Sunday, May 31, 2009

sunny san diego

Hello family from the sunny vales of San Diego, California,
Kaela and I had a long awaited vacation this past Memorial Day weekend. We met up with Kaela's parents and sister, Erin. We fit in so many things in a three day period, it was quite amazing actually. The weather in San Diego, is as they say, perfect. It doesn't change much year round. While we were there it flucuated between 60-65 degrees day or night.

Here are a few pictures of some of the things we did:
This is a picture of us outside the Hotel del Coronado, one of the oldest and prestigious hotels in the area. We didn't stay here but had one of the more awesome brunches we've ever had.
This is a hummingbird we saw in the gardens at Balboa Park. I was really surprised at the vegetation since this place probably doesn't get much rain. San Diego was filled with many kinds of trees, birds, and other life [more on this later...keep reading to find what I mean. Mom, if you're reading you might want to stop here. Let me just say that you'll find something akin to a snake or toad in the near future :-) ].


This is the awesome view from the roof of the beachhouse we stayed in. Not only is the view great but look how close we were to the ocean! We also spent an evening up here playing a board game and soaking up the sun. It was VERY relaxing.

Mom, this is not for your eyes. For all others interested, this is Cynthia the Sea Crab. She was hiding her perfectly camouflaged body in some kelp that had been washed onto the shore when a couple of curious people saw her and she tried to escape. Kaela got as close as possible and took this stellar shot and then I picked him up with my sandals and gently tossed her back to her watery home.

This is a picture of the sand at Mission Beach. Look how is sparkles! I mentioned to Kaela that it's no wonder people were excited to come to California in days of the Gold Rush, it looks like the ocean is washing up gold right on the beach! I would guess it's Pyrite (Fool's gold) but I'm not a certified geologist.


And lastly, San Diego has some AWESOME places to eat. While there we ate authentic border tacos, fish tacos, ballpark franks (Padres vs Cubs), New Zealand burgers and fries, and an amazing desert place. The picture below is a lemon bar from Extraordinary Desserts. I have never seen a place with such delectable desserts before. They put flower petals, and even a gold flec on top of every dessert. This was quite the afternoon treat. And while we ate at these places, there were soooo many more that we easily could have chosen from and been just as satisfied.

Friday, May 15, 2009

And another!!!


This guy was hiding in the grass and I found him. Todd thinks there are alot of froggies in everyone's yard, but I have eagle eyes and just happen to spot them. Ugh....

Frogs invading my space!!!


OK--here we go again---I was minding my own business, working in my garden and I look down and here he was. I told my neighbor, Ed about this guy, but by the time he came over, froggie jumped away.