First Day of School

Well it was our first day back at school after a very long summer. Kristin went back to UCR and I started at Cal Poly. Both of us enjoyed our days and look forward to making it one more quarter closer to our degrees!

A True Vacation

Labor day weekend came up on us bearing a gift more rare than a short line for Space Mountain (it was the first reference I could muster, yes I'm a major nerd): the elusive Three Day Weekend! After the rejoicing subsided the question was raised, "Vacation?" Isn't the reply obvious?

We'd been craving a real vacation for some time- whether it be camping, visiting family, or what-have-you, but had simply been lacking in time with Joseph's work at the bank. So without further ado, we hopped on the internet and booked a hotel for our favorite beach location in SoCal- Laguna. The week-day vacation slashed prices for us, any further worries were eased Joseph received a bonus from USBank (which he hasn't worked at for the last six months). It seemed that the universe was on our side!

We enjoyed a day hopping around tide pools playing with little hermit crabs, eating South African seafood (slightly disappointed to be seated by a very drunk, very loud party) and Italian gelato, and relaxing in the hotel spa and heated pool (the day was too cool and windy for the beach). It was amazing to finally enjoy a vacation as a (tiny) family, even if it was in minature.

                      

  {Dinner at Mozambique. Those parrots behind us say "Hello" and "Goodbye" as you pass- awesome!}

On a slightly different note, my sister, Krisale, had her daughter. My first blood-relation niece is named Brialle, and she is such a cutie.

Am I right or am I right?

Summer- The Second Installment

     During the middle of July, as this summer's heat wave descended on SoCal, our baby Honda, Harley, got a bit of a cold. Well, more like a 'hot'. Her head-gasket needed to be replaced, which came with a hefty price-tag. Meanwhile, one of Joseph's co-workers had a $2,000 outage and was fired, so he picked up her hours in order to help compensate for our unexpected bill. It is quite fabulous how one door opens after another closes. 
     Joseph working full time put a bit of a damper on our summer plans (what plans?) but there was still plenty of fun to be had.
     Living in SoCal (and with a self-professed 'water-child') makes us obligated to hit the waves. We headed back in July for a short fun trip, and again in August for the 'Super Trip'. We were in Huntington for ten hours, hanging with friends (including many of my old high school buds), boogie boarding and roasting s'mores when the sun went down. Ah the beach!

 {After drying off and waiting for pizza to arrive}

Then came another trip to Disney after the summer black-out. You know us- can't get enough. Hopefully we can afford to renew our passes. Prices are getting ridiculous!

 {Jungle Cruise with one of the best skippers we've had}

When September came, it was finally time to use our Huntington Library Free Day passes. The Huntington had been on our list since our early dating days, and we were so happy to finally make it.

                                                                                                                       {Can I keep him?}

                                                                     {Royalty must ponder}
 
To keep myself occupied between adventures, I've been cultivating my 'domestic' side. I made jam with my sister-in-law Rebecca, Joseph and I babysat her two oldest for three days (never met kids that were easier to put to bed...means they wake you up at 6 am though), and I tried my hand at baking bread. 

{Honey Oat Bread}

It was a delicious first attempt- I highly recommend throwing around some dough of your own. Its rather therapeutic: Honey Oat Bread