Trimming the tree!

The girls were so excited to get the tree up and decorate, that they could not wait until we brought down the ornaments. Creativity took hold and did it's work. Who needs the other ornaments anyway.

Well, we finally did get the other ornaments down and so here is our tree during the day time.

Alisa's Birthday Party

Alisa took 2 friends to the Cabrillo Aquarium in San Pedro.
It was a beautiful day and there were lots of activities to do and lots of things to look at. There's some fish!!

We first went to a slide show for a low tidepool walk. They showed us slides of animal that we could potentially see in the tidepools. It was very informative and because it was a super low tide, we were able to see most all the animals that they told us. These are actual pictures from tidepools by the ocean.

Hermit crab, anyone??

This is a touch tank inside the aquarium. Josh didn't want to touch anything. He finally became brave enough to touch the starfish. . . and that's it!

The kids could crawl under this and see the kelp and fish underneath. Now you know what they would look like in a fish bowl.

Plus they had a place for dressing up like different sea creatures.

The Joshie Crab. . .

He was a little nervous about the Great Grey Shark!

They ended with doing some crafts on pelicans and making bookmarks.

Overall, it was successful day! Alisa turns eight on Dec. 9. She's getting soooo old.

The Griffeth Observatory

We were able to get tickets easily on the internet to go to the recently opened Griffeth Observatory.

They showed a film on how they lifted the previous building off its foundation so that it could add more rooms underground. They did not want to affect the look of building from the front. They had exhibits like the ones above on planets, tides, eclipes, and other things affected by the planets and like.

Einstien thinking and illustrating the important concept =)

We took some pics on the roof.

The grandparents. . .

Our Family

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I realize that I need to catch up on my blog, so we're back tracking to Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful time with family around the dinner table, being thankful. We started a tradition of signing on a runner what we are thankful for this past year. I hope to take it out each year and add to it. It is always a good reminder to be thankful!! Thanks be to God for all his abundant blessings!!

Glimpses into Josh's Day

He loves loading up his trucks and carrying his treasures around the house.

He is usually going at full speed or not at all.

Training Rosy

Here are some of Rosy's daily activities:
Playing with her toys. . .

Looking for something to bark at. . .

Trying to get as much sun as she can. . .

Hubby has been working hard to train our Italian Greyhound, Rosy. She is a type of breed that is hard to house train. We have her trained to go from her crate just inside her doggy door to the outside on the side of her house. Now we are trying to train her to go outside when we give her free reign in our house. She does fine when we are home, but if we leave and allow her in the house, then she makes mistakes. She also will make mistakes at night, if we let her have free reign. It can be frustrating!

This past weekend we went on a family bike ride up to Coswell Reservoir. It was beautiful. There was a windy river following the wide bike trail. There were lots of fall colors.