Wild Animals...Beware

Micah and I took advantage of our year pass to the San Diego Zoo which includes the Wild Animal Park as well. So we went on a little Safari ride (not half as awesome as England BUT the park was beautiful), checked out animals, watched a Gorilla battle, and just enjoyed the beautiful sunshine.

White Rino....only 8 left in the world. 6 in the Czech Republic and the other 2 are located here in San Diego. How special

Getting ready to hop in the jeep.

These vultures creeped me out. If you click on the pic and blow it up, look at the eyes of the bird on the lower branch. Umm death.

Pretty bird

Pretty waterfall in the middle of the park

Overlooking the Safari park. Beautiful area for sure

All of the lady lions in the pride. Feasting

Do not wake a sleeping Lion....seriously. I felt like in a move and it was going to jump out and eat me, but he didn't. He feel back asleep

Momma Black Rino and baby Black Rino....the baby was so stinking cute.

One of my favorite zoo findings...seriously how cool would it be to be a giraffe

Look at the sweet little baby with the HUGE head and little tiny legs. precious

My pet Gorilla.

The bird....

Yes this is a bird. that white circle is it's eye...and the little TINY pointy thing on the lower left side is it's beak. Weird little thing

This is PROOF that Dinosaurs and birds are related. seriously. if this is not a raptor i don't know what is. It actually made my scream a little when it flew over. CREEPY little guy

Feeding the birdies

This little guy cracks me up because his feathers on his head puff up and look like a mohawk

In case you didn't know, I'm a turtle

and so is the man I married apparently, but the best part is....This picture captures the moment Micah stuck his hand in bird poop :o)

Sweetest little deer ever. taking a bit of a nap while I pet them.

USS Midway

Living in San Diego....there is no dull moment. If anyone ever lives here and says that there is nothing to do, they are crazy. Peoria...has NOTHING to do, San Diego has just about everything you could possibly imagine.

Our adventure this weekend was downtown....There is a Naval aircraft carrier parked and used as a museum. Basically, you pay $17.00 per person, get individual headsets that are your tour guides throughout the day. You can then wander around the three levels of the ship and put buttons on your head set to hear info about it. I think we took about 150 pics, so these are just a few that don't do the ship justice. If anyone comes to visit this is a MUST SEE. Even I liked it! It really makes you appreciate the men in uniform...

First little plane you come to when you enter the ship.

Micah waiting for me to take a picture so we can go through the LONG hallway of doors... not for claustrophobic people!!

Beds where everyone slept....this picture makes the beds look twice as big as they really were. basically, if you sleep on your side, you probably would not fit.

People would not move for this picture but in case you cannot tell it reads "(Pratt) & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp Engine The Engine that won the war" I just wanted to make sure people knew that I won the war....

There was a jail under the main floors and there were bathroom facilities for the prisoners. Micah couldn't help himself.

This dude is in trouble

The Engine room. I cannot imagine how hot this place would be while the engines were running....it was a big tangled mess of machines and big things. crazy

Birds eye view of the ship. If you can read it, Sayonara is spelled out. There were actually navy men in uniform forming the letters to say goodbye to Tokyo Bay.

Uhh i just liked the fact that a lot of the piping was pink or purple haha.

The top deck was loaded with planes and jets and helicopters. You could enter some of them and look around. Amazing!

Statue in the park next to the Midway...you can tell just how big it is by looking at the people next to it.

View from the ship. Coronado bridge is across the way.

My favorite pic of the day.

My two stud muffin pilots. Micah was jealous

Midway, half of it.

The other half of the Midway.

Walking back to the car, Micah and i sat to watch a cruise ship leave....sun was setting as it pulled away.

This is another boat in the harbor that you can tour. People are dressed as pirates. Kinda interesting but the boat looked cool.

Sunset over the harbor....seriously....I could live here. Oh wait, I do.

If you like it....you better come visit us :o)

Caterpillar has a Yacht.....

But you have to be special to get to enjoy it. Normally it is just for the President's people, but we got a special invite to go out for the evening with a few other Solar employees. Free food. Free Drinks. Free Company.

The weather was not that pleasant, but it was still worth the ride. Windchill was probably feeling about 50, but still better than IL. It was also a bit overcast so the pictures just don't do the experience justice.

Thanks for the Date Night Micah....since you tricked me into thinking everyone was bringing their spouse....and they didn't. I guess I'm just that special that they wanted me there anyhow.

We boated all around this: (Coronado)
On a thing called this:

That looked like this:

WINDY...i seriously almost blew away, but we wanted a picture with the city behind us

We broke the rules

Rock on San Diego

More city

Bait Shop in the middle of the bay

Seals all over....too funny. They were chilling at the bait shop

My beautiful City....from the bay

Beastly Hanger...

Security making sure we didn't get too close

Naval Base with all the helicopter and jets

The navy was practicing their rescuing....the Helicopter would hover over the water and reel people up. quite intense

Takin a pic with the boy and crazy man in background

The Coronado Bridge...A.K.A. the most beautiful architectural structure I have ever seen!

trying to take a pic of the flag on the back of the boat while moving is not easy....that's water below it

Yes, they liked me so much they let me drive....

Lifelong Dreams

To all of you who have been praying for our new life, thank you! It has been a interesting transition for sure. As most of you know, this past summer was spent nannying for a family while taking EMT classes at ICC. I figured, while in CA I could get a lot more hands on experience in the medical field by working for an Ambulance service. So i endured four hours of class twice a week and then worked at OSF and Proctor on some Saturdays, for clinical experience. The class finished two weeks before the wedding and I was in no way going to be able to study for my National Exam that allows me to work anywhere in the US. So then after getting to CA, I planned to take the test, but didn't have my book to study.

So after much running around, Jennie and Dave came to our rescue once again and brought the book to Chicago where Micah was on business. Once the honeymoon came up there was no studying time and then the week after didn't allow for proper reading either. But finally, Tuesday and Wednesday we spent with my head in the book reading 700 pages hoping to remember anything and everything I learned over the summer.

Yesterday I took my test. I must say, i am a pencil and paper kind of girl. I like to be able to take my time, skip questions I am unsure of, and cross out answers for proper reasoning. The National EMT test is not quite up my alley. It is a computer based test that gives you some teaser questions to test your ability in the beginning and then formed the remainder of the test on how well you know your material. Answer a lot of questions right, they start getting harder. miss a lot of questions, the start getting easier. You cannot move on without answering a question and you cannot go back to check or change an answer. I am a second guesser so it basically took all I had not to freak out. There is also no set number of questions to answer...basically the computer can tell by the questions you answer correctly, at different difficulty levels, if you will pass or fail and then it just shuts off. So you may be on question 70 and it decided you are going to pass and just stops, or you may get to question 170 and it shuts off then. I tell ya, my nerves were tingling.

The good thing about this test...you know the results the next day.

So this morning i woke up to "CONGRATULATIONS YOU ARE NOW NATIONALLY REGISTERED AS AN EMT"

What a relief. Now i can find a job and start saving lives :o)

Should have taken this class before babysitting all your children, but i knew the basics back then...

But now, if ever needed, I can assist in the delivery of a child as well (as we all know the real work comes from the mom)

Oh Happy Day, now pray that my driving record is good enough to drive an ambulance to get a Job in this crazy state. They are VERY strict!

Marriage

Like I promised...here is my expert critique of Fireproof:

AMAZING. Probably the best movie I have ever seen and a gift from God at that. I had never heard about this movie prior to my journey to find a church here in San Diego. One of the churches I was reading about was beginning a bible study that followed this movie "Fireproof your Marriage." Intrigued I started doing research on the movie.

It was created by a church in GA who also created two other movies that I am currently trying to find so I can watch them as well. Most movies in theaters today are so....unGodly. And I myself do enjoy a good movie, but I sit and wonder how many of these movies are pleasing to God. How many of these movies would I actually want to sit and watch WITH God....not many. Now The Notebook and P.S. I Love You would probably be alright but there are so many that give us a good laugh but don't put a smile on God's face. Fireproof, however, breaks free from Hollywood.

It is about a husband and wife who 'fall out of love.' Temptation, unfaithfulness, lies, hatred, jobs, etc. come between the once 'perfect couple'. The husband, guided by his parents new found relationship with Christ, starts a journey to save his marriage. By loving his wife....not always an easy task, he then finds Christ who guides his heart the rest of the way. It was so touching to see him fight for love. And to have it all centered around Christ just reminded me of how good God in.

The acting was quite poor, and the movie itself was obviously not created by the makers of and Hollywood film, but the message allows you to ignore the weak quality and truly love a movie for the story. I want to watch it again and again and I hope that everyone who has it available in a theater close to them chooses to see it as well. the $20 we spent on tickets was well worth it.

Micah and I also signed up for a Fireproof your Marriage bible study at Shadow Mountain Community Church where we attended on Sunday. We are still praying that God will lead us to the right church for us, but feel this bible study will strengthen our marriage and allow us to let God lead us in the right direction.

Dr. David Jeremiah is not directing the bible study, however we were able to listen to him preach. I must say that I went in not too thrilled about the sermon topic but he was able to present the material in a way to reach anyone. I guess God will use ANYTHING to open doors and close them in our lives. We will see what God has for us at this church...and pray that if he wants us elsewhere he will lead us there.

My Dream Job

Micah and I had a little date weekend...which involved SEA WORLD. Seriously nothing makes me happier than watching God's incredibly creatures. I cannot quite describe the feeling I get, but usually I'm in a bit of a daze whenever I am graced with the presence of God awesome creation.

Growing up I wanted to work with animals, but allergies kept me from that dream, however I believe that there are no allergies to whales soo maybe they need a new trainer. How hard can it be. I will just ask them nicely to listen to me. hmm

If this was me, my life would be complete

This little Sea Lion just makes me want to give it a hug. How precious

and Dolfins...well....its another love of mine

Visitors are sooo welcome! We have year passes and any guest we bring gets half price tickets...soo rather than 60 its only 30 :o) And We will go with everyone because for us....it's free. Oh happy day