Big Adventure: california stars

Hey y'all! It is pouring rain and 40 degrees here so I had fun looking through my pictures of sunny California. Wunderground says it's supposed to get up to 73 in San Diego today, enjoy it for me guys.

I haven't been posting a lot of Food News lately because Keegan and I eat the same three meals every night: vegetable stir fry with dumplings, vegetable stir fry with sausage, or pasta and sauce. I tried to branch out the other night with this delicious meal:

(http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/spaghetti-squash-cacio-e-pepe) which was great except Keegan apparently doesn't like squash so I ate all four servings myself. We bought some ground turkey so maybe we'll make burgers or spice up a tomato sauce this week, but we're headed home on Saturday so i just have to hold out for my mom's cooking :))))

I read a book yesterday, Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen by Garth Nix, and it was awesome. This is a prequel/ companion novel to the Old Kingdom series that Garth Nix wrote in the 90s-early 2000s which I devoured as a teenager. This newest book was not as great as the others, but the writing was solid and it was fun to explore a different character, one who turns out to be a villain in much later years. The books take place in a world where there is Charter Magic which can be used and controlled with proper training, and Free Magic, which can be used but also may end up using you. The Abhorsens are a family that keep magic in check as well as take down zombies etc that come to eat people. The descriptions in the early books are so well done, there are these people who live in a glacier, and there are awesome waterfalls, it's hard to explain but I recommend them to anyone who wants a fun, exciting, non-thinking book.

Here are some photos from California! I didn't take as many as I thought, I need to get more in the habit of using my camera. You should be able to pull them off the website but I can email anyone from the fam more photos if you want!

mom and Charlie having some snacks, her favorite is the yogurt, less into the sweet potato puree

the flowers here, AMAZING! Mom and I were constantly marveling over them/ deciding what we would plant if we lived in warmer climates

We took a trip downtown to the Mission Beach boardwalk. The adults went on the roller coaster (you can see it in the background) which is called the Giant Dipper. It's a wooden roller coaster built in 1925 and is now recognized as a National Historical Landmark. Charlie and I hung out by the ferris wheel and people watched.

Mom, Cathy, and Bonnie! Three Musketeers!

Jess and Charlie having a snack

There were hummingbirds everywhere! This is one I caught sipping at a Bird of paradise flower while at lunch.

This is a little guy who hangs out in my grandfather's back yard and likes to sit in this tree. I saw (I think it was the same one) hime every day!

a little blast from the past of baby Grace and grandpa Darcy

Mom and I took an early morning walk through Torrey Pines! Our favorite.

Picture for mom: there's the rosemary

A day at the racetrack!!

go horses go!!!! Mom was the big betting winner and quit while she was ahead, always a good choice.

Went for a walk in downtown La Jolla, there are seals all over the rocks. This is a little baby quietly napping with it's mom but then some jerks snuck up and PET THE BABY SEAL! What idiots, I really though the seals would attack but instead they just got really scared and ran away from the people. Those two are lucky it wasn't a male seal or a sea lion right there because I think they could have gotten really hurt. Never touch wild animals. idiots.