back in ramona

On the second leg of our holiday traveling, we were in the opposite weather extreme. We left snow & single digits for the sun & 70's. It wasn't a smooth ride though. If you happened across a news story of Southwest passengers trudging through lines for six hours waiting to be told they'd have to wait at least three days to reschedule their canceled flights at Midway, that was us. Mercifully, we were able to fly out the same day, only 8 hours later. And once we arrived in San Diego, greeted by balmy air on the pedestrian bridge at the airport & palm trees, it was but a distant inconvenience & already fading memory.
I fell right back into my nanny role with my Califamily, & Dar had a chance to explore SoCal agriculture & lounging in the sun. The kids acted as if I'd never been away: the first thing Noah did was run from me in a (futile) effort to avoid being hugged; Will, on the other hand, launched all 60 lbs of almost-five-year-old at me (I really have no idea how much he weighs, but 60 lbs might be conservative); Sophie was a little more grown-up, but still inherently Sophie.
We tried to take advantage of our 9 days there, & lived a whirlwind of outings, backyard football, & tacos. Lots of tacos.
I'd missed good ol' Ramona; the exhilarating drive up 78 from Escondido, the smell of lemon blossoms, avocado stands, nights tucked in front of the fire, the sun spreading over the mountains in the morning, the valley sprawled out in the backyard, it was nice to be back.

 Fishing in Oceanside with Will - no, we didn't catch anything, despite Will's eternal optimism.

Random moments at the Dotterer homestead

My favorite beach - Coronado

a jaunt up to Julian, followed by a hike through the slot canyons

Will's birthday, complete with a "minion" cake, celebrated with the Wettsteins.