Happy Birthday Gordon!

Last year we were driving across the country.  We celebrated Gordon's birthday in San Antonio, Texas: 

Happy 29th Birthday Gordon!!!

Happy Halloween!

Hollywood Bowl

Last Saturday night we headed to LA for the Zac Brown Band concert at the Hollywood Bowl.  We made a day of it and went to Manhattan Beach to hang out.  We ate at Simmzy's which was a fun atmosphere and amazing food!

Hollywood Bowl

I love those hills!

The seating is all wooden benches.  The next level down has chairs and fold up tables you can eat on.

Going to the Hollywood Bowl is a must if you love concerts.  We'd never seen anything quite like it. It's so subtle being only a few blocks away from Hollywood Blvd. You can order gourmet food and beverages.  People are tailgating - California style- which means they are really bringing a picnic with sandwiches and wine, rather than burgers and beers off the back of the truck.
And Zac Brown Band puts on a really great concert! They played a lot of hits other than their own and played a lot of instruments.  The band is also building a summer camp, Camp Southern Ground, for kids with autism in Georgia. How cool!

Our 1st Anniversary

Yesterday was our 1st Anniversary! Can you believe it's been a year?! In one way it feels like a long time ago since we've been so busy with new things, but on the other hand it's hard to believe!
Gordon surprised me with a wonderful night celebrating in Newport Beach and dinner in Laguna Beach!

View from our balcony

It's crazy to think a year ago we had no idea what the future held for us! I don't think we could have asked for a better year!  We are so thankful.

Blessed

The Lord has answered so many of our prayers today!

Our nephews, Henry Robert and Emmett MacLeod, were born early this morning via c-section.  They both weighed in around 4 pounds and are doing great!  Sarah is resting and doing well.  We are so excited and especially thankful we will be able to see them when we are back on the east coast for Christmas.

Imperial Beach

A few days ago we headed to Imperial Beach, which is the southernmost beach on the west coast.  We thought about going to Tijuana, but we couldn't find it.  Haha, it's probably for the best anyway.  

Imperial Beach reminded us of Florida.  It is very flat compared to the rest of San Diego.

A piece of home - river, marsh grass, and mud. And there is Mexico. 

We walked as close to Mexico as we could. This must be Tijuana.  

There is a naval air base right behind the beach.  The entire time we were there, about 8 helicopters were running drills over our heads.  At first we thought they were protecting the border, it seemed like a fun story.

Beautiful rainbow.

And sunset.

Gordon's interviews went well today! And other exciting news soon!

Christmas in San Diego

Happy 12/12/12! 

And Happy Holidays! 

Here are a few ways San Diego celebrates the season:

A stage in Old Town - the first town in San Diego that is now a historic landmark.

Surfing Santa, of course.

Sand Man on Coronado Island creates these amazing sand sculptures on the beach for the public to enjoy.

Jungle Bells is a light exhibit at the zoo.  Sadly, we are going to miss it this year. 

Christmas Cacti

December Nights

This past weekend Balboa Park hosted their annual December Nights event.  It's open to the public and the best part is all of the museums are free.  There is also tons of food and entertainment.  I think we counted at least 5 Santa Clauses.  

Lighting of the Tree Ceremony with the mayor.

One of the buildings in Balboa Park.  They are all this majestic and ornate. 

I was surprised to see this life sized nativity scene.  There were about 7 of these booths telling the story of Jesus.  

The beginning of a very long row of food tents.  Each tent represented a different country and offered corresponding cuisine.  In this picture you can see the House of the Philippines tent.  We ate from the House of France (french onion soup and a nutella crepe). 

There was a whole village of countries.  Gordon sending a picture to Sarah and Greg.

We went in the Sports Museum.

And the Train Museum... They were building this area- they mold the mountains out of styrofoam and have pictures of the places they are replicating.  

And the Air and Space Museum.

A gentleman working at the Air and Space Museum said this was the only place we would see all 3 medals of honor in one place other than the Pentagon.

They had the Apollo 9 space capsule.

And the Car Museum - with the Back to the Future car.

There was also a whole fair setup within the park.  With all the crazy rides that make Gordon and I almost sick just looking at.  But Christina, you would have loved it.

Brilliant!

Fun lights outside the zoo.

We are exhausted, but happy :)

Then on Saturday morning we went to my cousin, Lia's first water polo tournament on Coronado island.  She did great! Go Dons!

 Then we did some more sightseeing:

We thought we would go ice skating, but then realized the rink was basically a puddle of water.  So instead we watched people fall and get soaking wet.  It was quite amusing. Beautiful day!

The Del Coronado hotel actually hired this man and his hawks to walk around the property to scare the seagulls away. 

View of the Point Loma lighthouse we visited the other day.

On our way home we stopped by the Padres baseball stadium.

And the Midway naval ship.

We ended our Saturday with a Thai dinner out with friends. 

Flower

A beautiful flower Gordon brought me from his run:

More on our weekend tomorrow.

Favorite Things

Here are a few of our favorite things:

1. Mr. Sticky

The second day we got to California we were in a local grocery store called Ralphs.  While shopping, we suddenly heard over the speaker that they would be giving away something free by aisle 4.  Along with every other curious shopper, we headed to the mysterious table setup.  Our free item was a penny sized cleaning cloth.  But it got us all excited for more and next thing we knew we were enduring a 30 minute marketing show for Mr. Sticky, who can apparently pick anything up from any surface.  We were all so impressed (and hopeful it was free) that we watched with excitement. Of course the end of the presentation revealed the amazing deal of getting 3 sizes for the price of one.  So naturally, we bought Mr. Sticky and his little friends.  We weren't quite as excited as the asian lady next to us who bought 3 separate sets, but Mr. Sticky has been helping us keep our floor clean ever since! (coming soon to QVC)

2. Eggo Waffles Pumpkin Spice

Best. Waffles. Ever.

3. Duck Dynasty

This is our new favorite TV series.  It's hilarious and we suggest you watch it. We also love Homeland.

4. Panda Cam

We highly encourage you to continue to check out the panda cam filming the baby panda and mama panda at the SD Zoo.  The past couple nights we have looked at it and found the pandas eating and playing with each other.  They're so sweet!

We had another fun night at Balboa Park and have a busy weekend ahead.  We will fill you in on Monday.  Have a great weekend!

Pacific Beach/Grinch

We had a lovely walk south to Pacific Beach.  We drive through PB almost everyday to get to the highway, but have never checked out the actual beach.  We've been missing out! Its a really nice long, flat beach with a fun boardwalk.  Very surfer friendly.

View from the PB pier.

PB Pier - The little houses are a hotel on the pier.  It's called the Crystal Bay Pier Hotel.  It might be a fun place for you to stay when you come visit!

Board walk.

And tonight we went to the Old Globe Theater in Balboa Park for 'The Grinch Stole Christmas' musical.

We had great seats!