The Golden Gate

In early April, we took a few days during Alex's spring break to visit some family and friends in the Bay Area. David caught a cold the day before we left and was sick for the entire trip, but we made the best of it. We visited my uncle and his wife just outside Napa and later stayed with my friend Karen and her family in Pacifica, just south of San Francisco.

Karen, her husband Ted, her father June, and son Riley took us to a food truck event at Fort Mason, but just before that we stopped at the base of the Golden Gate bridge. Ted pulled out his Nikon D7000 and snapped these beautiful pics. Our hair is a little messy because of the wind, but it was a beautiful day. So blessed to have such great family and friends.

Alex is at that age where he doesn't like to pose for photos:

The only way to get Alex to smile in photos now is to take one when he is not looking

The Stanley House at Stanley Ranch

The first part of our tour began at the Stanley House, home of Agnes Stanley, the first person to be born in Garden Grove, and her family. You can see this house on Euclid Avenue as you drive by. This post is more about the details than room photos--those will come later. I'm not a fan of Victorian homes, but I will say that the home was brighter on the inside than I imagined.








Armilyn and Alex trying out the old pump organ








Alex is fascinated by the workings of an old, hand-cranked washing machine


Detail of an ornate door hinge

The entire tour of the ranch lasted 2 hours, but we spent almost the entire first hour in the Stanley House. That's how much stuff there was to see!

Stanley Ranch Firehouse

At the Stanley Ranch, we saw a reproduction of an early firehouse, one of the two non-original buildings at the Ranch. It was full of a ton of vintage fire fighting gear and memorabilia.

Walt Disney's Garage at Stanley Ranch

On Sunday we paid a visit to Stanley Ranch in Garden Grove. The ranch is actually a historical district anchored by the Victorian home of Agnes Stanley, the first person born in Garden Grove. There are many historical buildings from the city that have been moved to the site, but in this post we will focus on the garage that Walt Disney began his career in California at. The garage was not originally in Garden Grove, but donated to the historical society by friends of Disney when the original location was slated for demolition. Surprisingly, the Disney studio nor Disneyland or the city of Anaheim wanted the structure. It's a simple garage from the early 1900s, that is roughly 10x25 feet, just enough to get 1 car and some extra storage room. There are cases with memorabilia from a Disney fan club inside, and they hold meetings there every so often.

A projector from the nearby Gem Theatre. Not Disney-related, but from the same era.

Walt overlooking a model of 1955 Disneyland. More from the Stanley Ranch in future posts. We had a 2-hour tour of the place and took lots of pictures.

Summer is Here!

On July 1, we headed over to the Great Park to try and ride the balloon again. Unfortunately all the reservations were taken and standby didn't look good (no standbyes got on that night).

They added a lot of landscaping, playground, and a carousel since the last time we were there. The balloon has internal illumination, so it glows at night, very pretty, though my iPod camera doesn't do night shots very well. The worker said we had to get there before the flights started in order to get a reservation.

Kites & Crafts

Recent adventures to watch kite surfing at a local beach and Earth Day crafts in Newport's Back Bay.

Tilt Shift pics

Got the Tilt Shift Generator app for my iPod and have been taking some cool pics with it. Here are the best.

At the mall:






Outside my work:


On our afternoon walk: