July 21, Hang Gliding for My Birthday!

What an amazing experience to be able to "fly". I was teasing my family saying that I think they are trying to get rid of me! First my brother has me jump out of a plane last year on my birthday and this year my sister has me jump off a cliff??!! Grace gave me a tandem hang gliding lesson for my birthday this year to celebrate the big "four oh". We drove out to Sylmar where we met the instructor pilot Fred. We packed up all the equipment in his ancient van and drove 45 minutes up the winding mountain dirt road to the top of the mountain, elevation 3540 ft above sea level. After some instruction and a practice run to the edge we were ready to go. "Are you ready to fly?" Fred asked.... and we were off. Wow, it is so beautiful to see a literal "bird's eye" view of the ground. We could see for miles. The flight lasted about 15 minutes. I even got to do my own steering for a little while up there! The feeling you get up there is like that of what I have felt when I dream of flying. It is kind of surreal. After an exciting landing it was all over. Thanks Grace! There are a bunch of pictures here http://chiarapics.spaces.live.com/

July 20, Lunch with the girls and dinner with the boys!

On Friday after we got off work around lunchtime, my friends from work took me out for lunch. We ended up at Cafe Veronese in Fullerton. They have a beautiful garden in the back where we enjoyed a wonderful lunch... Thanks!! Later that evening Grace, Jon and I went out to dinner in Newport Beach with Adam and his friends Tod and Nick. It was my first time to go to a revolving sushi restaurant. Food was great and so was the company =) Later we went to Adam's and hung out. I am so thankful to the Lord for bringing such wonderful friends in my life. That is truly the best gift I could ever get for my birthday! There are lots more pics on http://chiarapics.spaces.live.com/ look at the July 20 "Birthday with friends" album.

Getting ready to move!

Yes, that's right I'm moving... back to my old place at Charlotte's house. I get to have my dining room back! It has been a total unexpected blessing a good reminder that my Father will always provide and take care of me. So this past weekend Grace, Jon and I were painting the place. Can wait to move in!

A wonderful week in Texas
Tuesday, July 3rd I arrived in beautiful Texas. I have never seen such amazing white puffy clouds as Texas has. Emily picked me up at Bush International then we drove back to tiny little LaMarque. Gia & Luca are growing so fast and baby Rocco is just the cutest baby ever! He has a cute little dimple on one cheek. On July 4th I helped Emily prepare some food for the church potluck that evening. I made salsa and bruchetta with some home grown tomatoes someone had given her. The next morning we packed up the kids in the minivan and took off for Austin. What a beautiful drive. I love the hill country. After a quick run to the grocery store we arrived at Emily's dad's house right on lake Travis. That evening we left Gino babysitting so Emily, her sister Wendy, baby Rocco and I could go out for dinner at Shady Grove.

Friday was a relaxing day. Drove into the city to see some sights and do a little shopping. That afternoon we attempted to go to the pool but got caught in the rain. Back at the house it cleared for a moment and we enjoyed a beautiful rainbow over the lake. Saturday we did the most amazing road trip ever. We drove two hours northwest of Austin to the family ranch near San Saba.

The countryside is just so scenic and green. We went from horse country to cattle country.... through little towns like Llano, Cherokee, and Carmine. Some of these little towns were population 350. Imagine! It's beautiful country. It just makes me want to go back and see more. Back in Austin we did a little shopping before leaving Sunday afternoon back to Houston. All in all it was a wonderful visit. It seems like every time I go to Texas I feel like I leave a little bit of my heart there.

Vacation Day 5: David's 9th birthday celebration! And what a great day we had celebrating. We began with his favorite breakfast (pancakes) and a pirates theme. After opening some gifts we all got ready to head on out for some more fun. Stopped for a late lunch at Chilis and then headed on out to Stone Mountain, GA for the laser & fireworks show which has become a family tradition every summer I'm in town. We walked around for a bit then to the skyride up to the top of the mountain. The kids had a blast! Margie was so excited. It was windy and a little chilly but we had a great time running around and enjoying the view from way up on the mountain. Back down again we came and continued the celebration with a "dirt & earthworms" birthday cake for David. He loved it! Then it was time for the show. We all enjoyed it except Margie thought the fireworks were too loud. They played some great patriotic music to go along with the fireworks. What a wonderful fun day! Being an aunt is so much fun!

Vacation Day 4: Woke up early to line up for a shower =) Amazing how much time it takes to get four kiddies and three adults showered and ready for church. We went to a church in Gainesville, GA where Timothy was invited to preach. After the service we were invited to go to Ryan's for a typical Sunday buffet. Mmm good! While we were at the restaurant there was a big storm that came through and it hailed. It rained a little on the drive home and later this evening we had a spectacular lightning show. I know... I know... I'm from CA and we never see that over there! Tonight we played a card game called "golf". The kids had a fun time teaching Auntie Ruth how to play =) I really love these family fun times.

Vacation Day 3: Today was a lazy Saturday. I stayed up talking with Monica until 3 AM last night! It was great to have that time to catch up and share what's been going on in our lives. Slept in until 10:30 and woke up to a yummy and quite interesting breakfast my brother made... Fried green tomatoes!!!
I've been begging to have them and so he made me some =) Later in the afternoon we drove to Dawsonville to an outlet mall where little David wanted to do some shopping for his birthday. We had a pretty fun time browsing around.
Then we had dinner at Chick-fil-A where Margie had a grand time playing in the playground.

Vacation Day 2: Slept in... I think I'm still on CA time and didn't fall asleep until after 2 am. We had a slow start to our day. Finally got all the kids packed up and ready in the afternoon and we headed out for a drive through the country. Past through little towns with interesting names like Bethlehem, Monroe, Social Circle and Madison. We pulled over just outside of Madison to buy some boiled peanuts...Yum! There were lots of interesting old houses from the Civil War era and early 1900's. It's a different world.

After dark we headed back home. Did a Dairy Queen stop were I treated the kids to their favorite ice cream. As always there are tons more pics here: http://chiarapics.spaces.live.com/

Vacation Day 1: Mulberry Park in the middle of Georgia somewhere! How do you spell vacation? Today we went for a hike with Timothy and the kids. We all had a blast and the hike was beautiful. In the afternoon we drove over to Lawrenceville and ate dinner at a little Italian restaurant called Cosmos. Delicious pizza! You can see all the pictures of our little adventure here: http://chiarapics.spaces.live.com/

The Getty Center & Greystone Mansion

Yesterday my friend Ben & I drove into LA to the Getty Center. The weather was perfect and sunny. We started by browsing through the gardens outside. Everything was in bloom and so full of so many colors. A beautiful reminder of God's creation. The exhibits inside were very interesting also. We saw the famous painting by Manet "Bar at the Folies-Bergere", a Van Gogh pen and ink "Portrait of Joseph Roulin", and a the wonderful collection of paintings by French artist Jean-Baptiste Oudry who painted a portrait series of exotic animals during the first half of Louis XV's reign. After grabbing a bite for lunch at the cafe there we were off to explore some more.

We drove through Beverly Hills to find the Greystone Mansion. Over 46,000 sq ft the English Gothic Revival manor home was completed in 1928 for the Doheny family. Unfortunately Mr. Doheny met with an untimely death (which is still an unsolved case) after just living in the house for six months. The house is closed to the public and you can just browse around the gardens and the grounds. It is up on a hill and has a great view of the city. The grounds are very beautiful. Then we ran into Steve, the park ranger, who kindly answered all of our questions and told us more about the history of the mansion. Then to our surprise he invited us to actually go inside! It was like taking a walk back into time. You can see all the pictures of our day here: http://chiarapics.spaces.live.com/