The month that felt longer than 31 days

As I teased about at the end of last month, Jim and I got up super early on New Year's Day and drove up to Pasadena to attend the Tournament of Roses parade and The Rose Bowl Game. I grew up watching the parade on TV, but never in a million years thought I would ever see it in person. WOW! The fact that "every inch of every float must be covered with flowers or other natural materials, such as leaves, seeds or bark" is CRAZY impressive. We were there with several of Jim's fellow Marines because they were going to be part of the opening ceremony later at the game. We also got a tour of the Tournament of Roses House which was originally owned by the chewing gum magnate William Wrigley and now serves as a meeting space as well as display area of trophies, past Rose Bowl games, Grand Marshals, Presidents as well as past Queens and Courts. We also were able to see the dressing room where the court gets ready every year. I could have spent the whole day just wandering around the house and adjacent gardens, but we were just getting started.

    

We made our way over to the parade route and were fortunate to have seats in the stands. We were right in front of where most of the cameras were and had a wonderful time viewing the floats and bands! When Debbie Gibson played on her piano it was about 20 feet away from where we were sitting! Incredible experience.

   

    

    

After the parade we quickly transitioned over to the stadium. I can't believe this is the home stadium for UCLA's football team! The tailgating was not what I was expecting at all! There are people who of course tailgate in the parking lots and parks, but we were able to attend a sponsored event on the grounds that was covered in a massive tent. It didn't disappoint!

As I mentioned earlier, the whole reason we were at the game was so Jim and his fellow Marines could participate in the opening ceremony. So while they were down on the field the spouses/families were up in the stands enjoying themselves. We weren't sure if the coin toss would be televised but we told all the family to check it out nonetheless. My sister was able to catch it on her TV! 

    

Jim joined me about halfway through the first quarter and it was already looking like a rough day for the Oregon Ducks. We decided to leave at half time since it was not a close game. Not because we are such Oregon fans, but Jim and Ben were leaving the next day to go on a Grand Canyon Canoe trip and we needed to finish packing up their gear!

The boys are going to be gone for 3 days and 2 nights. Everything they will need will be in the canoe with them and has to be in waterproof bags/containers and it is pack in/pack out EVERYTHING. Sounds like they are going to have a blast, but I am glad to be missing out on this one.

Since they wouldn't be back before the girls left to go back to school, we had one last group shot before they got in the car and headed north towards Hoover Dam. Good luck! I hope you have fun!

    

According to Jim and Ben, they had a wonderful time on their canoe trip on the Colorado River.  They originated at Hoover Dam, camped out for two nights and paddled about 14 miles downstream with 20 folks from Ben's Boy Scout troop.  We expected this to be a cold weather trip with temps in the 20s, but the weather ended up being tolerable and the cold was offset by some  amazing hot springs the boys discovered along the way.  A great Father-Son experience for Ben and Jim; fortunately they came back in one piece, with big smiles and great memories. 

    

    

While the boys are away, the girls are going to play! First up we went down to Cabrillo National Monument to see if there were any whales migrating. Sadly we didn't see any, but we did spend an enjoyable afternoon walking around the Monument, lighthouse, visitors center and tide pools.

The following day we decided to drive up to Julian and let Lucy show us around since she had just been up here in mid December with her friends. We went on a "hike" which was more of just a walk in the woods. Lilly was on a mission to see some  cows. We did see some, but they weren't in the mood to let us get very close. So we decided to head to downtown Julian and take in the sights followed by having some PIE! It was delicious! I am going to have to convince Jim to come back here in the fall.

    

Since Lilly didn't get to pet a cow, we had to substitute a mini pig!

The next morning was the day I had been dreading. Both girls were leaving to head back to school. 3 weeks just wasn't long enough!!  Lilly was trying something new this time - a bus that runs between LaJolla and UCLA. Lucy on the other hand was catching a ride back with her roommate Aubrey. We are hoping to see them both in February, otherwise it will be middle of March for their spring breaks before we see them again! We can't wait that long!

 

Jim and Ben arrived home later that day and I packed up my stuff to head to Swansboro two days later. In the meantime, UCLA was being threatened by the Pacific Palisades fire and Lilly found herself heading back to San Diego with her roommate and another friend in tow two days after she arrived back in LA for winter quarter. The girls had a great time seeing the sights and doing a few hikes before they both headed back to their respective homes for the week of remote classes. Since I was in NC, it was nice to have Lilly at home to help Jim and Ben keep the house in order.

While LA was literally on fire from 4 or 5 different fires, Lucy was safe a little further up the coast and spent the first week getting herself familiar with her new schedule and spending lots of time down on the beach poking around the tide pools. I am trying to get her to consider changing her major to Marine Biology! 

    

As nervous as I was about the fires in LA, having Lilly at home made it easier for me to enjoy hanging out with the family in Swansboro. Mom had lots of "projects" she wanted help with and a few that she really didn't want to tackle but we got it done regardless. The week flew by and I didn't get to see or do everything I wanted. Here's hoping I can get home again in April and of course this summer.

 

    

I was barely home a day before Jim jetted off to the Philippines for a work trip.  Actually it wasn't just the Philippines, he visited a bunch of places there near Manila and also traveled to Palau, the site of the iconic battlefield at Peleliu, Wake Island, and Honolulu.  Phew ... what a trip.  He said the sea life at Palau was spectacular, teeming with tropical fish, giant clams, rays, etc.  Really cool, wish we could have joined him! 

    

Since Jim was gone over MLK weekend and Lilly was still home, we decided to do a day trip to Joshua Tree. Lucy really wanted to go before she went back to school, but we couldn't seem to get everyone on the same page, so sadly she missed out on this trip. While we were driving I was looking ahead on our route to see if there were any cool side trips and stumbled upon quite possibly the best road side attraction of them all!

    

The dinosaurs in Pee-wee's Big Adventure are Dinny the Dinosaur and Mr. Rex, two concrete and steel dinosaurs located at the Cabazon Dinosaurs roadside attraction in California. The dinosaurs were featured in the 1985 film and are known for being one of the most iconic roadside attractions in the United States. As we were driving I noticed on the map that they were on the route and I told the kids there was no way we were driving past without stopping. None of us actually wanted to go into the park, but thankfully they had a gift shop and so we walked up the stairs into Dinny and purchased a few stickers/postcards and a magnet for my sister. Best 30 minute rest stop EVER!

We made it Joshua Tree without incident and spent most of the day there looking for the campgrounds we spent the night at 10 years ago. Every single one looked just like the one we remembered except we all had different memories of what they looked like! Haha. We did do some of the same hikes that we did and even did a few new ones. All in all we had a great day - sorry Lucy and Jim! We missed you!!

    

    

    

Towards the end of January, I had the opportunity to tour the Historic Ranch House onboard Camp Pendleton and it did not disappoint. Before the US Government took possession of the land in 1942 the Ranch called the Rancho Santa Margarita y Las Flores and belonged to the Pío and Andrès Pico Families starting in 1841. The ownership passed down to a brother-in-law Don Juan Forster and after his death in 1882, his sons sold the property to James Flood (Nevada's Silver King) who had his friends Richard O'Neill run the ranch for him. Eventually it fell into the hands of the Magee family and they would call the ranch home for the next 79 years. Even after Camp Pendleton was created, the family was permitted to farm and raise cattle on the ranch. The house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969. 35 Commanding Generals of Camp Pendleton from 1947 to 2007 called it home. The house even for a time operated as the Officer's Club while it was also the CG's residence - which is crazy to me! I didn't get many pictures of the house, but if you google it several will come up. To say the house is steeped in history would be an understatement. There is also a bunk house and a chapel which still holds services and weddings!

    

The last event on my calendar was a dinner with several of the local ladies from our last MAWTS-1 tour. We had been planning a dinner for a while and we finally wrangled everyone into agreeing on a day/restaurant! YAY!!! It was great and we can't wait to do it again!!!