She’s Crafty…

Natalie got the right machine and she is killin it in sewing. Below are a few items she made to sell to help raise funds for our missions trip. Will and I have a few requests in for stuff we want professionally sewn but I think we will have to wait a bit, cause she is on a roll!

Camping Outside Idyllwild…

Friday afternoon we started out adventure. We drove up to Idyllwild the long way. But, after a few dirt roads later we arrived at our campsite around 7pm. First thing we noticed was the mosquitoes. NO bueno. We wiped down with bug stuff, threw on some long sleeves and got to work. Setting up camp was fast as usual we get more efficient every time. Then we started to focus on dinner. Will and Naomi had given Natalie a dutch oven for her birthday and we were about to test it… The dutch oven turned out to be Amazing! We made homemade, or campmade, pizza and some peach cobbler later that night.

Saturday started off lazily. We made another amazing meal in our dutch oven called Moutian Man Breakfast. We had a few hikers walk by and Lex made a few friends. A few minutes later the Ranger came by and asked to see our permits. He told us the area we were in was closed but since we were set up he let us stay. Then we were off for our 2 hour hike. We did the dirt road hikes around our campsite and were pretty disappointed with our local trails or lack there of them. So we hopped in the truck and drove further up the mountain. We got to a really nice campground and had our lunch. Next, we headed down the mountain and into town. We did a quick loop of the shops got some special sodas & ice cream, filled up on ice and headed back to our spot. For dinner this time we had a chili cornbread dinner followed by Monkey Bread desert.

Sunday we were off to an early start. We had our whole site packed and rolled out by 8am. We made a quick stop at the Ranger Station to get our hiking permits, then headed to our hike for the day. It was the Deer Springs Trail that meets up to the Suicide Rock Trail, 7 miles total. We made pretty good time hitting our 2.3 mile trail fork in 1 hour. Then it went down hill, Literally. We accidentally took the wrong trail. We stayed on that trail for 30-40 mins (by our pace meaning for about a mile) when we decided to turn around to go back up again. We made it back to the fork and took the right trail. We finally made it to Suicide Rock (but not with out lots of stops for Lex and I). We took our rest and headed down… Our poor poor dog. This 7 mile hike turned into 9 miles. Lex would go about 60% in the sun parts and slow to about 5% in the shade to enjoy it. Finally, soooo close to the bottom she collapsed. Just dropped mid walking out of pure exhaustion. We took a break and both took turns carrying her to the truck. Our poor pup, I still feel really bad. After 5 hours of hiking we were all in the truck, hydrated, cooled off and ready to roll.

We stopped for what was supposed to be a quick cool drink in town that ended up taking forever because of the poor service. But we were headed home with one more stop on the way.

Our stop was at the Winchester Cheese factory in Winchester, CA just outside of Temecula. They were not making cheese because it was 4pm on a Sunday but we got to try about 10 different kinds of Gouda. They specialize in Gouda. We ended up getting the garden herb and habanero flavors, but they were all really good.

That concludes our trip. It was a fun weekend with a few hiccups.

Memorial Day 2010

We woke up early on Memorial Day to check out a ceremony at the Veteran’s Museum & Memorial in Balboa Park. A few government officials spoke, we did the pledge of allegiance, heard taps, and a few other things.

Last night, we were watching America’s Got Talent and a singing group called New Directions performed. They are a groups of formerly homeless veterans who joined a veterans help group (called New Directions) and got back on their feet. Their performance was very touching - you can watch it here.

This poem was read by one of the speakers at the Memorial Day ceremony:

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Sunday Afternoon Bike Ride

This was Lexie’s first bike ride! How did Lexie ride a bike, you ask? Well, she didn’t pedal, but instead rode in a bike trailer!

Doesn’t she look happy?

Well, it wasn’t all fun and games in the beginning. She jumped out a few times because she was nervous, but after we took a few trips around the parking lot very slowly, she started to relax.

Riding around the parking lot…

Finally, we were able to take the bike path around Mission Bay.

I think Lex had a great time enjoying the view.

She was always peeking her head around to see where she was going.

The Getty Center

I met Christy at the Getty Center to celebrate her birthday. I forgot how great it is!

Besides all the artworks they have, there’s an awesome garden there, complete with a hedge maze.

Beautiful Sweet Peas

The Getty Center was designed by Richard Meier. Construction began in 1989, but was not complete until 1997. J. Paul Getty was the founder of the Getty Center (he made his fortune in oil) and from his collections of art, the basis for the permanent collection was formed.

One of the best things about the Getty is that it’s free. However, you have to pay for parking, which is currently $15 per car (load it up with friends and it’s cheap). There are really too many masterpieces in their collection to name. I could easily have spent a whole day there wandering around.

 

Cowles Mountain Hike

Time for another hike! This time we trekked up Cowles Mountain again, a part of Mission Trails Regional Park. The hike is 1.5 miles each way and is 1591 feet high. At the top there are spectacular views of San Diego.

Beginning of the Hike

What plant is this? Yarrow?

We highly recommend this hike, especially if you are visiting San Diego. At the top you can see all the way to Mexico on a clear day, getting views of Downtown San Diego, Cleveland National Forest, Point Loma, and Mount Soledad.  It gets pretty busy, though, so be prepared to move out of the way for runners. Also, water is a must if it’s a hot day.

Oh, Natalie…

Just wanted to share some random pics of Natalie over the last few weeks:

On the left is Natalie after she dug up an onion from our yard. These things have been growing forever and they are still nothing close to store bought size wise. But they are home grown.

On the right is Natalie trying to figure out her sewing machine. It’s has been a rough time getting back into it but she is for sure getting better everyday. Everyone expect homemade clothes next holiday.

Below is Natalie trap shooting.

Lexie in May

Lexie, aka “Leximus Maximus” or “Poopyhead”, in our backyard:

                          

How does your garden grow?

It’s time for a garden update. By garden, I mean vegetable garden. I am very proud of the garden(s) this year because many of the plants were grown from seed. Only the tomatoes and some of the peppers were bought as plants (from the Fullerton Arboretum).

I have several different areas for my veggies because I don’t have one good large area to hold everything. In the front yard, I planted tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, and one zucchini.

You can see the tomatoes have gotten really big. In front of the tomatoes I planted hollyhock and toward the back left corner you can see a tall sunflower.

In the backyard, the garden area from last year is holding 3 more tomato plants and a ton of onions. I’ll admit, I went a little overboard with the onions. I haven’t uprooted any of them yet, but I hope most of them will turn out.

                   

These tomatoes are taking a while to get going. You can see in the second pic some lettuce growing among the pansies - this little gem grew up from last year and has already been providing us with greens for many months!

Next, there is a new backyard garden area over by the grape vine. In this area we have zucchini, snow peas, and beans. Lee built a great fence to make sure the neighbor’s cat and Lexie doesn’t get in.

                       

We’ve already had some zucchini and beans from this area.

Finally, I have a potted area. I didn’t have enough space for the rest of the plants (once I started, I couldn’t stop), so I used pots for some. I have a cucumber, two tomatoes, zucchini, and some cilantro (that bolted )

There’s also one other small area near the back fence with zucchini, eggplant and more peppers, but it’s small.

So, that’s the garden update. I’m sure in a month we’ll be giving away veggies.

Rustic Bench

Lee made an awesome bench for our front yard. It is very rustic, and just what I wanted!