Pumpkin Picking!

Pumpkin picking time! We usually go pumpkining on Kim's birthday, but this year was a bit abnormal. First, it's our first "fall" in California, and it's like 80 degree and sunny everyday, so that's weird. Second, the wife ended up having emergency surgery right after her birthday and we got to have a lovely (*eyeroll*) four night stay in a hospital room. She's slowly recovering, but enough so that I convinced her to take a little field trip with me to get pumpkins. It was a slow stroll around the patch, and I got to lift and carry everything, but she's cute and fun and worth the slow stroll. :)

We took the new Instax along with us, to use up some Halloween themed film. Such a fun little camera and instant photos! I'll have to get those scanned, so they'll be posted a little later. :)

Lots of Flowers

My sweet wife seems to love getting me flowers, especially around our anniversaries. This year, on our one year wedding anniversary, we went for a sunset picnic at the beach. She stopped at the little flower hut where we got our wedding daisies and bought me a single red daisy. :)

A couple of weeks later, she went grocery shopping and got me this gorgeous bouquet of just because flowers.

And then we rode the train to Oceanside and walked around on the beach and pier. We passed a young guy making these cool flowers from palm tree stalks and she stopped and got one from him. This is maybe the coolest flower she has ever given me. :)

Always Cute Zoe

Zoe... always being cute. Here are a few photos of her from September, just being her cute, thirsty, sleepy, perky, little self. 

Whale Watching

Kim's parents came to town for a visit so we booked a trip on a local whale watching boat. We did this once before and saw lots of dolphins, but no whales. We headed out on this grey, cloudy morning, hoping for whales and more dolphins! 

The seals are always napping on the buoys.

Sleeping so happy in the little bit of sun that was trying to poke through the clouds...

And this guy, I swear he was smiling for the camera. :)

Finally, our very excited captain announced a whale, not too far away. His blow hole gave him away. :)

Dolphin. Whale. Bird. Ocean.

Racing dolphins!

These guys were extra cute... I love that I got the face of one of them in a photo. There were babies in this little group of dolphins and I was seriously wishing I could grab one and take it home with me.

They love racing alongside the boat.

And on the way back in, we saw these fishermen with their cool hats. :)

Boogie Boarding and Stingrays!

Life is just full of new experiences. After our kayaking adventure, we both wanted to play in the water way more than we had before. We got boogie boards and headed to a calm piece of beach. This adventure ends up being way more exciting than just riding some waves, but I'll get to that... 

Friday night after work, we headed to a chilly beach and played until we couldn't stand the chill anymore. Saturday morning, we headed right back to the beach. We were there for hours, playing in the water, sitting in the sun, taking fun water photos, and enjoying a beach picnic. These photos were towards the end of the afternoon, when we were both trying to catch good photos of us on the waves. This was only my third time really being in the water. My first was kayaking and playing on the beach in Catalina, my second was Friday night, and then this third adventure at Corona Del Mar. 

While we were playing in the water and taking these photos, it was great fun and riding those waves (even though they were very small) was an exhilarating and fun experience. Just after taking one of the photos, I put my foot down and had an immediate and excruciating pain. I thought I stepped on a piece of glass and it went deep into my foot. I yelled for Kim and we hobbled to shallower water. I pulled my foot up and it had blood running off of it. Now assured that there was a real injury, we headed quickly onto the beach, and just as quickly, it started burning with an incredible heat. I quickly realized something else had just happened, not just a cut. Kim helped me hobble to our towels and grabbed one and started squeezing my foot to stop the bleeding. 

I was cringing the whole time and started feeling like my foot was numb... then my ankle... then my whole leg felt weird. This is the point where it got really scary. I have an Epipen that I keep with me due to sting allergies, and I was seriously wondering if I was going to stop breathing. Kim had the same thought process and opted for getting help - she ran the length of the beach to find a lifeguard. He came and picked me up with his Jeep, and took me to the lifeguard stand. Pretty immediately, he was filling a bucket with scalding hot water and stuck my foot in it - instant relief. Apparently, heat breaks down the poison that a STINGRAY leaves in you when it stabs you. I was quickly assured that I would be fine, other than the pain. Me and about 10 other people who were enjoying the same experience!

Ninety minutes later, I was able to stand and take my foot out of the water without it hurting, so we went home. Days of bruising, limping, swelling and ouch would follow. A week later, the foot just was not healing, so we went to an urgent care. They tore open the wound to retrieve a left behind piece of stingray barb. A full course of antibiotics and steroids were the aftercare. 

So that sums up the great stingray incident of 2014. :) The weekend of Kim's birthday, we finally got to get back in the water, kind of. I haven't been in the sand yet, but we walked to a dock, climbed on another kayak, and went paddling for Kim's birthday. 

Now I leave you with the "before" photos... of our fun in the ocean. :)

Fuji Quicksnap Waterproof, ISO 800, Developed by Alpine Film Lab!

A Forgotten Roll of Film

I finally finished a roll of film in a camera that has been sitting around since right after we got to California. It went out on a few of our adventures around town, but only managed a photo or two per trip. Mostly, it sat on a shelf somewhat forgotten. So, finally, I ended the roll and sent it off to the lab. Enjoy some miscellaneous California plastic camera photos! :)

Superheadz UWS, Fuji Superia 400, Developed by Alpine Film Lab.