Poppies on the Grapevine

 The Grapevine is a road grade that starts at the mouth of Grapevine Canyon at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and ascends the canyon to the Tejon Pass in the Tehachapi Mountains via Interstate 5.

The mountains are quite impressive.  Steep.  And appearing to jump up out of nowhere.  You are driving for days down the middle of California seeing nothing but cows and orchards and then BAM! 4000 feet.  On the way down we saw these poppy fields.  Aren't the colors just amazing?! (Jono wouldn't stop for a photo op.  Something about traffic and getting somewhere.  Blah. Blah.)  Then on the way back it had disappeared into a snowstorm!  So many reasons to lift my eyes up!

"I lift my eyes up to the mountains--where does my help come from?

My help come from the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth."

Psalm 121:1-2 



Laguna Beach

The real Orange County

(right?!)

 What do you do at the beach when it is too cold to go in the water?

Go treasure hunting.

Chase waves.

And stomp on them.

Practice pitching.

And posing.

Protect sunbathers from wild animals.

Take a geological survey.

Sunset Beach

I love going, doing, and seeing new things and places and our family had some great adventures over spring break.  So much so that by the end of it Abby was begging for a "lazy day".   But our favorite part of the week by far was hanging with our friends.

These peeps.

They took us over to

SUNSET BEACH

for some sand and surf!

Heather took a quick pic of the fam.

Joe's brother from a different mother photo bombed us. :)

Things we saw...
kite surfers

pelicans

I love the beach.

Angels in the Outfield

One of our spring break adventures was going to the kids' first major league baseball game.

Angels vs. Royals

First, a little pre-game tailgate.

Walking to our sky box.

(If sky box means the highest seats in the stadium)

First view of the field.

The dugout.

Albert PUJOLS!!!

Dylan--ready to catch a pop fly or a foul ball.

Top row of the upper deck.  It could happen.

After the game, the kids were able to go down on the field and run the bases.  Pretty cool.

It was a bit of a learning experience for me.

The Angels are not the A's despite the fact that all of their paraphernalia has a giant A on it.

You can lead off of any base.  I thought it was only first.

Major league pitchers do walk people. 

Also, balking was explained to me and why the batter can run sometimes on a third strike.

Oh, baseball, you have so much to teach me.