A bit behind and then some...

I was doing so good at keeping up!  And then...it all fell apart.  But for now, I'm stuck on the couch icing my knee that I just had surgery on (that story will come later) so I can catch up on a few blog posts.  

I left off on Wednesday of our California vacation.  We decided to get up Wednesday and go to the Museum of Making Music which was just down the street from us in Carlsbad.  I didn't know really what to expect but I will say that it was really neat and I think we all had a great time. 

Basically you walk through the history of music and instruments.  At each station they have an instrument that you can actually play on (which was by far the coolest thing for the kids). 

Here they are playing on a mandolin. 

They had neat displays of all kinds of instruments. 

Even an electric drum set that was a huge hit with the kids. 

Neat old guitars and a banjo. 

I had to take a picture of the flutes since I actually have played that instrument. 

At the end of the tour they had a room with a bunch of different keyboards and guitars that you could play on. 

I liked the flower shaped guitar. 

My husband rocking out like an 80's rock band member. 

They also had a banjo room.  We decided the kids should start a banjo worship team :)  I think Kale and Kate decided they wanted to learn how to play the keyboard and Jack wants to learn the drums. 

After we were done at the museum we went outside to discover a huge smoke cloud in the area. It turns out that there was a big fire about a mile or two from the condo we were staying in! 

We thought we would possibly have to evacuate so we went to the condo and packed up just in case.  It turns out that they were able to keep it away from us and we didn't have to leave but it was yucky nonetheless! 

After the museum we headed to lunch with Krissie and Eric.  We went to a sandwich shop and then to this fancy ice cream shop next door.  At the ice cream place you tell them what base you want (ice cream, custard, almond milk etc), what you want mixed in and then they take it and add liquid nitrogen to it and freeze it before your eyes.  It's like a cool, delicious science experiment! 

After dessert we went back and checked on the condo and then our family went on a hunt for tide pools.  Krissie wasn't feeling well and wasn't able to go with us so she told us the best place to go.  And it was beautiful! 

The steps down to the beach. 

It turns out that we were a little late for the lowest tide but we still had a great time finding shells and exploring the beach. 

I was the keeper of the treasures. 

Later that night we went back to the beach by our condo to enjoy one last CA sunset.  This is how the two smaller of the small ones entertained themselves while the sun went down. 

 It was a beautiful night and the sunset did not disappoint. 

Thursday morning we met up with Krissie one last time for breakfast and then we started our journey home. 

We were going to go back through Phoenix and see our friends again but they caught a stomach bug and we decided not to risk catching it ourselves. So we blazed across CA and AZ to Flagstaff where we stayed Thursday night.  

Here's part of the view from that trip.  I could've sworn that Radiator Springs (from the movie Cars) was around here somewhere. 

Jack played with my phone for a while.  Here are a few of the 121 pictures he took.  I had to keep a few.  They're hilarious! 

At one point the kids wanted to dress up in dad's graduation gear :) 

We listened to books on CD on the way home and made good time. We got home on Friday afternoon which was nice so we had a day and a half to unpack, do laundry, work some on the house before we got back to life. 

I will post soon about our new house and how it's coming along.  We've been busy making it our home. 

Graduation Day!

This week is a busy and fun week! 

We left Durango early Thursday morning and drove to Phoenix. 

View on our drive. 

There we stayed with some great friends of ours, Adam and Kristin Bleger, and got to spend Adam's birthday with him.  

The kids went swimming and we ordered out and had a great time catching up with them. 

Got some fun pics of the landscape around the house.  Jack says "mom look! They have a giant pineapple in their backyard!" Haha! 

Kristin read them stories before bed. Giant sleepover! 

Friday morning we got up early and headed to San Dimas, Ca from Phoenix.  We were greeted by hundreds of these. :) 

We got to San Dimas just in time for an informational luncheon that Mark attended.  The kids and I headed to lunch and then checked into our hotel. 

After Mark got back he spent quite a while ironing his graduation gown. We decided not to go to the baccalaureate with him.  I really wanted to attend but the kids were just at their limit so we stayed back and ordered pizza and went to bed early. 

Mark, on the other hand, dressed up in his one suit. Handsome guy! 

Today was the day.  Graduation day.  What Mark has been working towards for almost 2 years.  It's a strange thing though.  He's graduated but he isn't done with school.  He just started a new class last week that won't be finished until the end of June. Then he will be done with classes.  He has a final project due in December.  So he's kinda done. 

But we are still thrilled to be able to celebrate this monumental day! 

This morning we dropped Mark off at Angelus Temple (where the Foursquare founder preached) for graduation rehearsal.  Family wasn't allowed in for 2 more hours.  The kids and I had some time to kill. 

So we went for a drive to Hollywood Blvd.  It was cool but so difficult to be navigator, driver and tour guide. Not to mention parent.  Add to that the fact that I'm a small town Colorado girl, not a big city California girl. No offense to the few Californians who read my blog, but the traffic is killer!  And stressful.  

I turned on Siri to show me the way to the Hollywood observatory and somehow wound up back at Angelus Temple.  I gave up. We changed plans and went to Echo Park which is right across the street from the church.  It was beautiful. 

Looking at ducks. 

I just loved the tree outlines. 

The lily pads were pretty too. 

When it came close to being allowed in, the kids and I went and stood in line (that went around the block!). This is a picture of Aimee Semple McPhersons parsonage which is now a historical center. 

Our selfie while waiting.  Sent it to Mark :)

The church is big and beautiful inside. 

We had seats in the front of the first balcony. Right in front of some very enthusiastic and loud cheerers who practically knew everyone graduating! 

Name in the program. 

Our graduate with his back to us.  Second row. 

The graduation itself was neat.  It was awesome that we got to worship and pray and celebrate. The speaker was a tad long winded...so Jack snapped a pic of his feet. 

And I snuck one of Kate. 

After the ceremony we found Mark over at Echo park and then took him out to lunch at Red Robin.  

After lunch, I snuck off to Trader Joe's to get some snacks. I've never been inside one.  I got lots of great recommendations on Facebook and found some goodies.  Man they were busy though! Again with the small town-ness...

When I got back we finally took the kids swimming. They've been begging us and we promised we'd go after graduation. 

Love this pic. 

Tomorrow we are planning on heading back to Angelus Temple to attend church. Then we'll drive to San Diego to spend four days. And hit up Legoland...