The Walt Disney Family Museum

Today our family drove into the city (San Francisco) for a day trip to

 The Walt Disney Family Museum.

 

 The museum is located on the grounds of The Presidio which is a beautiful area in San Francisco.

 

 We started off in the hands on studio where Kev and Matthew worked on a stop motion video with Kelsey looking on.

 

 The subject of the movie short, very colorful!

 

 While they were creating, I took a walk around and found a couple of fun things to photograph. Wouldn’t this look great on someone’s bedroom wall?

 

 Kev’s dream desk…animation desk at Disney!

 

 Matthew ended up working on his little short by himself

 

 One of the very few things I was able to photograph in the lobby area

 

 A replica of the apartment that sits above the fire station at Disneyland. While we were at the museum, we watched an hour long movie about Walt and his love for Christmas. This was included with the admission price. After the movie, we toured the museum. Like a lot of museums of this type, no photography was allowed.

 

We learned a lot about Walt’s early life, saw a lot of pencil sketches that had been saved, and saw many old family photos. The museum had many different rooms filled with a lot of history and artwork. Toward the end of the museum, there was a large model of Disneyland with a few things that I remember from my first trip a long time ago.

 

 I was able to take this picture from inside the museum. It was a beautiful clear day!

 

 Once we were outside the museum, I took just a couple more photos…

 

Wish I could grow these at my house!

 

Again, I took these photos in RAW and did a quick edit in Lightroom. I was really hoping that a book that I had ordered would have arrived today to help me to establish a good workflow in Lightroom. Guess I will need to wait until next week.

 

This trip will be a great topic for my next letter to my Compassion kids! And I will be sure to get some of the photos printed to send to them. Which photos do you think I should send?

Yosemite!

I was having Yosemite withdrawals and was trying to find a few friends to come along with me for a day trip to the park. I had no takers! So Kev suggested changing the day that I was planning on going and said we could go as a family…yay!!

So Saturday, we packed up our lunches and started the 2 1/2 hour drive to Yosemite Valley. On our last trip to the park, we spent time in the Mariposa Groves and Glacier Point. This time, I wanted to hike out to Mirror Lake and just spend some time walking around in the valley.

Bridalveil Falls is usually the first stop we make in the park when we spend time in the valley. Not a lot of water coming down this time of the year, so Matthew and I climbed up some of the rocks to get a different perspective for our pictures.

We had never stopped and walked through the church before. The original church building had been there since the 1870’s. Services are still held here, might need to make a Sunday day trip for one visit.

 The first of many deer we saw.

 

 Half Dome from Sentinal Bridge with some fall color.

 

As I was looking around, I kept thinking that something was missing…and it was! There was no water coming down Yosemite Falls! Can you see where the water usually comes down?

On our walk out to Mirro lake, there were many, many leaves on the ground. I thought it would be fun to shoot a picture at a high shutter speed, have my kids throw leaves in the air, and try to catch the leaves in the air in the photo. Might need to see what I can do to brighten this one up a bit…

 My favorite of the day

 

I brought along my tri-pod with the hope that I could get a good family picture while we were there. Guess I need to inform my family that this is an expectation I have. Not everyone was prepared and I wasn’t really happy with any of the pictures of the four of us. Guess we will have to go back… :o)

Mirror Lake…with no water. Last time the kids and I walked out here, there was plenty of water and I was able to get some amazing pictures with the mountain reflections in the water. I love that we can see the changes in the different seasons.

 So many beautiful fall colors!

 

 This was a group of 7 deer wandering around near one of the campgrounds.

My family had never seen the Ahwahnee Hotel. We will probably never stay there (so expensive), but it is nice to walk around this beautiful hotel.

 The dining room is amazing!

 

 But at these prices, like I said, we will probably never stay there or even eat there!

 

One last stop before heading out of the valley.

 

Until next time Yosemite! Our National Park Pass is good until May of next year, so I am sure at least I will be making another trip…soon… :o)

Time for InstaFriday!

It’s InstaFriday time! Here is a recap of my Instagram photos from the last week:

 

Saturday was our anniversary! We spent the day in the city at the Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival. We were able to get 15 samples of different chocolate items: brownies, tarts, ice cream sundaes, malts, cookies, and of course, Ghirardelli chocolate. It ended up being a little different than we expected, but it was a beautiful, clear day in the city… :o)

For dinner that night, we were able to use our Buca di Beppo gift card. We had never been there before. This bowl of spaghetti and meatballs was meant for 2 people, but it could have fed at least four people! So glad we didn’t order appetizers or salad. Maybe when we have the kids with us.

Since Kev bought our tickets for the chocolate festival early, we received two $10 gift cards to Macy’s. On our way home from the city, we stopped at a Macy’s and found these cute fall mugs. We both thought they would be great for tea and a reminder of our day together.

I have been enjoying the Hello Mornings Challenge. This has been a great way for me to get my mornings started the right way. Our fall Hello Mornings Bible study is in 1 Peter. I love digging into God’s Word this way.

Tuesday found me at jury duty. It was really strange being at jury duty on 9/11 and the court house is on 11th Street. I spent the morning reading and looking through some magazines. We were let out early for lunch, so I ran a couple of errands. Once we returned from lunch, most of us were called into court rooms for jury selection. I ended up in a court room for a month long murder case. Because I am the primary caregiver for my daughter, I was excused from service. Maybe I will be able to serve next time.

Months ago, I found an idea on Pinterest to send to our Compassion kids. We traced our hands, cut them out, and wrote a Bible verse on them. We mailed along extra paper and a note asking the kids to do the same, then mail them back to us. This week, we received our first hand back!

My camera has been off being serviced, so I thought I would make a new camera strap while it was away. This strap has a pocket to hold the lens cap. So handy!

Still making progress on the baby blanket…126 rows done, 95 to go. I usually will sit down and knit two rows at a time. There are quite a few mistakes, but I don’t think anyone will really be able to tell. Can you see the hearts?

Yesterday, there was a group of us that headed over to the National Heirloom Expo. My friend and I went last year and really enjoyed ourselves. This year, there were five of us that spent the day learning about how to grow better tomatoes, basil, and garlic and what to do with some of the herbs your might be growing. It was a fun day out with friends!

Have you been Instagramming this week? Join us for InstaFriday!

The Birthday Day Trip

 Matthew’s Birthday Morning Breakfast!

 

 Finishing up decorating the cake before leaving for our day trip

 

 Today’s day trip destination…Winchester House

 

 Gingerbread Winchester House

 

 Cool old things on display

 

 The whole reason why Matthew wanted to come here for his birthday! Firearms Museum!

 

 Old advertisement

 

 I know they were wishing they could get through the glass and hold all those guns!

 

 We did go on the house tour, but they strictly forbid any photography inside the home. So I had to make do with just a couple of pictures outside the home. Many windows in the home were purchased from the Tiffany Class Company.

 

After our day trip, we headed home to prepare for a BBQ with our church college group and some friends to continue Matthew’s birthday celebration.

 

 “Happy Birthday to you!”

 

It ended up being a great night to celebrate Matthew’s 18th birthday!



Not Quite Back to School Day

 Our day started with a little bit of this…

 …and a little bit of this.

You see, Matthew starts his first day of college tomorrow, and Kelsey and I will be starting our first day of our new homeschool year tomorrow. Since Matthew will be leaving quite early in the morning (and Kelsey is not an early morning person), we decided to have our special breakfast this morning to celebrate our upcoming school year.

After breakfast, we packed our lunch and headed out for Knight’s Ferry. This destination has the longest covered bridge in California and is a great spot for pictures. Once we arrived, we started walking over toward the bridge and stopped briefly for these next two pictures.

 Kelsey, starting 7th grade

 Matthew, starting college!

 The bridge is always a great backdrop for pictures

 Not sure which one I like better of the two of them. This one or…

 …this one. So hard to decide!

Matthew said I needed to be in a picture since I am usually always the photographer.

 I like to put the camera in burst mode and have the kids jump around.

 Kelsey usually jumps pretty high for these shots!

 Photo session was done, so it was time for lunch. Matthew was looking pretty serious, so…

 …Kelsey did her best to get a smile out of her brother! :o)

 After lunch, we drove over to the Ghirardelli Outlet for ice cream sundaes. Gotta have a special treat for the ‘first’ day of school, right? :o) 

Once we got home and the mail arrived, I was so excited to see what arrived! This is my Gussy Sews pouch made with fabric from Tanzania! When Maggie and her husband traveled to Tanzania with Compassion a few months ago, she brought back fabric and made pouches from the fabric. A portion of the profit from the sale of these pouches will be used to help sponsor a child with Compassion. How could I not buy one of these pouches? :o)

So tomorrow starts a new adventure for us…Matthew off to college, and Kelsey being my only student. I am looking forward to what God has in store for this new chapter in our life!



Summer Day Trip: San Francisco Zoo

We have had quite the busy summer! Matthew working at the orchard, helping with VBS, trip to Colorado, homeschool conference, busy, busy, busy! So busy, in fact, that we have hardly made a dent in our ‘day trips we would like to go on this summer’ list. So last week, we were able to cross off one more location on our list…our destination…

…San Francisco Zoo. I can’t even remember the last time we visited here. I don’t believe Kelsey had ever been here before, that is how long ago it has been!

It was much cooler here than it has been at home. Driving 2 hours west from home can really make a difference in the temperature, which makes heading to the coast in the summer a nice break from our the hot days we have in the valley.

They did not pose for this picture willingly. :o)

On the other hand, this picture was not posed. I love how much they enjoy spending time together. I pray they continue to have such a great relationship!

We can usually see penguins when we visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but this was a treat to see so many of them here. The two penguins toward the top did not move the whole time. It was almost like they were guarding the whole flock!

Mr. Polar Bear was just getting ready for a swim. I am sure even though it was a pleasant day for us, he was feeling a little warm.

Real or not real? I seriously thought this koala was fake! Since they are nocturnal animals, every single one of the koalas were sleeping, no twitching, no snoring, no movement at all. Maybe we need to go back at night to see them moving around. They sure were cute though.

I really like to take close up pictures of the many flowers I find on our outings. It might be fun to put together a journal of all the flowers I find, maybe figure out what type of flowers they are too.

Since the entrance to the park is right across the street from the beach, I couldn’t just drive away without getting at least one picture of the ocean. I love hearing the ocean waves.

As we were leaving the city, we ran across a fairly new National Park. Apparently, this area was part of a large salt water swimming facility back in the late 1800’s. The original building is no longer there, but you can see the foundation below by the ocean. Since there are hiking trails in the area, we will have to go back for a visit here on another outing.

Have you had a chance to go on some summer day trips in your area?

Blueberries!

Today, the kids and I were able to head out for a day trip with some friends of ours. Our first stop was the $1 movie at our local Regal theater.

Today, we saw the Kit Kittredge movie. Everyone really enjoyed it!

Then we drove over to the blueberry place! After a picnic lunch, we found our buckets and worked our way over to the blueberry bushes.

They look ready to work!

After 90 to 100 degree weather over the weekend, then cooler and rain yesterday, today was a perfect day for picking blueberries!

We ended up with 10.5 pounds of blueberries, one pound more than last year… :o)

After we get home, I start sorting through them all. We usually end up with some green ones and squishy ones that need to be tossed.

I line a cookie sheet with wax paper and fill the tray with a layer of good berries.

Once the tray is full, the tray goes in the freezer for a couple of hours.

After the berries are frozen, I put one cup of berries in a snack size bag. These bags go into a larger freezer bag and are stored in the freezer. This is a great way to have ‘fresh’ berries all year long for muffins, smoothies, etc.

Have you done any fun summer things yet?

Space Adventure!

Kelsey was able to join her American Heritage Girl unit for an afternoon last week at the Challenger Learning Center.

She paired up with her buddy Hannah to explore the museum before their space mission.

The girls were split up into two groups. One group started out in ‘mission control’, the other group was on the ‘space shuttle’. Kelsey was in the group that started out in ‘mission control’. She worked with her partner on the ‘space shuttle’ to give her instructions on how to assemble the probe.

About half way through the mission, the girls switched places and we ended up on the ‘space shuttle’. Kelsey took over assembling the probe. They only had so much time to complete the mission.

By working together, the girls were able to complete their ‘mission’ and the probe was released to meet up with Haley’s Comet.

We then went into another room for a presentation about all the planets. I love this ‘picture’ of the sun with all the planets lined up on it.

As we were leaving the museum, we got caught in a huge downpour. Once we started getting closer to home, the storm cleared up. It made for a beautiful cloud filled picture!

Week of birthday blessings!

December is a busy birthday month for our family. Kelsey had her birthday this week and here is where she wanted to go:

There is a farm near our home that does a huge light display at Christmas time. You can drive through or go on a hay ride. This is the second year Kelsey has wanted to do this on her birthday. It was a beautiful clear and cold night with so many colorful lights to see.

My birthday was this week too, and here is where I wanted to go:

Today was a gorgeous day at Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite. We were the only ones wondering around the meadow. Tuolumne Meadows is a wonderful destination in Yosemite that gets you away from the crowds in Yosemite Valley. If you have only visited Yosemite Valley, make some time to visit Tuolumne Meadows. You won’t regret it!

This week we also found special cream colored envelopes in our mail box! For those of you who sponsor children with Compassion International, you know how special these envelopes are!

First Kelsey received a letter from one of her correspondent kids:

His name is Rocky and he lives in Bangladesh. Rocky is 5 and loves vegetables and the color blue. He requested prayers that he stays healthy because it is getting cold. Will you join us in praying for him?

Another cream colored envelope arrived today!

This letter is from Abner. He is one of my correspondent kids from Colombia. I love his drawing! In his letter, he told me that his family has a parrot named Rebeca. I am going to ask him to draw a picture of Rebeca for me. He is looking forward to his birthday this month on December 26th when he will be nine.

If you would like to be a blessing to a child in poverty, Compassion International helps to release these children from poverty in Jesus’ name with your help. A monthly sponsorship is $38 a month. Just over a dollar a day. By becoming a sponsor, you too can get excited when the mail comes each day.