My parents' trip to San Jose

My parents and my brother drove up to San Jose on the 26th to visit friends and family. Along the way, they did a short hike to a very pretty waterfall:

Some pictures of my cousin's crazy kids in San Jose playing DDR. I hear they kicked my brother's butt. Ha ha ha!

Audrey and Andrew (cousin/mom Julie in the back) Audrey and Ben
My mom and my aunt, her oldest sister
Ben lugging Andrew and Audrey, Mom, Aunt and Uncle

Awww, I haven't seen them in ages. The last time we visited was 4 years ago when Audrey was a wee babe that liked to pull long hair and Andrew was obsessed with these monster slippers that we gave him. He ran around in them growling.... Man, time flies...

I wish.....

Fire!

A cozy evening breaking in the new fireplace....

A Christmas Hike

Merry Christmas!

On Christmas Day, my family drove out east to hike in chaparral country in search of Kitchen Creek Falls. It was a beautiful warm afternoon, a nice day for a hike in SHORTS!

Bordering the trail were some gorgeous manzanita trees. We had never seen them before, so here are several shots:

Close-up of the bark

Some pictures while hiking (I was a little camera-happy):

My parents and my brother (Isn't my mom so cute?)

Scenic views



Dave on top of the world
(not really, just on top of a big rock)

Us
Dave found a interesting big stick
My parents (isn't my Dad so cute, too?)

Dave and what we thought was Kitchen Creek Falls
(we kinda got lost a few times. Later on, we realized we needed to go further to get to the real thing. Oh well....)


Can you find my brother?
More pretty pictures
Me
Funky cactus
My Dad

(with cool walking stick Dave made from the interesting big stick)

Christmas in San Diego

Although we had a nasty leak in our house, we still managed to have a nice Christmas with my family in San Diego. How can you NOT have a wondrous time with beautiful sunny weather where it's warm enough to wear shorts??? My mom really enjoyed that, and it was nice to them to NOT have to wear 5 layers of clothing INSIDE the house to stay warm. :)

On the 23rd, Dave and I took my parents on short tour going from the coast and then inland.

We started off going to Torrey Pines for our favorite hike from beach, up to the cliffs, and then along the cliffs. I was hoping that Dave would be able to spot some dolphins for my parents, but the surf was unusually high and rough. Dave thought there was a swell of some sort. Man, the waves were high, and there were some impressive surfers out there!

So here are some pictures along the hike:

Dad, Mom, and me along some funky wood...
Dad straying from the path to pick a Torrey Pine cone for my mom. They are really beautiful pine cones. Very large and different from the small ones you see out in the Northeast.
Mom and Dad along the cliff
Mom and Dad and pine trees
Walking
Torrey Pines

Cactus attacking Dad
Mom
Cactus amongst the pine trees. Bizarro....
View of the marsh--so wet with all the recent rains!
Monstrous cacti

Mom and Dad with beach and marsh behind them
We then drove them up towards Rancho Santa Fe and then to Escondido to show them potential future living areas. :)

.

Christmas Eve-- Dave and I took my parents and my brother to Tom Ham's Lighthouse on Harbor Island for an awesome champagne brunch with fantastic views of the water.

View of San Diego from the Lighthouse.

The Huang family
The Lius and Huangs (hee hee)

Ah, I wish I took some picture of all the food we ate! Omelets made to order, raw oysters (mmm, they were GOOOOD), awesome crab legs, waffles with fresh strawberries and cream (one of my favorites), and all sorts of other goodies, including champagne and fresh squeezed orange juice (which I used to make tasty mimosas!)... Yum yum yum!

We then drove out to Mt. Soledad and then to La Jolla to show my parents the seals and the beautiful walkway. Our other favorite strolling place...

And we saw flocks of pelicans flying all over La Jolla--
These are some pretty cool pictures....