the mass wasters

Two weeks ago, we had a lot of rain in San Diego.

Charlie measured more than six inches in his backyard "weather station" (the children's sand pail) and 12 days later, despite a sophisticated drainage system, our yard is still saturated.

Because the average rainfall in San Diego is around 10 inches per year, and we border the ocean, this area falls under the category of coastal desert. Native vegetation is rather sparse and the soil isn't very porous so can't handle large amounts of precipitation. When we do get a lot of rain, there tends to be a lot of runoff, a lot of mudslides and a lot of flooding.

If these rains keep up - and more rain is predicted this week - California very well may be on it's way out of the drought that we've been in for the past three years. But to effectively end the drought, we need approximately 19 more feet of snow in the mountains. Which works out to approximately 19 more inches of rain. Although there are no guarantees that we'll get the same kind of intense rain storms we've experienced this first month of the year, experts have said that El Niño conditions in the Pacific Ocean increase the likelihood of more big storms all winter.

All this to say, Yay! We love rain!

And also, we're considering the purchase of a boat.

While the storm two weeks ago was hammering our area, we'd heard repeatedly on the news that swells along the coast were between 15 and 20 feet. After a quick survey, everyone unanimously agreed that we wanted to SEE that kind of force up close, so we drove to the beach last weekend. There were definitely some big waves - but more surprising was that a large portion of the beach had completely washed away because of the storm surge.

Here we are doing what we can to help accelerate erosion.

Charlie had way too much fun.

And the kids had way too much fun.

Up and down the beach they went while yelling out...

"Look at me!"

"I'm Mass Wasting!"

In this context, "mass wasting" is geological.

As opposed to say, mass wasting of the dietary variety.

Why it is that the more time I spend in the kitchen cooking a meal, the less likely the children are to eat it, remains a mystery. It's not like we give them snacks throughout the day. And it's not like we're serving up muck. This is good, wholesome food. (At least to those who reside here that are over five feet tall.) Food that I truly believe - that if we continue serving to the children - they will eventually eat.

AND ENJOY.

For the love of all that is holy, why won't they eat sweet potatoes made with brown sugar?

To see their reaction, you'd think I was attempting to force feed them cyanide.

Hopefully, before they are 30 they will come to realize just how lucky they've got it living here. But as for now, our children are perfectly content to eat cereal. Or quesadillas. Or peanut butter sandwiches. For. Every. Meal. Which we won't let them do, because we're extremely mean that way. Although it happens quite often, that Charlie and I will wonder aloud if we'd just oblige them, perhaps we wouldn't feel like we were mass wasting our precious time?

Think of the energy we could save if we just served up Cheerios three times a day...

The kids would love it, we'd have extra time on our hands, less dishes to wash and everyone's cholesterol would be lower!

But we'll never give in to their finickiness.

Tomorrow, we're making beef bourguignon.