pnw trip: cousin time

and finally, the last stop: my sister anna's house in bolinas, california. she is the steward of a healing garden located on federal land in point reyes seashore, operated by a healing organization that she started and supported by the organization commonweal. 

the little farm house, as viewed from under the plum tree.

and from the other side, here the porch of the farmhouse peeked at from under the pear tree.

the redwood in front of the house is the most excellent climbing tree. these kids get so high, so far from our view.

these two sweet cousins got right down to the work of flower arrangement

while james and elsa got very squirrely together (not pictured). the pairing-off of the cousins worked very well this time, each kid finding a perfect playmate.

we spent a lot of time cuddling the furry creatures of the household, including mimi the kitty

and mr bun bun bunny rabbit, the sweetest little dust mop ever.

jeffrey made a delicious dinner and we all ate together in the greenhouse. it was so dreamy. 

and the kids brushed their teeth in the kitchen before having a very cozy bunk bed sleepover that featured continued squirreliness.

in the morning, i spent some time looking at all the flowers in the garden while my laundry tumbled around in the washing machine, and the kids put a "coffee shop" together out by the garden gate.

a belated birthday party happened for elsa over pancakes, and those kids really know how to crowd around the birthday girl and get in her business about the gifts.

also, this wolf played the piano. it was a silly morning. 

mimi might not have enjoyed all the wild kid noise and energy, 

it was going to be a very hot day, and while we started to plan a hike to the beach, we got the phone call that david's family had been hoping to make: it was time to come home and see david's father. so we unpacked the hike bag, scooped up the laundry, cleaned out the camper van and sped through the east bay to get the van returned before the facility closed. the flights were changed, and an sfo airport hotel was booked so we could make our early early morning flight to michigan. 

check out. the view of stinson beach as we left town on highway one. the traffic headed into the beach towns from the city was craaaaazzy. it's always a good reminder of the stressors of high density living that we left behind when we chose to move back to wisconsin.

in all of it, anna and the cousins expressed no stress, only loving help and support, and made so much of the last minute changes work. they even joined us in the hotel room near the airport, and the kids went bananas over the suite we booked. the last day of together time was salvaged with a hotel room hangout!