Disneyland and Natalie's Orange Trees

Gavin and Natalie planted these trees last year. They are very small, but had a lot of oranges. We have been able to see them grow these past few months. Sorry the pictures are faded out. It is dark outside, but the flash worked great.

Can you believe Gavin and Natalie have orange trees? One evening Gavin thought he should pick them. We just held the bowls. We thought he should have the priviledge of picking the fruit of his labors. He left a few for Mak and Emmett to pick.

We are on the Jungle boat with Natalie. The little boys will have fun on this ride. It will be as much fun as going to the zoo.

We are on the New Orleans river boat. Next week Mak and Emmett will be here. So we definitely want them to see everything they can. The front of the boat is the best view.

We are going into the Small World. Most of the pictures didn't turn out though.

We ate some of the treats that were left from our lunch. Gavin has been at work all day and then joined us for the evening. Someone has to keep us in the lap of luxury.

We wait in line for at least an hour. We just sit and watch everyone go by. Not just a few people, but thousands go by. It is always so crowded. You know, it is the happiest place on earth don't you.

We are waiting on Mainstreet Disneyland for the fireworks. We have a great spot and then as soon as they are over, we can hurry into Adventureland to watch Fantasmic. These are two great shows back to back. You probably are wondering how we get around to all of our destinations. We have a GPS. Mike just types in the address and we are on our way. I don't know how we would get around before. I think Mike just studied the map all night and memorized it. But the GPS makes things easier for him.

Newport Temple and Thousand Steps Beach

This is the Newport Temple. Natalie told us that the people of Newport donated all of the money to build it. The temple was so busy we could not do all that we wanted to do.

We loved walking the temple grounds. So many places to take pictures. I can imagine how beautiful it is at night.

Wish I could capture the beauty here. Every place we look is a great place for a picture.

After leaving the temple, we drove to the Laguna Beach to eat. We ate at Gina's Pizza. Gavin told us that it was the best pizza ever. He was right. We changed our clothes in the bathroom and now we are ready to eat and have another fun day at the beach.

This is Thousand Steps Beach. It is Natalie and Gavin's favorite beach. Natalie was waiting until she thought we could walk up and down all of the steps. Yes, there were a lot of steps. A few years ago, we could not have managed it. But after knee surgery, it is a piece of cake. Ha ha! The scenery is just beautiful. The greenery as we walk down the stairs is so thick. There were so many mansions overlooking the ocean. They have a great view also. But they have to walk down steps to get to the beach just like we do. They do have there own stairs and elevator/gurney type things though. They call it Thousand steps, but we thought only 180.

We love playing on the beach. I try to get pictures of Gavin without him knowing it. He is a great sport to put up with me.

We all walked over to one corner of the beach to watch the waves come in. There is water coming down the hillside and makes the hillside green. Oh, Mike, this is so great. I love being here with you.

Natalie is following with her camera and taking our pictures and our footprints in the sand. You should see all of our pictures that we have. That is why my blog is so long. It is so hard to choose. I have deleted so many. I love the digital camera. Wish we would have had one when you kids were little. I am thankful you all have one now for your families. It would be so neat to have all of you here to get pictures. I feel guilty when you call and ask what we are doing today. Every day is like a holiday for us. I love Mike's retirement.

We love playing with each other. The water is too cold for us. But there were people in wetsuits and surfing gear. Maybe in the fall we will join them.

Mike turned his head, and Gavin hurried and kissed Natalie. He didn't know that I was behind and took a picture. I have seen them kiss before so I wasn't shocked.

"This is the life." No, we are not going to be getting a suntan but the sun just feels good. So great just watching the waves splash on the sand. I loved this beach. I can see why Natalie wanted us to come.

Is this one of those "retirement sucks" days Mike? He said that to us one day as he was sitting on Natalie's love sack playing a game on his Ipod. It was about the funniest thing we had heard him say. It is better than a movie quote.

At the end of our busy day, we drove to Dana Point and looked at the sailboats and yaughts. The harbor was beautiful with the lights. On our way home we drove through the mountains. It reminded us of driving through the Jackson pass. It is so beautiful here.

Sea World and LaJolla Cove

I just wanted to show you this beautiful sunset. Our one of many sunsets at LaJolla Cove. Can you just see why we love being here. Glad we can share it together.

This is one of our trips to Sea World. You just can't have a trip here without a picture of Shamu. We had so much fun watching him. Of course we sat in the seat right in the front center, one row behind the soak zone. And we did get wet. It was a huge shock but eventually did get dry. We loved being there. Natalie was with us. Mike and I are enjoying all of our days to the fullest. We will need a vacation from our vacation.

After Sea World, we drove to LaJolla Cove, where the wild Sea Lions live. There were so many living on the rocks. We could just sit for hours watching them. But we are also loving watching the sunset on the other side. The ocean waves pounding and crashing on the rocks, the Sea lions noise and the sunset. All a great ending to a perfect day.

It is great being here. We always end up at this cove if we are in San Diego.

It is so cold watching the penquins.

The beluga whale is behind us.

We are waiting for the Sea Lions performance. We remember watching this performance when our children were little. Great memories with all of you. The big walrus is not in the act anymore. These are amazing animals and so much fun to watch.

I wanted my picture taken too.

Wonderful Day at the Beach and Hotel Coronado

This the end of our beautiful day. We are watching the sunset from LaJolla Cove. The sea lions are below us on rocks going into the ocean. There are many birds on the cliffs also. The sunsets are magical as we watch the sun dip into the ocean. I tried to get these evening pictures at the bottom of this blog, but was so frustrating. So, you are seeing the end first.

I took about three minutes to record the sun going down. The sounds of the sealions in the background, and the waves crashing on the land. It is so neat being here.

We begin our day at the famous In and Out Burgers. We order double onions, tomatoes and lettuce. That is truly a mouthful to eat. But oh... it is so worth it. We think they are the best burgers around. The frenchfries are so good, and we always have to top it off with a diet cola. Yeah, good stuff.

Mike and I are getting our area ready to spend the afternoon. We brought his kite again to fly. We have Coronado Hotel in the background, rocks on one side and the most beautiful beach all around us. The afternoon is quite warm although we keep our jackets handy.

Natalie and Gavin have their spot ready also. We have loved spending time with them on Saturdays.

Great view of the ocean. Years ago we brought our family to this hotel. This was the place that they filmed Somewhere in Time. We walked through the hotel to see pictures of the famous people that had been there. Now we have been there too.

It is a bit windy, but want to get as many pictures as we can. We keep saying to each other how wonderful it is being here. It is going to be hard leaving such a beautiful place. " It is a great place to be with someone you love too." So many things to do. I did make a list though of things we wanted to do before we went back home. My list is complete. But it will still be hard to leave.

Gavin is a good sport to pose for so many pictures. If he only knew how many more we wanted to take of him. We are always saying take my picture, no, take mine.

We walked out to the tide pools to see the little creatures crawling around. Our children would do that and want to put their fingers in the tenacles to watch them move. We are not that inquisitive now though. Just fun trying to stay on the rocks and not fall. We have our towels on because it is a bit cool.

We took a couples picture, so they are taking ours together. The Hotel is in the background. I keep thinking of the people that settled this area. If they could see it now, and see the people that come to enjoy it.

Natalie must not have fallen asleep as we all did. You can see where she was laying and then decided to get our picture. So you can see how peaceful it is because we are sound, I mean sound asleep. We sure aren't going to be getting a suntan though.

After we left the beach, we needed to wash off our feet. So we took turns.

We are just casually walking and visiting. Is this the most beautiful beach?

A man had been there earlier in the day and built this huge sandcastle. Nixon, I think that your Mr. Gingerbread man was there helping him. He had made three of them. We took pictures of all three. Guess that is what you do in the summertime.

Really amazing that someone could build these. He dug a hole and scooped the sand out. He went down so far and reached the water, so he didn't have to get water from the ocean. He just filled his buckets. Looked like he just drizzled wet sand and let it harden. Now, we all can build one.

This is the front of the Hotel. Look at those cabbage plants behind us. Every place is ready for us to take a picture. We did get a lot of pictures.

Thanks Natalie for looking so I can get your picture. Mike and Gavin were busy commenting on the building and the history, and the famous people that have stayed there.

This is Mikes new backpack he ordered from Cabelas. It is versitle for a great day at the beach, Disneyland and Seaworld. It has room for our P-nut butter and jelly sandwiches and all the snacks we could eat. We usually carry three waters, and yes a few Rockstars. Shawn told Mike about a new energy drink that you can mix in water. So we have finished off a case of that already. We now have been using the small bottle with just a few ounces. But you saw that we still need a nap on the beach though. Don't know if this is "age" or what. We don't get up until 9:00. Maybe it is the late night hours we spend watching Netflick Documentaries.

Temple, Disneyland, Pool, and the Beach in March

Well, you can see how much fun we have together. We are sitting enjoying the sunset on our favorite beach at Oceanside. It is a comfort zone. We have had fun going on walks and holding hands and loving every minute we spend here in California. I love to run on the beach. What a rush.


On our way to Oceanside, we pass several places you can buy fresh picked fruit. Everytime we pass, we are in a hurry to get to the beach. We just say we will stop on our way back. But after watching the sunset, and begin driving home, they are closed. So I have now been able to stop twice. That is on my bucket list of things to do before we go home.

Last week Gavin met us at Disneyland to watch the fireworks and spend the evening with Natalie. Well, his pass happened to be in his other wallet, so he could not get into the Park. We played on Main Street Disneyland with him. Later Mike and I left to get a ring side seat for the firework display. Wow, just wonderful.

While we were with Gavin, we listened to an amazing man play guitar and a man doing the drums. We could have stayed all night. Mike just loved listening to them.

This is another ride on the Roller coaster. Mike knows where they take the picture, and puts his hand up. I just keep hanging on. Natalie has a good time where ever she is.

We went to Toon Town to see Mickey Mouse. It is as much fun seeing him as it is to see Santa Clause. He always has a smile on his face and is glad to see us.
Mike and I are in Mickey's house at Toon Town. Just took a few pictures in his home. He lives in an amazing home.

Natalie and Gavin invited us for dinner. We used her china, goblets and silverware. After dinner
we played ping-pong. We had so much fun. Just wish the table could have been a few inches bigger. Mike and I would have been able to play better.

It has been a long time since we played ping-pong. We would play with Cannon, Carter and Caden on there new table.

Mike and Gavin were much better than Natalie and I were. But we just had fun laughing and trying to remember the rules. Although we have never been much for rules.

At our apartment complex, we have a pool room. Gavin used to play at his home, so we thought it would be fun to play for the evening. Well, we had a great time. You know, we didn't follow the rules like we should have. So much fun just hanging out.

Natalie is our photographer. I would love to get more pictures of her. We love being on the beach in the evening and watching the sunset. It gets chilly though.

Mike took his kite to the beach. It flew great, and then would take a nose-dive. But how many times could a kid from Idaho take his kite to the beach. Mike this is so much fun being here and flying your kite. We decided he had this kite for about nineteen years.

We are getting the kite ready to fly. Can't believe how far up it can go.

This is another fruit stand picture. We bought avacados freshly picked. What an experience to do. I just about was run over by a car as I crossed the street.

We have been able to go to the San Diege temple four times while we have been here. It is just beautiful. We had dinner at the temple after our session. We enjoy just being there.

There are so many beautiful places to stand. You can see the temple from the freeway as you drive by. It really stands out.

A couple of missionaries took our pictures. It is great being able to attend and do the work. Mike has been taking family names through that Natalie and Camille have found in our history. So proud of those girls for doing family research.