Hetherington Happenings

California Dreamin on a Summer Day

Another reflecting post on our start-of-summer California trip... in-between days at Legoland we had the fun of connecting with people we love.

At Jakes Del Mar (love you Jackie & David Allaire!!) we had so much fun with our server Danielle Allaire while meeting my high school girlfriend, Trisha Garcia and Mike for dinner.  If you are ever in San Diego and want an incredible dinner of fresh seafood or steak AND you want a seat as close to the ocean as possible, you MUST head to Jakes.  If you look past the glass refraction glare in this photo, you'll see an amazing view of waves and sand, and if you make your reservation at the right time, you'll see a sunset that only California can paint for you. Spectacular!

I look forward to times like these with friends, food and the ocean! And I'm so thankful for the friendship with Trisha I've been able to keep for over 25 years.

We met Aunt Jeri at Dana Point Harbor for lunch. More fresh seafood! 

And more time on the beach for the boys.

Max is happiest when he is rolling in, digging in, covered with sand. It is the greatest sensory therapy EVER that we've found for him.  I guess we may have to move to the beach some day. Bummer.

We met up with my sweet college friend, Michelle Krugh, and two of her precious kiddos. She is an amazing mom!

A fun afternoon at Doheny Beach. Too bad my kids don't tan well.

Then we headed down the coast to San Clemente pier for more fresh seafood and an incredible sunset. Our kids had a blast together!

It was a perfect way to end the day.

Legoland Adventure

Looking back a few weeks, and catching up, we kicked off our summer with a week in San Diego, California. So much fun that I'm going to make a couple posts. I'll start with Legoland...

We spent a couple days at Legoland and here's my review.  We went on a Thursday and were surrounded with 8-12 year old kids without supervision climbing all over the lines, loudly using inappropriate language and no "Disney police" to keep order; long, long, long,  long waits for 30 second rides; and rides clearly intended for kids under 6.  I was expecting Disneyland with Lego's and I was sorely let down. We had done the $10 second-day upgrade to come back Saturday and I wasn't looking forward to it.

However, I will say that the Mini-Land they created was spectacular...San Fransico, Paris, NYC, New Orleans, Las Vegas...and Star Wars all 6 episodes.

Saturday the sun was shining and the boys were so excited for Star Wars Days at Legoland.

So was everyone else in San Diego county who wasn't at the County Fair. It was far more crowded with people, but it was families, not kids on the loose, so the atmosphere was completely different.

And the park must have been more prepared because the lines moved faster (30 minute waits as opposed to 60 minute waits) on the same rides.

The Star Wars characters were everywhere.

Everywhere!

I'm fairly certain I took photos of the boys with Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Queen Amidala, Storm Troopers, R2D2, Darth Maul, Jedi's, Sandpeople, Jawa's, Sand Troopers, Snow Troopers, Tie Fighter Troopers, and a few others I can't spell.

There was a scavenger hunt, a droid hunt and giveaways. The boys were in Lego Star Wars heaven. It was a great day! We left happy and exhausted.

We had debated about buying season passes and thankfully we did not, although our second day experience was much more positive than our first exposure, I won't be going back. Legoland is clearly intended for young children. I could see taking boys up until the age of 9, maybe 10, but a girl past the age of 7, would find no interest in this place. And teenagers, forget it! There is no reason at all to bring your tween or teen to Legoland.  So take your kids while they are young and you will have a great adventure.

Summer Fun 2011

You may have noticed I rearranged a few things on the blog. Someday I hope I find time to learn how to make it exactly like I want it to look, but for now Summer is calling and there is too much fun to be had.

So on that note, I created a new photo album, which you'll see on the right side-bar of my blog. It's titled "Summer Fun 2011".  I'll be updating it on a daily basis with a photo and brief description of our latest adventure.

Follow along, and tell me about your adventures too!

Spring Break

Generally speaking, "there's no place like home"....except in this case, Palm Springs suited me just fine!

We had a fantastic getaway. No work. All play. All day. In the hot sunshine. Now that's my kind of vacation. 

We spent all our time outside enjoying all the amazing beauty God created for us! The High Desert Museum was a big hit...Max loved the trains, miles of track laid outside in the sun

 

Mikey loved the animals

 

Max loved playing football in the pool. He's got an incredible throw!

 

We found a hiking trail and took a morning walk up a mountain before the heat got too unbearable:

 

It was great being active and outside, and the food was amazing all week. Healthy, fresh, and even better because I didn't cook or clean for 7 days. Here we are waiting to go into the Japanese restaurant.

 

Our favorite was the Tuscany. Max loved the lobster ravioli!

 

I love seeing the boys tan and happy, and exhausted every night.

 

We ended the week with a couple nights at Grandpa and Grandmas. The boys colored eggs with Franklin and grandma:

And rode the tractor with grandpa

Then we headed home to snow, rain, snow, wind and cold. Brrrrrrr! I miss the warm desert already.

Sun River Week

I really don't think a week of vacation could have been much better than our past week in Sun River, Oregon (just south of Bend)...but then again, I think I said the same thing about our week in Capitola.  Honestly, I could live happily ever after in Capitola or Bend. For now, I'll just vacation happily in both.

We went to Sun River because Rick was playing in the Jeld-Wen Tradition Pro-Am tournament with 3 other guys and Scott Simpson as the pro. Rick played with Scott last year as well, and what a funny guy Scott Simpson is; Rick had great conversation with him about the golf, life and love for God! Since they had an 8:06 am tee time, I didn't get there for the group photo, but hopefully one of the other wives will email me a pic which I'll post later.

 My parents came along and the boys loved this!   Here's our house:

 

We spent mornings full of activity. Playing at the pool with grandma

 

practicing for fishing with grandpa

or biking all the trails. Gotta love Craigslist where we picked up this Trail-a-bike for Mikey for a bargain and a half! He loves it, and I love being able to actually ride without waiting constantly for him on his little training bike.

Rick and I had some kind of dinner party every night. EVERY NIGHT! Whoo hooo!

Here's us on our 7th wedding anniversary. Lots of fabulous, amazing, wonderful, confusing, difficult, blessed memories in such a short period of 7 blissful years!

 

And on Ricks birthday

with the other wives

 

with Tom Watson and my friend Carrie

and after dinner with Loren Roberts, with our friends Barb & Barry. What a humble, talented, interesting man who loves God this guy is!  We also had Bernhard Langer at our table, and altho we didn't get to chat across the table too much, I was very impressed by the humble quiet conversations we did have.

On the first day of the PGA tournament it was Max's turn to go to the course. The Jeld-Wen tent is on the 18th hole, and Max was the only child in a tent full of our friends, co-workers, and business associates. He thought he'd died and gone to heaven...everyone paid attention to him. If I left his side for a moment someone was offering him ice cream, food, soda...Fred Funk signed his hat and Tom Purtzer gave him a golf ball. When the PGA staff raised their arms for silence as a pro came up to swing, Max raised his arms along with them and called for silence. It was hilarious and I wish you could've seen him! (btw, Fred Funk has to be one of the nicest guys around as I got to chat more with him at one of the dinners)

One morning we drove south-east to south Twin Lake and spent a few hours fishing. What a glorious day it was!  My mom and I rented a row boat while the guys fished from shore. All Max wanted to do was cast and reel, cast and reel. Grandpa thought it was a good day to teach Max patience about casting and waiting for fish to bite.

 

Max won out and continued to cast.

 

  Mikey took a turn in the row boat with his pole:

 

 

It was an amazing day!

On Saturday Mikhal had his afternoon to go to the PGA tournament and watch from the 18th green. He basked in all the attention and sat on the front row watching the pro's come in for their final swing. His favorite part of the day: riding the school bus that drove you across the road from the parking area to the course.

But he came home with a golf ball & tee, and had to set up his own course under the trees...

 

Here's the boys just hanging around the house in the morning

 

baiting hooks

 

and waiting for dinner

California Sunshine

Leaving our cares behind us with our housesitters, we headed south for the beaches of California. Once we hit Hwy 17 memories drifted across my mind mingled with the scent of the Redwoods at Mt. Hermon as the road wound its way through the Santa Cruz Mountains, cresting at the top my eyes searched for that first familiar glimpse of the ocean peeking through the tall green trees. Ahhh! 17 curved its way down to sea level, passing what used to be the beloved Santas Village, and connecting us to Hwy 1, then escorting us past Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, past Sea Bright and Twin Lakes beach delivering us to the sensory delight of the salty Monterey Bay and Capitola Beach.

Could life be any better than when spent at the beach? I certainly think not, and my boys would most definitly agree.

Aside from telling me that I'm dying of skin cancer, there doesn't seem to be enough warning the AMA or FDA can provide that stops me from longing after the feel of the warm sun bronzing my skin. Granted, I have stopped slathering baby oil on my skin and I do now use sunscreen, but alas, I'm sure the damage is done from all the youthful hours spent at Santa Cruz, Huntington, Newport, Malibu and Zuma.

 And praise God I have boys who tan darker than I ever did in my wildest dreams. I used to spend a whole summer trying to get the deep tropical tan they immulate in one afternoon! How is it possible a child born in frozen tundra of Siberia could have blue eyes, blond hair and surfer glowing skin??? And one from the utmost regions of the outskirts of a tiny village monastery in Russia could bronze like a greek god???   Talk about God thinking things through to the smallest detail - - He even took my love of the beach into consideration -  these boys were destined to be our sons before we even knew their names. Isn't God amazing!!!!!

We spent time in many places I loved as a child, so the memories are even better now: Santa Cruz Boardwalk and pier

at Roaring Camp

 

 

eating ice cream ...look at the anticipation on Mikhals face...

 

and in case you didn't read my Facebook post...just fyi...when someone swallows all 20+ gumballs in the blue Marianne ice cream along with the ice cream...just be prepared for interesting things to follow...I'm just sayin'...

 

it was a great vacation! Can't wait to go back next year!

Memorial Day

We started our morning at our local hometown parade full of hometown heros: police cars, ROTC, sheriff, VFW, girl/boy scouts, Indians, mayor, firetrucks, Air Guard, dive/search/rescue...the boys loved it all.

That lasted all of 30 minutes, then we followed the parade down to Veterans Park to see the Flag Memorial. Someone created a memorial consisting of thousands of flags, each one representing a solider who died who was connected to someone in our community.  Here's a few photos of the amazing tribute:

Rick and the boys walking thru flags

Me and Mikhal in the flags

Many, many rows of flags, each flag numbered and tagged with a soliders name.

isn't he too handsome!

And old glory herself

Since it's such a fabulous sunny, warm Monday, we had to take advantage of the Pacific Northwest so we drove up to Lake of the Woods for lunch and a quick hike.  Look at this pristine lake...have you ever seen skies bluer than we have out west!  Love it!!

The water was cold so we just hiked and watched as adventure seekers unloaded their boats to get an early start of the summer season.

Spring Break Fun

We had the most fabulous adventure over Spring Break. We headed to Palm Springs to warm up & dry out my lungs and shake off my pneumonia once and for all....and I'm pretty sure it worked!

The boys just loved it. Life is an adventure for them, everyday, but flying on an airplane and staying in a hotel is even better. They loved the Desert Museum with the giraffes, hawks, goats and jaguars, but most of all the 1-acre train layout!

Here's some photos of the trip:

Make a Smilebox slideshow

catching up

This past weekend Rick & I had the priviledge of heading to Monterey for a few days. I say "priviledge" for a few reasons: 

one, the boys stayed with grandpa and grandma, and loved being with cousin Franklin everyday. Aunt Sharon and grandma took them to the pumpkin patch.  I don't have photos, they're on Aunt Sharons computer. But trust me, the boys had a blast. I don't think they missed us for a few days.  They went to a park, ran in the warm sunshine, rode the mowers with grandpa, played with Franklin, and soaked up the love of family.

two, Rick and I got away without the boys. Wow! Driving in the car, not having to referee anything in the back seat, not having car seats, not dealing with messy pants, sticky fingers, not feeding anyone, not answering "why?" a thousand times...that was an amazing feeling for 3 days.

three, we were with a group of wonderful people who were as excited to be there as we were...some were ol friends, we were happy to see again...some were new faces we immediately connected with.... and the whole weekend was in Monterey California.  How cool is that!

We started the weekend by making the awesome drive on 17 to Santa Cruz....mmmm, smell the redwoods and bay leaves of Mt. Hermon,  continue driving  a few miles until reaching the magnificant Pacific Ocean and inhale the salty sea air and sunshine.  Stop in Capitola at Mr. Toots

and stroll down the sidewalk to Pizza My Heart

sit on a bench near the sand, savor a bite of the best Pizza on the west coast, listen to the ocean waves and feel the 90 degree September sun warm your skin. 

Continue driving through rich, fertile farmland, all the while keeping the blue, blue Pacific Ocean in view. Drive past the Presidio, past the wharf and down Cannery Row. Exit vehicle and welcome to Monterey. Ahhhh! 

As if that wasn't enough,  we enjoyed the company of the Silva family  (minus Kristiana who is suffering at college in Hawaii) and a host of friends equally enthused about what God is doing through the ministry of Mike Silva and his team.  Add some incredible worship, some hilarious laughter with Phil Callaway  and end with a mini-concert by Regi Stone.  It was the most refreshing and encouraging weekend you could imagine! Exactly what Rick and I needed together.  God is good!  Now the next adventure is Rick heading to San Pedro Sula, Honduras with MSI in April 2009. We can't wait to share more with you in the near future!

I have tons more to say, but nap time is over and the boys are restless. I'll be back soon :)

the rhythm of summer

Has it already been over 2 weeks since I posted??? I'm sure it was yesterday morning...maybe that's because I'm still enjoying picking fresh raspberries. It could have something to do with having 2 teenage girls visiting from Pennsylvania, driving to the Coast and Seattle, having family from California here, and friends from China in town, and let's not forget two little boys with HUGH amounts of energy. Thus, here we are 18 days later, trying to post.

I only have 181 photos to choose from, so if a picture is worth a thousand words, maybe I can keep this post brief, and still communicate our adventures to you.  These are not in order, just a compilation of fun:

Make a Smilebox photobook