Jared's Trip To Virginia

WARNING! There are no pictures of Einar in this blog entry; although, there are other cute children.














I was in Quantico, Virginia for a 2 week course for the Marine Corps. While I was there, I took the opportunity to be a tourist and visit with friends that live in that area.

The first three pictures are from the National Museum of the Marine Corps, which just opened this last November. They had very smart displays with a glass ceilling center gallery.

I also visited with Karla's old school and room mate Anne Pecha, her husband Andy, their daughter Kasha and son Ciaran. I had not met them before and it was great to visit them in there home outside of Arlington

The other airplane pictures are from the National Aerospace Museum in Chantilly, VA. It was fun to go there and the collection was very inclusive, to include hang-gliders to the Concord SST and the Space Shuttle Enterprise.

There is myself sitting with Molly Hill, with her brother Jacob and dog Gunniess in the other picture. They are the children of Franc and Betsy Hill, which are friends of ours from when we lived in Neveda. They are now living in Norfolk. Franc wasn't there, but I was able to catch up with everybody else.

I also went into Washington, D.C. to see the Marine Corps Sunset Parade, which included a close order drill demonstration, a marching band and a drum and bugle corps. All of which was at Marine Barracks, 8th & I (intersection), which is the oldest post in the Marine Corps and was built in 1801.

I'm back home, enjoying the rest of the weekend, play time, nap time, dinner time and other such things.

Welcome Summer!

Today was the first day of summer, although it's felt like summer for a week or two here in San Clemente. I've posted a couple of pictures of our trip to the swimming pool with Einar's friend Kayla last Friday. Those two had a great time playing in the pool on the stairs after we came back from their music class and held hands all the way to the cars. I got my first burn of the season since I guess I can't reach the entirety of the skin that my bathing suit exposes on my back. Einar calls my burn a "butterfly owie" since it is the shape of a butterfly in the middle of my back. He came up with that himself.

The pictures of the butter explain the challenges that I have to keep the butter safe from our kid. He now takes the whole cube when it's cold and nibbles off the end, or if it's warm, he'll squish it in his hand and then lick his hands. He really likes butter, just like his father does.

Speaking of his father, Jared is currently in Quantico, VA for a First Sergeant's Course that is two weeks long. We took him to the airport on Father's Day morning and we'll pick him up on the 30th. He is able to call every day and is having a good time. We miss him!

I'll probably post another entry in the coming week, but Jared took our camera to Virginia, so there won't be any new pictures till after he returns. Then I there will most likely be pictures of the Aerospace museum and of other things that Jared is checking out on his trip. I might employ him as a guest blogger too.

Spikey Hair-do and the Crystal Cathedral

Here are a couple of pictures of Einar's new short Spikey Hair-do. We took him to the barber and he cut it REALLY short, but now we can spike it with a product called "Einar's Arctic Freeze Hair Gel." Honestly, that's what it is called. I spike it after he gets dressed in the morning and then he goes to check it out in his bedroom mirror right away. When he catches his reflection he gets this big grin on his face and he's off and running again.

Yesterday we went north to Garden Grove, CA (not to far from Disneyland) and visited the Crystal Cathedral. They have a beautiful campus with lots of grass to run around on and we looked at some pictures of the old buildings. Having arrived 15 minutes late, we meandered around and ate lunch in the outdoor Cafe and then missed the next tour. No problem since we were able to go inside the Crystal Cathedral part on our own and check it out. The last stop on our "private tour" was the Women's bathroom which was incredibly ornate with marble and gold and over the top. I'm surprised they didn't have an offering basket in there to help support the upkeep of the facility.

I've also included a picture of some napping grandparents. This activity has been happening like clockwork in the afternoons while Einar is taking his nap.

Camping Trip and Swim Lessons

Over Memorial Day we headed east towards Palm Springs and had a Southern California Adventure. We made it to Lake Perris before lunch and spent the morning at the Orange Empire Railroad Museum (the same place where we saw Thomas in November) and rode the trains and trolleys. After a picnic lunch, we went to the Lake Perris Recreation area and set up our tent for nap time. Nap time was successful for both Jared and I as we took turns while the awake one tried to convince the nap-skipper that napping was a good idea--it didn't work. I won't say that Einar came through as a rugged outdoorsman who loves this camping stuff, but he did do better with the night time sleeping in the tent than our camping trip last summer. He was also busy with his trucks all afternoon and evening. The next day we drove to Palm Springs and rode the Aerial Tram Ride to the top of San Jacinto Park for another snacks and "hiking" toddler-style. We made it back in time for Einar's swim lesson here in town. What a fun weekend Getaway it was!

Enjoy the pictures, I'll write more later. This week we're enjoying a visit from Lynn and Dennis a.k.a. Far Mor and Poppa. We've been to the Getty Museum in LA, a new park in Laguna Beach, Einar got a haircut today, and I've been catching up on some medical appointments.