Mammoth and more!

The spring has found us busy (as normal it seems) with more trips and adventures. We trekked once again to Mammoth for the annual spring snowboarding trip. To our surprise we were actually met with blizzard like conditions on Friday and then were able to enjoy fresh powder for our Saturday snowboarding. It was incredible!!! We enjoyed the trip with a smaller group and we are sadly hanging up our snowboarding things until next year.
April was the month for visitors. We were blessed to have some wonderful friends and family come and stay in our extra room. My mom came down to stay for a few days and helped buy our first spice garden and house plants. We have invested in the hanging tomato branch and eagerly await yummy, ripe off the vine tomatoes. Mark and I were trying to keep a picture journal of all our guests but have so far only taken pictures of my mom and Nate, Katie, and family (sorry Davii). We have loved playing host and invite all of you out of countiers to come down for a visit:). Mark is a fabulous cook so you'll be well fed!So now we are trying to prepare for our next adventure... The John Muir Trail. Marriage has been good to us and our bodies have enjoyed all the good eating and relaxing we have done. They will not be so happy when we get on the trail and die from lack of training. So..... we are beginning a semi-strict regimen, or at least some sort of activity from climbing our one stair on our porch or walking the steps at a near by stadium to smaller backpacking trips on the weekends when we can. We are excited to be out in the wilderness for a good chunk of the summer. We are on the trail by July 9 and can't wait!!!!

Kauai, Hawai'i, 2009

Getting there

Both Lina and I were so ready for a break... we were so ready that we didn't even mind the 5 hour layover in Honolulu. The first hour was spend here waiting for them to be able to take our bags

The next four hours were spend watching the final four games at the little airport bar...
HAWAI'I

My parents have a timeshare at the Marriott and this year my mom decided to make a family vacation out of it... if you will remember, we were going to go last year but all the airlines went out of business right before we left and we couldn't go. Not a bad view huh? We slept with the sliding door open and enjoyed the lulluby of the waves.

There is a lot of good surf during the winter out there. The guys in the back are riding paddle boards where you stand up the whole time. Our little bay was a hot spot for them... a nice slow break.
We took a day trip up to blowing horn, one of Hawai'i's state parks. We caught some "shave Ice" on the way home at a place called Jo-Jo's... You were right Lance, it was phenomenal!



Tons of good fun was had by all hanging out in the room and chillaxin. Lina found some random child to toss around... oh.. nope sorry, that is my little niece Rily.

A highlight for me was getting out for 18 holes at the Lagoons Country Club. No Angel Cabrera, but a score of 88 is not bad for a windy day at a new course with rented clubs.

THE NAPALI COAST
Our hiking day

Lina and I had heard so much about the beautiful Napali coast and the incredibly beautiful hiking trails they have there. We had originally planned on camping out there overnight, but permits are hard to come by over spring break, so we took an 8 mile day hike out to the Hanakapiai water fall.
The trail was super muddy with lots of river crossings, but so lush and beautiful... a real tropical paradise.



The waterfall is about 1000 feet high and falls into a beautiful clear pool. We both took a refreshing dip after the two hour hike in.




Yup!... Lina (the fresh fruit addict) was thrilled to find this little farmer's market on the ride home. That is a coconut in her hand.


The trip was really good family time as well. We all missed my dad, but had some great time sharing and talking and connecting as a family. Any suggestions for next year's family trip?

Mammoth ski trip, Feb '09

So, we took off a day of work and headed to the hills for some snow boarding. The trip was arraigned by our friend Karen and a group of 10 of us took off. I can't believe how good Lina is getting on the snowboard. She even made it down the treacherous Cornice bowl... the most difficult groomed black diamond run on the mountain! Way to go babe!





On the top of the mammoth with all the beautiful Minarets in the back ground. This summer these are the same hills we will be hiking through.



Mammoth is a dormant volcano... There is strong fumes coming from this roped off area... one of the vents!





On the way home we stopped my the Manzanar detention center where the US government detained and held over 100,000 Japanese Americans during the second world war. President Reagan issued a formal apology.

And.... we're off to Seattle!

Life can be rather spontaneous at times. Take for example last week. We had planned on using last year's plane tickets to Hawaii (which we couldn't use because of all the airlines shutting down) on this year's trip. A great plan we thought. So, I called up the airlines last Tuesday, February 10th, to settle everything BUT the agent I spoke with informed us that we actually had to be flying in the air before February 20th!!! So a quick decision was made. Valentine day's plans in Orange County were canceled and next thing we knew we were off on a plane to Seattle to visit Dominic and Sarah. Never mind the fact that we were invading on their first Valentine's Day as an engaged couple. They were gracious to show us around Seattle and were wonderful hosts!
When asked what we would like to do when upon our arrival and what are plans for the weekend might be, our response was simple..... Hang our with Dom and Sarah, maybe get a hike in and visit the REI Mecca! If you have ever been to the REI there, you understand. It is ENORMOUS and so of course we needed to check it out. Oddly enough, we also found some things we wanted to purchase. I found some winter boots (much needed because the old ones have a 5 inch slit in them... see previous posts) and Mark scored some new, more snug low tops for the trip this summer. We are hoping for a miracle with my boots. Perhaps they won't make my feet a blistery mess.
Then it was off for an afternoon hike. We drove out about 20 minutes from the city and strolled along this beautiful green trail. We fell in love with the place and dreamed of having a house there. (NO plans on moving as of now, but it was fun to imagine:))

It was great hanging out with Dom and Sarah. I was able to get into a little bit of all the wedding planning excitement with Sarah and was able to go with her to try on dresses. Dom and Mark, in the meantime, hung out at a coffee shop. We are so excited to have Sarah as a part of the family. She's great!
We had a lovely Valentine's Day dinner with Dom and Sarah and a couple of their friends. It was neat to explore their neighborhood and see their lives in Queen Anne.
We returned to the OC on Sunday and enjoyed the rest of our three day weekend putting the last things away in our house. It is sooooo close to being done:)!!!!
Thanks Dom and Sarah for the fun, last minute visit!

San Gorgonio Wilderness trip, Jan 18, 2009

Hey everyone!.... First, Congratulations to Dominic and Sarah, Lina's brother and soon to be sister-in-Law. Way to go Dom! A ring was exchanged on a cliff over-looking the ocean up in the Seattle area. We are so happy for you both and so happy to have Sarah Join the family!





SAN GORGONIO CONDITIONS:
There is still a good amount of snow up there. It is beginning to melt down by the South Fork parking lot area though. Gaitors are essential if you are heading up into the deeper softer snow up around Dollar Lake or Dry Lake. We used crampons and trekking poles as well. It got down into the high 20's at Dry lake with a little wind the night we were there. Snow shoes would have been nice especially in the afternoon to do much hiking due to an icy layer over the softer snow underneath. Boots and crampons broke through and made for tedious walking. We brought our ice axes but never used them other than to stake out the tent. OUR TRIP:
So, this was our first trip as a married couple. Lina got some crampons for a wedding gift so we were anxious to get out and try them out. We got on the trail at about 11:00 or so and had a great time crunching up the mountain with all our fun new gear. It is always fun getting out into the snow with crampons. They make you feel a little bit like Gene Simons from KISS. We left the Dollar lake cut off and made our way up the last 3 miles of the 6 mile trip up to Dry Lake. As we got up into the softer snow at the higher elevation we started to realize that we weren't as in a good of shape as we would have liked, but the beauty of the mountains in winter along with the promise of a tasty granola bar when we got to camp kept us going.

It began to chill up as we pulled into camp. The sun begins to go down at 4:00 or 4:30 up there and a little bit of a breeze picks up. We were really glad we had brought some good hot soup and began to feel pretty good once we had slipped into our new Down Jackets (thanks for the REI gift cards everyone!) Hot soup in your belly after a long day of walking makes everything a little better. We climbed into the tent at 7:30 or so and were out by about 8:30pm.

The morning was glorious! We stuck our heads out of the tent and got the stove going for some hot Earl Grey. Everything was bright and pristine. We had some Bible reading and prayer time together and then broke camp and headed out. All in all a really great time!










Lina's Feet:
What trip would be complete without some foot trouble from Lina's boots. I think we have both decided that we are at least going to explore the idea of having some boots made for her. Does anyone know of a custom boot maker?

Wild Ride of Winter

Wowzers! There is just to much that has happened in the last month or so to be able to give any real description of it. If you are anything like me a bunch of words on a blog page is a pretty big turn off, so... I will just keep it short and to the point with some captions for a few pictures so you can see what Lina and I have been up to over the last month.



First..... (drum roll) We got married! .. November 22, 2008... I cried a lot as did a bunch of other people I was told. Most everyone seemed to say that it was one of the better weddings they have ever gone to. I think one or two even said it was the BEST! With a bride as lovely as Lina... absolutely. It was a day I will never forget!


HONEYMOON
Next, we took off to Argentina. I had been keeping the trip a secret from Lina, but being as smart as she is, she caught a name off of an email that I accidentally showed her and she figured it out. She was gracefully not going to say anything, but I knew that she knew. I don't know if she knew that I knew that she knew, but maybe we can save that for another time.




We started in Buenos Aires spending a couple days alternating between sleeping, walking around the city and eating. Argentina has some of the best wine and certainly the very best meat in the whole world. That steak there grilling on the Parilla ruined me for life. No other steak will be able to match... soft as butter and a flavor that is out of this world!



The second part of the trip was truly the very best. We booked a room at the Sheraton right next to the Cataratas Iguazu... the Iguazu waterfall. They we kind enough to give us a free bottle of Champagne becuase we were newlyweds.





This waterfall in on the boarder between Argentina and Brazil. It is 1.67 miles wide and has over 200 individual single waterfalls that make up the whole falls itself. The Iguazu river flows out of the Amazon area and dumps millions of gallons of water over this falls.













COSTA RICA

After a much too quick trip to Woodland and then a cozy ... and a bit of a sad Christmas back here in La Habra, we took off to Costa Rica for a visit with the family that I lived with while I was living and working there from '96-'99.





Franklin and Xinia Guerrero





We had a great time kicking around the city with my tican sisters, Diana and Nela. The youngest Caleb, was out with friends much of the time. It was great to be able to reconnect and share some time together.


Thanks so much for all of you who have supported Lina and I during these last couple of months. We have often been dealing with emotional whiplash, bouncing between such excitement and sadness as well. Both Lina and I have been so encouraged and blessed by your friendship and care.