Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Past Events

So many events happened in such a short amount of time right before our kids' visit that I got a little behind…. And we leave on a very exciting VACATION soon so I will have new material to post. We are escaping to a warm, tropical place where Dave is going to get a complete break from work:) We are together all the time since he works from home but his work never ends. I wish I could help him with his work (not really) but I just help out by feeding him and packing his suitcase!
    We attended a 50th birthday party and a 70th birthday party for 2 of our Fallbrook friends.

3 "unicorns" at the party: Lena, Karissa, and Kenny

SURPRISE Marilyn! We invaded your home and decorated it ! Happy 50th Birthday!

Ready for the guests.

Marilyn has "help" blowing out the candles!

Sweet baby Claire. The youngest party guest.

Happy 70th Birthday Duane! Love the mustache! Also daughter Paula's birthday.

Duane and Verla- our close neighbors when they aren't in ND farming.

Carla, Claire and Jerry ( Verla's son)

Chet, Marilyn and Ross. Good friends and our All State agent.

Free tickets to the PGA at the famous Torrey Pines golf course overlooking the Pacific. Well…. we saw 3 golfers tee off before they finally cancelled for the day due to the coastal fog!

The 18th hole

A beautiful sunset in our neighborhood.


Saturday, February 16, 2013

Stupendous Saturday!

Dave did this 2 days in a row….have to take advantage of the gorgeous weather and guests from the midwest. We have had a lot of cool and cold weather relatively speaking. We feel chilled if it dips below 65! 


Lunch guests. I am so glad that one of their grandmas lives in CA not too far from us.

Sweet Yehzie who has found her thumb. 3 1/2 months.

Just had to post our weather for the past two days :) But as you can see "winter" returns next week!

Minah and Minzie loving picking fruit in our yard. Minzie very sadly said," We don't have any fruit in our yard."

A nice warm day means a trip to the local frozen yogurt place.

Finally tried avocado fudge. It was tasty but I would choose fudge made with good ole' butter!

These people really made our day!

A little strange but that is how we like them!

Yehzie modeling one of my hats. All bundled up for our outdoor dining and sitting around the fire.  It was wonderful to have our special friends from WI who are family to us :) When they moved to Waukesha they were a couple and we watched them become the parents of 1, 2, 3 special girls. 

Thursday, February 14, 2013

February Fun

    Feb 1st was a wonderful day…..Shane and Nikelle came to stay for a week. My cousins Tim and Andrea ( from WI) came for the weekend after being in Vegas for work. Then Nikelle's parents, Randy & Brenda( from CO) joined us for an extended weekend. Finally, Nikelle's sister Summer & Mike (hubby) joined us from N. CA.
   Saturday we went on a whale watching trip out of Dana Point. It was a slow day for whale viewing but a few made their appearance at the end of the trip. Overcast day but fun with family!
   I guess if you live in S. Cali long enough you will run into celebrities. I probably have seen some without recognizing them! Summer was the star stalker of this trip…. that man in the photo below is Joel David Moore- he is a character in the TV series "Bones". He seemed to be too busy romancing the girl to watch for whales!





Andrea and Tim

Family bonding on the ocean:)

Saturday supper on the patio. Apparently once you have lived here long enough you no longer eat outside on chilly nights…. wimps! We fired up the 2 patio heaters and the fire pit and partied!

Nikelle, Shane, Mike, Summer, Randy&Brenda

The Garners minus 1. Missed you Tristan!

Cousins

Poor Dave had to work so I took the kids to the zoo. We rushed to the panda exhibit first since Mom and 6 month old baby were on display only form 9-12. Well as you can see they were snoozing!

This polar bear was very entertaining. He was trying to kill and drown this barrel- after multiple attempts he gave up.

Nikelle and I rushed back to the panda exhibit for one last look. We got to see this little guy try to climb down the tree and fall off the branch! He does this a lot and was unfazed. Then he hung out in the flowers. He is the 6th cub from that 1 panda mom. The most successful breeding program ever. Kind of tricky since mama is only fertile 1-3 days per YEAR. 

Post lunch napping. I love the close up of the hand.  At first I wondered why they were so close to the glass… well there are heat lamps only by the viewing area. Very clever!

Madelyn was cute too. There are 21 Galapagos turtles at that zoo. Many of them were brought there in 1928. They figure they are between 100-150 years old. They move verrrrrry slowly. You would move slowly also if your heart only beats 6 times per minute!

Taking the cheetah for a stroll. What a pretty kitty!

No this is not a zebra. This is Shane trying to stay warm in our cold CA house.  Those tile floors on the slab are chilly.
Shane at the beach. Please pardon these photos- they are out of order and I don't feel like messing with them!

The hike near our house. the back side of the mountain had a view of lavender fields. We smelled them before we saw them. At first, Nikelle thought she smelled french fries- what! Must have been wishful thinking ;)

Mountain lion track. Shane and Nikelle tried to tell me it is a few dog tracks but my interpretation is much more exciting!

That new iphone takes amazing panoramic shots.

Simple pleasures!

Candy land with Nejelys. No one lost- there were 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th place winners…..hmmmm

"Grandpa" Dave

Carlsbad beach 

Told you these were out of order- one of our whale sightings.

Carlsbad Beach

On the way to the airport- one last walk at the beach.

Whale watching trip again
Sat after the whale watching trip Ron and Terri Bone came for supper. Brenda and Terri grew up together.


Credit goes to Nikelle for this beautiful photo ( and other photos)

The moms

My boy

Brenda's girl

Shell hunting

Love this couple and miss them!