Going Home

I can always tell when it is time to go home.  It basically comes down to how much clean underwear is available.  We are about down to the last pair for all the kids. Hence, tomorrow morning, we are hitting the road. It is time to go home. 

Today we went to church and then got around to doing something at about 3:30 pm. We started to just drive around and then I remembered the wetlands in Carlsbad called Baquititos. It was a trail that started close to the freeway. Holy cow, was it loud. The noise started to dissipate as we got along the trail, thank goodness. It was beautiful and there were lots of birds in the far distant waters. I just didn't care for the freeway. The kids enjoyed grabbing sticks and dragging them, racing each other, and trying to throw rocks into the water.

As the sun got lower, I knew we had to try to get to the beach in time to watch is set. Fortunately, the beach was only about 1 mile away.  We made it and it was wonderful. However, I forgot my good camera, so the only way to capture anything was on my little camera phone.

Rinar and I really did not want the kids to get wet. It quickly spirals out of control when a kid gets wet at the beach. And believe me, there were some close calls. But mostly, we got away pretty unscathed.

And now it is time to get back to life and the heartbeat of the every day. It is the place where the magic happens, the day-to-day things we do to help our kids grow and realize their full potential. Raef and Zach only have 6 years before they will be on their way to great things in this world. I don't have a lot of time left to help them with the day-to-day. Time is slipping away. I just hope that all of these little moments we have had and will have will be enough to get them on their way to an amazing life. 

I have been very blessed. I am so thankful that after years of sacrifice and hard work, Rinar and I have ended up where we have always wanted to be. We live in an absolutely beautiful little corner of the world. The more that I think about it, the more I realize that it is everything I could have hoped for my family. And with all of the traffic and chaos of Southern California, I know I have it good. I look forward to going back to my peaceful oasis in the city.

And this is my new mantra. I have been thinking about this quote a lot lately. I have come to the conclusion that if I want to be successful and accomplish the goals I have set for myself, I am going to have to start consistently waking up earlier every single day. This is hard for me. I have never been a morning person. In fact, I can be downright grumpy. I usually set my alarm for early and then when it comes time to wake up, I frequently talk myself out of it. But this is not going to work. I have known for a long time that I need to get up early in the morning. I have procrastinated making that change in myself for far too long. I am feeling the urgency of it now. But changing this will come down to choosing it daily, step by step.

Every single day I make decisions. And the little decisions add up to big things. And those things will determine my destiny.

I am going to start focusing on making better "small" decisions. It is going to start with waking up early. I know this is the key to great successes in my life. I know that if I lead, my children will follow. I have greatness within me. I feel it. I know that it is there. And the older I get, the more I realize that the greatness does come from consistently doing the small things, day after day after day. And when I mess up or get off track, I am going to forgive myself and start over and just keep going. And as many times as it takes until I become master of myself, I will do it.

But not until Tuesday. Tomorrow will be a long drive home.

Ocean Beach

It was beach time today. After we got our fill of the amusement park scene, it was time to get back to nature. We drove down to Cabrillo National Monument and thought it would be fun to go to the tide pools. Unfortunately, the tide was too high and a bit too stressful for us to supervise. So, no tide pools. Still, we did a little hike and the kids got to throw some rocks into the ocean. They always love throwing rocks.

We then went in search of a beach and ended up at Ocean Beach. We were there for about 2 hours and the kids seemed to enjoy themselves.

On the way home, I wanted to stop by the temple and get a few pictures.

And since the kids were pretty sandy, we had them get into the pool as soon as we got back to the hotel. They were able to do lots of swimming and were pretty darn tired when they finished. 

First Awakenings in Salinas

After an invigorating drive down the California coast, we were able to get an amazing breakfast Monday morning at First Awakenings.  My cousin Sue and her husband Chris own this gem of a restaurant in Salinas and it did not disappoint.  Since it was the Monday after Easter and a pretty rainy, drizzly day, the restaurant was pretty slow.  This was quite wonderful for us because we were able to visit with both of them for a while. It sure was awesome to be able to reconnect with family.  Sue is my Uncle Ron's daughter. She and her sister Debbie are the only cousins I have on my Dad's side of the family.

 

The restaurant is so charming, situated in downtown Salinas, the home of John Steinbeck. It is a very quiet farming community really close to the Pacific ocean.  This is what I ate for breakfast, and it was delicious.

We headed up the coast after breakfast and stopped at a beach along the way. It was overcast and a little cold, but the kids were in heaven. They got so absorbed in playing that the time we spent there was but a moment. It was interesting to see their little personalities and how they chose to spend their time. When we were at Cape Cod a few years ago, Zach stood in front of the waves and "conducted" them, while Raef busily built something in sand. Nothing much has changed after all these years. Raef found something to build while Zach stood in front of the waves.

Eli is also a builder, I guess. This is what he did the entire time we were there and he just loved it. He made a canal system and then he wanted water. I gave him a cup, but he soon realized it was not easy to fill a cup from an incoming wave. It was near impossible. But Eli made a discovery: when you dig down in the sand there will be a pool of water. Way to go, kid!

A lady found this washed up on the shore. Isn't that fantastic? Harry and Julia just loved it.

 

We soon were on our way to San Francisco. We got there at the perfect time, right after lunch. We dropped Rinar off at the hotel and then I hit the road. I wanted to get through Sacramento before rush hour, and I did.  After a brief stop in Reno to pick up some frozen elk meat, we made it all the way to Winnemucca and then stayed in a little hotel off of the freeway.  The drive was uneventful, thank goodness.  On Tuesday, April 1 we pulled into Salt Lake City and were ready to start our new life in a new place.  

Monterey and Big Sur

The movers came to our house on Thursday, March 28 to pack everything up. Then everything was loaded into the truck the following day.  Everything went pretty smoothly and the house was cleaned and completely empty by 5pm.  We said our goodbyes to a few of our friends and neighbors and then hit the road for a little vacation. The truck would be in Utah by Wednesday and Rinar had to be in San Francisco by Tuesday. 

I always wanted to go to Monterey and had never been able to, so why not take the opportunity while we had a window and it was still relatively close? We stayed in Vacaville on Friday night and then left early Saturday to get to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It is a pretty big aquarium with an even bigger reputation. And boy, was it crowded. This is what happens when you decide to visit on Easter weekend. Still, the kids had a lot of fun and we were able to see just about everything.

We stayed in Salinas for the weekend. I really wanted to see the views that Monterey had to offer, so after church we took a little road trip down the coast to Big Sur and back.

Look at these views...fantastic. It was kind of cold, but it was crystal clear outside.

Since it was a little cold, I had to relinquish my coat to Zach, who was woefully under dressed. Look at that kid. He had no worries about the fact that the coat was a very girly shade of pink.

We stopped at several scenic spots along the way. We would make the kids get out and do a little hike. They tolerated it.

And then they didn't. Well, only one kid didn't. Eli was not happy when he saw hike in front of him to make it down to the beach.  He grumbled all the way down the path. 

When we got to the bottom, the sand was great, even though the water was absolutely treacherous. I didn't even let them put a toe in, it was really that scary.  But all of them had so much fun playing at the beach. They were engrossed in it.

And then we had to leave...and once again, someone was very displeased with the news. Eli grumbled, cried, moaned, and complained all the way back to the car. He did not want to leave.

Right before we turned around at Big Sur, there was this amazing coastal ranch. It went on for many miles and was enchanting. I just couldn't believe there was a ranch of this magnitude in such an expensive place. I mean, this has to be one of the most expensive coastline addresses in the world. But there they were...lots and lots of cows. They seemed pretty darn happy. 

Before we went back to the hotel, we decided to do the 17 mile road in Monterey. This is where Pebble Beach is, the famous golf course.  And by the way, it really is a pebble beach, very large pebbles actually.

Our first two days in Monterey were wonderful. It was refreshing to be out in nature, enjoying these beautiful heavenly creation with my six most favorite people in the whole world.

Reconnecting on Spicer's Reservoir

It is one of those wonderful blessings when you have the opportunity to reconnect with family, where there has not been that much connection in the past. One of the incredible benefits of moving to Reno is that I was able to reconnect with a part of my family that I don't know very well. My Dad has a brother named Ron and his family always has a family reunion every year at Spicer's Reservoir, high in the Sierra Nevada's. Amazingly enough, the campsite was only about 2.5 hours from my house.

So I had to go.  Unfortunately, Rinar had to work, so I braved it alone.  I spent one night there and it was great to see everyone. However, it was not great sleeping in a tent with my kids. Julia had a hard night, therefore so did I. She fell asleep at dawn right when the birds started to sing. Hence, I got about 1 complete hour of sleep. It was a very long night.  What can I say? She is my sleeping beauty.

Here is my Uncle Ron, cousin Sue, and her daughter Cassie. I think you know those little tikes.

Uncle Ron is on the right, with Dino, my other cousin Debbie's boyfriend.  The lady on the left is a family friend.

This is another family friend, Jeff, holding a distraught Harry. Everyone was so welcoming and inviting and they all were very happy to help  my with my kids.

Cassie is standing, then her dad Chris (Sue's husband) is sitting behind  his oldest son C.J., and next to my other cousin Debbie.  Sue's family owns a restaurant in the Monterrey area called New Awakenings. It was actually featured on an episode of "$40 a Day" with Rachael Ray.

Let's get dirty, oh yeah! My Dirty Harry. Don't worry, it got much worse.

Dino was so good with the kids.

There you go...me and my cousins, Debbie and Sue.

Debbie and Cassie

This is Peggy, my Aunt Vicki's sister. Vicki passed away almost a year ago from cancer. I first met Peggy when we went to Ron's house to pay our respects.

Chris and C.J.  C.J. was so cute with the kids.  Harry and Julia loved playing with him.

On the way home, we drove on hwy 4 through Ebbett's Pass. It is an incredibly beautiful and  harrowing road.  My pictures do not do it justice.  It must be one of the beautiful places on the entire earth...truly God's country.

I actually think I have been on this road before. I have a childhood memory of driving with my dad and sister's up a really windy road. There was snow everywhere and then we had to stop because at this point, there was a huge avalanche of snow piled right here and we had to turn around. If it wasn't at this specific spot, then it was at a place that looked exactly like this.  Weird.