First Day of Fall

Today is the first day of fall. So, to celebrate, I went and took some photographs. The trees haven't started turning colors yet (unless they are dying... there is a drought going on here), so I went to the Mission Inn District of Riverside. Nice part of the old downtown.

My Artistic Side

I've played with a variety of hobbies over the years. Here are some of my works.

Thoughts...

I've been thinking today about a lot of things both past and present.

Today is the 8th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States. So much has changed in the past eight years. So much to reflect on about that day. It has become one of those days that will always stand out in your memory, along with the day John F. Kennedy was shot; the day your children were born; the day your parents/grandparents/family member died; the day man landed on the moon; and now where you were and what you were doing on September 11, 2001. God bless the families of everyone affected on that day.

A year ago today, Mike and I flew to California for his interview with a hard drive company. I tagged along to see if I even liked California, because if I didn't like it, there was no reason to continue pursuing a job offer with said hard drive company. Well, since we're living in southern California now, you can safely assume that I liked California. It's not a permanent move, so we are treating it as an adventure for a couple of years. Sort of like moving to another country where you enjoy learning what they have to offer, but you know you'll always move back home. Same for us. We own a house in Tennessee and that's where we are going to end up in the next few years or so.

Today, I am missing our annual "Mother/Daughters Weekend" at a bed & breakfast in Tennessee. This will be the second one that I've missed. I really wish I could be there for the weekend with my Mom, sisters and niece. We always have so much fun. *sigh* I'm sure that I'll be hearing from them thru out the weekend though and I will be calling them, too!

So there has been much on my mind today. It has been a good day for reminiscing.

Aquarium of the Pacific and Whale Watching

Over Labor Day weekend, Mike and I decided that we would stay close to home and spend time together. We did, however, make a short trip over to Long Beach (about 40 miles from here) to go to the Aquarium of the Pacific. Once we arrived, we stood in line waiting to get our tickets. At first we couldn't figure out why it would take so long just to get tickets to get into the Aquarium... then it was our turn! There are so many different things to do at the Aquarium! You can take "Behind the Scenes" tours; "Feed the Animals" tours; "Whale Watching" tours; and just your regular, everyday entrance fee! Mike surprised me with a Whale Watching tour and then the Aquarium tour.

The Whale Watching tour was leaving within a half hour of us getting our tickets, so we wandered over to the wharf that the boat was leaving from. I was surprised to see how many people were going to be in line for the tour... then we found out that there were two tours: one for whales (that we were on) and a harbor tour.

Then we were off! We cruised thru the harbor and out into the deep water of the coast of California! What blue water that is! We sat on the top of the catamaran boat and really enjoyed the breeze that was coming in off the ocean. The sun was shining, the breeze was cool and the dolphin joined us almost as soon as we hit the open water! We saw common dolphin, Risso's dolphins, sea lions, mola mola sunfish, and then- we saw the "steam" of a whale coming to the surface to breathe! How can you say AWESOME with your mouth hanging open?!

The blue whale is the largest mammal on earth. And when you see one, you realize just how small 5'4" really is! Yes, I'm 5'4" and it's small! Blue whales get up to 85 feet long and the boat we were on was 65 feet long. Amazing to say the least!

Mike took the photographs of the whales as I was too short to shot over everyone standing in front of me. I guess there is an advantage to being 6 foot tall... Mike got some really good photos and I'm glad he was able to get them.

After the whale watching tour was over, we walked across the street to eat lunch at Bubba Gump's Shrimp Co. Mike had fish; I had a burger! I did, however, get the flashing souvenir cup with a cute little shrimp on it to take home!

The Aquarium of the Pacific is a great place to go visit. As every family in Orange County with children under the age of 10 was doing! It was a zoo with kids running everywhere and me trying to take photos with heads bumping my elbows at every turn. OK, I got a couple, but not very many clear photos! It was fun to see the littlest of the visitors when they saw the clown fish display yell out, "Momma! Look! It's Nemo and Dory!" You can't beat that kind of cute.

Anyway, I had a wonderful time dispite the sunburn and windburn.

Awful Quiet Around Here!

Fly Boy went back to Tennessee for college last Friday. It was a sad day to see him go. I cried most of the way home from the airport, but finally realized that it's good that he's learning to be on his own and have to make decisions for himself. But the "Mom" in me has a much harder time accepting this!

Then, on Sunday, Mike had a business trip to Boston. He won't be home until Thursday. I took him and another guy he works with to the airport over in Orange County early on Sunday a.m. Even with the alarm not going off, waking up late, the guy being late getting to our house and then the drive over, we were still there in plenty of time for them to make it thru security and then sit at the gate.

It has been really quiet in the house since they are both gone now. I've listened to my mp3s, watched TV, watched some game drives on the computer, played with FB, updated some webpages, done the laundry, ran the dishwasher (its only me), and cleaned the house...but its still pretty quiet in the house. At night I leave the TV on for background noise. At one point, the TV volumn went down for about a minute and I woke up wondering why I woke up!

I'm enjoying, don't get me wrong, but it will be nice when he's back home again. I miss him.

Summer's Almost Over!

School is almost ready to start, Fly Boy has finished his school shopping and is ready for his junior year of college, and Fly Boy will be leaving for Tennessee on Friday. Summer is almost over. I'll miss Fly Boy.

Since he's been here, we've had a lot of fun, done a lot of things and really had a great time spending time with Fly Boy. The latest adventure we had with Fly Boy was taking him (and Mike) to Flight Deck, a place where you can go fly in a jet simulator and have dog fights in an F-16. Mike and Fly Boy really had a blast doing this!

We drove over to Anaheim to this place that a guy that works with Mike told him about. He was supposed to come and fly too, but ended up having other things to do around his own house. At Flight Deck, they put you into flight suits, give a 15 minute briefing on how to fly the F-16 and then give you a 15 minute free flying period before the Dog Fighting begins. I took my camera and got several shots of Mike and Fly Boy having fun.

When everything was said and done, Fly Boy won the Dog Fighting with 28 kills and only being killed 12 times. Yea, Fly Boy!

It sure is going to be a lot quieter around here when he leaves.