The end of the world

Did you know the world was supposed to end yesterday? Or at least, begin to end? Apparently somebody figured out, based on very exact and scientific calculations of it being exactly 7,000 years since The Flood, that May 21, 2011 was when all the Believers would get exported to heaven and the rest of us schmucks would be stuck on earth for five months of apocalypse. (It was also when Julia would turn 31. Happy birthday, Julia!) So we thought we should mark the occasion by spending the day with our church friends (did we ever imagine when we started this whole finding a church business that we would actually have "church friends"?) in one of the places I find closest to being Heaven on Earth: Marin County (we had also considered Angel Island or Mount Diablo, just for the sake of the names, but couldn't decide which was more appropriate).

This day also marked Sadie's first hike (which is a little embarrassing, I think Jack had his first hike when he was about a week old) and Jack's first hike that he actually hiked part of himself. I unfortunately didn't get any photos of that entire mile he walked because I was a little preoccupied with making sure he didn't trip over a root and go tumbling into the steep ravine below us, but I was very proud of him. And he (mostly) enjoyed the ride on daddy the rest of the time.

He also enjoyed making eyes at the other little girl on the trip, Abby, who I think may be his first crush. He picked some rose petals this morning and brought them to her. Sweet boy. Sadie spent the first 15 minutes staring up in wonder at the trees above us, and then fell asleep hard and didn't stir for the rest of the 8 miles. Even when we got to the part where mommy had to navigate down a ladder. Sadie: unimpressed.



It was a gorgeous day and we had sweeping ocean views atop blustery bluffs, which we would periodically pop out onto from the winding redwood forests. Not perfectly crystal clear, but not exactly fire and brimstone apocalypse, either. Which is nice.