The Lundy 5

After watching the McCloskeys and Travaglinos put in stair storage, I finally got mine! And then Allen stole it!! He's been procrastinating busy with other projects but finally looked at the stairs today. There's a great empty box on the second step and a long, open space under the first that goes clear back to the third (perfect for a long drawer). And he thinks they're both perfect for tools. Tools! Granted I have no idea what I'd put there right now, but it was my idea! Fortunately, getting his tools out of where they are now will clear up a space I want for laundry, so all is not lost! The tool box looks great I admit, and he won't have to go outside to the basement for them. The drawer will be next, then I guess I'll have to find something else to bug him about!

My sweet, sweet Matt just made me breakfast. Except, instead of cinnamon toast, he made cumin toast! I thought it smelled a little strange, but he showed me. See? Ground cinnamon. Oops, that's not cinnamon! :) Yep, it's cumin, which is just lovely in white chicken chili. Not so much on buttered toast. :)

I finally hiked up Allen's hill right outside of the campground (and can't believe he bikes this thing, it's steep!) It's also a nice view of Menifee and our campground. My boys Steep! Looking over the campground. The campground, and the cows.

This was our first Thanksgiving in about a million years that we didn't go to my aunt & uncle's house in Kentucky (near Cincinnati) and we sure missed everyone! But this year we were way out west and decided to stay (avoiding any possibility of snow, plus a cross-country drive). We really missed our tradition, and our family, but we ended up having a wonderful holiday on our own. Okay, not completely on our own, (don't feel too sorry for us yet)... there were two other families in our campground and we celebrated together! We have amazing cooks in my family and my services are hardly wanted needed there beyond dessert, but here I had to got to cook, and a lot! Which, surprisingly, I really love nowadays! And it wasn't too bad, if I say so myself. And as I'm the only blogger in my family, I do say so! :) We really enjoyed the day (and especially the food) with the McCloskeys and Travaglinos. There was a grilled turkey and prime rib in addition to my favori...

The blog got a new look tonight this morning. That's what I do when I have a million things to do. Now I feel better and can get started on those million things... after a nap. FYI, I need some of that hot chocolate on the top left. It's freezing here in California! And yes, quite literally. It's 33° out there! That's 1° away from us driving to Mexico tomorrow! The 78° and 83° the next two days will greatly help though.

Thanks to the grands who sent us some great Thanksgiving surprises in the mail! The kids LOVE their hats and they're so cute! The hats, not the kids, well, the kids too! Thank you.

After we went to Cabrillo , we found out we were super close to my friend Sandra ! So we went back to visit her and she treated us to a very Ocean Beach day. We walked our dogs to the dog beach, where the kids were literally in dog heaven. There were TONS of dogs running everywhere and I think they tried to pet each one. It's a very dog-friendly town and it seemed like everyone we saw had at least one. We even got to take them out to lunch with us! We had our first fish tacos too (yum!) Then Jack stayed to play with Sandra's dogs while we went to La Jolla to check out the sea caves and kayak with the sea lions. But it was freezing *really* cold, so just Allen and Josh kayaked while Lizzy, Matt, and I tried to stay warm. They paddled right into the caves and got to get very close to the sea lions. Josh thought it was intimidatingly close! They were pretty big, friendly, and curious. It certainly was a gorgeous area. We hope to go back when it's a bit warmer, and w...

We love the setting of our campground, Pio Pico Thousand Trails ! It's quite literally in the middle of nowhere, but close to San Diego, and even closer to Mexico. We took a wild drive (4WD required!) up a mountain (in the campground!) to get a better look at the campground, plus San Diego, the ocean, Mexico, and pretty much the rest of California. Or at least the vast expanse of nothing here in southern CA. As east coasters, we're still not used to all the empty land out here. Back east, someone would have this claimed, fenced off, and put up no trespassing signs! Here, they make off-road trails and say enjoy! So, insanely scary drive up. The road on my side dropped down to nothing. The steep drop off I can handle, the crazy bumps that I was sure would throw us down said drop off were a bit much! Otay Lake (I assume, since the road is Otay Lakes Rd) and the Pacific in the background. We stopped to enjoy being on top of the world for a while. Zooming in on San Dieg...

We found out we were close to Cabrillo National Monument and, since we'd never heard of it, we figured we should go learn! The kids did the Junior Ranger program , so we all learned about Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo (and how to say his name). There was also Old Point Loma lighthouse, some military history, an active base, and tide pools to explore. The kids especially liked learning about the weapons the ships used and trying on armor. Look! Mexico! Oh, also San Diego. :) Up the lighthouse steps. I was excited to see the shores of San Diego and they were indeed gorgeous! My camera battery stopped working also, so being stuck with cell phone pics was torture! The tide was in because our timing always stinks , so we missed the tide pools (they said you could walk half a mile out onto the beach at certain times), but the cliffs were great to explore. The kids (and adults) had a ball!