Our first week after the last of the visitors left happened to be our birthday week.  Both of our special days fall within a few days of each other, so we decided to make the entire week a week of celebration.

We started it off by buying a kayak off Craigslist.  I have wanted one since I was 14, when I got my first job.  I saved up money for months to buy one, only to have my parents convince me that it wasn’t a sound investment.  Fifteen years later, I finally got my wish!

We went with a tandem ocean kayak since it would be easier to travel with only one watercraft instead of juggling two.  It is small enough that one of us could take it out on our own but large enough for the two of us to fit comfortably and for it to be stable in the waves.

We found a great deal on it and it included everything: paddles, lifejackets, etc.  We took it out on the water the next afternoon to the same place we had taken the kayak tour when Trav was in town.  We figured this was the smartest option since we were familiar with the area.

The waves were a bit larger than we had expected but everything went well!

Constant paddling wore us out pretty quickly and after about an hour on those big waves, we headed back to shore.

We took a drive up to Julian, one of our favorite places aside from the ocean.  Out of curiosity, we visited a couple plots of land for sale up there.  The wildlife on our drive was amazing and I wish I had brought my good camera with.  We saw a coyote, lots of wild turkeys, and about 15 deer.

The supervisors of our park also got us a birthday cake!  They came over from the neighboring campground to deliver it and it was such a surprise since we hadn’t told anyone we were celebrating this week.  How thoughtful of them!

We did some shopping during the week and finally bought our wetsuits.  Trying them on is a pain in the butt but we are so happy to have them!  They came in handy on our cool, overcast day when we took the kayak out for the second time in the Oceanside Harbor.

Calmer waters in the harbor gave us a better feel for the kayak.  We did brave some of the ocean waves by taking it a little way out of the harbor.  The more we do this, the better we will get!  It’s a great workout!

After kayaking and boogie boarding in Oceanside, we had a wonderful dinner in the harbor with Aunt Kris (thanks for the wetsuits Kris!).  It was a great day!

Friday was Andy’s actual birthday and we had a delicious sushi dinner.

We continued our birthday celebrations over the weekend, spending time together and balancing our fun times with our park duties and jobs.  Our life out here makes it so much easier to feel like we have a good balance.  We just feel…happy!

I’ll end this with some random pictures of Kevin, the peacock that lives on the grounds at one of the places where I volunteer.  He’s gorgeous!