My Brother Visits

The saying that time flies when you're having fun is so true.  I can't believe we've lived in southern California for almost three years!  In these three years we've had some friends and family visit, but in May we had some extra special visitors.  I think we had my mother-in-law, my Grandma and most recently my brother, sister-in-law and niece came for a one week visit.  As expected, the seven days FLEW by!

Summer Staycation San Juan Capistrano Pt. 3

After visiting the Historic Los Rios District, we walked across the tracks toward the Mission.  The kids were very hot and tired of walking.

Mom, please.  No more walking.  We need shade.

In the distance we saw a church.  I don't think the word church can adequately describe what we saw.  It was the Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano.  It was founded by Spanish Catholics on November 1, 1776.  The original building was destroyed in the earthquake of 1812.

We didn't have the opportunity to tour the mission, but did escape the heat and take a moment to pray in the cathedral.

The new construction was completed in 1986.

Upon leaving the mission we had to decide where to go next.  My parents had to figure out how to work the camera.

What do you see?

Did it work?

Are you sure?

While they figured the complex technology out, I took random pics of the kids.  Can't get enough!

The Mission

Our next stop was Starbuck's.  Our next stop is always Starbuck's.  I continued to drive my family bonkers with picture taking.   Some days I almost feel sorry for them.

This is called, "Isn't there just one more drip left in the cup?"

This is called, "This is what I do when you continue to take annoying photos of me."

This is called, "Just ignore the lady with the camera."

This is called, "I love this guy."

This is called, "Oh no, the kids have the camera."

And they still have it. 

That's about the end of our staycation in San Juan Capistrano.  We had a great time, but clearly there's a lot more to see.  Maybe another trip to the mission is in our future.

San Juan Capistrano Staycation Pt. 2: Los Rios Street Flowers & Shops

A sign found along Los Rios Street

I love the simple beauty of flowers.  I will never tire of looking at a little sprout emerging from the ground or a burst of color from a beautiful flower in bloom. 

Flowers are the sweetest things God ever made, and forgot to put a soul into. ~Henry Beecher, Life Thoughts, 1858

There are always flowers for those who want to see them.
- Henri Matisse

How can there be too many children? That is like saying there are too many flowers.
- Mother Teresa

Flowers have an expression of countenance as much as men or animals. Some seem to smile; some have a sad expression; some are pensive and diffident; others again are plain, honest and upright, like the broad-faced sunflower and the hollyhock. ~Henry Ward Beecher, Star Papers: A Discourse of Flowers

These sedum planters inspired our backyard redo.  Love them!

I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.
- Claude Monet

I will be the gladdest thing
Under the sun!
I will touch a hundred flowers
And not pick one.
~Edna St. Vincent Millay, "Afternoon on a Hill"

I'd rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck. ~Emma Goldman

Summer Staycation: Blessings From Above- Angels Game

As we're watching our pennies at home, I can't help but feel completely humbled when blessings pour out in unexpected ways.  This was the case on Friday, July 8, 2011, when I got a call from my hub.

He called us Friday with news he had been given four tickets to the Angels game.  The Angels were playing the Mariners.  Being from the Northwest, but living in Southern California we're fans of both teams.  Needless to say the kids and I were pretty excited.   My hub will occasionally receive a ticket or an invitation to go with a work group, but rarely do we receive four tickets.  With only four tickets he suggested I go with the kids.  Since we were receiving complimentary tickets, I was expecting to make the hike up to the 400 level.  We like to take our kids to a couple games each season and we're familiar with the nosebleed section, but it's just fun to be at the game.  Was I in for a surprise!

Arriving at the stadium, I glanced at our tickets to see where we'd be sitting.  Section 109!!!  What??  These are fabulous seats along the third baseline!  My hub had told the boys to bring their mitts to the game.  I was surprised at that, but I didn't know what great seats we'd been given.  Blessings!

Wonderful Surprise!

Great Seats!

We have some Jared Weaver fans in the house.

A beautiful night!

Ichiro







Ichiro!



I don't think this game helped Ichiro's batting average, but he did have a Fabulous bunt!  Impressive!

The kids and I had a great night together.  The boys wore Mariner gear.  My girlie and I wore Angels gear.  We were a perfectly balanced family.  Sadly, the Mariners lost, but how wonderful for the Angels! The final score was 4-3.  Vernon Wells, Hank Conger and Mark Trumbo of the Angels all hit home runs.  On a side note, a couple Mariner fans who call themselves "The Old Bats" shared with us at Spring Training that we should record events of the games on a sticky  note and paperclip them to our tickets.  Next year when we're at spring training we can ask the players who hit home runs to sign the tickets from the night of their home run.  Great idea!  I've started recording so we have a plan for next year.

I love seeing our kids become excited about baseball.  I've never been one to follow the sport, but I'm becoming more interested in it as they are playing and wanting to see games.  I have a lot of learning to do, but it's never too late to learn something new.  Maybe we'll have to resubscribe to cable so they can begin watching games on television.