Christmas 2013

After enjoying Star Wars chocolate chip pancakes (or the attempt to be star war figures). We, meaning the kids, impatiently opened gifts.

Not all gifts are photgraphed herr as i was Trying to get us go LA for lunch with my Grammie Jacque. 

From Santa

More Legos 

Monster High Gear

From Bill and Linda

Target $

Judy and Ed

Craft Machine

Telescope

Grandma Deb and Papa Jake

Disgusting Dog that makes noises, wait, don't we have one of those already?

Halo-rare!?

Skip it!! I remember skip it, mom will show daughter how it is done. This skip it  comes with lights and music.

From Grace

Grace gave me a mirror from her stash still with cardboard glued onto to back. And she gave Tony his numbers from his high schools years that he had thrown away....

From Emmy & Siraj pop pop

Another Super Super Rare Halo! 

From Tony - he shouldn't of...

 New ring for chubby prego fingers. Giant  blue topaz!

From Grandma and Grandpa

Someone feels left out!

For Joe and Marsha

From Di

From parents

From Tony to Di

About 3 year old rescued female Sulcata Tortoise!  

Pervious owners moved out of their apartment and left her in the closet.

Baby's room

Octopus Mural in Lyra's room

I decided to take a picture my sisters artwork and make into a mural on Lyra's bedroom wall. As I have little artist creativity or skills the image on the black paper has been challenging to work with on the tan wall.  

Here the original piece. If you notice the butterflies actually have fish in the wings. Tony would like me to add those onto the wall but I do not have enough faith in my ability to pull off such a unique looking butterfly.

Step 1

I projected the image onto the wall and outlined the octopus and moon with white chalk. I did this late a night so the room was dark, it made it easy for me to trace the image.

Step 2

Here is an image of the white chalk outline. I lightly removed some of the chalk in 1 inch areas and painting the outline with white paint. To fix errors I kept a white and dry towel handy to remove paint mistakes. From time to time I would projected the imagine on the wall to make sure the outline was correct. I took a break and started on Step 3 the following day.

Step 3

I painted the octopus purple all over and the filled in the moon with white paint. I just used regular matte cheap acrylic paint.  I took a break to let the solid colors dry.  I went back to Michaels to get more colors. I purchased a paint pallet to help mix colors. I used Martha Stewart's PEARL acrylic paints to give the octopus a more realistic appearance. I also went over the white moon with pearl paint. It took me about 4 hours total from starting with the matte colors to adding some depth with the pearl acrylic paint.

Step 4

Step 5-8

Redwoods

Late start to the The Avenue of the Giants 

Ate at Avenue Cafe

Good burger, meatball sandwich and salads

Water evaporating from the water o. The road.

The Legend of Big Foot store 

Confusion hill- random junk

Chandelier Drive Thru Tree 

The rented Tahoe a little too big for the drive thru 2400 year old tree.

Thanksgiving-On the way from Coos Bay, Oregon to Eureka, Ca

Ophir beach, Oregon

 Potty break #3 or maybe #5?

Lyra kicked daddy in this photo.

Back in Sunny California

The Redwoods

 Taking a family pictures is hopeless with the four of us!

Gold bluffs beach campground 

The road to Gold Bluffs campground

 

 

Along 101 Highway we found ELK

The Elk were NOT in the Prairie Creek viewing area, but they were on the side of 101 highway.

 

Thanksgiving Dinner at Moonstone Grill in Trinidad, California

The kids and my mother enjoyed a Thanksgiving turkey meal while Tony, my father enjoy steak and seafood dishes. The molten chocolate cake was to die for good.  Finally a good picture of the four of us; taken in the lobby of the Eureka, CA Holiday Inn.