I Left My Heart...

After a lengthy drive up the I-5 (I love how Californians name their highways with "the" in front!) we overnighted in Bakersfield, and arrived Wednesday in San Francisco. It started raining about an hour after we arrived. Then the winds came. Hmmm.....maybe San Fran is trying to tell us something?

We attempted a stroll across the Golden Gate Bridge, but the winds drove us back after we made it about a third of the way across. We were disappointed, but fear not! We have another day.

The rest of Wednesday we relaxed and had a nice workout in the hotel gym.

Thursday dawned bright and sunny, and a tad chilly, but not unbearable. We started off early, and by 9AM we were back at the Golden Gate, determined to cross this sucker on foot!



Yikes.

The boys are working their way up.

We are pretty much at the mid-way point, the highest part of the bridge. As scared as I am of heights, I can't believe I made it this far!

This is sobering. A call box in case you're thinking of jumping. There are several of these.

We made it! Once across, there's no way to get back except walking back across. So we did. This is after the return trip, about 3 1/2 miles total. A nice walk for a nice day!

And one of the coolest things I've ever done.

We've Been Flocked!

We interrupt this vacation update for a special news bulletin....

We've been flocked!


We woke up this morning to find about 17 pink flamingos in our front yard. Plastic ones, no less. Looks like the 1960's threw up in the yard.

It turns out that this is a fundraiser for our high school's Class of 2012. Someone actually paid to have this done to our yard! For $10 I can have them removed this evening, and for an additional fee, I can pay it forward.

What a clever idea!

Now...who's next??

Legos, Legos, and More Legos!

Tuesday of Spring Break we checked out of our beautiful hotel and headed south about a half-hour and went to Legoland. The kids were about 8 years too old for the place, but we had a great time. JJ and Nicky have always been huge Lego fans...and still are!

Now...everything you see here that's not human is Lego. Seriously. Except for the rides. :)

Here's Nicky with a Bionicle that he actually owns and has built. He was kind of excited to see a huge model of this guy in the park.

JJ found one of his, too.

Here are JJ, Nicky and me in front of a replica of Einstein. Way cool!

In the middle of the park was a Hall of Fame, with busts of famous individuals. We each picked one to have our pictures taken with.

Eric chose President Lincoln.

We tried to talk JJ into having his picture with Marilyn Monroe, but he chose Winston Churchhill instead.

Nicky liked Governor Ah-nold.

I of course went for the lone Southerner in the bunch. Thank ya...thank ya vury much.

Wait...I thought we were in California! The mini-mall had entire cities constructed of Legos. I took many pictures, but loved this one of the Empire State Building.

Back home so soon? It's hard to see, but there's a tiny Obama Lego at the front entry. Too funny!

JJ talked me into riding this insane ride...it's like the arms of a Bionicle that flings you every which way. It was fun, but ca-razy!

Thanks for a great time!

(The car was real, darn it!)

Next up...San Francisco!

Dana Point...Squirrels and Sunsets

The second day of Spring Break we spent a lovely day in Dana Point. Beautiful views of the ocean!

Here's the harbor view...

We saw a blond squirrel! We've all seen the gray ones, and we have a black one living in our neighborhood, but we've never seen a blond one!

It's almost camoflauged against the rock.

I've never seen anyone canoeing standing up!

After a few hours at the harbor, we went back to the hotel and spent some time at the pool and the beach.

Yep...that's JJ coming out of the surf! The water was frigid.

We ended the day as before...with a beautiful Pacific sunset.

Day 3...Legoland!

Spring Break...Finally!

We've been home from Spring Break for 2 weeks now and I'm just now loading the pictures from the camera. It's been a busy couple of weeks here at home, with lots of subbing, lots of Scout work, and lots of cleaning that just didn't get done! (We won't talk about the whole tax thing. Ugh.) So here are a few pics from our fabulous trip to the beautiful state of California.

We left from Baltimore on March 28th.

Here's a beautiful view of the Rocky Mountains from our plane...we had a plane change in Denver. They still have snow!

We landed at John Wayne/Orange County Airport and in our rental car drove to Dana Point, in southern OC. We stayed at a beautiful Ritz-Carleton resort that we NEVER would have been able to stay at if not for Eric's Hilton Hotel points. So thanks, dear!

The lovely Pacific Ocean...from the cliff the hotel was situated on...

The hotel had a beautiful deck where everyone gathered to watch the sunset nightly. Here's Eric enjoying the sunset. And so ended our first night in California. The only thing marring the perfection? Our suitcase ended up in Houston. Thankfully it was delivered to the hotel in the wee hours.

Next up...a lovely day in Dana Point!