Wonderful Weekend - Part 2

Brian and I had fun letterboxing before heading back. It was a good letterboxing weekend. We found every box that we looked for! We even went on a nice hike in the San Luis Obispo hills. Well, nice is relative. I had to ice my knee after. But, we got the box. Oh, and WE. WERE. FIRST.

This was taken about halfway up the hill.

If you look to the left of the trees, you can see our car. This was taken from the same spot as the previous photo, about halfway up.

If you look real close, there is a drive-in theater down there. This is the other side of hill, from the peak.
Then we had to go home. It was so beautiful and sunny at the coast. When we reached the mountains you could see the the clouds/fog sitting in the valley. Here is proof that there is sun above the cloud layer. Then we descended into the fog. And we didn't see the sun at all today.

If you are not familiar with letterboxing, check out atlasquest.com or letterboxing.org. This is a great hobby for the family. It's a neat way to find places in your local area that you may not yet be familiar with. It's also a good way to explore new places or get out and stretch during road trips. Let me know if you give it a try. I'd love to know I've introduced someone new to it. Beware, it's addicting!

Wonderful Weekend, Part 1

Brian and I escaped to the beach this weekend, without the kids. I really needed the break. Life has been kind of crazy since before the holidays. And it was perfect. It was sunny and warm. I was so tired of the fog and the cold. I didn't even realize it. But, I missed the sun. I am such a California girl.

Those who know me know that I love signs. I love taking pictures of signs everywhere I go. This one just struck me as funny. Don't feed the... whaa? Seals? Sea lions? Still makes me giggle!
I've been to Morro Rock many times. How is it that I didn't know that Morro Rock was a volcano? Well, there was a volcano there at some point. Now the rock is a lava plug. Considering the frequency of earthquakes in the area, I wonder if the rock could be dislodged...and if it were... The things I think about.

The beach at Morro Rock is one of my favorite places. I love the way the waves crash on the rocks and spray up several feet (like 20+) It's awesome! Of course, a still photo just doesn't do it justice.

Me and my honey

We also got some good letterboxing in. "Under the gaze of Lady Liberty." Only significant to those who know the significance, but it made a nice picture.

In December, before Christmas, we took the little boys to the beach for the weekend. When it's cold and rainy (or foggy, which is normal, but it was rainy) here, it's usually warm and sunny there. And it was true for this trip. We had an especially fun time playing in the sand this trip.

Jacob and Nate working together!

Our family sculpture of Jacob! This was fun.

Sunset on the beach
Day 2, more sand play and beautiful weather

Jacob's sand castle

Brian's and my sand sculpture

Attention to detail

Not sure about that hair

Beware the rising tide

A family tradition!

It was fun to stand on the peer and watch people who noticed the mermaid on the beach. It was a fun trip. I think it's about time for another trip. Hmm, I think tomorrow would be a good time.

12 of 12 ~ November. Thank you to Aimee for introducing my to 12 of 12. Here are 12 random photos of my day yesterday, the 12th of November.

9:57am ~ Thanks Jenny for the reminder.

10:02am ~ Good morning sunshine. Teenagers and mornings without school don't really go together.

10:20am ~ I wonder how many time my washing machine has been on 12 of 12. It seems I am doing laundry every day. And no the kitty didn't get washed. She's just nosy.

11:30ish ~ Since Shawn was going to his dad's and Nate was at my dad's, Jacob and I needed something to do.

12:00ish ~ Making mini cupcakes, with Reese's chips. 12:15ish ~ um, this is my spot, notice my laptop.

12:30ish ~ These could be the best cupcakes EVER.

12:35ish ~ Again?

1:00ish ~ When we were out, Jacob also chose yarn for his teacher's scarf. I love that he likes to do this. That's one less gift for me to make!

1:00ish ~ Quality time together. Another Holiday gift.

6:30pm ~ Jacob got to chose dinner. Great choice.

6:45ish ~ I love conversations with Jacob. He's so animated.

It was a great day spent with Jacob. I do not get a full day with just one child very often. I hope days like this leave good memories for them, as they do for me.

I survived my "unplugged weekend." We went out of town for the weekend, without my laptop or my cell phone! The only electronic item was my camera! About 11am yesterday, after printing off some letterboxing clues, we hit the road. (If you are not familiar with letterboxing check out atlasquest.com) First, we drove north to Fremont to pick up Joshua from school. It's about a three hour drive, so we planned some letterboxing to "stretch our legs."

Our first stop was Mission San Jose, which ironically is NOT in San Jose. One of the great things about letterboxing is that you get to see places you might not have otherwise, and sometimes you learn things. Jacob is studying California history this year and the missions are part of that. I think this one is less popular than some of the others. Maybe, we can model this one for his spring project. Anyway, there was (note past tense) a box in the mission park.

I love the architecture of the missions.

The next stop was a small park in Fremont, with a very cool train that you can climb on, and a letterbox. Don't worry Aimee, I'm not giving anything away, they aren't even close in this photo, lol.
This is Nater Tater's first letterbox, well his first with his own personal stamp, carved for him by Aimee when we were in Seattle this summer. He loved it. I think we may have to do more of this now that he is into it.

Jacob has had his own stamp and book for a couple of years now. He had fun, but doesn't seem to be as into it as Nate.

I love it when letter box planters are creative in their clues. Our next box led us to another park, the clue included a list (i.e. Locust, Locust, Dr Suess, Dangerous, Locust, Redwood, etc) Joshua realized that it seemed to fit a row of trees.

Dr. Suess, can you see it?

Dangerous, would you want to climb this tree?

Our last box of the evening. It was getting to dark to read the clues, much less find what you we were looking for. I love this photo, just wish Joshua were in it too, but he was behind the camera.

Then we drove to Monterey. There always seems to be a pillow fight when we stay in a hotel. Tradition? Maybe, it's because there are SO many pillows, lol. Always makes me smile!

We almost got rained out today. But, a little rain can't keep my beach bum out of the sand.

Same goes for me. I am drawn to the ocean.

And what's more fun than puddle jumping in the parking lot?

It was wonderful weekend. It's nice to be connected again. But, I would totally do it again, no phone calls, texts emails. And I didn't miss anything earth shattering! Hope you all had a good weekend.

A friend of mine was asking on Facebook about blog themes. I have seen quite a few and thought to myself, "that would be a good way to increase my posting." Well, honestly, so far it hasn't helped. I try to remember 12 of 12 each month. And I have attempted NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month, each November) a couple of times, without success. So, I thought I would attempt my own one day a week posting for fun. And here it begins. Please play along and give me my 15 minutes of blog fave, lol. Post your blog address in the comments. (And if I have stolen someone else's theme, I'm sorry, add me to your blog roll, because I haven't figured out how to do that yet.)

I know introduce "Fun Friday Fotos." A random, fun photo from your Friday.

Today, after school, Nate felt the need to show me what he had in his pocket. So here we have my first Fun Friday Fotos entry:

A Little Boy's Pocket Full of Treasures

Light the Night 2010, Part 1

Last night was the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Light the Night walk to raise funds for blood cancer research. Not only is this where I work, it is an organization that I whole heartily believe in. When I interned at Children's Hospital, I got to see the benefits of LLS to families first hand. Now, I get to help make it happen. Yesterday, I got to bring Light the Night to the children in the hospital. It was an all day affair. We started with taking stars for the children to decorate to hang at the walk site, so those coming out to walk would know that the children were with them. In the evening, we had our own little walk at the hospital complete with balloon release and walk around the oncology floor.

These are a couple of my super star volunteers. I put a call out for Spanish speaking volunteers to help me at the hospital, in case there were children/families who spoke only Spanish. Mrs. D. (principal extraordinaire (now retired), I have mentioned her before) and her bilingual hubby Dan. I very much appreciate their participation and it was great to see them both again.

This sweet girl is Melanie. She could not come out with us because it is not safe for her to be around other people right now. She was alone when I came by her room, playing with her play dough. I had to wear a gown to visit her. We had so much fun decorating stars. I didn't want to leave.

Meet Gary, aka Turbo. Turbo and his dad are well known around the office. But, this was the first time I got to meet him. When he's not putting all of his energy into fighting his cancer, he likes to do things like skateboard. Last week he was visiting a water park and fell and broke his leg. Even that has not slowed him down much! Turbo is not the only fighter in his family. His dad is an amputee who designed his own snow board that he could attach a crutch to so he could balance and keep snowboarding. This family rocks!

We had three "Arches of Hope" along the walk course. We hung the stars on the arches to remind everyone why we do this. We also had a table at the walk site where people could decorate stars to hang on the arches.

Another arch starting to get decorated.

Dad: You're going to put all those balloons in your car? I don't think so. Plan B. As you can see, the back seat is already full of balloons. We had to get them to the hospital somehow... Along with the ice chest, snacks, binoculars, glow sticks...

Success!

I just thought this was a cool photo of the start finish line. The sky was pretty, but the clouds were coming in. I was hoping the rain would hold off until after the walk. (It did. But, we did get a nice lightening show in the distance.)

The walk site had some really cool activities for kids. There were bounces houses and this really cool tricycle track.

Another view of the tricycle track.

The banner making table, for teams who had not yet decorated their team banner. They had paint and markers. It was a quick fix, but some really cute banner came off that table.

This was the view from the moon roof of my car, making sure the balloons stayed put!

We made, with all the balloons in tact. See Part 2, for more from Light the Night!