Califoregon Living

Our church had yard signs made for the members to post in their yard.  We saw a few others in our neighborhood and decided that a fun way to meet some of our Bayside neighbors was to go on a ‘Bayside Christmas Sign Hunt’.  We bought some ornaments made for bayside, where the proceeds go to six charities, made an “award”, and headed out to award Bayside sign holders.

The first home we came to was a man who was on his Bluetooth when he answered the door.  We started talking, then he told the person he would call her back, and then turned his attention to us.  He acted like he thought we were trying to sell him something, but he was a little nicer when we handed him the award and ornament.  I had hoped to get a picture with him, but decided not to push it…

The second home we found, no one was home, so we left a note with the award and ornament on their doorstep.

Drove around for another hour and did not see any more signs :(.  What we did see, though, were some beautifully decorated homes that we would not have seen otherwise had we not been on the “hunt”.  Here are a few of them…one house had what looked like falling snow in lights.  Upon further investigation, we found a disco ball spinning horizontally.  Very cool!

The day after ‘A’s birthday, we extended the festivities by meeting up with Paul and Shannon in San Francisco.

This is the lovely view from our backyard early morning…

We spent the day at the California Academy of Sciences.  They let everyone in for free on this day!  So glad we got there early; it was too crowded from 1pm on.  We were able to, (I think), see everything but the rainforest.

Daddy and ‘R’…

Uncle Pau and ‘A’…

I love how this turned out.  It’s the overhead view of a tropical aquarium.  Looks like a painting to me…

While waiting to get into the planetarium, we were standing by a shallow exhibit with small sharks, manta rays, and skates.  All of  a sudden, the rays started circling quickly and methodically.  They were excited and amped up about something.  I caught video of it, but it is too big to upload here.  We noticed someone preparing to feed them.  So, either the rays recognized her by sight or could smell the clams out of the water.  Either way, it was pretty impressive.

The exhibit shows different human skulls.  We all cracked up when ‘R’ asked to have his picture taken. We turned around and this is what we saw…

‘A’s turn…

Reindeer…

Big tortoise eating a yummy salad…

This is Claude, the albino alligator.  He was rescued and placed here for safekeeping.  They tried to give him a lady friend, but she bullied him mercilessly, and he lost a bunch of weight from stress, and a finger/claw as a result of one of her attacks.  His eyesight is poor, and he can’t defend himself as well nor can he camouflage.  So, he lives with some tortoise and fish in the museum…

This is a display of the 7 birds from the 12 Days of Christmas.  We learned that the first seven days actuall represent birds:

7 swans a swimming
6 geese a laying
5 golden rings (the rings on the neck of pheasants
4 calling birds (are actually ‘colly birds’.  Colly was an English word for black, like coal.  So, colly birds were blackbirds…)
3 french hens
2 turtle doves
..and a partridge in a pear tree….

This is a picture of Shannon, Paul, and the boys, up on the living roof…

The aquarium part…jellies…

Isn’t he adorable?

This was a magnificent sight.  A giant bass.  I felt the tank was too small for this guy.  Pictures just don’t do it justice.

The is an underwater tunnel through the rainforest swamp…this is when things got a bit too crowded for my comfort.

We got tickets for the Planetarium.  It was also free, but you had to reserve a time.  It was the highlight for ‘A’. they did not allow photos.  I would not have been able to capture its entirety anyway.

Right next to the museum is ‘Shakespeare’s Garden’.  It’s just a sweet, little garden that I’m sure is magnificent in the summer…


Paul and Shannon 🙂

After the museum, we drove to Ocean Beach for some sand time…


Final stop: Dinner at Jang Soo, a Korean BBQ restaurant.  It is a third generation family restaurant, and the pride in this heritage was evident.  One of the daughter/owners served us and was incredibly hospitable and willing to share their history and educate us on the menu.  I had never been to a Korean BBQ.  WOW! YUM!!

There is a little grill embedded in the table.  A variety of side dishes are provided before the main course.  We has prawns, diver scallops, pork, and short ribs.  The scallops were my favorite…
Rice cakes…

Here’s a little tip: if the flame starts to get too high, lay a lettuce leaf over it….

We have a tradition where the kid’s get to decide their menu all day on their birthday.  ‘A’ asked for bacon, sausage, toast, eggs, potatoes, ketchup, and egg nog…

After breakfast, we went to our friend Eun’s house.  She asked me and our mutual friend, Maggi’s, and our kids, to join them in a service project.  It is for Voice of the Martyr’s Colombian Outreach.  Parachutes are made for a Bible/book./radio pack to be dropped into the Colombian guerilla paramilitary camps.   You can watch some video on this program here:

When we first arrived, 3 year old ‘M’, handed ‘A’ something wrapped in a paper towel and said, “Happy Birthday, ‘A’, here is a present for you!”  Eun told me she did not know what it was or that ‘M’ was going to give him something.  Then, we heard ‘M’ say, “don’t show it to ‘J’ (her 8 year old brother).  So, we knew that she took something of ‘J’ and wrapped it to give it to ‘A’.  We all had a good laugh.  Here is the giver and “recipient”…’A’ is holding the little action figure “gift”. (Of course, he did not keep it…:))

We watched a video on why we were making the parachutes, who they were being sent to, then we read from a book about Colombia, and colored a map.  We worked in family groups, making parachutes….

Eun and her kids joined us for a Chick Fil A lunch…

That evening, we all got into our jammies, cranked up the Toby Mac, and went “sock skating” on our floors!

…and a little tumbling…

David went to nugget and picked up a bunch of sushi.  The lady who makes it was there, and made a fresh roll for ‘A’, his favorite…eel with fish roe.  He was thrilled!  We also have California roll, salmon, and tuna…(‘R’ stuck with teriyaki…)

Present time!!

We also have a tradition in our family, where the other child is the “birthday assistant”.  It is their job to make sure that the day is very special for the birthday boy.  They do whatever is asked of them by mom and dad in helping to prep, and clean throughout the day.  They also receive a small gift that day.  ‘R’ was so disappointed when he saw the tiny wrapped gift for him.  But, he was THRILLED when he discovered the gift was two Lego kittens that he had been asking for a long time.

Birthday hug!

Too bad this turned out blurry.  We gave ‘A’ a karaoke machine!  He’s singing all the time!