Castle Rock Hike - Santa Cruz Mts.

Sunday afternoon it was so beautiful we decided to take a hike at Castle Rock. Keely, Sabrina and Lauren had a lot of fun climbing on the rocks and exploring.

We decided to make the trek to see Castle Rock waterfall were several people had there ropes and were officially climbing the rocks with their equipment. The waterfall was small but the girls ended up fining a lot of interesting bugs and rocks along the way.

Keely's 10th Birthday

Keely turns 10 on May 1st, 2008. Saturday, April 26th we had a sleepover party to celebrate her new double digit status.

The girls (Sabrina Browles, Emma Moore, Kayla Holder, Jaclyn Isman and little sister Lauren) started the party at about 4pm in our backyard bouncing on the trampoline.

We enjoyed some spagetti and sprite and then off to paint some pottery at The Art Beat in downtown Campbell. It took us about 2 hours to complete our projects and then we returned back to the Shea house to do some additional bouncing.

We sang happy birthday while Keely attempted to blow out her candles. See the video of these crazy girls.

Presents included Hanna Montana Girl Talk from Jaclyn, Beach Towel and Supersoaker from Kayla, Webkin snake, mini flower pots, stuffed money with towel from Emma and Sabrina gave money along with a mini magic and pool set, diary and mickey cube.
Yes Keely did open her presents like a crazy maniac...just watch the video clip.

The girls decided at about 10pm that they would indeed sleep outside in the trampoline. They talked and played truth or dare. There was a lot of giggling going on so they were definately having fun. The little birdies woke up the girls around 6am as I saw them all run in to watch cartoons. After a few rounds of playstation singing star inside to wait for it to be late enough to allow them back out they bounced some more in the trampoline.

We had fruit filled crepes with whipped cream and nutella with eggs and sausage. The girls continued to play until about 10 am when the party officially ended.

Santa Cruz Mtns., Big Basin - Berry Falls Hike

On Saturday morning, April 12, 2008 we took a hike at Big Basin in Santa Cruz Mountains. It was such a beautiful day with our target desination Berry Creek Falls.

We left from the headquarters parking lot from 8:15 am on the Skyline to the Sea Trail, taking the Berry Creek Falls trail to the first waterfall. After viewing the spectacular waterfall and having a snack we pushed on Silver Falls were we climbed up next to the waterfall and then over to Sunset Trail which takes you back to the headquarters. The loop is 10.5 miles and takes approximately 5 1/2 hours. The elevation changes +/- 400 feet in several locations.

We finished the hike visiting with all of my Hike for Discovery friends having a soda in the parking lot and headed home for the hot tub which is really coming in handy after these long hikes.

Big Basin is California's oldest State Park, established in 1902. Home to the largest continuous stand of Ancient Coast Redwoods south of San Francisco, the park consists of Old Growth and recovering Redwood Forest, with mixed conifer, oaks, chaparral, and riparian habitats.

Elevations in the park vary from sea level to over 2,000 feet. The climate ranges from foggy and damp near the ocean to sunny, warm ridge tops.

The park has a surprising number of waterfalls, a wide variety of environments (from lush canyon bottoms to sparse chaparral-covered slopes, many animals (deer, raccoons, an occasional bobcat) and lots of bird life-- including Steller’s jays, egrets, herons and California woodpeckers.

Here is a video of the beautiful waterfall.

Rascal Flatts Concert

On April 11th, 2008 we went to see Rascal Flatts at the HP Pavillion. It was the girls first concert and they loved singing along with all their favorite songs. The concert started at 7pm with the opening act of Taylor Swift.

We had a busy day with it being a school day and Keely's softball practice, but we made it in plenty of time to grab some dinner and grab our seats.

Our Rock Band

Our rock band stars Heather Guidice, Michele Reen, Mike Reen, Alex Guidice, Aimee Shea and Greg Shea.

Uvas Canyon Hike - Morgan Hill, CA

January 20, 2008, we took a hike at Uvas Canyon County Park.

Hikers included: Shea Family, Guidice Family, Reen Family and LeTourneau Family.

This lushly wooded park of 1,133 acres, is nestled in upper Uvas Canyon on the eastern side of the Santa Cruz Mountains.

The park has six miles of hiking trails including a one mile Waterfall Loop that travels along Swanson Creek past many of the park's waterfalls.

The kids all did an amazing job getting up the initial hill climb. But of course loved the trail back along the waterfalls and creek.



The main falls to the left.

Keely took an amazing number of pictures and did a great job as you can see.

We finished up the day with a yummy meal at a local mexican place with the Guidice's.

It was a lot of fun and hope to do it again soon.

Windy Hill Hike - Portola Valley, CA

On April 5, 2008, I hiked Windy Hill Open Space Preserve in Portola Valley off Hwy 35 Skyline Blvd.

It was ...Windy hence the name... about to rain and cold at 8am! The hike started off on all down hill on Hamms Gulch Trail for 3 miles into the beautiful green canyon of the preserve. The trail had a long series of switchbacks leading us to a beautiful stream pictured below.

My hiking group now called T2 (Trail Trekker's) is the medium fast group which has developed. Our mentor was Paula for the day. We strolled along Eagle Trail which meets up with Alpine Road for .6 miles at about 1000 ft elevation.

Here I am with my hiking buddies as we stopped to enjoy some lunch and search for some sun since we were still cold at the valley floor.

After lunch, we started up Razorback Ridge Trail which climbs 800 feet in 2.3 miles, then over to the lost trail for another 1.5 miles. The climb was steep and long. My group decided we would stop at the top which seemed to never come! I was very aware of my legs by this point in the hike being almost 4 hours into it. We took the entrance trail back over to Anniversary Trail and climbed up to see the spectacular views of Portola Valley to the East overlooking Stanford University and Hwy 35 to the west and the Pacific Ocean. It was an 8 mile hike that I will feel later. As you can see it was still windy, but turned out to be a gorgeous day.

As I drove home I realized just how amazing the area is around me and I am looking forward to next weekend when we will hike Big Basin with the Giant Redwood trees.

Hike On!