My Idea of Camping...

has always been to go to the Marriott.

My husband was a boy scout throughout his high school years. He and his brother camped many, many weekends with their scout troops. They camped way out in the woods.

I, on the other hand, have been camping only a handful of times and I did NOT like it at all.

So, I've told him down through the years that if he wanted to take the kids camping that's fine but I will go "camping" at the Marriott while he camps in the woods.

That was until dear husband started looking at campgrounds. I wasn't really thrilled about camping at first, but as the time drew closer, I found that I was actually excited. I learned that you must be prepared to have a good camping experience. So...we prepared.

And we had a great time! We want to make camping a monthly 'habit' as much as we possibly can.

When we got there, we immediately set up camp. We (I should say Walter) set up the tent in a nice grassy area. We got everything out of the van and organized it all.

While the tent was being set up the boys were playing in the trees and having a great time.

The boys were headed to a trash can to throw something away. Phyllip approached the can and when he got close to it, he accidentally scared a squirrel. The funny thing about it was he screamed, Tyler screamed, and the squirrel screamed in unison. I happened to look up right at that moment and saw the whole thing! Hilarious! The squirrel was huge and he scampered off immediately. The boys were laughing as was I! I only wish I had gotten it on video - maybe I could have won some money for that one!

After the tent was done and lunch was finished, the boys went fishing.

Tyler caught a fish.
Both boys caught a fish, but we didn't get a picture of Phyllip's fish.

Shortly after the fishing was done, I noticed the sprinklers were getting very close to our campsite. I commented to Walter that I hoped they didn't turn on by us because everything would get wet. He dismissed the idea. Not 5 minutes later...you guessed it! Water water everywhere...all over our stuff!

Walter was upset! We called the ranger and asked them to turn the water off so we could move our things. The tent was wet - inside and out. Sleeping bags and pillows were wet. Ugh!

So, we went from here...

to here...

and had no more problems after that! Goofy thing was that nobody told us we weren't supposed to camp on the grass. There weren't signs, either - that was until the ranger pointed it out. The sign was facing a different direction from where campers would look and if that wasn't bad enough it was covered up by a tree branch. Go figure that one!

We enjoyed the rest of the day. We had dinner and at dusk started a campfire. We roasted marshmallows and made smores.

Next morning, there was a hawk in the trees above us. I got a picture of it.

We even found the hawk's nest. Apparently, there were 4 babies in it.

More tree climbing happened that morning.

Last but not least, our little dog had a great time. We were supposed to have her on a leash the whole time. Easier said than done because she HATES the leash! She's very good off the leash but...rules are rules! We were the only tent campers and had the entire area to ourselves so we felt some liberty to keep her off the leash at times. She loved chasing all the squirrels and us as well.

We played hide and seek and Ruby thought she needed to play, too. She gave every one of us away every time!

Her favorite person in the family is Walter. She follows him around like his shadow. Hence the following picture. It's like this every single day.

Technically, she was on a leash. We just weren't holding it!

Ruby never slept until we went to bed that night. She was on alert and didn't want to miss a thing! She was so tired when we left that she slept on the way home. She moved very slowly the rest of the day after we got home.

Such a tired face!

Vacation Highlights

We made it to the Aquarium of the Pacific. In case you are wondering what this is about, click here.

This crab's legs were gigantic!

That is a really neat place to visit! We spent several hours there. They have great exhibits to see. The shark lagoon is neat to look at. There is actually a sword shark! Its teeth are on the outside of the sword and its mouth is underneath the base of the sword. We were there at feeding time and it was interesting to watch how it eats.

The jellyfish were great to watch as well. It was like looking at living art. They look so graceful as they move around in the water.

Aren't these birds gorgeous?!

Everyone but me touched the sharks (there are sharks that are only about 3 feet in length as an adult kind of like nurse sharks that you can pet), starfish, manna rays, anemones, etc. I was behind the camera and I just don't like to touch those kinds of things.

We enjoyed ourselves immensely!

We spent the weekend in Long Beach with some friends of ours and went to church there.

Monday morning we packed up the van, had some breakfast and headed down to San Pedro to the tide pools. We drove alongside the shipyards. That was interesting. We also saw a cruise ship that was in port. Those things are enormous!

Little crabs feeding on something.

Then it was on to the coast along the cliffs. We drove down a big cliff to park and walk to where the tide pools were. It was a beautiful day but it was very cold. A neat place to visit, though. I think I will like it better if we go back during the summer when it's much warmer outside. But we did enjoy ourselves anyway.

Tuesday we went to a place called Painted Hills. It's a little east of Indio, not too far away from home. We had never been there. We considered camping there until we found out there's nothing there (water, bathrooms, etc).

Painted Hills is one of the most beautiful places to see. The hills are just exactly what the name says. "Painted" by God.

gorgeous!

We hiked in there for about 2 hours. We had a great time. But, boy, were we exhausted by the time we were done! I was stiff a couple hours after we were done and I was incredibly sore for 3 days after! We want to go back again.

Thursday of that week was Walter's birthday. The kids and I took him to lunch. Tyler wanted to go to PetsMart and look at the animals.

Um...note to self: Don't go into a store and window shop when there is something in there you want. You just might come home with it spontaneously one day!

My Mr. Wonderful has always loved birds. He had one as a boy and has wanted one for a long time. I was going to get him one for our anniversary last year but we didn't have the money.

There were doves at PetsMart. I had never seen doves for sale. I took one look at them and told my husband I wanted one. Well......he decided we needed 2. So we are now the proud owners of 2 Diamond Doves...um.....Fred and Ethel to be exact.

Introducing Fred(left) and Ethel(right)!

Fred and Ethel

It looks like we may be having baby doves here soon, too. The nest is being readied and well, just know that we know what we are talking about as far as babies.

On to Friday of vacation week. We were absolute bumps on logs. It was the only day we didn't go anywhere. We were just plain worn out from all the excitement. We didn't go camping because the night temps were in the low 40s. Brrrrrrrr! So we are planning on camping in May.

Mini-Vacation Here We Come!

Walter has next week off work. We decided to get away for the weekend.

We are headed to Long Beach. We have friends there and there's a great church there.

We thought we'd try to do some sightseeing since we never think or plan to do it. We've lived here for almost 11 years and haven't seen much of this very vast and beautiful state.

We checked on admission prices at Aquarium of the Pacific. The cost was a bit too much for the cash we had. So we thought we'd check out some state parks or the beach or just plain anything!

I was talking to one of our friends that live in Long Beach. I asked her for sightseeing destinations there. She told me she knows someone who works at the aquarium and they might be able to get us discounted tickets.

I talked with the gentleman today and guess what!!!!!!! He got us 4 complimentary tickets to the aquarium! We only have to pay for one of the boys to get in! Is that not incredible!? Praise the Lord for his goodness to us!

My husband wants to make the most of the day and that means we are leaving bright and early tomorrow morning (not my favorite way to get up, but oh well :) ).

We are supposed to go camping next week sometime, too. I'm a bit iffy as to whether or not I'll go. My idea of camping is the Marriott! *smile* The weather might not cooperate for us. But we'll find something to do. We're not staying home and doing nothing. Walter has been searching the internet for places to see that are fairly close to home so we will be busy, busy, busy. Yay!

We certainly don't have too many more days left with Lyndsey at home before she leaves for college. We need to make the most of it!

Excited...

That's the only word to describe my children yesterday.

Yesterday was "d-day" so to speak. I had to put them on an airplane to my sister's home. I was a bit nervous because they've never been on a trip alone.

The airline attendant was really great. He escorted them down the jetway right behind them and didn't let anyone walk between him and the kids (is that proper English????).

Sileena was gracious enough to go with me. I figured I would be a basket case of tears and would need a shoulder to cry on. Instead of crying I decided to take massive pictures of the airplane and the workers. I know, weird. But that's how I dealt with it. I did get choked up once but only when we got to the gate. After that I was fine. Phyllip wanted me to cry (what a brat!). He was looking forward to making fun of me! But I didn't let him have his desire! *smile* I was very strong!

As Sileena and I were watching the plane waiting for it to leave we were watching the guys loading the plane and we got a kick out of it. Hence the following pictures.

Their job looks so difficult!

Chilling out on the job!

Phyllip would definitely love this kind of job!


The jetway being pulled away from the plane.


The plane backing up




De plane taking off!

I am happy to report that the kids arrived safely and are now settling in at my sister's!

Oh, and as a side note, Lyndsey didn't think it necessary to take a heavy coat to the good old northwest. She thought a jean jacket would be enough. I assured her that was wrong thinking. She reluctantly took her heavy coat. And when they arrived in Seattle, guess what! It was freezing! And the following picture is the weather that welcomed them.

That's right! Snow! And at the end of March! Weird!

Lyndsey was really glad I made her take her heavy coat! *laugh*

Missing You Sister...

This one is for my sister, Nancy.

I miss not being able to see you and your family in person very often.

Just a few pictures to remind you of our last visit together!

Disregard my major bad hair on this one (remember, we just got done swimming)!

We had so much fun. Vacations go by so quickly and then they're memories! These are great memories!