anne wrote this terribly early in the morning:

heh, i’m back home now and tonight in spinning class, barb asked me where the heck all the pictures were from our trip—where were the kids, and animals? i assured her i was saving the best for last and here they are—read on, barb.

at the tylers, sunday is a hanging out day. while everyone else was at church, beckie and i went walking and then spent a very quiet couple of hours at our knitting (she finished up her hypoteneuse wrap in a green silk worsted weight yarn while we were there, yay).

sam had been asking all week when we wanted to see the hydroponics sheds that the guys have been working on since the fall, so we decided that sunday afternoon was the perfect time to explore the greenhouse, pick some fruit from the orchard on the way, and visit the animals.

once everyone was back from church and changed, we headed out.
our chariot awaited us in the drive

look at the size of these guys, both about to go over six feet tall now. hard to believe how fast sam and kade have grown since my first visit in 2008.

kade got in a little driving practice by getting us safely down the hill to the hydroponics shed and greenhouse.

we paused to take a look at the owl box, where a family of owls remains tucked in during the day. they come out at night to fly around the property. i didn’t see them firsthand, but i hear it’s quite something to watch.

chica scurried alongside and then sprinted ahead so she could travel with us AND greet us at the door when we arrived. she’s so type A; a real people pleaser. that’s what i love about her.

we entered the aquaponics shed first, where tilapia are raised in deep tanks, mostly to produce fertilizer for now, though they could be eaten once they get big enough (probably not by the tylers, though). when we were there in january, the greenhouse wasn’t quite finished and work on the aquatics shed was just getting underway. now everything is up and running. the fish are in and the plants are thriving, though still small.

the adjacent greenhouse has long planting beds with upper and lower shelves. tall tubular planters line the walls with notches for plants and reflective covering to direct sunlight onto the lower shelves of the planting beds.

even in the late afternoon, they provide natural light to the bottom beds, where lettuces and salad greens are grown. sam demonstrates that light can also be regulated by changing the position of the roof shades.

up top, tomatoes, peppers, squash, and other tall plants have the room they need to grow tall and spread out. sam has made signs for each plant type and cultivar. sam is very practical; in the foreground here, a small sign reads “kade’s sunflowers; two useless plants”.

we all had a chuckle over that one; kade and i recounted the many ways in which sunflowers are NOT at all useless.

melons, pumpkins, and large squashes grow at the top level of the planting columns, to take advantage of a sill that runs along the very top—when the fruits get too big for the vines to carry their weight, they are hoisted onto this shelf, where they can be supported until harvest time. brilliant.

down at the bottom, peavines are beginning to wend their way upward. it’s all so beautifully planned and made; the light is so lovely, too.

outside, we go up and around the back of the shed where the solar water heater is situated. this provides nice warm water for the fish and plants. kade explains how the system works.

on the way back to the house, we detour through the orchard to pick fruit for eating and juicing. sam makes a mean juice cocktail that is so delicious, it disappears almost as soon as it’s made.

in the lower orchard, is an apple tree that puts our apple tree to shame—it is loaded with fruit, about a dozen on each little branch. sigh, ours didn’t even flower this year—second year in a  row that happened. anyway, this one makes me jealous.

it’s nearing the end of citrus season most everywhere, but you wouldn’t know it from the looks of this orchard—each tree is thick with fruit, from lemons to tangerines to cocktail grapefruit. the scents are intoxicating.

a stray hen was stalking us as we made our way upward; after picking a couple of bags full for good eating, we headed on toward the chicken coop. did you ever see such a healthy bunch of feathered ladies?

as soon as they sense that kade is about, they all come running over.

and they weren’t to be disappointed—they know who their sugar daddy is, haha.

mr. stanley always hangs back a bit to allow the ladies first dibs—he agrees with kim’s motto: “happy wife/happy life”.

when snack time was over, they ushered us out the door—time to go see what franklin was up to.

he lives in the old garden patch, which kade has now redesigned with the needs of a large tortoise in mind—plenty of herbal refreshment, hiding places to cool off, and plants that provide some shade—plus a good fence for protection. you can see him at the far end, heading our way.

he fairly leapt with excitement when he saw granny coming with a romaine lettuce treat—we never saw him run so fast. seriously, i thought he might even create a little blur in the photos, but not quite.

he ran right by me, waggling his little butt tag as he went. it’s hard to believe he was ever such a small baby as he was at our first meeting; not even big enough to fill kade’s palm. now, he’s monstrous by comparison and still growing like crazy.

of course, a steady diet of good, healthy food doesn’t do any harm . . .

the guinea pigs used to live with franklin in his pen; kade dug a system of underground tunnels and hidey holes for them; everyone was quite happy there together. however, they disappeared back in the winter, one each day for two days. kim thinks that a hawk or wild owl may have snagged them.

the ducks, morgan and firefly, are alive and well, though i didn’t get any pictures to rival the ones i took in january. they continue to parade back and forth across the patio, patrolling the whereabouts of those other ducks that live just inside the glass doors, mimicking their every move but remaining annoyingly out of reach. some day, they’ll catch up and show them who’s boss of this house.

back inside, we got a jump on dinner, which tonight was everyone’s favorite—pasta with vodka sauce. i’ve been fixing this meal for the tylers ever since my first visit. hopefully, they actually enjoy it and aren’t just being polite when they ask me to cook it, heh.

now, sam and kade pitch in to help chop vegetables and clean shrimp; it’s really enjoyable for me to spend time with them this way.

with all that help, the meal was on the table in no time—everything you could want in one dish.

a smaller crowd than we’ve had at meals in the past, but no less fun or enthusiastic.

the rest of the evening passed quietly; we knit and talked and watched TV—monday was our last full day and we planned to make the most of it with a visit to coronado.

kim had never been inside the hotel or grounds, so we decided to take a look.

i remembered it as a wonderful, sparking old place, which i visited on thanksgiving evening  almost twenty years ago. without the holiday crowd, i wasn’t sure the daytime reality would actually match my memories, but sure enough, it did.

the lobby is all dark wood and crystal, with thick carpeting underfoot. it leads straight through to the back doors, which open out into the gardens

back inside and downstairs, a warren of hallways are lined with small shops

like this chocolate shop, where we might have spent some time that day, haha.

back out front, pathways lead you around the buildings so you can soak them in from every angle

where you can read about the history of the hotel as you explore its exterior.

continue along and eventually, you’ll end up in a vast back area with pools and boathouses

and beyond that, the beach. we’d all been out on the beach before and we had planned to walk it a bit that day too, but suddenly we wanted to get out of the sun. next was our planned trip to mootime creamery. there is a satellite of MTC at the hotel del, but we wanted the one on orange avenue.

good thing we decided to stick to the plan, because waiting for us there was a big surprise for kim—her daughter xanning had flown in from utah to spend mother’s day with her.

haha, she walked in and thought, “wow, that girl looks just like xanning”

of course we all got teared up a little over this happy reunion—you’d have to be carved from stone not to!

awww, what a happy ending for our visit. we all went home to make one last big family dinner and the next day, beckie and i headed for ohio. now i’m back at my desk and getting organized for another week.

i hope you enjoyed this recap of our trip; see you in a couple of days with a knitting update.