Christmas Vacation: Part 3

The day after Christmas we wanted to go to Disneyland but it didn’t work out. Instead, the four of us drove to L.A. to see the Griffith Observatory. It had been closed for 6 years due to remodeling so it was neat to finally be able to visit it. From the observatory grounds you can see the Hollywood sign, downtown L.A. and the ocean. It was pretty cool, but packed with people.

For lunch we ate at a popular hot dog stand called Pinks. They are known for their specialty hot dogs. Celebrities are also known to go there but we did not see any this time. The average wait for one of these fancy dogs is about 45 min to an hour. It’s worth it for the experience but it’s pretty greasy. For dinner we ate at a Mediterranean place called Zankou Chicken in Pasadena. It was really good too!

… next up is Lucy, the newest addition to the family

  

 

Christmas Vacation: Part 2

The next couple of days before Christmas we had fun catching up with Mom & Dad and playing Wii games. One of the nights we drove around looking at lights and watched in amazement as three houses joined together for a musical light show. Christmas Eve we attended a beautiful candlelit service at my parents church that ended at midnight. On Christmas day we finally got to see my brother and his wife. We ate turkey dinner, opened presents, played Wii and other games before Todd & I headed to Matt & Cherise’s house to stay the night. 

… more to come

 

     

Christmas Vacation: Part 1

Well, we are finally home after an almost two week vacation. We drove from Washington to California in our little, and I mean little, red Aveo rental car. The weather was not typical for California, it was a little cool and it rained until Christmas. It still was warmer than the snowy 16-20 degrees we left up here. Despite the weather conditions, it was a great trip and I miss everyone already. 

Since I was warned no one may want to read a really long post I am breaking up the trip into a few posts, hope you don’t mind :)

On the Friday before Christmas we headed down to Shelton, WA to spend the evening with Todd’s family. We exchanged Christmas presents and chatted for a few hours. The next morning we headed to Sacramento. We planned to get there in 12 hours, but because of some ice & stopping to buy chains (which we never needed) we got there in 14 hours, not too bad, but we were tired. There we visited with my cousins Sarah & Nate and Sarah’s husband Andrew. We got to stay in their beautiful home that they recently remodeled. (I took more pictures on the trip back).

On Sunday we drove to San Francisco to see the sites. Todd had never been there so it was a treat for him to see the Golden Gate Bridge. It eventually started raining so we didn’t stay outside very long. We then drove down Lombard Street which is famous for its steep, tight turns. After spending the afternoon there we decided to head to my parents about 7 hours south of the city.

… to be continued

Christmas Lights

Ok, one more post before I leave on vacation. These are our new LED lights we got this year for the outside. We had a few more strands starting out, but some died so I took those back. I love the way the colors reflect off the snow in the close-up shots. I would have taken more but it was really windy & cold (20 F) so I was not outside very long :)

 

Brrr

So much for our “mild” winter, we are finally getting our snow & ice this year. I was hoping it would wait until after our drive down to California for Christmas, oh well. As long as we can get through the mountain passes I am ok with it :) Which reminds me that I won’t be blogging for a couple weeks. See you all after the New Year! Have a Merry Christmas too!

I Can Has Cheezburger?

I love animals and enjoy looking at pictures of animals. This site listed above (in my title) is pretty funny. Once in awhile it is inappropriate, but most captions are cute and some are quite funny. If you cannot read the grammar, that is point. I guess it’s supposed to be more cute with misspelled phrases, I don’t know.  Hope you find these pictures enjoyable…my favorite is the top one.

Fun Guy

I took these a couple months ago but forgot to post them. I loved this little mushroom. He was sitting all by himself so I decided to take his picture. At one angle he was luminescent with the light shining through his gills. He really was a fun guy, at least to photograph…and yes,  I know I am weird :D

  

Tree Trimming

Last Saturday Todd and I picked out our Christmas tree. It was so wet and cold that we picked our trees rather quickly. We actually cut two, one for us and the other for our neighbor (whose kids I watch each week). I think the variety we got this year was a Nordmann Fir, they were growing next to the Noble Firs, so  I am not really sure. On the way home the car smelled really good because we had to put ours inside and the other on top. We have a  very spacious vehicle :)