California Dreaming

We are actually back from vacation, but a part of my heart is still in California.  We were blessed on this trip to spend time with wonderful friends and see family, and all around have a safe and fun trip.

Feeding the ducks at Waller Park.

While in California, the kids got to do quite a few fun things.  There was the annual Strawberry  Festival in Santa Maria. We spent a whole day there and the kids rode lots of rides. We even shared a funnel cake (AFTER the rides, for obvious reasons!).  I bribed the kids into letting me take a photo of them with a living strawberry.

While in Santa Maria, we visited Waller Park.  I used to hike in this park years ago when I lived nearby and it's changed so much over the years.  The pond near the front of the park has evolved and is absolutely lovely now.  I remember when it was pretty stinky and icky, but now it is just a gorgeous area to walk around and enjoy the ducks and geese. We spent an evening there feeding the ducks.

I got to visit a whopping one quilt store during the entire trip.  But it was good. I was in a patriotic mood and managed to find a lot of patriotic-themed fabric and panels to add to my quilting stash.  I can't wait to get back to some Bernina time!

Quilt store shoppies!

Toward the end of our time in California, we drove down to Carlsbad by the Sea and spent a day at Legoland. That was the first time any of us had been there.  Originally, we thought we'd spend two days there, but it's quite small and largely oriented toward wee ones, so one day was plenty of time. And I'm glad we visited now, because I imagine in a year or two, the kids will be much too old for this park.  My son is a Lego fanatic, so he was thrilled to be in a Mecca, of sorts, for Legos.  And it was amazing all the things they had in the park that were made out of Legos.  The evening before our day at the park, the receptionist at the hotel recommended we get "apple fries" at the park, so we did do that. And they were good! I'm sure they have about 18,000 calories, but you know what?  They are delicious.  Sometimes you just have to try something.

During the trip, the kids also got to spend some time at the ocean, playing in the sand, in Avila Beach.  We had gone there so I could show the kids the pillow basalt that's easy to see in that area.  And we ended up staying for a few hours while they played in the water and got some sun.  From the beach, we could see a sea lion playing in the water and occasionally hear it bark, which I assume was him (or her) begging for chum from the tourists on the pier.

Speaking of critters, on the way back home yesterday, on the highway, I saw two strange little creatures trying to cross the busy road.  One was up on top of a post of a guard rail along the highway.  I know I've seen such creatures before, but not often. I am thinking they were marmots.  They were very dark brown, larger than a squirrel, but smaller than a fox.  I just hope they were able to cross safely.  I also noticed that fences along the interstate through Utah and in parts of Colorado had these unusual sections that had a steep slope up one side and a drop-off on the side away from the highway.  I wondered if these were for animals to get away from the interstate and not allow them to get back?  In parts of Utah, they were erecting these, and the fences they run along are quite high, I would guess about eight feet or more.

It is good to be home and good to have a few days to relax before going back to work and back to the routine of things.

Now to plan next year's big trip.

Hot and Not-So-Hot Dogs

A girl and her dog.

So, it is one week and many hours since we set out for the west, all ready for our vacation on the road and throughout California.  That first day, somewhere in the middle of Utah, we decided to test our decision to cook on the engine.  Technically, it wouldn't really be cooking as we were really planning on heating up hot dogs (which are pre-cooked) on the engine.  We got them all wrapped in foil, decided to set them on the radiator hose, and discussed the time (or miles) we should let them cook, er, heat up.  After about 40 minutes, we pulled over, hungry and ready for some hot dogs.  Sad to say, the dogs were barely warm. However, they were pre-cooked, and warm dogs were good enough for us.  So we found a nice park, brought the luke-warm dogs, buns, and all the condiments to a picnic table, and set about having lunch under the Utah sky.  It was actually pretty good.  Topics discussed during lunch included various other safe engine locations we could heat food.  After all, we still had breakfast burritos ready to be heated the next morning.

The next day, we tried another engine location, this time placing our pre-cooked, but refrigerated breakfast burritos on the engine in another location.  We drove for about a half an hour, pulled over, and had nice, toasty burritos (partly scorched - perfect!) for breakfast.  Eureka!  And even driving over some bumpy roads didn't knock them off the engine.  Now we were cooking, so to speak.

So we made it through Utah on eight breakfast burritos and 12 hot dogs and lived to tell the tale.

PS - I have been without internet access for a week.  I know, right?  But we did survive, and vacation is just about half over. However, I've been unable to blog because of the lack of internet access (not to mention I'm totally on another planet news-wise and hope nothing drastic has happened). We're a week out on the road, currently somewhere near San Diego (Legoland tomorrow!), have wifi which seems to be working beautifully, and I'm trying to catch up on our vacation adventures.

Westward, Ho

It's that time again.  Family vacation time!

Having taken long family trips all over the country the last few summers, dealing with the crowds and heat and whatnot, we decided to do a compromise between spring break and actual summer break.  So we're hoping to avoid the crowds, and visit places less toasty roasty.  So Easter morning, we're packing up the family van and heading to California.  I can hardly wait!

Over the years, I've heard about people who have been able to utilize their hot car engines to cook food.  Intrigued by the idea of utilizing this heat, and saving a few dollars by not eating out, and hopefully eating slightly healthier (and I mean ever so slightly healthier), I'm going to stick my toe in the water of this engine cooking business and try doing hot dogs.  That, and warming up breakfast burritos. I just finished making a huge batch of breakfast burritos which are already sealed in foil and will stored in the cooler.  I figure we can stick a few of them in the engine compartment, in a safe (?) place, and hopefully enjoy a toasty breakfast burrito at some point down the road.  We'll see how this trial goes.  I'll keep you posted!

I spent some time earlier looking through photos of past family vacations, from the time the kids were pretty small. There are a lot of photos of them in the car, fast asleep in car seats, holding onto their bed buddies which of course had to make the trip with us (and which, thankfully, after gazillions of miles and years later, are still with us!).  Our kids have always been good travelers, for which I am grateful. Even on very long road trips, they keep busy playing fun games along the road, or reading, and occasionally watching a movie on a portable DVD player.  I used to swear I'd never be one of those parents who lets a movie babysit a kid.  However, there is a particular time of the day, during a particularly long road trip, which my husband and I lovingly call "the witching hour" during which the ONLY thing one can do us to pull out a video.  Otherwise, it's pure mayhem in the backseat, and ain't no one gonna enjoy it.  So with the advent of portable DVD players and ear phones, my husband and I can actually use the witching hour to have an actual conversation that doesn't include topics of boogers, roadkill, the latest video game or cartoon, or any of that stuff. It's pretty amazing.

So we'll head out tomorrow morning, breakfast burritos tucked into the engine compartment, on our family vacation of the year. If you happen to pass a California-bound minivan smelling of burned bacon and tortillas, don't say I didn't warn you!

'Twas the Day Before Easter

My children, waiting for the Easter egg hunt to begin,
standing in front of the traditional Easter tree (see eggs in tree).

The small town we live in has a tradition each Easter.  On the Saturday before, the Town holds an Easter egg hunt.  Our children have participated since they were old enough to know what candy was, and it's a fun event.  This year, we woke up to a light dusting of snow, which seemed to keep the number of kids attending down.  But our kids didn't mind.  To them, fewer kids translates to more candy!

Now that the kids are a bit older, these Easter egg hunts are coming to an end for them. The cut-off age will be coming soon.  For some of their peers, this is cool.  Some of them didn't even bring baskets to collect the little plastic eggs packed with candy.  That would be, like, so, awkward!  However, my son, always one to be very proactive when it comes to the obtaining of candy, was eagerly strategizing before the "go" was shouted out this morning.  He's also told me, several times, and loudly, that he hopes the Easter Bunny will come to our home this year and leave him a basket of goodies.

Like we need more candy?

I wish everyone a bright and cheerful Easter. This time of the year, I am reminded of how blessed we are for the sacrifice that was given for us, for all the opportunities we have in this life, and for the spirit of renewal that comes with spring.  May God bless us all.

Human Achievement Hour!

It's been a while since I've written a new blog.  Work has been busy. Home life has been busy.  I rarely just get to sit at the computer anymore.  And that's not all bad.  If there is a downside to the Information Superhighway, it's that it makes getting outside and enjoying nature a bit more removed from our day-to-day lives.

So, tonight is Earth Hour.  Since my family believes that the earth is precious, and that humans are created by God, as was the earth, we celebrate Human Achievement Hour (which happens to coincide with Earth Hour).  How do we celebrate this happy occasion?  We turn on every light and electrical appliance in our house for that hour.  For one hour a year, we run our heater the entire time.  And our kids absolutely love it and enjoy being the ones to creatively plan for this event and help us execute it. This year, we have a generator, so may also run it, just for that little extra edge to our celebration.  It's times like this that I wish I could, just for an hour, replace all of our CFL's with incandescent bulbs.  I get goosebumps, just thinking about it.

We encourage all those who love this earth and all of God's creations to celebrate Human Achievement Hour, too, in whatever fashion your family feels is fitting.

I thank God for the free will he bestowed upon us, and the perfect design of giving us the ability to learn and grow from our mistakes and successes.  I am grateful to all of our forefathers who, through trial and error, have helped to forge a world in which people are free to rise to the level of their competence and achievements or not.

So, if you are sitting alone in the dark, maybe with an organic, gluten-free, vegan candle, feeling good about yourself, you can feel just a little better knowing that my blender is running full-speed, and when my margarita is done, I'll raise a glass to you and yours.  Here's to mankind and all of our achievements.

It's Christmas Time

Chocolate and peppermint checkerboard holiday
cookies, complete with wobbly sides.  

It's a chilly December weekend and I'm making cookies with my kids.  We picked up a magazine a few weeks ago with lots of new recipes to try, so today we're making checkerboard cookies.  The kitchen smells like chocolate and peppermint.  And even though I can't manage to cut very straight, the cookies have turned out nice and pretty.

We still have to decorate our tree and I'm not sure we'll get to putting lights outside this year, and tomorrow we're decorating a gingerbread house.  I really love all the trappings of Christmas with kids.  It's such a blessing.

I just can't believe that the end of the year is nearly here.  This year has been a fast one for me.  And I'm reminded of that when I look to see how much my kids have grown over the last year.  It's terrifying.  Parenting is definitely not for sissies.

So as I listen to Christmas carols and feel the joy of the season swirl around and through me, and feel compelled to do silly, spontaneous stuff like this, I'm reminded how grateful I am to be a mom, and how grateful I am for the gift of baby Jesus. I'm surrounded by friends who are not believers, and that's fine. They poo-poo the whole concept and say, "If Jesus even was born, he wasn't born in December."  And that's fine, too.  It's not about the date on the calendar. It's about celebrating this incredible gift to us all, and the whole miracle of it all. The fact that God would put on flesh to walk among us and teach us, it's just over-powering.  I am so grateful.

So all my friends, believers and non-believers, I hope your hearts are all touched by the spirit of the season and that you are all truly blessed this time as well as throughout the year.

Giving Thanks

Hello Pacific Ocean.  I've missed you.

This was a different Thanksgiving for me.  I left my husband and kids for a few days and headed to California to visit my dad.  I flew to Santa Barbara, rented a car, and drove up the coast.  This was where I grew up and it was good to be home again.  And it was hard.  My stepmother tragically passed away earlier this year and it's been heartbreaking for all of us who knew her, and absolutely devastating for my dad.

It was good to talk to him.  I spent time asking him about his life growing up in Texas, about his brothers, and about how he ended up in California before I was born.  It was good information to have, and maybe on some level it helped him to talk about it.  I wish I'd had more time to spend there with him.  But my heart was also yearning to get back home to be with my husband and children.

I also got to visit a very dear friend I've known since Kindergarten and have lunch with her.  It was nice to spend time catching up and sharing the goings on of our lives with each other.

What the?????

I don't fly much.  I actually really dislike flying (okay, I'm a weenie). And I can't remember the last time I rented a car. I think it was in the early 80's.  So this was quite an adventure, especially going all by myself.

Our cars at home are all fairly old.  The newest one is from the late 1990's.  So when I rented this new-fangled car, there was a bit of a learning curve.  First off, it was an automatic.  I'm just not used to driving one for the most part.  But this one had the shifter deal in the floor, between the front seats. The one I do drive on occasion at home has this deal on the steering wheel.  So instead of putting this little rental car into drive, I kept washing the windshield.  At least my windshield was clean.  Also, I noticed something peculiar when I got into the car.  There was a little yellow indicator all lit up that looked, to me, like an exclamation point between two parentheses.  I figured since it had an exclamation point, it might be important.  So I called my husband who is a car genius and asked him if he had any ideas.  He didn't.  So I dug around and found an owner's manual in the glove box and looked it up.  Aha!  The manual said this was a low tire pressure warning light.  So I called Mr. Mechanic back and told him that.  His advice was to get out and look at all the tires and see if they looked inflated. And they did. So off I went.  And the trip went well.  Dinged danged indicator lights.  I prefer cars that don't tell you stuff like this. I'd rather find out on my own, thank you very much.

I also had to re-tune the radio in this car.  What came blasting out of the speakers when I started the car was rap. Very loud rap.  Yikes.  So I quickly found one of my old standby's when I lived in California and rocked out as I drove along Highway 101, confident in my mastery of the workings of this little car, clean windshield and all.

When I flew out of Santa Barbara this morning to return home, they announced that they were going to have to de-ice the aircraft.  Everyone laughed.  But it was legitimate.  It was actually below freezing and they had frost on the plane.  I'm sure the ground crew at the airport there isn't used to doing this very often, but they did a stellar job, for which I am most grateful.

Every time I go back to California, I realize how much I miss it there.  It's lovely to me, especially the Central Coast.  And a part of my heart will always be there.  But it is good to be back home with my husband and children, too.  I'm grateful for an easy trip with no real snafu's (we won't count my little adventure trying to figure out how to fill the rental car with gas last night) and a lot of heart-touching moments.  I am so very thankful for my family, my dear and wonderful friends, all the many blessings in my life, and I realize I need to express my thanks more often.  There's a saying I think we've all heard before, but it's so true. What matters is not how many breaths you take, but the moments that take your breath away.  Flying over the Pacific ocean and the Sierras and the Rockies all in just a couple of hours was breath-taking. (I may be a weenie, but occasionally I sneak a glance out the window from my aisle seat and really do appreciate the view).  Heart-felt hugs from family members and friends that bring tears to the eye are priceless.  And just time spent together, giving thanks, and nourishing my soul on these memories is precious to me.