Weekend Day Trip Part Two

After attending our ward's sacrament meeting, we hit the road again. This time we went south to explore the many treasures that Big Sur holds. 

Bixby Bridge

We made the mistake of leaving too late. Traffic was HORRIBLE. It took us over three hours to get to Carmel. After that, the roads cleared and we enjoyed the beautiful vistas. One drawback with driving the RV was difficulty in finding room to pull off to the side of the road when we saw something interesting. For example, I wanted a closer look at the Bixby Bridge, which is famous for its car commercials; but there wasn't a big enough spot to pull into

 We stopped off at Pfeiffer State Park and stretched our legs by going on a hike to a waterfall. 

The hike was harder than we thought, but it felt so good to be outside. David and I want to come back here sometime on our own without children. It's such a beautiful area. Too bad most of our afternoon was wasted on traffic. That's what happens when you travel on a holiday weekend.

Weekend Day Trip Part One

Sometimes no matter how hard you try to plan something, like a vacation, life has a plan for you all on its own. All week long, David and I had been planning a weekend get-a-way using Mom and Dad Zinn's RV. The plan was to spend a few days in Fort Bragg; riding the Skunk Train and playing at the local beaches. Due to some miscommunication (on my part), we canceled our reservation at the RV park. This happened the night before we had planned on leaving. David and I spent hours on the internet and phone trying to find an RV park with a spot available. There was nothing. We expanded our search to the Big Sur area thinking that would be fun to explore, but struck out there also. Our solution was to go on day trips in the motor home and return to our house for night times.

Saturday morning we headed off to Pescadero, before the beach crowds hit the highways. This is a beach that the kids love going to. Driftwood scatters the sand begging to be turned into a shack, or a see-saw, or a sword. 

 Daveo and James in the RV.

The kids exploring a little cave.

Climbing rocks.

David was excited to try out his new GoPro camera.

The boys played baseball.

Loni explored the sand.

This driftwood shack that was on the beach provided a lot of fun for the younger kids (and shade).

There were a lot of curious seals enjoying the surf. They followed David and the older kids around. (Notice that they are photo bombing most of my pictures.)

Daveo met another 5 year old boy who he played with for most of the afternoon.

Kirsten getting slammed in the waves.

We are so blessed have fun destinations to explore within an hour or so away.

A "Wicked" Mother-daughter Date

I had an absolute blast seeing Wicked for the first time with Kirsten. Everything about the musical was amazing; the voices, orchestra, acting, backdrops, special effects, costumes. It was all amazing! The last song before intermission, "Defying Gravity" had me in tears. Not sad tears. I was just so overcome by the music.

I'm grateful that I had Kirsten by my side.

 Kirsten and I outside of the San Jose Performing Arts building.

 In our seats waiting for the show to start. We sat in the balcony.

A Treasured Friendship

The most enjoyable aspect of being a Visiting Teacher is the friendship with the women in the Church. Women who come from all walks of life. Women who are young enough to be your daughter (yes, I'm that old now). Or old enough to be your mom or grandmother. One such lady is June. She is 85 years old and is one of my closest friends. I have been visiting teaching her for about two years now. She is a woman with MANY talents who never ceases to amaze me. For example, just this last week while I was offering my services to help June clean out her garage, she showed me a box of treasures. Treasures in the form of hand embroidered baby onesies with lace embellishments, battenburg lace bibs, bonnets, and pillows. June insisted that I take what I wanted. I of course am no dummy and gladly accepted the gift.

 Doesn't it look adorable on Loni?

 A closer look at the embroidered flowers around the neckline. 

The lace ruffles that she hand sewed on the onesie are ADORABLE. 

And don't you just love how the bottom of the sleeves slightly gather? 

June told me that that's how they were made back in the day. 

Diamond Stitch Afghan

This latest baby afghan pattern was perfect for using up some of my over-abundant stash of yarn. 

 You can find the free pattern here. 

Loni loves playing peek-a-boo with it.

And snuggling in it.