hot dogs and marshmallows.

It was a breezy night, complete with the sound of ocean and spooky sound of eucalyptus trees shedding skins.  I was practically awake for the majority of the night time checking on M and A makign sure they were not cold.  In the morning, I had a mild cold.

It was too early to say goodbye to such a beautiful campsite but alas we had to head back.  We stopped at the Spooner beach again and relaxed for a couple hours.  It was just awesome being in the SLO vicinity, brought back so many good memories of our first visit to Northern California.

And the campsite, totally recommended.  Especially the 3E spot!