Home at Last...

Friday was Mr. Tech's last day at school and he got out early so we had a little time before sunset to go to the beach WITH daddy. We took the quick little ferry ride to Balboa Island for fun for the boys.
While there we walked out on a little dock where this guy came by with his rather unique Personal Flotation Device.

I don't remember what these boats are called but they look fun, we had to wait for them coming and going while crossing on the little 3 car ferry.

Contemplating...something??

We then headed over to Balboa Beach for some quick fun in the sand and a beautiful sunset.

Being fascinated with the waves that kept coming to get their toes.

About 2 seconds after this picture was taken a large wave snuck up on us.It wasn't deep but since he happened to be in this bent over position it rolled up his knees and down his chest thoroughly surprising and drenching him. Thankfully there were some spare clothes in the car.

The sunset was beautiful indeed.

So we flew out this morning at the reasonable hour of 10:30 am, the boys were awake for most of the two hour flight and as anxious to be home as we. We were again supposed be in separate rows but as we took off the stewardess noticed that I had my row completely to my self again. She said Mr. Tech and Leroy could move up since the oxygen mask wouldn't be an issue without the middle seat being taken. Yahoo! that made sense to me all along but that 's the first time a stewardess has agreed. So we're home at last for the next few days and then head out for the Thanksgiving holiday (driving). But no more flying for quite a while, we'll be collecting ourselves for the next few days here and trying to get used to being home and having room to run about and not live out of a suit case and such like. (It won't be hard)

As a P.S. to the last post I hope it wasn't taken that I don't like CA. The particular area we were in is highly inhabited and I've never enjoyed city living much. From the plane we enjoyed seeing some of the remote areas, some high hills/mountains dusted with snow and many lakes among the rugged hills, it definitely has a beauty of its own as all of God's creation does. The uniqueness of the different regions is always an amazement.

The Wild Side...

While walking to a mall yesterday along a drainage canal we spotted these interesting creatures. I felt bad for them as the canal was full of garbage and shopping carts being right along a main road but they must have been finding something as there were the four or five varieties plus some ducks. It runs along the out side of the Armed Forces Reserve complex and I was amazed the first night we were here at the massive size of two of their 'buildings' for lack of a better word. These pictures don't really show it too well, but if you were to stand in front of one you're about the size of a pea, at least you'd feel like it. The builds to the left are some normal sized two or three story buildings.

Notice the white Crane or Heron in to the left, he was too shy for a close up and flew in there when we came along.

This guy wasn't too worried about us, I have no idea what he is.

This one looked like a mini Heron he was only a little over a foot long.

This guy was cool looking, his head feathers stood on end when he flew away. Not sure if they were s'pose to or if we scared him.

Being white birds you would think the would be easy to spot in a brown ditch but two of them flew up from right beside us before I noticed them. In this picture there are two white ones and one brown one all in one area there.

And one beautiful little flower that was part of the landscape at the mall.

Just a bit of God's marvelous creation we found along the way. Proof that HE's still got HIS handy work here in amongst the high rises, 8 lane roads and 100's of malls and eateries in this area. Having grown up where God's natural handy work far exceeds the creations of man on the landscape I guess it being the opposite here gets tiring for me after a while. Love the beach though!

Balboa Beach...

Wednesday morning we all got up early and after a quick breakfast we headed out the door with Daddy to take him to school so we could have the car for the morning. We dropped him off by 8:30 and were on our way to Balboa Beach. It was only a 20 minute drive that time of the morning as traffic wasn't all that bad. Of course I stuck to the back roads and off the highways, i can't get used to the no blinker when changing lanes at 70- 80 miles an hour. What happens if we both are thinking about the middle lane and he's just not signaling??? If you're local and reading this your probably laughing at me. Mr. Tech just applies the "when in Rome" theory and cuts in and out like a pro, so I leave the highway driving to him if at all possible.
The beach was all fogged in this particular morning but that was great since Mom forgot the sunscreen. They have a great play ground right there on the beach plus bathrooms all in close proximity, very cool.

We hung out at the play ground for a brief amount of time...


Leroy vegging in the stroller...

"hey, it was an early morning guys!"


A quick swing woke him up and then they were ready to go out and find some sand.

The view of the Pier from the edge of the surf, very picturesque. There were some great waves crashing that some wake boarders (I think) were attempting to catch. Their boards were just a thin piece of wood not surf boards, and the rides were very short lived. Run out there, one quick u turn on the face of a wave and your fun is over till the next one. It looked like a lot of effort for not a lot of fun but that must be just me there were at least 4 guys doing it.

Phi with one of our "shovels" :0)

Some kind ladies took our picture for us.

Phi with cup of sand in hand...

In search of any unsuspecting birdies who might like some.

I'm not sure if the idea was to feed it to them or dump it on them but he chased them around with it every time one came near.

This was Leroy's first reaction of delight at being in the sand at last...

Then he started doing these little tough guy "uunh"s

Phi in "the mountains" since we just came from Alaska, just kidding. Actually this was our best attempt at sand sculpture as the sand is too course and won't pack or shape in general.

It was a very relaxing morning and by 11:00 we left to pick up Daddy from class and find some lunch. Daddy dropped us off at the hotel this time and took the car back with him. After a good bath and naps it was time for dinner which we were trying to have early as this is prayer and reading night down here. Daddy grabbed some Costco rotisserie chicken to go with our rice and corn and with that deliciousness in our tummies we headed off with an hour to spare before meeting started. The traffic was bumper to bumper which I think is pretty typical so we inched our way there. We followed our directions and got to the place with plenty of time to spare. The only difficulty being when we reached the YMCA where the directions led it was quite busy and no one seemed to know of anything like that going on. We didn't have our list of gatherings but thankfully A. Sus was home and looked up Mr. Ruga's cell number for us. He told us they had just moved...like a year ago.. to another building and gave us great directions from memory since they were actually out of town at the time. Soo, lesson learned, those little updates we get every so often are good for something. We proceeded to the correct place and found those of like precious faith gathered, and though few in number, as some were missing, very much enjoyed our time with them. Afterwards we enjoyed seeing the remodeling they are working on, the kitchen and one bathroom as so far have not had a kitchen at all, though still making due and enjoying fellowship Sundays together. The city required them to upgrade the bathroom so they're working on both together. It was fun to see the progress and also enjoy some snacks Bro. J. Hamilton brought for everyone. The trip home was uneventful, and so ended our Wednesday.

Story Time with Daddy

A favorite pass time of Phi's these days, Leroy joined for this one.

Love Leroy's expression.

Mr. Tech had the car all day today but this evening we made a quick trip to Balboa Pier. I never would have found it if Patty R. who grew up in the area hadn't told me about. We were there after dark so no pix, but lots of people of a different nationality were fishing off the end of the pier. They were having great success and I guess maybe to keep the fish fresh longer with out ice were pulling them off the hook and throwing them in bags or coolers were you could hear them flopping around for some time. A few had even caught what looked to be baby sharks?? What ever they were the fisher men didn't seem to like them and kept them flopping on the pier, as we walked by one flopped out from under a bench and the lady kicked it back under. It looks like it will be a fun beach to visit in the day time if things work out.

Hello Sunny California!

We flew out of Portland at 8:00 last night and much to my delight I had the very back row completely to Phi and myself. He promptly fell asleep and the two hour flight was uneventful and actually enjoyable for once. Mr. Tech and Leroy had the isle seat ahead of us with an empty seat next to them.. ahh breathing room. We got to our hotel around eleven after looking around for a grocery store that was open, with out success.

The little men enjoying a near midnight snack of blueberries once we settled in.

Fascinating little things!

And once they're gone the cup makes a great hat.

On to the muffins.

Today we didn't do much as Leroy is cutting one maybe two upper teeth and was very grumpy, contrary to this picture which was taken after nap time.

Phi was also not in a great mood probably because of the rather crazy schedules we've been keeping lately. There's also so many nos in this hotel, "no, no pushing the buttons on the dishwasher, the DVD, the TV, the radio alarm clock, or the telephones and you can't poke the keys down the electrical plug ins." We'll definitely have to get out and enjoy some of the sunshine tomorrow. Today was a near 90 degree day, definitely beach weather!

Nap time!

We found a Food 4 Less to get groceries at this time and I was amazed that the bill was half of what we had paid in Alaska at Safeway and we got more groceries too. Very cool.