Yee...Haw!

Okay - are you ready for a funny story?

Last month Mike and I went to the annual Halcyon fund raiser/silent auction where I browsed around putting my name on a number of items that I was interested in. I came across a particular one of interest which was labeled

"PBR -Ford Tough". Well, I thought "Hum, I'll bet this is a monster truck event, I'm going to bid on this and give the seats to my boys if I get it." I continued to keep my eye on it through the evening and noticed that a friend of ours was bidding on it as well. Just before the bidding was coming to a close this friend came up to me and said, "Shelley, if you'll quit bidding against me I'll take you and Mike with us". I proceeded to tell him that I really wasn't sure what I was bidding on but I thought it was a monster truck event. Wasn't I surprised when he won the bid and I found out it was not a monster truck event, but professional bull riding!

This was NOT your typical rodeo!

If you can't make this out....the red is the eye of a bull head they had attached to the bull shoots. There is smoke coming out of the nostrils.

Here they are introducing the bull riders.

Our seats were located in the Mayors suite which we shared with a few other people he had so generously given the opportunity to come and see the show.

I wonder why the mayor of Anaheim didn't want to come????

Mike decided to buy some peanuts but he was a little confused about where to throw the shells.

It was a little different than being at a baseball game!

After he made the mess on the floor - but not before the last bull had been ridden - we high tailed it out of there in case they pulled out the vacuum and made us clean up the peanut shells.

Thanks Doug and Patsy for a "not your typical date night out".

It was fun entertainment but wonderful company.

Our Romantic Get-Away

Thanks to Cara and her invitation to take care of Hannah for the long President's weekend, Mike and I were able to make an escape.

Check out the pictures below and guess where we went.

Did these fields look like pineapple fields to you???

Check out this beautiful ocean - where do you think we were?

If you guessed Hawaii - WRONG!

The fields were artichoke fields and we were in......

Now you're probably saying, "Where the heck is LOMPOC"?

Lompoc (pronounced Lompoke) is 17 miles west of Solvang, CA.

Since it was Valentines Day that weekend we were unable to get a room in Solvang so the nearest place we were able to stay was in this town; which must be a town built from people and families from the Vandenberg Air Force Base which is directly outside of the city.

The day we drove to the beach we saw this sign and walked over to read what was posted. Check it out.

Needless to say - we didn't do any swimming.

Instead, we drove back toward town and noticed this place of interest. We decided not to take a tour of this place. I was afraid they might mistake me for someone that was supposed to be locked up inside.

Those of you who have been to Solvang know that it's horse country.

We happened to drive by this shetland pony ranch.

They were probably at tall as my thigh; I had to take a picture of them to show Hannah.

What Mike and I really enjoyed was touring the mission there in Lompoc which is one of a handful of missions in the state that have been rebuilt and refurbished to it's original condition.

If you have the opportunity to be close to this area, I strongly recommend you take some time to tour this place. I found it fascinating (maybe because Hannah's in 4th grade and that's the year kids study about the California Missions).

I just couldn't resist the opportunity to share this picture on my blog site. Yes - it is what you think. The hides help give some privacy. Above was a VERY LONG HORNED, long horn steer.

Below on the left are burrows - on the right are horses.

Sheep and goats in the field above, a turkey that loved showing his big chest feathers. This mission had the fields ready to be planted, herb gardens, the system used to bring water in, fruit trees, all the rooms were furnished in the way they would have been used back then by the priests, soldiers, travelers, blacksmith, weavers,

cooks, etc. I have many more pictures that could have been posted but I'll spare you. You may not enjoy it as much as I did.

So there you have it. Our exciting escape to Lompoc, California. It isn't a place I would choose to go to again, but I enjoyed the time we were there.

Geometry - In 4th Grade!

Okay everyone - get your MATH on!

It's time for your 4th grade geometry test.

Hannah came home a couple of weeks ago

with the assignment to find these various

geometric figures and take pictures of them.

Now you would think after putting 4 kids through

school I would know this stuff....but I don't!

So it turned into an adventure for both of us and to

my amazement I may have learned something too....

I'm going to give you the names of the eight geometric figures

pictured below; it's your job to place them on the correct picture.

Have fun!

Parallel lines - equilateral triangle - parallelogram - right angle

intersecting lines - perpendicular lines - obtuse angle - scalene triangle

How do you think you did?

Do you think you got them all correct?

How do you know I'm not quizzing you just to get the answers for my own benefit!?

I'll be anxious to hear from all of you.

Let's Begin Our Journey in January

This my friends is something I have been

wanting to do since I moved into this home.

I was going to have it done before Thanksgiving

but my contractor was stuck on another job.

So in January I was grateful to see the job

finally completed!

Check out these pictures and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Do you LOVE it?

I don't care if you say you don't because I am ecstatic about it!

My kitchen wasn't the only thing that looked like this....

A couple of weeks after the kitchen was done I decided to re-paint my bedroom.

I'm not finished with the decorating but I wanted to share it with you.

I LOVE IT!

I'm ready to do Hannah's room next. NOW ON TO.......

Why are these two so happy?

Because on January 5, we headed south to a place that we

had been wanting to go.

And after a LONG journey with Hannah

and her good friend Andie at the reigns....

we arrived at this 'old town' in San Diego.

Of course the first thing on our agenda was to find a bathroom!

We looked at every possibility.

This one was too claustrophobic.

This one was too hard to get into; and besides that

it wasn't private enough.

Besides that - where are the seat covers?

Should we try the old church?

Andie and Hannah must have made this trip before

because they knew exactly where to go.

After that we were ready for some fun and a little shopping. I bought the most delicious citrus olive oil and pomegranate vinegar here. Mmmmmmm.......Good!

The girls tried their hand at candle dipping.

As the sun began to set, we sat and waited for the next wagon to take us home.

The girls were lucky enough to catch this one.

We all climbed in and headed for the hills.

Anaheim Hills that is.

Guess what? Cara had a birthday! Do you want to guess how old she is? According to the candle on the cake... she's "1" ! That's all for now folks. My next post will be for those of you who are mathematicians; so polish up on your geometry.