Santa Monica Pier

Jeff had a meeting this weekend in Los Angeles, so we took off yesterday and had dinner at Houston's Restaurant in Manhattan Beach. Whenever Jeff has a chance to eat at a Houston's, we're there! :-) All roads lead to Houston's! We stayed at the hotel where the meeting took place. Tiffani and I enjoyed reading and chatting while Jeff was away.

And we enjoyed some Family Time today at the Santa Monica Pier. We had lunch outside at Rusty's Surf Ranch on the Pier. Then rode the Ferris Wheel. Jeff and Tiffani had a little treat, while I had Strawberry Cream green tea from Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. One of my favorites!

We had a sunny, cloudless, warm day. We walked to the end of the pier and down the steps to see the posts holding up the hundreds of thousands of pounds of cars, restaurants and amusement rides on the pier...a sight to behold.

We watched talented pier performers: break-dancers, a man singing old Rock 'n Roll, a woman singing gospel, and painters. On the way out, Jeff threw 4 baseballs, which stayed in the red bucket, to win Tiffani a stuffed blue & pink puppy...that she immediately named Blink (combining blue & pink).

We passed by Muscle Beach on the way back to the car and found an empty bench with our names on it. We sat and soaked in the sun's rays for a while, watching acrobats and free-form dancers. Marveling at the strength of all ages climbing ropes thirty feet above the ground and swinging on rings.

Cabazon Dinosaurs

We've always wanted to visit the new Creation Science Museum at the Cabazon Dinosaurs! We normally think of it when it's 100+ degrees. But we planned it for today's Mother-Daughter Day. It was a bit windy as you can see our hair and the palm frons blowing in the breeze, but it was a beautiful day!

Tiffani petting a dinosaur!

Hey! Did he just move?!
















Tiffani jumped right into the fray along with this gentleman to protect us from the terrifying T-Rex.







<=== Tiffani's mean face! (Watch out! That doesn't happen often!)



















We climbed into the mouth of a T-Rex! Yikes! We did that?!


















Playing around!












Farewell to Mr. T-Rex...you can see how tall he is...Tiff's standing by the fence.

After our harrowing experiences we headed next door to the Cabazon Outlet for a treat!

The Precious LAMB of God

The Nativity

Bethlehem's Star

The Star of Bethlehem ~ read about this real astronomical event!

Matthew 2:9-11
When they had heard the king, they departed;
and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them,
till it came and stood over where the young child was.
When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child
with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshiped him:
and when they had opened their treasures,
they presented unto him gifts;
gold, and frankincense and myrrh.

Tiffani & the Hannahs!

I just found this picture of Hannah, Hannah, Tiffani and yes, Hannah! It was taken in April 2005 (or was it 2004??) when our homeschool group took a family trip to Sacramento, CA to explore California History for a few days. This picture was taken aboard an old paddle-wheel ship down the American River. They're soooooo little!

The Typewriter

Even in these days of high-speed electronics and computers, Tiffani loves all things "old." While visiting Grandma and Grandpa on Thanksgiving Day, she saw the progression of "mechanical writing."

First, my mom pulled out her old, manual Royal typwriter with the red & black, striped, cloth ribbon. It's in beautiful condition and Tiffani found that it still types. Grandma recounted how she received it...she was in junior high and one night at the dinner table, she mentioned to her parents how much she'd like to have a typewriter. Much to her surprise, that very evening, they took her to a store and bought her the Royal typewriter. It cost $50 back then, which was an exhorbitant amount of money at the time.

I can recall MANY days of my childhood hearing the click of those keys as Mom kept in touch with friends and relatives across the country.

Next, Tiffani experienced the Smith Corona electronic typewriter, which Grandma allowed her to bring home with her. It was very fancy in its day...auto-correction of one letter OR a whole word!

The first letter Tiffani typed on it was a Thank You letter to Grandma & Grandpa for all the wonderful things they gave her that day. Then a letter to her friend, Stefanie, who moved away a year ago. She normally writes letters to her far-away friends in the style of Jane Austen's day...written on a large piece of paper & folded into an envelope. But this typewritten letter was special.

Lastly, during our visit, I showed her my old Apple IIC computer. It was the first personal computer I ever owned. My parents surprised me with it on my October birthday during my Senior year in high school. What a blessing that turned out to be! It seems like such an antique...no hard-drive to save on, a tiny monitor, and green, dotted characters. They have even kept the old dot-matrix printer! Tiffani loved it!