We are just finishing up spring break here. Yes, I know it's pretty late in the year. I guess that is okay because it made things less crowded in San Diego where we went for a few days of the break.
These pictures are in no particular order. Mostly because blogspot changed their template for creating a blog and I will have to figure out how it works. San Diego just happens to be where Dennis went to boot camp back in the day so of course we had to stop there. We were able to get on the base, walk through the museum and take this fun photo with a drill instructor in training.
There was a nice pool at the hotel where were were staying and some fun times were had in the pool and the hot tub. Cooper could of course spend all day there, but we didn't. Mostly it was in the late afternoon. They had a cool fireplace at one end so after dark you could sit by the fireplace and relax and still be warm even though you were wet.
One day we took a drive up North and just happened to notice that the Torrey Pines golf course was not too far away. Of course we had to stop there so Dennis could get a hat and pose for this awesome picture. We watched a couple of really bad golfing groups tee off from the first tee which goes right towards the ocean. (No, we did not play--no golf of any kind was played on this trip--shocking I know)
Cooper, Spencer & I got tattoos. They were henna of course, but it was still fun. I got a lizard, Cooper got a Chinese symbol for energetic (I think) and Spencer got an anchor. There is still a little residue of my lizard on my ankle.
If you go to a place with a beach, you do have to at least dip your toes in the water--which I did. It was a little chilly the first two days so we only wandered the beach. We did not sunbathe.
We visited the Mormon Battalion visitor's center which is in San Diego (because there is where the battalion finally ended up after 2000 miles). We did the "tour" which was a video/interactive kind of thing, kind of like the talking pictures in Harry Potter. Too hard to explain, but it was interesting a fun. We were the only people in our group so Cooper got to be the guinea pig for dressing up like one of the battalion members. You can see he is thrilled.
Unlike every where else we went where they take your picture in front of something and expect you to pay for the picture at some point, the visitor's center gave us the picture for free AND sent a jpg to my e-mail. Now how cool is that. Everywhere else we went and I do mean everywhere they take your picture and you have to pay!
We visited the zoo of course and it was pretty cool. Lots of walking and really great weather. It is a huge zoo.
And of course we also visited SeaWorld. It was pretty awesome as well. That was actually on the first day we were there. Cooper & I both got wet on rides and Spencer got a really good (bad) sunburn (that he is still trying to recover from)
The last day we visted the USS Midway which is stationed in San Diego bay. It is pretty amazing. I don't think I could ever be in the Navy and live in such closed quarters. You could walk all around the ship and we took a tour of the crow's nest.
We also visited Balboa park which is where the zoo is located but we did them on two separate days. They have all these really cool buildings that were built specifically for the 1935 International Exhibition. They are very ornate and interesting.
There is also an artist colony (for lack of a better word) there in Balboa park. They have there own little studios. It's a little bit like Pike Place but without the fish and produce--plus I think the artists actually work in their studios. it was pretty cool.
This is the view from Sunset Cliffs which were just north of where we were staying and naturally we went to watch the sun set. All and all it was a pretty awesome trip.
You got three different tries to get the "routine" down necessary to be able to to a "catch" which is letting go of the bar and getting caught by the guy on the other trapeze. Of course you are safely hooked up and there is a big huge net under neath.
I, of course forgot my camera, which has been my M.O. lately, but luckily Doug remembered his so these are courtesy of Doug.
This picture above is the pose you would have just before the "catch". Tucker was able to qualify on his third try and did an awesome "catch". Cooper, sadly had a little trouble with the arching your back part and the back flip dismount. He kept flipping forward. I will put a link to the videos that Doug took at the end in case anyone wants to check Tucker and Cooper out in action. Cooper's is pretty funny. I guess Tucker's is too, because it was his first or second try and he was having trouble following directions--which was the most important thing to do.
These two kind of give you a little idea of how high up they were. That is why Spencer opted not to participate. He took one look at the ladder you had to climb up to the very high platform and said no thank you.
It was a pretty fun evening. Even Dennis' brother David qualified to do the "catch" although the catcher guy might have wished he hadn't. David got of sync and the guy was trying not to catch him but David launched himself into the air and nearly pulled the poor guy's arms out of their sockets when he grabbed the guy's hands in the wrong place and stopped the momentum of the swing. (Oh and Dennis & I didn't try it because--well basically we are wimps and didn't want to hurt our backs!)
As you can see, he is one of the taller kids on the team and definitely has all of them beat bulk. Nobody wants to run into him when he is blocking on the court. He's good at defense, not so much on offense. I was really bad and did not take any pictures all season long. This is actually one that some other parent took. I took some on my cell phone at the last game but i cannot figure out how to get them off my cell phone. That's the life of the poor neglected third child I guess. Now we have moved on to baseball season--longer games and outside colder weather!
It is a little bit like crunchy cream of wheat, for lack of a better explanation. I like to put it on my salads to give them a little oomph. I also really like just eating it plain with a little bit of coconut milk (another favorite on this change) and maybe a little banana or blueberries thrown in. It has an interesting smell that doesn't come through in the flavor thank goodness.
I had another picture where Spencer was taking a picture of the back of the computer but I loaded in two copies of the same picture. It is so hard for me to get pictures where I want them in these blogs that I am not going to bother adding the other one. 
This is this weeks rendition of the muffin. The last two weeks I have used squash to make my muffins. This week I am trying pumpkin. I also added some cinnamon, cloves & nutmeg to "spice" them up a bit. They are made with eggs, almond flour (or meal), bananas, pumpkin, salt and well you are supposed to put in some olive oil and as I was sitting here typing this I realized I forgot to put the oil in. Well, they seem to taste alright anyway. 
These will be my breakfast for the week and they are very tasty (even without the olive oil). They also have a little bit of quinoa flour in them too. I meant to take a picture of one of my salads, but it's just a salad so big deal. I make a dressing with 1/2 olive oil, 1/4 balsamic vinigrette, 1 tsp dry mustard and some minced garlic. It is super yummy and I find that I like it on lots of other things besides salad. Week two sounds a lot like week 1 and week three is sounding a lot like the other two weeks. I will let you know how things go when I reintroduce some of the stuff I have been doing without (wheat, dairy, corn products). I'm finding this food so yummy who knows if I really want to bother!
He asked for two pies for his birthday instead of cake. He wanted a butterscotch pie that he could eat all by himself and not share with anyone and a peanut butter pie that everyone else would eat. In the end he did share just a little bit if the butterscotch--but not much.
The other night Spencer asked Tucker to help him with his Spanish homework. They looked so sweet together I had to take a picture. They do manage to have a little more fun together now that they are older than they did when they were younger!
So to my life change. Last Monday I started on the Abascal Diet (though I do not call it a diet myself cuz that is not why I am doing it). It is an anti-inflammitory diet designed to help stop inflammation in your system. The first three weeks you cut out all dairy, wheat corn products & sweeteners (though you can eat corn). The other part is that whatever meals or snacks you consume should always be 1/3 meat/protien and 2/3 fruits and veggies (though breakfast can be 1/2 & 1/2) I had been sort of doing the 1/3-2/3 bit for a few weeks before this, but I had not fully cut out all the other stuff. So Monday I dove into it for real.
I also made these muffins which I eat for breakfast every morning. They are made with almond flour, eggs, squash, banana, baking soda & olive oil with blueberries thrown in. I heat them up a little in the microwave and mash them up with a little applesauce. It is amazingly delicious. 
I made myself a salad pretty much every day with this yummy balsamic vinigerette dressing that I made from scratch. One of my favorite things to do is bake up a bunch of veggies in tinfoil in the oven (like I made when we were in McCall this summer). I use the leftovers in an omelette the next day for breakfast. It's been kind of fun and I have been eating food I have never eaten before--like quinoa. 