Lost dogs

Much to the delight of the girls, 2 lost dogs wandered past the house today. The black one had a collar, with no tags, and the golden one had nothing.  Shelby named them Midnight and Buddy.  They were slightly alarmed to discover that the black dog only had 3 legs.  He managed just fine.  The only other 3 legged dog I ever knew was the dalmation that lived next door to Naomi.   
He's not really taking a dump, he was just on his way to sitting down.  He did sit more than the golden puppy!
They stayed for a while and then wandered off to the next place. The girls were quite worried about them getting hit by a car.  About 15 minutes later, they showed back up.  Again, the girls were DELIGHTED.  Shelby especially.  I looked out the window at one point and saw Colesy up in the tree, so she might not have been quite as happy to see them as Shelb!
They left again after the third visit and we havent seen them again.  I had the girls strip their clothes off at the washer and go straight to the bath - did I mention that they were wet from frequent creek crossings, with a mild odor of skunk mingled in.  yuck!

Wednesday

Shelby's friend Amanda has been coming home with us after school on Wednesdays so that she can go to AWANA with us.  This past Wed was cool out, but nice enough that they stayed out the whole time. I tried to take pictures from the window. They didn't turn out too good, but I thought they were cute sitting by the creek.

Shockingly, Colesy ran up to get more food. 

Ghiradelli Chocolate

I've tired so many times to upload this photo. And it WILL NOT do it. I finally figured it was so that the rest of the world would not be overly jealous of us having hot fudge sundaes at Ghiradelli! We went to  Monterey after Santa Cruz one day and stopped for a treat on Cannery Row.  It was so yummy.  I only had time for the one photo - busy eating after that!

We also found a cute little store where I was able to purchase a new shell ring. My shell ring that I got in Duck, NC was wearing out, and i found a replacement that I quite like.

We also found a sterling silver store with MASSIVE sales, so we got earrings. I LOVE the ones I got for me. 

My girls together at the beach.

Shelby

Colesy

I think that somewhere along the growing up road, Colesy heard the story wrong.  The way it is supposed to be is: There is a Cowboy, and there is an Indian.  Colesy heard it as a one person character, and she played Cowboy/Indian at the beach.  She found the seaweed whip and the seagull feather and had a jolly time as the combination cowboy/Indian.  She makes me smile.   

more pics from the beach/pier

Pacific Ocean at Santa Cruz

The Pier

The Pier with Colesy

The Pier with the concrete ship

Shelby and Colesy

The pier - again. I liked it.  It was pretty, and it was in the ocean, and that is all.....!

My girls at the ocean!