DMV

Who knew that a run to the DMV could be so much fun?!

We needed to transfer the title for the latest dirt bike, so I made an appointment down the hill. There is one that is a little closer but it's in the wrong direction for anything fun to be added.

The appointment only took about twenty minutes, so were ready for breakfast with the Grandparents right on time! We met them at the recently re-opened "Farm House Restaurant." It closed last year the week after we ate there and has re-opened as "Farm's House"! The boys were a little perturbed about the name. Unless someone named Farm works there, it just doesn't make sense.

The food was good though. The boys were all geared up for chicken fried steak but it wasn't on the menu. Luckily, I've taught them well and Tom asked if they could make him some and they were happy to oblige!

We love spending this kind of "quality time" with the Grand-Parental Units!

Well, we're already a hour from home and it's only 11AM. What should we do next? Head up the opposite mountain! We've never adventured up the other side of the valley, so I thought a drive up to Idyllwild was long over due.
 
How about this view of Banning from about half way up!?

Ahh...72 degrees...I could get used to this! When we stopped at a "Vista Point", Tom found water leaking from under the truck. We've been having radiator problems. He popped open the hood and they found that the radiator cap had rattled loose. No problem! The grabbed a hat, closed it back up, and put a couple bottles of old water in the reservoir. On with the adventure!

Another awesome view. This is Hemet and Perris below.

This lizard was just asking to be caught. It proved to be too fast for us though.

Tom slowly approaching him. It was hilarious watching them. That lizard was toying with us!

Of course, we HAD to do a little geocaching while we were up there! There just happened to be one at the Vista Point. While Tom searched the bushes, I had to explain to a small group of people what he was doing. They had never heard of it and thought it was pretty cool.

We decided to take a peso from the cache and left a sea shell. Tom is not mad. It's just very bright out there on the mountain!

Re-hiding the cache! We are always sure to put it back exactly where we found it so that the directions are still right.

One more climb up on the rocks and no, I don't think those branches will hold your weight!

We continued our drive up the mountain. This was a reconnaissance mission so we made note of several places to go hiking on the way up to the town. We will definitely be back up here!

We found Idyllwild! The Nature Center was closed because the power company was working and half the area had no power. We decided to stop for some ice cream! We had to wait for them to open, but it was worth it. We also got some kangaroo and alligator jerky!

The town was adorable and looked like a nice place to spend the afternoon shopping and eating. We tried to find a place to get a new Forest Adventure Pass for parking but failed because of the power outage. We decided to head back down the mountain and come back another time for serious hiking!

How do you like this spot? There is a deck for fishing, a hiking trail, bathrooms, and picnic tables. Again...we NEED to come back here.

Jake was not enthused by the idea of fishing, but Tom was. Tom is dreaming of what he might catch here. And Jake is wondering how long he'll have to sit here waiting. I'm sure he'll find something to entertain himself!

We headed back down the mountain and out into the desert. These views are a big reason I love living out here. I feel like there is plenty of room for my whole spirit to stretch out!

Finished "1 Timothy"

And now I come across verses that I do not like. What to do with them?

"But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression." 2:12-14

Hmm...I can get behind no "authority over a man". Does anyone have an authority over anyone, really? And Adam was created first, yes. But the woman was deceived by Satan and the man was pulled into transgression by woman alone. I'd mark that as worse.

Also, it says "I do not allow...". This is written by Paul, not Jesus. So I take with a grain of salt. There are many passages by Paul regarding women that I don't agree with and I've never seen any church practicing, so I don't think I'm alone here.

"For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer." 4:4-5

Everything? This passage, I believe was written about food specifically. I don't think we should apply that to more.

"But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment." 6:6

Yep. But it's not what you think. When we are content in our lives and in what God has given us, we are relaxed and focused. When we focus on God and not on this world, we are more content and happy. We may not be rich in money or things, but we feel better than if we were. It doesn't matter how hard we work or how much money we get. If we focus on those goals, we always feel like we are missing the mark and need more. We do! We need the Lord and spiritually, we know that.

Dirt Bike Repairs

Repairs?! More like a complete re-build!

I'm not even going to try to tell you the details of what is going on here.

The story goes like this. Jake had a Honda CR85. It was kinda small for him. He decided to sell it and use that money to get a bigger bike. He put it up on Craigslist and had no calls about it for a long while. Then there were a few. He emailed a couple people about trades. And then someone called saying they would trade their Yamaha YZ250F straight across. This is the bike Jake really wanted! The catch? It doesn't run. The guy said it did run recently but something happened and it doesn't run now. After much discussion, they decided to do the trade anyway. Even if they have to completely rebuild the engine it would be an ok trade. And the experience gained by doing the work would be priceless. It could even be an easy fix!

It's not going to be an easy fix. Or cheap. But still worth it. It's just going to take some time and effort.

Jake doesn't look amused, mostly because Tom gets so excited and will work for hours. Jake's more of a "slow and steady" kind of guy.

They have the engine all apart and much research is being done. I'm amazed at the knowledge these guys have. By the time they get this baby running, they will be experts!

 

Dad has an idea! 

Finished "The Song of Solomon"

Very beautiful, but I wonder why it is part of the Old Testament. What is it that Christians are supposed to take?

Me? I take it that romantic love and desire are part of God's plan for us. Devotion is beautiful.

"Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among young men. In his shade I took great delight and sat down, and his fruit was sweet to my taste." 2:3

Love satisfies us and gives us strength.

Sigh.

A simpler place

"He often went back to places he had been at earlier times in his life, just to see if the places would seem the same. In most cases, because he himself had changed, the places did not seem exactly as he remembered them, but there were exceptions. The simplest places, where there was only rock and sky, or water and rock, changed the least. When he felt disturbances in his life, as all men would, Famous Shoes tried to go back to one of the simple places, the places of rocks and sky, to steady himself and grow calm again."

"Famous Shoes suspected that the young ranger did not believe what he had just said - he was not old enough to understand the need to go back to a place where things were simple. He had no happiness in his face, the young ranger; perhaps he had never had a place where things were simple, a place he could think about when he needed to remember happiness. Perhaps the young ranger had been unlucky - he might have no good place or good time to remember."

I don't usually write much about the books we are reading as a family because I'm not taking notes but this just jumped out at me last night and I had to write about it. Just a PSA about the book though, it's not for the faint of heart or squeamish. It's one of my husbands favorite books though and he wanted to share it with us. It's a great thing he did because I think I would not have finished reading it after the first yucky parts. In fact, I asked him to skip over them but he wouldn't. But the book is great. The depth of the characters is the best. The Indians aren't all bad guys and the cowboys aren't all good guys. You love some. You hate others. And some you're just not sure about.

What do you think about the quote above? Do you have one of those places? Is it a physical place, spiritual, or just a fond memory? I had never thought of it like that before but shouldn't we all have a place in our lives that we go to to "grow calm again" when life gets hectic?

Before we moved to the desert permanently, we used to come out and camp on BLM land. There is nothing but sand, rocks, bushes, and old mines out there. The boys toted around BB guns and dug holes. I went for long walks in the morning. We'd sit and stare at the fire at night, laughing and telling stories. It was simple. I didn't realize it then, but now I do. We needed that quiet. We needed the simple space and time to re-center our focus and relax. When we came home after a few days, we were happier and more content. And we returned to that same spot many times. We still do, even though we live out here.

I hope you have one of these places! And if you don't, go make one! Even one simple, peaceful room in you house would do. A porch spot with a comfy chair and a view. A nearby park or hilltop to gaze out from. Or a special spot on the couch with the perfect story in your hand.

Finished "2 Thessalonians"

There were two verses that I want to share this time through.

"Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which  you received from us." 2:7

I don't think he is talking about hiding yourself away from the world. He's speaking about people that they have told the words of Jesus and have taken it in a direction they don't believe Jesus meant it to go. The disciples were people that spoke with Jesus first hand and their words are what we need to heed as we walk in Christ. If Jesus had written a book, we would be reading that. I think they were warning us that some people were taking their words and witness and leading others in the wrong direction. Funny that just this morning, I was reading about a public speaker that seems to be doing just that. He explains the gospel without quoting it. Many people may read what he says and take that as gospel instead of the words that the disciples wrote.

"Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother." 3:15

And that is what we are charged with doing when we find people doing this. He isn't an enemy. He is brother that is being deceived. We, as Christians, need to remind him of God's Word and gently direct him back to it. We all have the free will to interpret the gospels ourselves. But we don't have the authority to explain it to others that way. Read the scriptures yourself. Pray and seek guidance. Open your heart to Him personally.

A Field Trip!

This is something we haven't done in a long time, a group event! We signed up for this over a month ago. It was three hours away and $22 a person, but the lure of a boat ride and seeing sea creatures up close was pretty strong. I asked the boys about it and they said it sounded interesting. It didn't start at 8am, so I signed us up!

My intention with "field trips" is to experience something that we may not have thought about. Oceanography isn't something my sons would be pulled to unintentionally. We don't live anywhere near the ocean. I'm not a fan of the beach, really. And no one we know works with the ocean. So, when I saw this one, I jumped at it.

I belong to groups all over Southern California, so that I see invitations to all kinds of events. I was pulled to this one because, even though it was far away, it didn't have a very early start time, included all ages, and was close to things we could do afterwards and make whole day of it.

Upon arrival, I knew we had done the right thing! We were all excited to see the big port with its ships, trucks, and trains. We recently watch "On the Waterfront" and Tom said he felt like we were waiting at the dock for our work tokens!

They were fascinated with the different shops. There was a boat repair place, petroleum business, and a fishery. Tom liked the old warehouses and cranes behind them in this picture. It looks like a movie set everywhere you look!

I tried to take a "selfie" with all of us, but Jake would not cooperate! Neither of them brought a hat...we didn't think of it. I always bring mine because I'm old and fair-skinned and hate the sun. Even with my hat, sunblock and protective clothing, I still got sunburned on one part of my shoulder which hurt today!

I took this picture of Jake because he wouldn't get in our group picture. I love his freckles!

Getting ready to board the boat!

This is one of the fishing boats unloading next to us. When we got back, there was a sea lion under the ladder waiting for a hand out. He looked like that was his regular spot and even chased off another sea lion trying to horn in on the action.

 

This is Jake's excited look. Really. He has a hard time with this. People think he is angry or sad, but really he's just thinking. It takes him extra effort to put on a cheerful smile and sometimes it slips his mind. I try not to ask him too many times if he's having a good time. It bothers him. And I really try not to let his serious face put a damper on my fun. I'm excited in my way and he is excited in his.

Watching the big cranes unload the ships was the highlight of the day. We'd all like to know more about it. If I didn't feel queasy while reading on the boat, I might have been able to find more information. I decided to file it away for later though.

We all took Dramamine this time! The information for the tour asked not to bring food on the boat, but when we got there everyone else had food. And we had to go without. Then the tour last an hour and a half longer than expected. By the time we left, we were starving! That's what I get for following instructions.

Jake still had to work hard at not being sick. As long as we were up on the deck with the wind we were fine, but we paid the price with a little too much sun. 

Standing around. Watching the shore. Keeping an eye out for sea lions and dolphins.

They both grew tired of standing at the rail, but didn't want to stay below deck, so I told them to try laying down on the life preserver chests. Laying down and rocking on the water is just about the best thing ever. They had to struggle to stay awake! But they were so peaceful!

Once we got out to a good spot, the crew threw out a net on a rope and dragged it behind the boat for awhile. The captain was an awesome guy. Tom talked to him a lot about the boat.

The bummer was that the net got caught on some rocks and tore, releasing everything they were trying to pull up on board and take a look at. They didn't have a spare net but were super apologetic. They were able to pull out some plankton and krill for the kids and talk about those.

So we headed back. Not much going on in the oceanography department, but we were happy to see all the shipping stuff.

All in all, it wasn't a waste of time. We loved the boat ride! We did get to talk to a few nice people, but didn't really make any friends. We were disappointed that we didn't learn as much as we would have liked. It would have been nice if the tour included information about the shipping docks, maybe talk about the harbor history, what research this group is doing, or what kind of things live in the harbor. The whole thing was only going out, scooping up critters, and looking at them. No critters equaled no info, so there was nothing. Tom did get some information because he's a seeker. He walked around and talked to the guides and asked questions. Jake would normally follow and glean what he could, but he was busy not being sick. I was enjoying the sights of the harbor.

By the time we returned to the dock, it was almost 3pm! We were starving! The tour organizer said they were going to refund our money since we didn't get what we came for, so the boys and I spent that money on lunch at Acapulco's!
 

Tom's pictures of the bridge. Too bad you can't walk across it! I'd like to take a tour of this!

Tacos! It is Tuesday after all. The restaurant was right on the water. Peaceful, shady, and cool. If I didn't have three hours of driving ahead, I'd have had a strawberry margarita.

I have no idea where there is a big rubber duck next door to the Maritime Museum.

We NEED to come back and see the USS Iowa! I keep forgetting about it.

More bridge pictures by Tom. It's funny because we used to drive over these bridges all the time when they were little and they'd ooh and ah over it then.

And then we headed home. We left at 7:30AM and got home at 7:30PM. The traffic wasn't too bad. Since there are three of us, I can take the carpool lane almost the whole way. And thanks to some awesome engineering, the carpool lane has it's own interchanges with more awesome bridges. It's a good thing I like to drive!