11th Anniversary

Our cabin 

It has been 11 years since the wife and I were married in the Los Angeles Temple. It hard to believe it has been that long. As we failed to celebrate the 10th year anniversary we decided to do something different and go zip lining. I was OK with it as I am not a big planner when it comes to these types of things. We left on a Friday and drove out to Cobb Mountain. The drive was fine except that the car started overheating as it often does in warmer weather and especially climbing up mountainous terrain. We forgot to bring water and so it was quite hot at the early evening hours.  We got this cabin and were immediately in total frustration as the lock box was not working and we were totally locked out of the cabin. We tried to open it for almost 10 or 15 minutes and then began calling and emailing the owner of the place. As we left I had the impression to ask the neighbors if they had problems getting into their place. The husband said that his wife struggled with theirs and offered to help us. He messed around with it for a while and then tried a couple of numbers slightly different than our combination and what do you know, it worked! We were so relieved. It felt amazing to go in and turn on the AC unit. We were hungry though and so we ventured out to get some food. We first stopped at a nearby pizza place. We went there originally because they had a coupon at the cabin and thought why not. As soon as we walked into the restaurant we could smell fish and it looked like an old diner. My wife smelled the fish and we were out of there. We drove for another 15 minutes or maybe more and eventually happened upon an amazing hole in the wall milk shake place. It really was amazing. I'm not sure if that was because we were so hot and thirsty at the time but I will always look back on that place with fondness. We made it make to our place where my wife sacked out pretty quickly with me as I watched the Dark Knight.

The next day we got up at like 6:30 AM in order to make it all the way to Occidental near Sonoma where we went zip lining. We got out there like an hour early. The place was called Sonoma Canopy Tours. The host at the base of the park was quite funny and youthful. The signed our release forms and left our phones in the car. We signed up for the high definition video which was a good choice. I had no idea how terrified my wife was of heights until that day. We got our harnesses and headed up to the trees. The first zip line was pretty simple and it felt good as the first trees were not redwoods. I had no idea that redwood trees swayed that much. The trees on the other zip lines moved and swayed quite a bit and the swaying of these redwood trees is supposed to be a sign of health. We gradually made it through the course and repelled back onto solid ground. For lunch we met my brother and his significant other for lunch. The food was pretty good. I got a goat wrap and my wife had something with pork. I was surprised as I could not even attempt to eat what she had it was really fatty. It really was nice to see them both and just visit. That evening we ventured down to Calistoga where I missed my wife's cooking again. We had pizza there but I was left wanting. I am not really that picky when it comes to food, but we just were not doing well in that regard on this trip.

French Laundry 

The next morning we had breakfast at the nearby golf course where I had Eggs Benedict. That was probably the best meal we had besides the milk shakes. One of the best things about this trip was allowing my wife to sleep and enjoy a very comfortable bed. A comfortable bed is a must for any kind of getaway like this. No I did not eat at the French Laundry, but I wanted to drive by after hearing about a family members experience.

Yosemite

It has been a few weeks but my family and I did go to Yosemite tent camping. We stayed just outside the valley which was hard enough to reserve a spot for on a Monday through Wednesday. I was a little worried  on the first day when we are all getting used to being dirty. Once we got over being dirty I that the experience went much better. We did not see any bears or mountain lions but I was definitely ready to see them. They have metal bear boxes there at the camp sites to put all of your food and toiletries in. They do have bathrooms but just for hand and face washing. No extensive washing is allowed. We had a fire each night and morning which added to the excitement of each day.

The first day that we got there we set of camp and set off to do some hiking around. We saw a nature center and the views in the valley were more than breathtaking. I was taken back by the majestic beauty of these large mountains. It was also strange to be in California and feel like you were a minority to be from the United States. There were European people everywhere. We were pretty wasted after the first day of hiking around and carrying my youngest on my back.

The next day we were all tired and so we went to a central part of the park in search for museums and an art class for the girls. The sad thing was that eventually found out that the art class was completely booked out and it took all morning to do this. The afternoon was filled with wading and swimming in a nearby river where both the wife and I fell in. The rocks were extremely slippery and difficult to traverse. The wife got a huge bruise on her backside from falling. I felt bad as it was my idea to cross the river. I don't know that I would have crossed when I later heard on the news that two boys got carried away in the current and both died. They were on a day hike with their church.

The nights were hard as we tried to really hard to keep the tent and the kids as clean as possible. Plus, we forgot to bring a boom box which was a mistake. Luckily, we had my phone playing Les Miserables to create the right sleeping environment.

This really was a wonderful trip and I wish it could have lasted an entire week, but perhaps I would have been too burned out by then.

Hearing Problems

Just an FYI, this is not a blog dedicated to sharing my trials. I suppose it is easy to write about them though. You know the phrase that it rains when it pours, that was how I felt on the fourth of July. I had previously jumped into a pool at a party and got my phone wet. Then I found out that I was having problems hearing. My hearing sounded muffled which for me who only has one working ear was quite disturbing. I was pretty sure that this problem was exacerbated from being in the pool that day. It dawned on me a day or two later that I recalled a ear wax removal party that we had at our family reunion back in 2006. My mom and I seemed to have the same problem at the same time. Maybe it takes six years for ear wax to truly build up. Anyway, if this grosses anyone out I apologize. I kept trying to put hydrogen peroxide in my ear because I hear that it dissolves the wax. Unfortunately, the peroxide had expired in March of 2012 and was likely not working very well. I could not hear the fizzling but I only hear out of one ear so how did I know if it was really fizzling? I finally broke down and went to the local Walgreen's and found an ear wax removal kit. It was probably similar to the one I used with mom back in 2006. I was so relieved that it was the ear wax that was causing the hearing problem. When you only have one ear you get paranoid pretty easily when your hearing is threatened. The good news is that my hearing is fine now. My gratitude for being able to hear is much greater at this point. I also hear that using hydrogen peroxide on a regular basis prevents this build up. Maybe I should start trying that out.

Tender Mercy of the Lord

OK. So I was at a Fourth of July party the other day with the family. We were truly having a great time. There was all kinds of food like shrimp, burgers, dips, and even snow cones. There was a great pool at this party (any pool is great when you don't have one). So anyway, I was not very smart and left my phone in my shorts pocket while sitting next to the pool (not recommended). I thought I would be good and put my phone in the swim bag. Later, when after I changed into my clothes and waited patiently for my family to finish swimming, I started using my phone again. I was again sitting near the pool with my phone in my pocket (again not smart) and then I all of a sudden saw this kid in the pool starting to suck in water/drowning. So my first instinct was I am not going to let this kid drown and I jumped into the pool with all of my clothes on. I was not thinking about my phone or my wallet in my shorts. The sad thing was that his mother jumped into the pool at the same time and got to him just before I could. Then I got out of the water and immediately realized that I left my phone in my shorts! My phone was soaked as was my wallet. So my phone was soaked and I did not even make it to the kid in time. I want to say I was stupid but I would have jumped in a hundred times over if it had happened again. So I immediately left and went home. I started looking on the Internet for remedies for wet phones. Then I realized that I probably made a critical error as I remembered pushing the circular button/on switch on my phone a couple of times after this experience. I hear that is exactly what not to do. I took my wife's advice which was confirmed on-line and put it in a sealed bag of brown rice. I guess I could have put it in white rice but it was what I could find first. Anyway, on-line they tell you to wait at least 24 hours before turning on your phone which I did. At the end of the first 24 hours I tried to plug in my phone and charge it with no response, nada, nothing. The same thing happened over the next several days and I was ready to give up. Then earlier today I plugged in the phone and held down both buttons for like five seconds or more and then miracle, the apple sign showed up. However, I had to try it a second time for it truly to start charging. It was as if I had to tell myself, don't give up, something is in there, keep believing and it will happen. I truly feel blessed that my phone came back. BTW, I plan on getting phone insurance when I have the money. You never know when you might need to jump into a pool...

Trials of Life

Yesterday I thought that I would be helpful and work on fixing the sprinklers in the front and back yard. I initially only planned to fix the back yard, but then I remembered that one of the sprinklers in the front was leaking and not spraying properly. So, I started on the sprinkler in the back yard thinking that all I had to do was to glue two pieces together. I did that and soon the water had risen past where I had glued the two pieces. I was satisfied though and believed that the bond would hold and I moved on to the front yard. The front appeared to be easy like the back, but soon it I realized that it would not be easy at all as the problem seemed to keep moving further and further back up the line. I could see that the line broke deep down and thought I only needed to glue an elbow piece in order to solve this problem as well.

On this occasion the entire family went out and we all hit several stores to find a BBQ as ours had stopped working months before. After the third store we decided upon a model and took it home. It was up to me to start assembling this grill and I went right to it. I looked at the picture in the instructions and read them even before proceeding. I got more than halfway and realized that the fire box on the grill would not set in properly as the holes were too far apart. I recruited my wife's help and we got about to the step where I was previously and then we both realized that it still wasn't coming together even with us both working on it. The directions were not helpful whatsoever and it had been several hours of assembling at this point. The wife was done at this point and we loaded up the grill in its partially assembled state and the wife took it back. I had also had the displeasure of seeing that my efforts in fixing the sprinklers in the back yard had failed as the line broke further back from where I had attempted to fix the original leak. When my sprinkler fix backfired I was truly done for the day. I am not exactly sure why we have days like this one except that at times the Lord wants to see how we will respond to adversity. Can we remain positive when things get tough? I am grateful that I was able to keep my composure in these instances.

Happy Easter!

I came upon this video as I was pondering about why we celebrate this holiday. I truly feel indebted to him for his great love and everlasting sacrifice. This holiday is about more than just the Easter Bunny, my kids searching for plastic eggs full of candy, and eating a special Easter dinner with all of the trimmings. Enjoy.

A New Leaf

I have decided that I need to try blogging again. I just have to not get so caught up in whether or not the content is perfect. For me, starting to blog again is like trying to diet for the first time in a while, or trying to get up early when you are out of the habit of doing so. So here I go, no regrets.