Christmas Birds

Christmas Day in SoCAL, 2009 -part 2

Christmas Day in SoCAL, 2009

Dear Bloggers,

I am trying to make a come back, it may take some time and some effort, but here we go again. It's been such a weird year for me! Any who, Christmas was amazing! The kids and their families were all gathered on Christmas Eve, we ate our traditional Chinese take-out and had an informal program of singing and retelling the true Christmas Story. Thor is a Bishop now, so just as we were gearing up to opening gifts he received a call for help and off he went for a bit.

In the meantime, with little ones who had waited "all day!" to open their gifts, I decided they should open a gift from Aunt Hygiene: Automatic Marshmallow Shooters! They were a tad confused, didn't really understand what they had been given. While they were being instructed by daddies I asked everyone to meet me on the front porch.

I handed each of the adults a home made marshmallow shooter (desert camo for the guys, "Hello Kitty" pink camo for the gals) and a bag of mini marshmallows. The mayhem began and boy! did we have a fun 45 minutes or so until Thor was able to join us! He came back, grabbed his shooter and began puffing the sweet little bullets around at the family! Our front yard and garage was literally covered with about 10 bags of mini marshmallows! We had our fun then came back in for the "regular" presents.

Christmas Day the kids had all gone back to their respective homes to open gifts and spend the day with their little families. The two girls spent the night with us and we got up, visited with Sister Missionaries until their parents called. They each were able to talk with their families for about an hour. It was awsome! We gave them their presents and visited a bit longer then they needed to leave for appointments.

We got in the car and headed south to a nearby beach. We hung out, took photos, and had the most glorious Christmas Day! Enjoy the video and enjoy the rest of this wonderful time of year! Remember Who we celebrate and all the wonders His hand has created. Have a blessed celebration.

nifty fun!

Friday was my birthday! Yup, I'm "nifty fun!" now. Thor, The Hygienist, and I went to lunch, and then for a long drive. We had other plans, but this worked out much better! I had such a great day in the rain! The photo opportunities were abundant and the company could not have been better.

fog

all's well that ends well -or- we all do stupid things in our youth

Note the rocky shore line. Note the irregular wave sets. Note the shark like fin of one rock. (o.k. so I pointed that out yesterday, I still think it's cool.) Note the "triple dog dare you". Note the idiotic look of "where'd my board go?" Note the "What the hell, chicks dig scars" attitude.

Note the tale this is going to grow into over the summer... just don't tell mom.

review of yesterday

Thor and I started out with breakfast and then we headed out to the city for a day of fun. We drove out to Laguna Beach and drove the coast south gawking at the zillion and two beach goers, knowing we would never find a spot to park.

We had a great time checking out the crowds and made our way into Dana Point where amazingly enough we entered the bay parking lot just as someone else was leaving and snagged a space near the docks.

Thor and I cruised a bit, took in the boats, the kayaks, and all the people in the water on all kinds of craft! It looked so inviting! Across the water at the yacht club there was a piper playing all manner of patriotic songs on his bag pipe. The music made its' way across the bay and out along the grass and jetty.

While we were at the jetty we saw two boys jump in between the sea rocks trying to get out to a larger rock in between wave sets. They were successful, but more on that story tomorrow.

We headed inland and ended up going through every variation of "Laguna" there was; city, Meadows, Niguel, Woods, Highlands, Heights, Valley, you name it, we hit them all. Finally we called #3 and asked if she knew how to get out of the Lagunas and onto the 5. We met her at P.F. Changs in the OC Spectrum, ate dinner and then headed back home.

About 8:30 we were in Fontana/Rancho Cucamonga and the fireworks started out. Still dusk the booms and sparks were against the lavender skies. Once one went off the whole city lit up for about an hour. Small neighborhoods, about three or four blocks big, set up their own shows all over the city. Wherever you looked you could see fantastic shows that rival any I have seen in a stadium or small city show. If you look closely in some of the photos you can see the rooftops... those houses are in a cul de sac and the fireworks are set off on the street! Amazing!

We watched for an hour or so and went back home exhausted but happily entertained.


(Does that rock look like a shark fin or what?)