Warthogs, Wild Dogs, and Lots and Lots of Wind!

Last night Einar and I got back from a little trip out to Yucca Valley to visit Betsy and her two kids Jacob and Molly. It's about 2 1/2 hours northeast of us and near the Palm Springs area and the Joshua Tree National Park. They had come down to celebrate Thanksgiving with us, so now it was our turn to venture out to their neck of the woods.

In less than three hours we traveled from the ocean and green hills (we've had LOTS and LOTS of RAIN the past few weeks) to the vast expanse of sand and energy generating windmills. We hadn't escaped the rain, it kept coming the entire trip, but you could tell that the area didn't see a lot of the wet stuff on a normal basis. We also went up in elevation from sea level to about 3500ft once we got to Yucca Valley. I took some pictures of Frank and Betsy's yard with it's Joshua trees and Yucca trees. They also have a great view out of the front of the snow covered mountains in the distance.

The kids had lots of fun together and it was nice hanging out with Betsy. We ate yummy spaghetti for dinner and even had some brownies after the kids went to bed =). Sorry, I did forget to take some pictures of the kids while they were playing and before Jacob and Molly headed off for preschool in the morning.

On the way home, Einar and I went to the Living Desert, which is a zoo for desert animals in Palm Desert. In the winter they are open from 9-5:30, but in the summer months they are only open from 8:30a-1:30pm because it just gets too hot for people to be walking around in the scorching sun. It was breezy and about 60 degrees when we visited, just about perfect for a pregnant lady and a toddler. We saw warthogs, giraffes, ostriches, wild dogs, and a model train exhibit. I tried to do the visit without a stroller (didn't have one with me on this trip since the little guy has been walking everywhere on his own lately), but he quickly chickened out and wanted me to carry him. That was NOT going to happen. He's creeping up to 40lbs and with me already at least 30 weeks pregnant, I'm not carrying him around a zoo. We spent the $3 for the zebra painted jeep stroller and made our way quite easily around the place and I think Einar felt a bit like he was on a safari.

On Saturday we went to a birthday party that had a fire engine visit and give rides to the kids. Einar wasn't in to going onto the truck (too big and scary when they are up close like that). However, he did enjoy using the water hose that they had brought for the kids to use to blow a hat off of a cone. He was super excited about that.

Not much else has been happening around here. On our table we've been watching some tulips growing from bulb form into flowers. They are growing pretty fast!

We did have a party on Saturday night on base for the wives and kids of the Marines that are deployed with Jared. I had to help plan and host the event and it went pretty well despite some hurdles in planning. We ate pizza, made Valentines day cards, and decorated cookies. The turnout was good and my MOMS club helped out with some of the desserts and the crafts.

Happy New Year! We're Back in San Clemente...

It's been quite the month for Einar and I! We spent nearly 4 weeks in Seattle for the holidays visiting both the Bjorklunds and the Ogles. After practically moving back to the chilly and wet Northwest, it's kind of nice to be back in Southern CA where the Camellia is in full bloom by our front door and we don't have to wear hats and coats everywhere (including being able to ditch the stocking hat that we had to wear when we went to bed at night in Seattle!).

Now that all of the bags are unpacked, the laundry is done and we've settled back into our little routines around the house, it's back to the blog.

Some of the highlights from our Seattle trip included making it to three of Tor and Jess's Thursday Soup nights, Riding the new South Lake Union Street Car 2X, taking the Metro bus downtown and going to the market to get a salmon and some crumpets for our New Year's celebration, going to the Everett Imagine Children's Museum 2X, going to play gym and out to lunch with cousin Sammy and Poppa and FarMor, reading each day from Sherm and Mary's big basket of Christmas stories, attending the Nutcracker Ballet with Tor, Jess, and Daddy Grandpa and Little Grandpa, meeting the real Red Robin at Nicola's restaurant, going to Kirkland's Eastside Train Depot 2X to see all of the amazing model trains that they have, and catching the Christmas Crud that kept us down for a week or so and encouraged all of us to take our daily naps.

You might notice the new tennis shoes. Of course Einar picked the Princess shoes and wouldn't take them off after trying them on. They are size 10 1/2 and with the velcro he can put them on all by himself. He also jumps and hops around to make the red lights flash. They've definitely added a spring in his step. He's very proud of the lights.

He also picked up some new skills while he was in Seattle. He is great at putting the raisins in the gingerbread men before they go in the oven. With his Christmas construction gear he helped Daddy Grandpa make a bridge support in the basement workroom. He can also now cut down Christmas trees as well as help decorate them (just don't be too attached to ANY of the ornaments that you put onto the tree since they are all balancing on the precarious edge of disaster while in the presence of Einar during the holidays). He's also taken an interest in playing the piano and can now play "Rock" with Steve.