Passports

Well we finally got around to getting our passports this past weekend. Well, I should say everyone but Crysta. Seems she did not have the "Official" birth certificate that is required to get your passport. Even though it said "official Document" on it. The King and I will need to go to the Health Department this week and get her an "Official" one. We will then go back on Saturday and get her wrapped up. We are waiting to hear from the one tour company to see if they can get the flights we want back from Hong Kong. If they can't we will go with the first agency that we had. Last night we had our family dinner for Chinese New Years. This included all of the King's family. That's about it for now, it is raining pretty bad here today and looks like it might for the week. Later

Monarch Sanctuary

The Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary in Pacific Grove. If you look closely at the branches you can see they are still sleeping in.

Pacific Grove

Well this past weekend, the King and I went down south to a town called Pacific Grove. It sits between Monterey and Carmel. We stayed at a place called Asilomar that used to be a YMCA retreat. It was a very nice place on the ocean and nestled in the woods. We stayed at what's called Deer Lodge, because there were deer lounging around outside and sleeping by the front door. We went down and she let me play in the tide pools for a while, checking out all of the starfish, anenomes and nudibrank. It was very cool. We then went down to Big Sur and watched the sun set. In between we ate at some very nice places that we had heard about. For breakfast I had 3 blueberry pancakes that were the size of the plate. I could not eat it all, but they were very good. We went to the Monarch butterfly sanctuary before we left the next morning, but the butterflies were still sleeping. We then drove home up Highway 1 all the way back home where the kids were glad to see us. It was a very nice getaway that the King had arranged and the weather was perfect for it.

Yard Work

Well, I took a few hours in between the OU basketball game and the Super Bowl last Sunday to work on my never ending project in the backyard. I got up early and went to my favorite store Lowe's to purchase some more plants and bricks. Carrying those bricks is always a treat. They weigh 65 pounds a piece and I have to carry them upstairs. Since it had been raining a bit, the ground was pretty easier to dig in the usual. I planted 10 new plants and trimmed the grasses and will probably plant some more until I have used all of the space out back. It's a lot of work but I do enjoy it.

Say Cheese!

Well I finally got everyone together to go get their passport photo's taken this past Saturday. We went to a place in Chinatown where the King knows the people. It was kind of amusing. The King had us all get dressed up to go take our pictures. I was wearing my usual OU t-shirt which I know I will wear on the plane as well as anywhere else we are in China. But NO... that was not good enough. So after finally compromising on a shirt, off we went. We all took our pictures, but no one was as primped as the King. I tried to look like I had just gotten off of a 15 hour flight, but I looked a little to perky. Everyone was happy with their photo's except for the King. She was most unpleased because her hair was out of place and considered a retake. We talked her out of it and it only cost us $20 for all 4 of us. Next I will have to force them to go get their passports, which is tough because most of the offices are only open until 4 during the week. We will have to get the kids out of school.