Our 10 year Anniversary Trip to San Diego

Synopsis of the best trip ever taken:

Wednesday -- After an 11pm e-mail (Tuesday night) from the airline saying that they were postponing our flights a whole day, and an hour on the phone with hotels.com and United, we finally worked something out in order to leave on time! WHEW!! Then, on Wednesday, we hopped on TWO early stand-by flights to arrive in SD about an hour and a half earlier than expected! yes! Hit up VONS (translation: Safeway). Fought for a spot in line with the "real house-wife of La Jolla" and lost. haha. Arrived at hotel to find that we had a coastal view (unexpected). Seriously about 15 steps to the dry sand and about 25 steps to the salt water! HEAVEN!!! Had dinner at the hotel restaurant (really yummy fish tacos), and one of the best sunsets I have ever seen IN MY LIFE! Went swimming in the ocean (like underwater, hair wet, full-on swimming) at 10pm. BATH WATER. Not even a tiny bit cold.... 

Thursday - woke up whenever the heck I wanted to!!!!!!!!! called the (free!) hotel shuttle to drop us off at La Jolla cove. Walked around downtown, got coffee (of course), and then ate lunch at La Jolla Brewing company, where we met Derek and Lilly (two of the servers -- really really nice people) Lilly is a pro surfer. pretty cool. The beer was ok -- tried the Pale Ale and the IPA and the Brown Ale. Brown Ale was too sweet, but Seth liked the IPA and Lynae liked the Pale. We ate Baked Brie and Crab Artichoke dip for half price during happy hour. They gave us a $10 gift card for our anniversary, so we could come back another time. Then we paid $5 each to walk down some stairs to a cave that wasn't that cool. Total waste of money, but laughable. So touristy!! Lame! hahahahhahaha. Rented a tandem kayak from "Hike, Bike, Kayak" (referred to us by Lilly), and kayaked at La Jolla Shores and Cove. Saw about 5 or 6 dolphins swimming in the water right next to us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Had dinner at The Marine Room near our hotel. Took the shuttle since I was in heels. Waited at the bar for a window seat. While waiting, we met another couple. Had fun getting to know them. Then, we were seated in the best seat in the house. Seth had the Lamb, and Lynae had the Halibut. Extremely good food, and GORGEOUS views. Another perfect sunset. Water crashing against the restaurant windows. Complimentary champagne and dessert for our 10 year!! Best dinner ever! Walked back to our hotel along the beach. AMAZING DAY!

Friday - woke up whenever the heck i wanted to. Are we seeing a pattern yet? haha. went to Einstein Bros for Breakfast bagels and coffee. Got 1 hour massages at EnVus Salon in Pacific Beach. Best massage I have ever had. HEAVEN. Had lunch at Seth's favorite "hole in the wall" so-cal Mexican joint - ALBERTOS!!! Drove to parking lot near Hornblower cruise dock. Took the Ferry to Coronado. Spent about 2 hours there. Didn't get a chance to see "the" hotel, but went to the Coronado Brewing co. BEST BEER!!!! Cool names, too... like "Cream of the Hop" and "Berry the Hatchet." Seth liked the Idiot IPA and Lynae liked the "Orange Avenue Wit" Got a flight, and every single beer we tried was delish!! Laid on the beach for a bit... got to see a military wedding going on right there on the coronado shoreline!!!! Then boarded the ferry back to the parking lot, where we got dressed in the car (!!!!!) to go on the Hornblower Live Band and Fireworks Dinner Cruise!!!! AMAZING views of the city lights and another amazing sunset. Great band, called the "Bayou Brothers" -- old dudes playing "cajun" music, which is kinda swing style / blues, with a hint of rock and roll. The band asked the crowd if anyone wanted to join them and play "the wash-board" -- OF COURSE Seth volunteered. He did a great job and had the time of his life! hahahahahahahaha

Saturday - Rented boogie boards from Hike, Bike, Kayak and went boogie boarding at La Jolla Shores. Drove back to Vons (translation: Safeway) to buy food for our beach cookout!!!! Got beef strips, prawns, pineapple, and vegetables, to make skewers. Grabbed another lunch at Albertos! Went back to the hotel, marinated the meat, and then went boogie boarding some more. The Hotel set up a BBQ and some tables and chairs for us on the beach, and Seth BBQed our skewers. Made Mai-Tais and ate dinner ON the beach. GORGEOUS sunset once again!!

Sunday - all good things must eventually come to an end Fought the airport craziness once again (believe me, it was worse than you can imagine ... but we finally made it home (without our van - long story) at about 7pm. SO happy to see my three loves! Best trip ever!!! oh! and we saw 3 weddings. one at coronado and two at our hotel!

Advent Reading Plan 2013

(Adapted from my original post when I created my Advent reading plan in 2011)

The Advent reading plan that I created a few years back uses a combination of THREE different books. 

The first is The Advent Jesse Tree Devotions by Dean Meador Lambert. This book serves as the main blueprint for our readings. The book explains that "The Advent Jesse Tree seeks to tell the story of God's redemptive plan for the world through 25 symbols from the Old and New Testaments. the symbols trace the heratage of Jesus Christ from the beginning of creation." 

The book suggests making ornaments that symbolize each lesson, and it also has suggestions for songs that you can sing with your family for each lesson, which I really love! We are not going to have a separate tree for the Jesse Tree ornaments, but rather, I have been working on making a collection of special felt ornaments for our regular Christmas tree over the last couple of years.

There are 25 lessons, but I always skip 5 of them, because I need flexibility in our reading schedule to skip a day here and there... I know that this season is always busy, and I want to make Advent readings a priority, but I also want to be realistic with my goals. 

The second book is The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones. This is seriously the BEST book out there for teaching kids about God's redemptive plan, and showing how the Old Testament points to Jesus over and over again. The way that Sally Lloyd-Jones words things is truly amazing! I am a word person.. and an auditory learner, and I think my little Jamesie is, too.. This book is totally for us! I could write an entire blog post on how awesome this book is, but for now I am just going to say, if you don't have this book, buy it NOW. You will NOT regret it. 

I originally got a lot of my ideas for this reading plan from this advent reading schedule using The Jesus Storybook Bible, and we used it for our readings. I'm was so excited, because I wanted to incorporate the Jesse Tree idea into our advent experience, and the more I compared the two books, the more I realized how wonderfully they complimented each other! 

SO, I created my own reading schedule with readings from both The Advent Jesse Tree Devotions book and either The Jesus Storybook Bible OR The Family-Time Bible in Pictures for each day that we do one of our 20 lessons. So, each lesson has two readings... This has worked really well the last two years, and I look forward to doing the same thing again this year. You can do morning and night... or you can just read them both at the same time.. depends on the day, and how things are going. The Jesse Tree devotions are really short, and they don't have any pictures or anything, so the other two books will help to bring the Jesse Tree devotions to life.

Which brings me to my third book - The Family-Time Bible in Pictures by Kenneth N. Taylor. Although I love love love the wording in the Jesus Storybook Bible, nothing compares to the amazing pictures found in this Family-Time Bible. I used stories from this bible for Jesse Tree lessons that don't have a coinciding Jesus Storybook Bible story, but it is worth looking at the pictures in this book for EVERY story you read this advent season, even if you are not reading the words from this book. This book will come in handy for your little visual learners (like my Josiah). 

Ok, so now that you've gone to Amazon and bought all of these lovely books, here is the schedule that I created that coordinates Jesse Tree lessons with stories from the other two books. Feel free to use it how you like, or adapt it to fit your family's needs!

EXCITED!!

Notes: 

*This reading schedule is meant to start on the first day of advent (which is THIS Sunday, December 1st) and end on Christmas Eve. There are 24 days total, but only 20 lessons, which will leave you a little bit of flexibility for if you need to miss a few days. My goal is to get the 20 lessons read, and leave time for discussing and understanding, over the course of the 24 days. I actually cheated and started a few days early (today!), to leave myself even more skip-days. I just can't trust myself to do it every single day during this crazy-busy season, and I really want to get them ALL done... 

*JSB stands for Jesus Storybook Bible

*FTB stands for Family-Time Bible in Pictures

*I purposely switched the order in which we will read Jesse Tree's "Angels Proclaiming the  Coming of Christ" and "The Light of the World" for two reasons. One is because it flows better with the stories out of the Jesus Storybook Bible this way.. And the second reason is because I want to be done with our readings by Christmas Eve, so that Christmas Day can just be a rest day, so in order for the "Light" lesson to fall on Christmas "Eve-Eve," I needed to switch the two lessons. "Light" is the theme of our annual Christmas Eve-Eve celebration, during which we always have breakfast for dinner, drive around town to admire the Christmas lights, and camp out in our living room, under the Christmas Tree :)

HERE'S THE SCHEDULE:

Lesson 1:  Jesse Tree: The Light in Creation / JSB: The Beginning: A Perfect Home (Genesis 1-2) p. 18

 
Lesson 2:  Jesse Tree: The First Sin / JSB: The Terrible Lie (Genesis 3) p. 28

 
Lesson 3: Jesse Tree: Inside the Ark / JSB: A New Beginning (Genesis 6-9) p. 38     

                                                             

Skip Jesse Tree’s Call to Abraham         

                                              
Lesson 4: Jesse Tree: Isaac and the Lamb / JSB: The Present (Genesis 22) p. 62             

Skip Jesse Tree’s Jacob’s Ladder 

 
Lesson 5: Jesse Tree: Joseph’s Coat of Many Colors / JSB: The Forgiving Prince (Genesis 37-46) p. 76                          

  

Lesson 6: Jesse Tree: Moses and the Ten Commandments / JSB: Ten Ways to be Perfect (Exodus 16-17, 19-40) p. 100          

Lesson 7: Jesse Tree: Canaan, the Promised Land of Blessings / JSB: The Warrior Leader (Joshua 3, 6) p. 108                     

Lesson 8: Jesse Tree’s Ruth and Boaz / FTB: Unselfish Ruth p. 112                                                                                                                           

Lesson 9: Jesse Tree: King David / JSB: The Young Hero and the Horrible Giant (1 Samuel 17) p. 122               

Lesson 10: Jesse Tree: Josiah Finds the Law / FTB: Good King Josiah p. 166                                                          

Skip Jesse Tree’s Prophecy of Shoot from the Stump of Jesse                

                                                                                

Lesson 11: Jesse Tree: Prophecy of the Lion and the Lamb Resting Together / JSB: A Dream of Heaven p. 342         

Lesson 12: Jesse Tree: Prophecy of the Prince of Peace / JSB: The Captain of the Storm p. 236        
                       

Lesson 13: Jesse Tree: Prophecy of a Gentle Shepherd / JSB: The Good Shepherd (Psalm 51, 2 Samuel 7, Psalm 23) p. 130                                                                                                                                                                                     

Lesson 14: Jesse Tree: Prophecy of the Suffering Servant / JSB: Operation “No More Tears” p. 144                           

Skip Jesse Tree’s Prophecy of the New Covenant                                                                                                          

Lesson 15: Jesse Tree: The Prophecy of Bethlehem / JSB: A Teeny, Weenie…True King (1 Samuel 16) p. 116      

            

Lesson 16: Jesse Tree: The Exile / FTB: The Fiery Furnace p. 171                                                                            

Skip Jesse Tree’s The Return to the Land                                                                                                                 

Lesson 17: Jesse Tree: The Star / FTB: The Wise Men Visit p. 191

 

Lesson 18: Jesse Tree: Angels Proclaiming the Coming of Christ / JSB: He’s Here (Luke 1-2) p. 176                       

Lesson 19 (Christmas "Eve-Eve"): Jesse Tree: The Light of the World (p. 86) / JSB: The Light of the Whole World (Luke 2) p. 184        
       

Lesson 20 (Christmas Eve): Jesse Tree: The Birth of Jesus / JSB: The King of all Kings (Matthew 2) p. 192                             

              

Christmas Day: Take a Sabbath - Rest and Enjoy!

Fourth of July at the COAST!

I love love love THE BEACH with all my heart!

The kids and I went to the coast for the fourth of july, and it was one of the best trips we have EVER had! 

Seth had been planning on going to Aunt Cindy's cabin to work on it all weekend fourth of july weekend, and i wasn't sure what i wanted to do with the kids. We were invited to a couple of different events, but nothing sounded that appealing without my hubby. It was also over 100 degrees in paradise/chico, and i didn't really want to stay home in that kind of weather, either. 

Cindy offered us her empty house in McKinleyville, since she would be at the cabin with Seth (McKinleyville is literally a stone's throw from the GLORIOUS salt water and sand!!!!!!). Needless to say, I didn't hesitate too much! I decided Tuesday night that I was going to brave a trip with my three littles all by our lonesomes. 

We left Thursday morning, the fourth of july. 

My Cuties, getting ready to leave.. all dressed in their RED WHITE AND BLUE :)

The traffic wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it should be on a holiday weekend. There was a little bit of delay due to road construction, but for the most part, our drive there was fairly painless. 

I did a little research (surprise, surprise) online, and found out that the two places in humboldt county where there was going to be a fireworks show was in ferndale and in eureka. Eureka is like 15 minutes from McKinleyville, so I decided we were going to see the show there.

I also found out that they were going to have a fourth of july festival in eureka during the day, so we decided to head straight there before going to Cindy's. When we got there, we found out that there was also a carnival going on! It was a bit tricky to figure out exactly what we were going to be able to ride with a toddler... and a wheel chair... and only one adult!! But we did pretty darn good, I must say!! 

The weather was perfect. I mean P-E-R-F-E-C-T!!! They all rode a few rides; Caleb and Josiah rode a few by themselves; and I think Josiah went down the "super slide" like a zillion times. James even went down it on my lap! (caleb, too!) The thing is like 80 feet in the air or some ridiculous thing like that!! Brave, brave boys! 

Downtown Eureka was right by the carnival, and it was like a street fair with face-painting, crafty stuff for sale, food, and stuff like that. After doing the carnival and street fair, we drove to Cindy's and unpacked and rested for a few before heading BACK to eureka for the fireworks!

The show didn't start until TEN, which was WAAAY late for my littles, but they all stayed awake and they all enjoyed it without getting all hysterical and cranky. Which was pretty much a miracle. Caleb was a little scared, but he didn't freak.. he just snuggled me and put his face down in my chest. When I asked him (during the show) if he likes fireworks, he nodded "no" -- but when i asked him the next day, he enthusiastically said "YES!" :) silly boy. 

They all three fell fast asleep within about 30 seconds into the drive back to Cindy's!

Cindy has a few cats, a turtle that lives in the bathtub, and a big fish tank with about 5 or 6 fishies in it. The kids got to take care of all her animals, and they loved that! I'm not such an animal girl, so I was glad that her two snakes were not home, but staying in her classroom instead! WHEW! I was more exited about her three HUGE hydrangia bushes! She has this GIGANTIC hydrangia bush in the front of her house with about 30 or so huge PURPLE hyndrangia heads on it! Seriously the most gorgeous thing ever. She also has a ton of other gorgeous flowers in her front and back yards, and she has blueberries and raspberries growing in the back. We definitely had our fill of fresh berries while we were there! 

On Friday, we went to the beach ALLLLL day! The weather was absolutely perfect again. I mean, this girl could not be happier! My heart really does skip a few beats when I see the ocean for the first time each summer. HOW do people live far away from the beach? Seriously, HOW do they survive!!?? :)

I found a handi parking spot, and then i carried james from the car to the shoreline. I think this is probably the last summer i am going to be able to do that. Next year, he will be heavier and i will be OLDER! ha. 

All of the kids played for a while, and then Caleb fell asleep on a towel, under the cheetah blanket, and took a long nap on the sand, while james and josiah dug in the sand together for HOURS. i laid in the perfect sun and finished a book that i have been working on for probably over a year at least. haha. it's called "The Danger of Raising Nice Kids" and it's really really really good! 

On Saturday, we walked to Starbuck for breakfast. It's like a mile-ish from her house. Then we let Caleb take a nap back at Cindy's in a real bed this time. I think I even fell asleep for a bit while laying down with him. Josiah and James played in the back yard. Her yard is fun for them because it is so landscaped that they can hide and explore in all of the plants and stuff.... and try to chase the cats and stuff. She also has a rope swing made out of a shoe that is pretty cool. 

After that I decided to take them back to the beach. We didn't stay quite as long this time, but I decided to get in the sand and play with them a little. We built a three-tiered sand-castle, and used James' "Doc McStuffins" as the "princess," and pretended that the prince was driving Caleb's hotwheel car to the top of the sand-castle to "rescue" her from Josiah's "bad Iron Man." I'm still not sure if there really is a good iron man and a bad iron man... hmm... 

Then they buried Doc McStuffins in the sand and lost her.. But Mommy saved her life right before we left! haha. 

Sunday we drove home, and it was another fairly painless drive. 

IT WAS GREAT!! I am SOOO thankful for Cindy's willingness to let us use her home! 

I kinda want to go back there next 4th... but this time with Daddy! :)