Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Playing in SoCal

Well--- most of you who saw the pics of the mess of a studio we moved into (as far as the amount of stuff we had to organize) probably believe we are spending every spare moment shoveling out! Thankfully, however, this is not the case, and we have become much more organized in our space!!! I promise to include some new apt. pics very soon!

But- we also wanted to show you some of the beauty of SoCal within which we have played as we rest and enjoy Sabbath on Saturdays (this is the day Brian has chosen to do no school work and we explore, nap, hang out with Maggie in new spots, etc.) So...here are some of the most recent adventures!

First, the Cobb Estate- we live in the foothills and can see the mountains pretty much all of the time- it's crazy! One of the first Saturdays we were here we drove to Altadena- just a few miles from our house to check out the Cobb Estate, which is an old hotel (now in ruins) where you can enjoy beautiful hiking overlooking Pasadena and LA. We are still adjusting to the colors here- greens and browns, tan and rust. I do miss the fall leaves quite a lot, but we love the warm temps and the fact that we are still wearing Chacos in late Oct.!!! Nice!



Yes, Maggie can drink from a CamelBack! A skill Brian will be teaching our baby as soon as possible as well! ;)



The pregnant lady can hike! ...just not too fast!



The smoggy city- we are very close to LA...even in the woods!



And then...our favorite place in the world-- East or West coast...the beach!



This is actually Ventura Beach- we were there one Sat. in the middle of Oct. with Brian's Dept. - students, faculty, and the Dean and his wife (who actually leads the wives group I attend, so it's fun that we are both connected to them). This beach is about an hour from us- what a change from Morgantown!! and is actually very similar to our East Coast beaches...



...a group of us spent time relaxing, enjoying the sand, playing soccer, eating fish and chips at the harbor nearby, and generally lounging. Some folks swam (I was not one of them- those of you who know how much I hate cold water are probably not surprised!).



It was a great day- now we have several more nearby beaches to explore- although I think we'll be avoiding Malibu for a while. Thankfully, the news here today looks like they have managed to contain several of the fires and are allowing residents that were evacuated back into their homes. The city of Pasadena has emphasized we are not in any danger (we are about an hour away from Malibu), but have restricted activities at local schools for outdoor sports due to the air quality. Today it is not too bad- yesterday we could see the ash in the air, and it has been very, very hot- in the 90s. We continue to pray for the displaced families and firefighters as well as a heavy, heavy rain.

1 comment:

Taryn said...

Hey! It is so good to hear you are doing well. I love the u/s pics!! I can't wait to meet him/her! Continue to enjoy the diversity of your Cali environment/landscape, you won't be there forever. We miss you and think of you often!
love, the Lloyds of Harrisburg