Drake Lately

I finished our Cali Video:

This is the program where I create the movie.

We've been having fun at Scouts!  We had a Pinewood Derby:

The boys working on their car.

One of the boys really loves otters and asked Taylor to draw him one of his car.  (Taylor tried to get the boy to do it, but he wanted Taylor to outline it and then he painted in the lines.)  Pretty dang cute!  He called it the Golden Otter.

And we taught the boys how to use flint and steel

This photo cracks me up.

This boy was really into it too!  It's always cute to see their excited faces and then they ask "Did you get the sparks in the photo?!?"

We've also had fun making lots of colorful food to make up for the dreary days.

We also sold our elliptical (because I still haven't been able to use it with my knees, and if we move it's too huge to take somewhere), so Tannin enjoyed one last run on it before the buyers came.

"I'm so fit!"

And there was a day at work where I got soaked in blood while putting in an IV.  Luckily we had extra scrub pants in the closet and I got some OR socks.  That was my first experience ever getting so much blood on me (usually it's just a drop or two that I can get out easily).

I thought it was funny I was wearing so many colors!  The blood went all the way down my leg into my shoe!  It was also more terrible because it was my first patient that morning, AND the patient was a brand new one...So...it only gets better from there, right?

And because it's almost Valentine's Day....

"Iguana love you forever!"

California Dreaming' Part 2

Tuesday was even more rain and flooding.  But we enjoyed our waterproof/water resistant coats while walking along the beach.  Then went inside the Mormon Battalion Historic Site and Old Town.  

Tay and I remember walking along the shops together back in HS.

Circa 2007 My captions are so vague, but those smiles are for real!

We tried to tide pool again at Cabrillo, but the wind and rain was so heavy we just got soaked (except for my waterproof coat and our waterproof camera).  PS rain ponchos are useless.

What you don't see is the rain poncho stuck up under my armpits since the wind kept pulling it up.  Also, you can see how stormy it is with muddy water.

We went back to our hotel to dry off and watched TV while intermittently getting warnings about floods.  Then once the flood warning was over in our area, we headed to the insta-care to get Taylor some antibiotics for his extreme pink eye at 8 pm at night.  When we got back to our hotel, we enjoyed some more TV until the electricity went out and we decided to go to bed.

This was a couple days AFTER he started the antibiotic.  His eyes were so red and puffy!  Also, notice the rain on the car window...

Wednesday we woke up and left San Diego and stopped by Cardiff by the Sea.

There were so many anemones in the middle of eating crabs!  It was  interesting to see.

Close up.

We also got out of the rain by re-visiting the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific.
Moon Jellies!

Hey...didn't we just see you in the ocean?

And of course we pet the sharks and sting rays.

And this seal just couldn't get enough of us.

Why hello there, my prey.

Just kidding!  I just wanted to play peek-a-boo!

Sadly, we didn't get to see the star fish at Cabrillo since the water was still too high even at low tide due to El Nino, but we made sure to touch some at the aquarium!

Can you see the seahorses?

This sea otter loved munching on the ice.  It was adorable.

After the aquarium, the rain had abated so we walked the Long Beach boardwalk and ate dinner (more fish tacos; we ate so many fish tacos on this trip it made me happy.)

Thursday was Universal Studios and Hollywood day.

Our favorite ride at Universal Studios would have been Harry Potter land...but it wasn't open yet, so instead we chose the tram ride (where I got DRENCHED--not due to El Nino) and the Simpson ride.

And Curious George stopped by for a visit with Tay Tay!

Just hanging out with Milhouse..

At the Chinese Theater Star Walk, we found Taylor's relative Jimmy Stewart (you may know him from "It's A Wonderful Life"...Do you want the moon, Mary?)

Taylor said his hands and feet fit perfectly!

And Gene Kelly, because all this trip we were singing and dancing in the rain!

And we had to re-do some old photos from HS...I wish we
could've found the DRAKE star and have me pose with it now.

Friday we stopped to see the Hollywood sign before heading back North (to the cold :(... )

This is a normal person taking a pic...

But since we're in Hollywood, and everyone think they're a super model, most people were posing in outrageous ways to appear "sexy" so this is my "I'm also so sexy Hollywood!" pose.

We drove to Saint George, and into a huge bright double rainbow (El Nino is very pretty sometimes.)

We enjoyed reminiscing about HS AcaDeca tour in St George and tried to figure out which hotel we had stayed at, but to no avail.

Saturday we finished our audio book and made it home to little Tan Tan who ate all her fat worms, crickets, and a few grasshoppers and super worms from her food troughs we set up so no one had to watch her.  You could tell she was a little sad from not being played with for 8 days!  But she wasn't starving!

We made sure to let her out and run around right when we got home.

And for your further enjoyment here are some more throwbacks:








I love you Tayto!

California Dreaming' Part 1

Friday January 1st we started the new year right by driving down to California!  We wanted to go to San Diego and retrace a few of the same footsteps of us on Band Tour in 2007.
But instead of an airplane, we drove.

2007 airplane ride...I have SO many pics of Tay and me...I didn't think much of it then, just two good buddies, but now I think it's sweet.  And Taylor wants me to point out how on all the pics I'M leaning into HIM.  Also, he's in almost ALL the pics.

We had pretty good roads, but did run into some intense fog for a while.

White wall of whiteness.  We were ready to say goodbye to snow for a week!

We drove all 11 hours (a big milestone since I can't usually sit longer than 45 minutes) and stopped in San Bernardino and played Banagrams.  

Saturday morning we woke up and headed to La Jolla where we did some whale watching...on kayaks!  It was awesome!  We chose "Everyday California" and their tour guides were very informative and fun!  We saw at least 2 whales about 200 yards away, a pod of dolphins, lots of cool flying sea birds, lobster, and so much seaweed that we had to eat some!  It was amazing to hear the whale's blow-hole plume (fluke) from 200 yards away...so loud!

Here's an example from YouTube about what it sounded like (link attached), and here's another example of what it looked like (link attached) for Taylor and me on a kayak.  Unfortunately, even though we had brought our waterproof camera, I didn't get the shots since I was too busy staring at the whales in real life and when I thought I was recording, I wasn't.  So I got a lot of videos of the in-between moments haha!

Got our wet suits on and ready to kayak!

Here I was thinking anxiously about how we'd only go 2 miles out of the shore...we actually ending up going 3.5 miles out because...it was awesome!

Once I started paddling, I felt less and less anxious and more and more excited!

Taylor conquered his fear of deep water by jumping into the ocean 3.5 miles out!  Good job!  I wasn't going to!  But I kept a look out since you could see about 10-12 feet down into the water.

After kayaking,

we enjoyed a walk down memory lane on the beach walk of Mission beach:

2007 throw back on Mission Beach

Just like in HS! Except now we hold hands while walking...

So much different than the Utah Wall of White pic.

(We stayed close to the beach at my new favorite inn "Beach Haven."  My only issue were the new towels that always left white fuzz on my body...mostly annoying when putting in contacts...)

We enjoyed frolicking under the pier of Mission Beach:

Those waves are tricky!  Sometimes you think they'll get you so you move, then other times you think you're fine and you get wet up to your knees!

We made sure to see the beach sunset:

and ate lots of these ice cream sandwiches from the Baked Bear.

MMM!  Yes please!

On Sunday we started our day with a 7th Day Adventist sermon then kayaked along the coast of La Jolla.  We were suppose to enter the caves of La Jolla, but El Nino was beginning and the waves were too high for us to enter and get too near the rock out-croppings.  We did stand up in our kayak for at least 12 seconds though!  And we just sat right back down...didn't fall into the water or onto each other at all!

Ready for our second day of kayaking!  Mostly Kelsey since Taylor started getting a cold and didn't have a lot of energy to paddle.

Some of the caves.

Standing up!

Maintaining balance...

And 12 Seconds!

We enjoyed a little tide pooling at Cabrillo National Monument afterwards:

Thank you selfie stick and panoramic camera lens!  We got some awesome shots of the scenery!

Note that Taylor is holding his "little friend" he found in one of the tide pools.

Epic.

K- This will be a great photo of the water hitting the rock and splashing up behind us!
T- You realize you just got soaked while walking here...you think it's a good idea?

And..SOAKED!  I still think it was worth the picture...

We enjoyed walking around Belmont Park where we had walked together in High School:

Aw! Now I get kisses all the time!...And licks...

Hey!  Who stole my glasses!?!

Monday morning we faced the rain at the San Diego Zoo.

Look it's a tortoise!

And then I GOT TO PET HER!!!!  Meet Isabelle the 95 year old tortoise who likes getting neck massages.

Hey!  Who stole my glasses!?!

Had to do the sky tram again like in HS!

San Diego Zoo circa 2007

For realzz!  We're so cute!

After the zoo, we walked the beach, and then swam in the hotel's swimming pool with our underwater camera.

Alright, alright, alright California..fine!  I'll move back to you ASAP!

Continued on the next post...