Julian 4-4-2014

Julian is a lovely little own up in the mountains.  There are several cute antique stores and so many adorable shops lining the streets.  Even the guys enjoyed shopping!  The drive up to Julian is gorgeous and my family was kind enough to allow for a few brief photo stops on the way there.  One time, I took too long and Papa started honking the horn. Oops!  :) 

One of the photo stops.  I love cows so much and think they're pretty much the most adorable things.  :) 

I love the views that we got while driving on the mountain roads! 

One of the antique shops was being overtaken by this gorgeous greenery.  :) 

"I don't repeat gossip, so listen carefully." :) 

I don't agree with this, but I thought that it was cute. 

THIS place was incredible!  Definitely my favorite shop!  It smelled amazing with so many different soaps, and the potpourri.  They also had some lovely countryside artwork! 

 

 

This is one of my favorites.  Completely candid, and I love the colors! 

Me and my favorites.  My other favorite was behind the camera for this shot  :) 

Oh yeah!  Whoever made this sign knew what they were talking about!  :) 



I want one of these someday!  So cool!

Air and Space Museum 4-3-2014

We visited the Air and Space museum on the 3rd.  It was so incredible, and the Lord blessed us with a kind elderly gentleman with a wealth of knowledge to give us bits of very interesting information about different artifacts etc. in the museum.  

In the above photo is the helmet for the squadron that my dad was in while he was in the Navy.  He actually designed the mascot which is on the side of the helmet.  It was so cool to see my dad's work in the museum!!!

A replica of the Red Baron's plane.  AMAZING!

Medals of Brig. Gen. Billy Mitchell.

"The Hall of Short Biographies" :)  I wish that I could speed read!

This is the actual Apollo 9 command module.  How amazing is that!?!

Medals of Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker.

The Red Baron's autobiography.  I want this book so badly!

My grandpa (dad's dad) flew an F-4.

One of the most amazing and intriguing things I learned when we were at the museum - the Germans were engineering and building stealth aircraft during WWII. I HAD NO CLUE! How cool!

This kind man blessed us so much!

We stopped at Five Guys for dinner.  Best. Burgers. EVER!  

The horrible part about going to Five Guys is finishing your hamburger and wishing you had 3 more.  Its quite depressing, really.  :)

This incredible view on the drive home.  Love mountains!

Exploring Borrego Springs 4-2-2014

After we settled into the house in Borrego Springs, unpacked, and did some cleaning, we headed out to do some exploring of several neat places that Papa remembered from visiting his grandparents.  We also drove around randomly, stopping for me to take pictures.  :)

The palm trees here...wow!  It is unusual to see palms instead of pine trees.  I still haven't gotten used to it.  :)

Aren't they CUTE!?!

There is a man in Borrego Springs who creates these amazing figures.  This was our favorite.  It looks like something out of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

This catholic church was so cute!  It had an image right above the door, so that's why this is framed a bit unnaturally.  I didn't exactly want that in my photo.  :)

Mr. Grasshopper.  :)

Love, love, love my guys!!!

Joshua Tree 3-30-2014 through 4-1-2014

We spent a day at Joshua Tree National Park and the boys and I tent camped that night.  What a blast!

We climbed rocks and rode bikes all day long, and I took my phone along where my camera could not be brought with any degree of safety.  :)  I am so grateful for my iPhone!  

There were so many fun caves and crevices to explore, as well as amazing views from the top.  It was fun, and a challenge to find ways up to the highest part of the "mountain" that were safe enough for all of us to climb.  Christian and Jonathan were such troopers!

While we were there, I discovered something that I am afraid of.  Fortunately, or unfortunately, I am normally pretty fearless, even to the point of doing dumb things.  :)  I found that I am afraid to trust myself to make long jumps.  Whaaat!?!  I would never have expected that!  :)

I took a lot of photos while we were there, but here are some of my favorites:

Elijah, Jeremiah, and I climbed to the highest point we could find, and watched the sun go down.  Jeremiah and I took the same hike/climb the next morning to watch the sun rise, and it was GLORIOUS!

The sunrise was so beautiful, and well worth waiting for.  It was cold and windy on the mountaintop, but once the sun began to color the clouds pink, purple, and orange, I barely felt the chill.  I played "10,000 Reasons" (forever favorite!) and a few others, including the one I listen to nearly every time I am in an elevated place with an incredible view -  "Top of the World" from "The Last of the Mohicans".

Sunrise rainbow. Absolutely incredible!

Conquering the heights!

Deep in thought  :)

Sleepy eyes!  :)

Love this shot!