Early vacation

We spent 2 nights up in our local mountains, in Idyllwild, with our son, grandson, and Ben's mom.  I guess you could say it was an early Christmas present.  Ben, the 4 year old, wanted to stay in "a cabin" in the mountains.  We found one available at our FAVORITE cabin, at the Silver Pines Lodge, in Idyllwild.  Unfortunately, it was just for one night. It had two futons in the living room (by the heater) and a separate bedroom (for the kids)... We fed the blue jays and squirrels LOTS of peanuts and birdseed and they were thankful (and hungry!).  The next night, we moved to smaller quarters at the Fern Valley Inn.  It had a fold out couch in the living room, a full kitchen, and an additional bedroom. This one also had a full kitchen and our son cooked a nice rice dish for dinner.  Frankly, by then, we were too tired to care!  The grandson had gone ALL DAY without a nap.  We made smores both nights and he was racing around the cabin after eating 5 marshmallows and 2 smores~!  EGADS!  I'm glad I fell asleep!  We are all home now and will get together tomorrow.  That's hubby and our son and that's our son and grandson at the Idyllwild public library.  I picked up 3 hardcover fiction books for $1.00 each, so I'm a happy camper!

Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas!

Cheryl Ann

Holiday lights

These beautiful holiday lights are at the Living Desert Reserve, here in Palm Desert.  They are a part of the park's night holiday celebration called WildLights. Every year the reserve has a night time holiday show of lights.  You have to buy separate tickets for this and they run about $10.00.  We took our daughter and little granddaughter (and her dada) there on a members' only night, so we didn't have to pay!  We ALL enjoyed the beautiful lights and we'll make it a point to do this every year from now on.

Weekend finally!

The weekend is here, and what do I think?   (see picture)
And, yes, I survived the last day of school before winter break.  And, I'm amazed to say that the kids did pretty well.  We made holiday cards for 2 hours in the morning.  I got out the glitter and away they went!  After lunch, they had to write out their times tables through the 7's.  Then, they cleaned up their desks and we had a party.  THAT took until the very end of the school day.  Hahahaha....I sugared them up, hugged them all, and sent them home to their parents!  Only one child was absent, so I had 29 kiddos.  And, no fights, no paper airplanes, but one did fall out of his chair!  It was WONDERFUL!!!   :-)

Hehehehe~Last day of school!

No other words needed...

Desert sunrise~SkyWatch Friday~122013

Sometimes, early in the morning, when I stumble outside to feed the birds, there is a sky full of color, like on this morning.  I awake way before sunrise, and I'm usually busy typing on my computer, but on this morning, I went out to get something out of my car and VIOLA!  There it was...a beautiful, fire-lit sky!  SkyWatch Friday for December 20, 2013.   To visit SkyWatch Friday, please go to:   http://skyley.blogspot.com/

Pond~Water World Wednesday, December 18, 2013

There's always something calming about water, isn't there?  At least, it seems that way to me...how about you?  This pond is up at the Whitewater Preserve, which is at the base of the San Bernardino mountains.  Water World Wednesday for December 18, 2013.   To visit Water World Wednesday, please go to this link:   http://www.kissess4u.com/

Wagons~ABC Wednesday~December 18, 2013

Two very different wagons up at one of the apple ranches up in Oak Glen, California.  While it was past apple time, it's always fun to visit this ranch.  There's always lots to see and hubby bought some tangelo marmalade last weekend, which is announced was "WONDERFUL!"...ABC Wednesday for December 18, 2013.  To visit ABC Wednesday, please go to:   http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.com/