Tuesday, June 8, 2010 by Tj.

We recently had a juvenile seal resting on our beach.  There was quite a debate about what kind of seal it was so we did some research and came to the conclusion that it was a juvenile Elephant Seal, Mirounga leonina.  Northern and Southern Elephant seals are more commonly recognized by the distinguishing look of the male noses, which resemble an elephant’s trunk.  The trunk doesn’t begin to develop until the male is about two years old.

Male Southern Elephant Seals grow to be the largest seals at over 20’ long and weighing up to 8,800 pounds while the females are much smaller and rarely over 13 feet. While it’s not entirely clear why this juvenile elephant seal beached itself, we were happy to see that it returned to the ocean later that day to continue its voyage. You can learn more cool facts about elephant seals at the National Geographic site http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/elephant-seal/

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Thursday, June 3, 2010 by michelle.

Our baby boy Morgan is now almost 2 1/2 months old and he’s getting big fast!  His favorite activities include drooling, shoving his fists in his mouth, smiling and laughing (especially at 3 in the am), jumping in his door jam bouncy toy, pulling himself up, and mommy’s personal favorite: taking naps.  A few weeks ago he went on his first harbor cruise here at camp and he didn’t seem very impressed, but he sure looked snazzy in his new life jacket.  Pictures will be coming shortly!  I also just got finished selling my horse (one more hobby that bit the dust when Morgan came along) to Disneyland!  She’s going to be in the indian village on the Rivers of America tour, so if any of you go to Disneyland, say hi to my pony for me.  She’s going to be so happy there!

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