We are truly grateful to God for who He is and all that He has given to us. 

As part of our Thanksgiving tradition, we did a mini hike at Peters Canyon in the afternoon.

This time we took a different route on the Willow trail. 

I had fun taking pictures of the trees.  Some of them seem to be growing horizontally.  It was nice because the trees provided a lot of shade.  I cannot believe how warm it is still…this is November? 

As usual, my mom did the vast majority of the cooking.  As usual, everything was delicious. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

We’re on a roll with the soft openings.  On Saturday we went to Pieology at the Spectrum.  They gave away a free pizza or salad and drink for each person.

We again arrived one hour before opening.  We were the first ones, but a small crowd soon formed.  Fortunately, they let us in about twenty minutes early so we didn’t have to wait the full hour.  This time D came prepared with a magazine.  The kids entertained themselves.

n’s turning into a little ham.

The pizzas were good—nice crisp crust.  I thought the amount of topping was better at Blaze, though.  The pre-made salads had walnuts, but they were able to make a salad with walnuts in a separate container for us. 

I really like the branding of this place…down to the take-out boxes.

On Saturday morning I read that The Habit in Costa Mesa was having a soft opening and giving away a free hamburger, fries, and drink to each person who showed up.  Not being ones to turn down free food, we arrived at 11 a.m. even though the promotion did not start until noon.  Turns out, we were the only ones in line for a good 45 minutes—doh!  On the bright side, there was good family bonding time during our wait, without distractions.  D called one of our family friends that I thought lived close by and told them about it.  Turns out, they live only a couple of blocks away, and we were able to give them our booth by the time they ordered their food, so I was glad D called.  I’m sometimes reluctant to tell other people about our “good deal” hunting because I’m not sure if the deal will turn out to be worth it, whether they would be willing to wait a long time, etc.  

Open—Open—Open!  (Remember those Mervyn’s commericals?)  *For the record, n picked out his outfit.  He has been quite insistent on wearing a t-shirt and shorts these days, not caring whether they match or not.

By the time we ordered, which took quite a while, a good size line had formed.

In this case, we were able to choose any of the types of hamburgers, except the “double char”.  We had been to The Habit in Santa Ana, so we knew what to expect.  I like how the bun is toasted, and that the standard comes with lettuce, tomato, pickles and grilled onions.  The employees were all enthusiastic and asked us how we were doing numerous times.  I hope this new location does well. 

Before we know it, Thanksgiving will be upon us.  However, I don’t want to miss out on posting some pictures from Halloween.  It was a fun-packed day.  I took the day off from work and 1. Walked k to school and stayed for the beginning of her Halloween parade.  2.  Took n to his speech therapy class.  3.  Took n to his preschool Halloween party and stayed to help.  4. Took both kids to a community Halloween event (see train ride picture). 5.  Went to our neighborhood pizza party and witnessed the Gangnam Style performance from my previous post.  (n is now doing the dance—uh oh).  6.  Went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.  By the end, the kids finally had the hang of saying “Trick or Treat?” and “Thank You!”  Put a bowl of candy out since we were out trick-or-treating.  7.  Collapsed into bed.  Three minutes later, n called out from his room…”Mommy, me have a lot of candy, right?”  k reassured him that yes, he still had a lot.

Dividing the candy stash (with a separate pile for the candy with nuts—for mom and dad!)

For more than a year, my state quarter collection has been *almost* complete.  I was just missing New Mexico.  Yesterday, I started trying to follow Money Saving Mom’s 4 Weeks to a More Organized Home.  The first assignment was to clean out my purse.  I was going through my extra change, and sure enough, there was New Mexico!  I felt like my attempt at organization was instantly rewarded!

I am pretty exhausted from all of our Halloween activities today.  However, I had to share this video of some of the boys at our neighborhood Halloween party—too funny.

Saturday morning we woke up around 6:30 a.m. after sleeping for about 10 hours!  The kids, especially n, have come a long way in their ability to sleep in the tent. 

D insisted that I take a picture of the sunrise.

After our breakfast (pastries from Dudley’s and applesauce), we started on our hike of Palm Canyon Trail at 7:15 a.m.  According to the pamphlet, “The Palm Canyon Nature Trail is a three-mile round trip walk featuring a native palm oasis.” 

Wow—1 gallon of water minimum per person?  We didn’t heed the warning, but fortunately we did end up with enough.  D had his water belt that he uses for running, another bottle in his cargo pocket and I had extra water/juice in my bag.  The water belt was quite handy for the kids because they could take the water whenever they needed it and did not spill due to the pop tops. 

We were ill-prepared, however, in regards to k’s shoes.  I knew her shoes were getting ratty, but had no idea she actually had a hole on the bottom! 

Ocotillo plant.  I know this because the pamphlet was conveniently numbered to correspond with 15 stakes along the hike.  This was a nice way to learn more about our surroundings.  The stakes also helped us make sure we were on the path and gave the kids a guide as to how much further we had to go. 

While not too strenuous, the trail is not always clearly marked, and there are many rocks to climb.

The lone plant we saw that had flowers.  I believe it is a desert willow. 

What a heavy rock. 

k kept on stopping to say, “What a view!” 

As you can see, there were many rocks to climb over.  I was completely amazed how well k and n did.  k, the girl who we were still pushing in a stroller not too long ago, led the way for much of the way, and did not complain.  n, the boy that usually wants to be carried after a block or so, made it all the way to the oasis, scrambling over rocks, trying to keep up with k.  (He did get tired on the way back, and it was hotter, so D carried him for much of the return trip).

We were at the second to the last stake, #14.  The pamphlet states, “Step lively, water and cool shade await you!”  We were stepping lively, we could see the palm grove in the distance, but we could not find the final stake!  At this point, we had not seen another human being since we began our hike.  The sun was growing hotter, and I was having second thoughts about whether this hike was such a good idea.  I was having flashbacks of our Utah hike where we ended up in snow—how do we get ourselves into these situations? 

However, in the end, we did make it to the last stake, #15.  We saw the California fan palm and a marsh, but it wasn’t really the oasis that I expected.  Maybe during other seasons there is more water?

Seeing these palm trees in the middle of the desert is quite a sight, though. 

We found a shady spot and refueled with some snacks, juice and water.  On our way back, we did run into a couple of groups just starting out.  None of them had kids, and I think they probably thought we were a little crazy.  The hike ended up taking us 2.5 hours to complete.  It was definitely our most ambitious hike as a family, and I look forward to many more.

On the way home, we stopped by at Julian Pie Company again to pick up a Apple Mountain Berry Crumb pie to share with my parents that night.

A sweet way to end our excursion. 

Julian was a bit of a bust.  By the time went, the vast majority of the orchards were closed for the season.  The Main Street was small, and we had already had our apple pie in San Ysabel.  (If we ever go again, I would like to try the apple pie at Mom’s, just for comparison’s sake).  There were a handful of shops selling random knick knacks, including a store called Nick’s Knacks-haha. 

The kids kept saying they wanted to get to the camping portion of our trip, so after walking up and down Main Street, we got back in the car. 

Not too long thereafter, the traffic was stopped:

There was road work going on, and they were only letting traffic through one way at a time.  The kids were becoming increasingly antsy during our 20 minute wait.

Finally, we made it.  We used the seemingly new and very clean restroom facilities at the parking lot of the Visitor’s Center.  What struck me about the park was the quietness. 

We had watched a Huell Howser show on the Visitor’s Center, so D was doing his best Huell impression.  It is neat how the building blends into the landscape.

Even though Anza Borrego is the largest state park in California, neither D or I had heard of it before going on Soarin’ Over California at Disney California Adventure. 

Inside there were some displays and a movie that plays at irregular intervals (basically, they start it up when there’s people who are interested).  The movie went through the seasons and mentioned that fall is the season of the tarantula.  That made me somewhat uneasy, but luckily we did not meet any during our stay. 

I did want to see a big horned sheep, but none of those were to be found, either.