I did something fun!

My friend Calla took me out.  She likes to explore and knows lots of fun places, but I do not like exploring.  I like having my hand held and being taken places.  So she held my hand and took me some place.

This is the place.  It is a Chinese garden with 4 quadrants that represent the 4 seasons. I think.  It was really neat!

It was beautiful.

It had all these gorgeous picturesque things everywhere and I loved it!

This was in the middle.

 And after you meandered around the path to get to it, there were all these awesome little trails around and even under the waterfall!  You could also climb up one of several sets of stairs to the top.  So cool!

 Look at me!  I'm inside the waterfall!

I loved this column and now want this carved into my house. Okay, maybe not that.  But I love it.

And this 7 story pagoda was fantastic. 

See, I'm out doing fun stuff! 

And taking pictures of all the pretties. 

And there were a lot of pretties! 

 And a koi pond.  I bought fish food to feed the fish.  This bird was hoping to get him some dinner, but the koi were a little big for him.

And then we went to lunch at the restaurant next to the Garden.  I tried the roast beef curry, since I have never met a curry I did not like.  It was delicious.  But I did not like the perfect, uncooked egg yolk perched atop my rice.  I had to gently roll it down the rice mountain and nestle it on the side.  I was impressed I did not break the yolk sac. The roast beef and curry were amazing.  And only 500 yen for a delicious lunch.

Rylee is a Goober

Random stuff

Josh's car was overheating.  He still drove it the mile to school for a week or two before I called our favorite car guy about it.  He said no more driving it!  It did work out nicely to have it towed in because that meant I didn't need another person to get it over there.  It needed a new thermostat and was back home 24 hours later.   

 Now that Christmas, and stocking season, is over, I'm making baby quilts again! 

 The high school posted Marian on their page. With the awesome cutting board she made me for Christmas.  Love this girl!

 Delaney thought this flower on our bush was so lovely.  So she took a photo.

 While going through some stuff, I found this!  The letter from waaaaaaaay back when, awarding me a scholarship from MOWC.  Joshua is currently applying for this exact same scholarship!

I made a new friend who likes to go out.  It works well because I like going out, but lack the motivation go actually do it.  So she got me out to lunch and it was lovely.  And tasty. 

Rylee is a goober and makes me laugh. 

We took all the kids to see the movie "Spiderman - Into the Spiderverse"  and it was probably the best family activity that we have done in a while, simply because they were all excited to go watch it, they all got along nicely and we all loved the movie.  Yay!

Can you see the Marian in the tree?!

Rylee is also having a blast in the awesome climbing tree.

One sweet little dog

Yep, we are fostering another dog! 

Thank goodness this one seems to be a winner! 

This is Sarah.  She is about 3 years old and has been in doggie foster care for 18 months.  She and her litter of puppies was rescued from the kill shelter in July of 2017. 

She is potty trained, kennel trained, doesn't get into trash, doesn't chew, and best of all, she doesn't mark any territory!  She is fantastic! 

 She is small and sweet and loves cuddles.

She just wants love.  Lots and lots and lots of love! 

If you stop petting her, she will paw at you to tell you to keep going. 

She gets along with Levi.  Mostly.  She's the boss and pushes him around.  Despite the fact that she's about 12 pounds and Levi is 60 pounds! 

She is fun and great.  Her only downside is that she is terrified of everything. She is getting better though, as she gets more confident in our house and in us.

A Day at the Beach

 We wanted to go out before school started, and our friends suggested going to Sand Dollar Beach on New Years Day.  So we did!  the weather was gorgeous and probably hit 70 degrees in the sun.  The water was probably closer to 65, but that did not deter some of the girls!

There was much delight with hermit crabs, and this poor guy had lost his shell.  We tried to find him a new shell, but were unsuccessful.  He was released with hope he would have more luck himself. 

Rylee got wet, but not much more than this. 

Oh yes, we brought Levi! 

He had a VERY good time! 

My little Mermaid! 

The sun was so bright it made awful shadows!  That's Marian. 

 Group photo on the cliff.

It was beautiful. 

Rylee and Marian were the only ones who really got in.  Well, our friend's little boy did tumble in deeper than he intended to, but that doesn't count! 

Yep, Marian went all the way in and swam.  She was quite successful at finding some great sand dollars.  It was a good day!