Lover's Point and Sand Dunes Beach

Mission San Juan Bautista

Mission San Juan Bautista was founded 24 June 1797. The Mission is named for Saint John the Baptist.



Grandpa leading the way, starting under the mission bell.


Connor observing a miniature replica of the mission.


The mission kitchen


The biggest book we have ever seen.


Evan establishing his escape route.


It's wonderful to pray for people and get to play with fire.


One of the baptismal rooms in the church.


Interior main church

Little boys being reverent.

Logan thought this was the biggest teddy bear cactus he's ever seen.

This once was the well for the mission, now gated off and secured.

In 1769, The El Camino Real was just a footpath begun by the Franciscans and led by Father Junipero Serra who was a deciding influence in establishing the California Missions north from San Diego to Sonoma. The idea of placing a marker along the highway and in front of each Mission did not come about until 1906 when a cast iron 85 pound bell and piping. One bell was placed in front of each Mission along the El Camino Real Highway. In the background, about 100 feet away is the San Andreas Fault.

The World of Garlic

During the two week visit with our beloved family, we stopped by a unique store and gift shop. We found some very interesting garlickly treats.

These sweet treats weren't for sale.

Evan grinding his own pecans.

This has become a family favorite at Ghirardelli's.

This "earthquake" didn't stand a chance against my boys.

March Maddness

This month has flown by! We are getting ready to move overseas and every bit of our time is filled. Here's a few highlights!

My sweet little boy turned nine. He wanted a homemade homemade lemon cake. He enjoyed blowing out the candles and the miniature windmills with his paper party favor.


This is the man who has accomplished so much. His school is complete and we are off to bigger and better things. This night we wore our Chinese outfits to a John Tesh concert.


My boy scout without his uniform for the beginning of the Pinewood derby.


The little boys made this car and named it "Pixie dust".


Midnight lighting is what Logan named his car. He didn't win the derby but all my boys were such good sports we went to Baskin Robbins for ice cream. Everybody wins!

The Tech Museum

The BODY WORLDS exhibitions at The Tech Museum in San Jose, CA are first-of-their-kind exhibitions through which visitors learn about anatomy, physiology, and health by viewing real human bodies, using an extraordinary process called Plastination a groundbreaking method for specimen preservation invented by Dr. von Hagens in 1977. I wasn't allowed to take pictures of these amazing exhibits. If your interested in what we viewed, go to
http://www.bodyworlds.com.

This Gallery highlighted basic principles of fundamental science and the building blocks for technology. Each exhibit was video guided and many of them were hands on.

Entering the tech portion of the museum.

This was so cool. It is a virtual arm wrestling machine. You were able to link with people around the museum and arm wrestle other individuals. A seventh grade teacher beat one of his students. Prior to arm wrestling the student said "I'll be easy on you old man." After the teacher won he said "Who's the old man now!"
Oh, and yes Hailey beat the boy (age 13) she arm wrestled:)

It appears this may be a tight squeeze.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

There were twenty pre-school children smiling and hopping their way to the aquarium. They talked non-stop of all the animals they hoped to see.

We had a wonderful docent who helped explain life underwater and motivated the children to find things in the water tanks.

We saw Cuttlefish cuddling?

The Moray eel was smiling at the camera too.

Evan at the big tank with hundreds of underwater creatures.

Evan at the 40-foot-long touch pool, that kids can see and touch the many plants and animals that live in the kelp forest habitat, including sea stars, abalones, sea urchins, kelp crabs and more.

We went to the penguin feeding and learned how aquarists feed and care for the blackfooted penguin colony and the challenges these animals face in today's world. Also, we saw a baby penguin a few weeks old on the web cam.

Ahoy matey! Avast, on them there rocks

A terrible picture but the facinating Murre's (a bird) flight is strong and direct. They use their wings to 'swim' underwater. They are accomplished divers, reaching depths of up to 150 m and diving for up to four minutes at a time

And who would come to Monterey and miss the otters? We learned sea otters have sharp teeth for grabbing and flat teeth for chewing, they use their front paws to groom
themselves and to feel around for food, and they have “pockets” under their armpits
to store food or a favorite tool!

Basketball Season

2011 Basketball team - The Heat 7-9 year olds

Logan (#4) taking a shot

That's not a YMCA dance, it's Logan running to catch the ball.

My proud son! He was nicknamed "The Rebounder" this season.