July 6th and 7th - Los Angeles

These pictures are alittle mixed up - here we are at Santa Monica beach in LA.

Ethan and Peter.

You can't see if very well but there was a group of people that let about 20 doves go after some ceremony about it.  We gawked at them for awhile :)

This is July 6th leaving San Francisco.

Our new campsite at the KOA in Fairfax Pomona - north of Anaheim about 45 minutes with no traffic.

Aleana called it our little fire hazard. We were thankful for the trees that provided some shade but not thankful for the close proximity to our neighbors. The next tent over was literally one foot away from us -so close you could hear them breathing and snoring at night!!!

The boys loved playing in our little "fire hazard".

In this picture our neighbors have not arrived yet.

The day after we arrived we left at 3pm for LA to see the sights and cool off from the 37 degree heat inland.

Peter found the air conditioning too cold - te he!!!

In general Nadia was a great traveller.

So was this young lady.

I found the architecture of this building unique.

Loved all the palm trees.

And all the cacti.

We drove around Beverly Hills for awhile.

See the Holly wood sign???

That's about as close as we got.

Aren't they cute?

I would LOVE to have a LEMON tree!!!

A cute little back lane.

Sunset Drive

Santa Monica Boulevard.

Beverly Drive.

The end of the road - Santa Monica beach.

We ate dinner there to cool off.

At the one end they have a ferris wheel in an amusement park.

The waves were bigger here than at home.

San Francisco - July 5th

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A very common scene in San Fran.  Trolleys.

Just before Lombard St. - that famous winding steep street.

 

On Lombard.

 A look back.

Imagine climbing that fire escape??

 

Hanging around at this angle made me more nauseous.

Never a nice smile for Mom.

This is at Pier 39.

Both Michelle and Will are left handed - none of our children are - wierd hey??

Some sea lions sun bathing.

Eating at the aptly named "Sea Lion Cafe".

Michelle and I sitting on the bench on the right side.  We were waiting for the others to finish up in the Maze of Mirrors.  Good thing we didn't go in - all the lights and mirrors made Aleana quite sick afterwards.  It looks like the boys had a crazy fun time though.

All the boys together.  So many of them!!!!

That's Alcatraz out in the distance.  The idea of visiting there really creeped me out so we just took these pictures.

Here we are at the Golden Gate bridge.  Nadia was sleeping.  I was recovering from having clam chowder for lunch (forgot that it had wheat in it) and Aleana was recovering from the Mirror Maze. 

The boys all went down the trail to get a better view.  

Aleana did get out for alittle while.

This is a shot of a sea lion but they also got to see some dolphins - isn't that awesome?

This gives you an idea of how big this windmill we found was.

This housing that we drove by reminded me ALOT of Brazil's.

Just plain rows for different colored homes.

I LOVE this picture. The kids were waiting for me to finish making buns for supper.

We even had a dishwasher!! 

That concludes our second day. 

I aplogize for being so far behind but September for us has been super out of sorts with a quick road trip (3 days) to St. Albert for a funeral and having another family live with us for a week. 

The funeral was for Will's uncle Rainier Van Delft but he was also very close to my family growing up and my principal for 12 years.  We were very thankful that we could make the trip and see the family and be with them.  Our hearts and prayers continue to go out to Auntie Karen and their children during this time.  Then we had a missionary family sharing our space with us for 6 days which was mutually encouraging and enjoyable.  The kids LOVED it and still talk about how they miss all the other children. The LORD is good!!  That being said it made for too many late nights and and thus a a very tired and nauseous Mommy.  Do I regret any of it?  Definitely not!! 

We praise the LORD for the gift of good friends.