Hearst Castle and San Simeon

If you have never been to Hearst Castle in
San Simeon, it is worth the trip. It was amazing,
especially if you are an art aficianado. William
Randolph Hearst the Newspaper Tycoon, built
a castle and filled it with art from the mediterranean
some of it from ancient Egypt, over 4000 years old.
The girls are by the outdoor pool of the estate.


Also in San Simeon is a resting ground/mating
ground of elephant seals. We could have watched
them for hours, if we didn't get so cold. Over
4,000 baby elephant seals were born here this year.
They then migrate up to Alaska. They travel back
and forth two times a year.

Limekiln State Park & Ragged Point

This is Ragged Point where you can see the
huge cliffs that meet the ocean. There's no beach
at all, with huge wave crashing against the cliffs.
It's beautiful, but very different than the ocean
we're used to by our house!


Here's the girls, climbing a tree - again - at
Limekiln State Park.
It was about 45 mintues further up the coast. It was a beautiful hike up to a 100 foot waterfall.
The most fun part was crossing the stream 4 times on fallen
logs or rocks. The only one to get wet - - was Dan.

A Dream Come True, Solvang, CA

For 18 years, ever since Dan came home from

his mission from Denmark, Dan has been talking

about visiting Solvang. Solvang is "Little Denmark"

here in the US. It's the only one in the US. We got

to walk on cobblestone streets, see the cute houses

and shops. We even went through a Danish museum

to see some of their culture. But the BEST part had

to be the food. The pastries as you can imagine were

delicous, and even Dan who is a huge pastry snob since

his mission gave it two thumbs up!

Santa Barbara Mission

While on our travels we were able to get Kristina's

big 4th grade project finished. From those of you

not from California, 4th grade is California History, and

all 4th graders do a huge project on the missions. Including

visiting some, making a mission, reports on the missions etc.

Luckily for us, Krissy has the same teacher as Melissa had, so

we knew exactly what we needed to do (even though the assignment

hasn't been given!) This is the Santa Barbara mission also known as

"The Queen of the Missions" . It's the second largest and very

beautiful. All the missions are very unique and interesting to see.

Rocky Nook Park

This was our first stop on our great fire escape.
Rocky Nook in Santa Barbara. There were great
climbing trees, which is a favorite of the girls.

Temecula Fire Sky

Things really heated up this last week for us in Southern California. Dan was unable to go to work as San Diego was on fire. There were serveral fires close to us. The Rosa fire, The Rice Fire, The Witch Fire, and the the Pamoocha Fire. (Which is currently still burning.) We were never evacutated, however we had our car ready to go. Temecula high schools and churches were used as evacuation centers for neighboring areas. The air got really smokey and they cancelled school and Dan's work, so we decided to 'get out of Dodge' as it were and we headed to cleaner and clearer air in central Cali in the Santa Barbara area. Thanks to everyone for all the calls checking up on us!

Its Jessie

Blogging is so much fun! Thanks to all of you for your comments........it makes it all so much more fun! My birthday was alot of fun! We had a football game on my birthday so I was lucky enough to wear my uniform to school!! At the game I brought cupcakes and I was lifted up like the player who scores the final touchdown it was fun:)For my party on Saturday I am going to a haunted house. Its gonna be some "spooky" fun!

Love You All!

Puppy Obedience School

This is my PreK class on D is for Doggy Day.

Aren't they cute? They loved having their faces

painted and getting doggy ears and collars.

Alot of moms told me that they had puppies

for the next several days. (Hopefully, they

learned letter D as well.)

Our Cutest Halloween Decoration

We spent the weekend decorating and getting ready for Halloween.

Annie is so excited that on October 1st she went to school all decked out for the holiday.

She even used her Trick or Treat Bag for her books.