Picture Overload

I'm now using the blog as my main source of picture updating rather than facebook. Oh well. Pictures make for better story-telling sometimes than words.

2 weekends ago we went back to Fresno to visit our families. Somehow out of the 3 days we were there, this is the only photo I managed to snap:

I'm lucky that my husband gets along so well with my brothers.

This past weekend, we decided to yet again take advantage of the freebee stuff in LA, so we tackled the California Science Center. We were thoroughly impressed with the quality of exhibits. The center is exhibiting EGYPT right now and mummies, so there was a whole section dedicated to Egyptian life and excavation, with each section having a hands-on activity for kids - except for the embalming, no hands-on there.The ecosystems hall was by far the most extensive. We watched a kelp forest show, where they had a scuba diver swimming in a tank and talking about the sealife around her and answered people's questions. I thought that was pretty neat. Basically this place is great for kids, but since Jared and I can act like kids when we want, we liked the groove of the place. And outside the museum there's a gorgeous Rose Garden, so we passed part of the afternoon on a park bench and wandered through the maze of rose beds.



Sunday Morning - 4th of July! One of my favorites. Our church was postponed from 10am to 1pm, due to a city parade, so we had the whole morning to ourselves. Jared and I read Elder Oak's talk "The Divinely Inspired Constitution," and then we watched "A More Perfect Union". We were geared up for the day! We bbq'd with my grandparents and in the evening we roasted smores on our propane hibatchi grill and watched the fireworks... on tv. Sad, sad, I know! But Santa Monica doesnt do fireworks on the 4th, so we resorted to watching NY live, which was pretty awesome too.

Whew, so Monday came around. It was cloudy and a bit misty. What to do? Go for a hike! We ventured up to the Malibu hillsides and did a 2.5 mile hike up Solstice Canyon. We were flabbergasted at the scenery. There were amber waves of grain on the hillsides, rolling mountains, burnt trees, green trees, waterfalls - it was quite an escape from the city. So this trail passed through an old home built in the 1950's that burned down in the 80's. The house is tucked away in a hillside, surrounded by trees and a babbling brook. The foundation and walls are still intact, and it's not eerie in any way, but definitely thrilling. We played around in the house for a bit before we headed back home to do some surf-watching, thrift store shopping and GRE studying. If you live in LA, you should most DEFINITELY try this hike. There are 2 ways to get to the dilapidated house - one takes you through the hillside, but the other is just a paved road that used to be the driveway to the home - so kids can easily do the hike!