Happy Birthday's :)

Another weekend has come and gone. On Saturday, we went out to dinner to celebrate my Dad's belated Birthday (Happy Birthday Dad) at BJ's Restaurant and then went back to our house for cupcakes, ice cream and a concert. We had our annual concert in the park, which featured classic rock by the Undercover Girls. To be honest the band wasn't the best and unfortunately butchered some really classic songs but we had a great time and it was a nice evening to be outside. Although it is definitely getting cooler on an evening and the mess of leaves in our front yard is signally summer is at end :(

Unfortunately, we didn't take pictures but imagine a stage near the baseball diamond, a huge dance floor, lots of round tables with chairs and plenty of blankets on the ground with kids running, rolling, cycling, skipping, and roller blading around every piece of the park and you have a pretty good idea of what it looked like. I have to say that being able to sit in your driveway and have a perfect view of the stage is pretty awesome.

On another note, today is a day for celebration or maybe a day to try and figure out where the last year went. Exactly one year ago today we started this blog. At first we weren't exactly sure where it would take us or how often we would use it but looking back over the last year and having a time stamp of everything we have done and all that has happened is pretty amazing. We now wish we would have started one earlier!

Happy Monday!

Labor Day Weekend

This last weekend was a 3 day weekend, so we decided to make the most of it and went out for the day on Saturday. We drove down to Oceanside (which is south, towards San Diego) to see the Mission. California Missions are each a days ride apart, so this would have been a days ride from San Juan Capistrano. Luckily for us it only took an hours drive to get there.

The Mission was founded in 1798. It has been renovated and slightly modified from it's original state but it is a beautiful complex. Although outside the Missions grounds could have used some watering.


The gardens looked amazing but it is now used as a retreat facility so we were not allowed to view them. It was really disappointing to only be able to see them from behind a fence.

Apparently, across the grounds they had statues from the Stations of the Cross. I thought this was a great idea, it beats having to look at tiny pictures within the Church but unfortunately we couldn't see all 14 stations because many of them were within the gardens.

Jamie and I found this stone piece pretty fascinating. The tour called it a gargoyle but to us it looks more from Native American artwork than European. This is where the 'Indians' washed their clothes, called a Lavandaria. They are now in ruins but even so they were pretty impressive.

After the museum, we drove down to San Diego to the Cabrillo National Monument. It is on a peninsula that overlooks the coast of San Diego. It wasn't the clearest day but it still offered an amazing view. In 1542, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo set foot on what is now the West Coast of the United States. He is attributed as the first European to arrive and a statue now commemorates this. There is also the first lighthouse in San Diego and a military base located within the park.

We did a small hike and enjoyed watching the sailboats and yachts go by, with the occasional fishing boat being followed by crowds of seagulls. We enjoyed the day and the weather.

I can't believe Labor Day has come and gone. It's the unofficial end to summer which is a bit sad but with all the uncomfortable hot weather we are looking forward to Autumn this year.