San Diego - the Colossal Photo Post

We just got home from 6 days in San Diego, California. What follows is a whole lotta photos from the trip. Believe it or not, there are more on Flickr. You have to be a Flickr friend to see them so if you are not, just let me know.

Somewhere between Regina and Denver we had a beautiful view up above the clouds.

We arrived late Thursday night so in the morning we scouted out a place for breakfast and found some cool photo ops around the resort.  We stayed at The Lawrence Welk Resort in a beautiful condo (bigger and nicer than our house, I never wanted to leave).

There are these rocky hills on all sides.  They make for stunning views and backdrops for photos of brothers who like to annoy the snot out of each other.  As you can see, Kamden is not amused.

A note fountain.  Ha.  Neat and good for tourists to take photos of.

Day 1 we took in Lego Land and true to form, these guys did not go on one single ride.  They do not take after me.

They did enjoy the Star Wars exhibit however.

Over 10,000 pieces went into this Millennium Falcon.   It was about 3 feet long.  That's a lot of Lego.  And also, how do I get a job playing with Lego?

Captain Rex is a favourite of these two. They are Star Wars fans but they really love Star Wars The Clone Wars best.  What the difference?  I haven't a clue but they sure seem to know.

There was a mini San Fransisco and I enjoyed Lombard St without having to actually walk it.  Boot camp on the hill anyone?

We got a kick out of the nerd glasses.  Or 3D glasses whatever.  Also note Kamden.  Always with the poses, that one.  You will see a theme.

For Granddaddy.  He's even doing the hand thingy.

Day 2 we hung out at the resort because um, they had this, beside a beautiful pool surrounded by hills and it was a beautiful day.  Oh yes.  It was lovely.  The boys loved the spray apparatus above.  It had 6 pails up in the air that would fill with water and randomly dump it over their heads. Personally, that sounds like hell but what do I know?

9am.  We had the place to ourselves so I relaxed on a lounge chair whilst they frolicked in the pool.  (I may be channeling my inner British side)

They only got out to eat.  And when their eyes were bloodshot.  Even the salt water pools irritate the eyes.  And it dries the tar out of our skin. We have to shower and slather on the  moisturizer. Is it just us?  I thought these salt water pools were supposed to be so much better.

Later that night, we took a drive to the coast to see the ocean.  It was not swimming weather, rather what I would call chilly.  I see why people wear wet suits to surf in California.  We kept chuckling that it was hotter back home in Canada than in California. 

I love how sometimes pictures do not tell the real story.  We probably only spent 15 min at the beach and I have the most pictures from there.  It's was cold so we went off in search of ice cream and for me?  Fish tacos.  Oh yes.  I am currently obsessed with fish tacos and where better to get them than a California beach town.  They were good and I even shared them with Jay.

Apparently waves are exciting.  If that doesn't make you laugh, I don't know what will.

It wasn't much of a beach, more of a jetty.  High tide I think?

Can you guess who was less than thrilled about posing for a family photo?  So using this one on his wedding day.

Day 3 we had to bid our glorious condo goodbye.  The conference I was attending was downtown, more than an hour's drive away so we moved to that hotel.  It cost the same and we had one room, two queen beds vs. two bedrooms, two bathrooms, living room and kitchen.  I guess you pay for location?

The zoo happened to be on the way so we spent the day touring around and saw about 1/3 of it.  It's huge!

Our favourites were the elephants and the giraffes. So neat to see them up close and personal like that.

I was in awe of the plants or in this case the cactus.  That is the size of a tree.  Honest to goodness a first for me.  The ones that grow on my parents land are the size of a small ball.  I love experiencing the differences in landscape when we travel.  California is really beautiful in so many ways.

These were in the lot as we waked to the car at the zoo.  The flowers look like daisies but the plant is not like the daisies we have.  So pretty regardless.

This was on a tree and the bloom is the size of my hand.  So neat.

A view of our hotel downtown.  It was located adjacent to the San Diego Convention Center which was hosting Comicon.  We saw some, um, interesting people that night.

And about 5 Batmobiles.  There was one for each Batman movie ever made.  I think they were the real thing, but really who cares, so  neat to see.  I couldn't care less about Batman movies but even I thought this was cool.

I swear that guy is the Penguin.  Jay didn't think so but now that I see the picture, I think it even more.

Snapped this one on my phone while lounging in my hoodie by the pool.  Too cold to swim for me!  The breeze off the water was chilly.

The boys however, had no trouble swimming at any time.

This is already Day 6.  I was in the conference on Day 4 and 5 and apparently I am the only one who takes pictures.  The boys hit SeaWorld, the Science Center and the Museum of Space and Aviation without me.

The last night we headed over to Petco Park to watch some MLB - the boys first game ever. 

The Padres won and it was a pretty exciting game.  We all enjoyed it.

It was our first time in California and we enjoyed it.  I have to say that travelling is so much fun with these three.

June, the Rest of the Story and Well July too

Another month gone, another birthday celebrated.  Kamden turned 8 and we celebrated in between his end of the season flag football and soccer tournaments.  He slept really good that weekend as you can imagine.

We almost had a tornado too.  Nothing touched down but we had these really neat clouds (Mammatus clouds) which only appear after a tornado type storm.

Pretty neat and much less frightening than the cloud I was driving towards that looked like it was forming a very large funnel.  It didn't, thank goodnesss.

I also prepared for and passed the practical portion of my personal training certification.  It's all done, I am certified and on ward ho.  It was stressful but so worth it.  I am looking forward to this new addition to my life.

I also bit the bullet and traded in my Blackberry for an iPhone.  I was skeptical but I am a full convert.  I just couldn't believe how much better it could be but it really is.  Email and internet are 100 times better and makes my work use of the phone so much easier.

And the camera kicks my Blackberry camera's butt to Portugal.

I got all dudded up to go out and celebrate my birthday with a good friend.  Also a busy friend.  It took us two months to find a day that worked for both of us.  Life is full and busy and good.

And we laughed till we cried.  Twice.

There ain't nothing better.



And that brings us to July.  The weather has been unbelievable and on the weekend we hit the beach to enjoy it.  We ran into Jack's good buddy from school and the boys got a tube ride out of the deal.  Living less than an  hour from about a dozen beaches is something for sure.

It's been a great summer so far, here's to the rest of summer.

Learning New, Unexpected Things

This past weekend was a learning experience for me and not really in the way that I expected. Fourteen days ago, I decided to challenge an exam in order to obtain my Personal Training Certification.

(Pictures completely unrelated to post - but he such a sports nut and I love it!)

Fourteen days to learn a thirteen chapter textbook.  Did I mention that by trade, I am an accountant?  This is an exam that someone with a Kinesiology background would have no trouble acing with that little time to study.

Why the rush?  The next exam isn't being held until October. 

The time pressure stems from the fact that I was asked to begin teaching one of the classes that I attend weekly starting at the beginning of August.

I am pretty passionate about fitness and would love to help others on their journey so I thought, why not?  What have I got to lose?

So I dusted off the study techniques that helped me graduate with great distinction from University and I set out to do it. 

And I lost about 5 lbs solely due to stress and anxiety.  This is humorous to me.  By the way, the funny bone is called that because the upper arm bone is the humerus.  I actually didn't know this (perhaps I shouldn't admit that.) so I did learn something.

The reason the level of anxiety is funny is because after university, I obtained my professional accounting designation (Chartered Accountant).  To do this, I wrote a 4 day exam.  Yes, four days for a total of sixteen hours.

This exam was 3 hours and half of it was multiple choice.  Which if you don't know the material are no easier than any other type of question but you do have a slightly better chance of guessing than a short answer.

So basically I should be able to write an exam like this in my sleep and maybe I could, if it was about accounting.

I made it though the material and reviewed, reviewed and then reviewed some more.  I even learned to spell gastrocnemus and vastus medialis and a bunch of other fun medical terms.  And I am a terrible speller.

I also learned about how your body creates the energy to move and it was really interesting.  I still don't know why I can't run faster but maybe I'll figure that out someday too.

The other half of the exam was a series of short answer questions that created a fitness program for a fictitious client.  This is the part I was worried about.  I could only guess what type of things they would ask and I was a bit off. I am not sure the person who marks my paper will be able to read it on account of the shaking my hand was doing. Some stuff I thought I knew, didn't seem to make sense for the client I picked so I modified as best I could.  It remains to be seen how hard the trainer who grades it will laugh when she reads it.

When I was done, I was tempted to walk out and just be done.  But I thought, you got this far, check it over, you might be able to add something.  So I did. And I didn't add a thing.  I did change a multiple choice answer but knowing me, I had it right the first time.

So now I wait.  We are supposed to know pretty quickly so every time I get a personal email, my heart goes in my throat.

What I learned over the weekend though has very little to do with anything I studied.  Rather, the whole experience reminded me that I have a pretty amazing life.  I love my day job, and that's the kicker, I have a great job,  I don't need this.  I have a great family and I spent the weekend watching my younger son play football and soccer.  Life is good.

So if this doesn't pan out and I *gasp* fail, well, I tried, and I am going with the idea that it isn't meant to be.

And I keep dancing around the house singing, "I don't have to study, I don't have to study" because in case you don't remember, that's a pretty stellar feeling.

UPDATED: I PASSED!!!!!!!!

June So Far

June, it's here and almost half over already. We've been busy. Kamden is playing both soccer and flag football. Here he is lining on the defensive line.  I don't actually know what I am talking about but I fooled you there, didn't I?

The day I brought my camera he got a tackle (ie ripped a flag off the ball carrier) in the first few minutes of the game.  He was also about 5 feet from me and my zoom lens.  When you look at the picture below, envision his arm extending above the top of the photo holding the yellow flag.  Then look at his face.  He was proud.

He also went to a birthday party and got his face painted.  Adorable, no?

Then we had a birthday.  Jack's 11th to be exact

This card had Phineus telling us what I breath smelled like.

I love the look on Kamden's face!

I found this book while browsing in the books with Jack. Kamden and I managed a covert operation to get it to Dad at the till without Jack's knowledge.  Mom's got some stealth.

Jack, being my son in every way, only wanted to invite three friends to his party plus his little bro. They battled with Nerf guns for three hours in between pizza and cake. Good choice Jack, good choice. Next up, Kamden's birthday.