After our day at Coronado, we drove over to the home of the ladies from Maisonnette to attend their New Year's party. It was a blast! Here are a few photos from the evening.
Sweet Molly and I. Molly is Julie's oldest.
The Statue of Liberty... uh, Madeline!
Molly. I don't know why a young child holding a bag labeled "Deluxe Blowouts" makes me giggle, but it does. Makes me think of diapers that didn't quite do their job.
Char and I modeling the lovely 2010 glasses.
We didn't want Oliver to miss out on the action! Happy Belated New Year! I'm only a month and a half late.
Most of our time in San Diego was spent with this great group- Chasm, Dee, Droo and Cake, Droo and Cake's great grandparents, grandparents, aunts and uncle, our cousin L, as well as Sallad, Grace and Bri. Got that all figured out? In case you aren't confused yet, Droo and Cake's great grandpa is also an Uncle to The Mr. and Sallad. Got that? We're all one big extra-extended happy family. :)
Droo and I. Thank you so much Grace for catching this moment and sharing it with me.
A Bird of Paradise Flower we passed while walking down the street to Starbucks.
Bri matched the Starbucks decor so perfectly I couldn't resist snapping a photo.
I'm faking, but I really could have fallen asleep. Cuddly babies are the best.
Thanks for sending me this photo as well, Grace. That was such a fun day.
Check out the little escapee!
Daydream
The historic Cabrillo Bridge provides an entrance to the beautiful Balboa Park. The California tower and dome can also be seen in this photo.
Amazing Spanish-Renaissance style architecture. The buildings were built for the 1915 Exposition which according to the website was "a celebration of the completion of the Panama Canal, and also commemorated the 400th anniversary of the discovering of the Pacific Ocean by the explorer, Balboa." There is a lot of neat information about this area, here is some cool history to read and beautiful old photos to see.
Balboa Park Arboretum a.k.a. The Botanical Building is one of the largest lath structures in the world.
A fountain outside IMAX where we watched Everest.
Preaching the truth. Human DNA matches the DNA of a monkey by 98% but it can't be used to prove we are "related" since human DNA also matches that of a banana by 50% and a mouse by 90%.
Sleeveless the Magician a.k.a. Stephen Sloan is seriously entertaining! He is witty, lighthearted and fun, and his tricks are extremely mind boggling.
After the magician show, we noticed the preacher was gone, but he left behind a wonderful message. In the beginning... God. Genesis 1:1 God is and was the start of all things we know.
Comedian David Kamatoy. I wouldn't want to be the volunteer under him!
I love pond reflections.
There were so many beautiful flowers inside the arboretum, that I can't remember what very many of them are called, or even what type they were.
Lush!
Isn't the lath structure beautiful?
Pitcher Plant. I must also point out that there is bokeh in this photo which is rare with a point and shoot, at least for me! I also think it would qualify as shallow depth-of-feild. Mostly, I just wanted to share those last two links just so you can be inspired by Miz Booshay and Ree and look through your lenses a little differently next time.
The Arboretum again. I just love this building.
Spring! At least in CA. Apparently Holtsville Hal the groundhog in New York told us we have 6 more weeks of winter. Just click the link and scroll down to the table labeled "Predictions by Year."
The walkway to Palm Canyon, which is home to 450 palms, of 58 different species, over a two acre area.
I'm surprised this one doesn't kill itself, oh wait, maybe that vine isn't part of the original tree? It's hard to tell!
These were raining down from above. Not sure what they were! They were full of seeds and squished all over the walkway beneath our feet. (edit: I'm now guessing they were the fruit of the tree in the photo below- figs!)
This is massive Moreton Bay Fig tree. Doesn't it have an interesting shape? Check out this photo, this type of tree sends down roots from above, called arial roots. The Wikipedia page lists one of the largest Moreton Fig trees to be the one living behind the Natural History Museum in San Diego, which we unfortunately did not see. In 1996 that tree was measured to be 78 feet high and 123 feet across and I bet it is bigger now, as they can grow to be 200 feet tall.
That evening we were treated by Uncle D and Aunt M. to dinner at the Spaghetti Factory in downtown San Diego. It was an awesome dinner. They have gluten-free pasta now, believe it or not! It was a wonderful surprise, you just have to make sure the sauce you choose is safe too.
A neat chandelier at the Spaghetti Factory.
Well, that concludes my CA posts!
