Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

"For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them. " Psalm 139:13-16


Baby F is due in about 5 weeks. In December I was able to go to a few appointments with her. His little heart beat sounds like a horse trotting. The ultrasound images were incredible. I clearly was able to see all of his fingers, toes, spine, eyes, the 4 chambers of his heart beating and squeezing, the division between his right and left side of his brain, his femur bone and so many other incredible features.

Trin Trin and Joe Joe are up at Nana and Papa's for some time after Christmas. What is so adorable is to see them come up to Amy and give her tummy a big hug and how they talk to baby F. They even picked out some baby toys for him for Christmas.

I am so reminded of the text above when I think of what a miracle God performs each and every time a life is formed in a mother's womb. Soon and very soon we will be able to meet Baby F and find out his name that has been picked out for him.

I'm Around-Just Busy

Posting has once again taken a back seat to my busy life and lack of energy to do so. Would love to say that posting has stopped because of the Giant championship that came to San Francisco that I mentioned on my last post but it truly has been busy. The blog will not go silent, it will resume soon. When I have trouble getting my clean laundry folded and put away and not spending as much time reading my Bible and praying, that is when I know I have no time for blogging.

My "loves" are in town this week and my time is spent playing, pushing swings, pretending I am the puppy vet, reading books, and so much more, all good fun!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends celebrating the birth of Christ, the Savior!

Here are a few family holiday photos.

The San Francisco Giants are the World Champions!!!

Yes, yes, yes! The (my) San Francisco Giants have won the world series! History has now been made. First championship ever for San Fran in baseball history. There was some serious hooting and hollering inside and outside of my house when the game was over.





Call me crazy or call me loyal, but today is the big parade and I am going! Thanks to some hard earned bank days at work and the awesome feat of the Giants to win it all. The crowds are expected to be big today. Last time I was around this many people it was for the New Year's celebration going into 2000 in San Francisco, that was crazy crowded night.
Images taken from knbr.com

The Excitement is Growing- Magic Number-1

Yaaaaahooo! Giants are up 3-1 in the series. There is great eager optimism growing. Tonight I found myself saying several times, "The Giants might (the might is with emphasis) win the World Series!" Tomorrow night might be a very sweet night. I want to dream already of going out and banging pots and pans when the final out is recorded but I know better to not to go there yet. Wow!

Please don't think my whole life is all about baseball right now because life has continued on. I am going to work each day, I went to church today, helped my mom out with some projects, even got the laundry done and folded! Giants baseball has been real exciting and this has been a great year.

In my excitement trying to find good graphics, I have neglected to give credit to the graphics. All the Giants images have come from Google images.

GO GIANTS!!!

Half Way There

Wow, what a series so far for the San Francisco Giants. Let's GO GIANTS!!! 2 down and 2 to go.

Thursday evenings my community group gathers (a Bible study) and this week we had a fellowship meal. K & J were so thoughtful, they had their Ipad set up so D and I could follow the updates every 15 seconds. I was not able to let loose the excitement completely but some hoots, claps and jumping up and down did occur. Thanks K & J- love you.

This week at school, instead of warm up exercises, I've had the students do the chicken dance and shared with them how the dance has to do with the San Francisco Giants. Back in the Barry Bonds era, opposing teams would intentionally walk the home run king and the stadium would play the chicken dance on the jumbo tron screen and 40,000 people would be dancing the little jig. Here is an example of one of those walks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou7tqQ6EVZE.

Fun times.

GO GIANTS!!!

Wow! One Down 3 to Go

What a fun and incredible ride this has been. Great win tonight for my San Francisco Giants in game 1 of the World Series. Would love if God's favor was towards the Giants this year. Incredible offense but we've gotta work on the defense a wee bit. Tonight I had a great time watching the game at a friend's home. She saw how pumped up I can get.

The kids at work have done some cute things over the last several days regarding the Giants. They've got the "fever" too! Last week Mrs. B's 2nd grade class did the morning announcements, a day when the principal was gone. At the end of their scripted announcements they cheered out, "Go Giants!" In another class last week, Mrs. A class had thought out ahead of time a way cheer the Giants on for me. After doing their 20 jumping jacks, they yelled out, "GO GIANTS!" They said they did this for me because I love the Giants so much. Today, 3 of us teachers had on Giants t-shirts. I started a chant with some of my students as we walked to the classroom and to lunch, "Let's Go Giants!" clap, clap, clap, clap, clap. Two of the 1st grade classes after recess chanted out in their line up lines (room 20)- "GO" (room 19) "Giants". That cheer was heard around the school. Today I gave out one of the SF Giant's pencils I picked up the last time I was at a ball game. The students were playing a game that involved putting on a orange or blue pennie to identify who was on each team. One girl refused to put on the blue pennie because she said it was not orange like the Giants. Every day, she shares her excitement of the Giants and how they are winning. After class I gave her a SF Giant's pencil that I had picked up the last time I was at the ball park. She loved it. I guess she shared that I gave it to her to another student. That student came up and asked if I had any more pencils and that he was a Giant's fan. I asked him if he was "a die hard fan" and he said he was. I asked, "for this whole season you have been a Giant's fan?" "Yes". I said, "who is the Giant's 1st baseman?" He could not answer so he did not get a pencil. I have one more pencil to give out and I know who it will be for tomorrow- a boy who runs up to me every day to give me a high 5 about the Giant's winning the game the night before.

I'm loving these fun days with the Giants! I told my students today that if the Giants win tonight, tomorrow night, Saturday and Sunday, sweep the series, that I will not be at school on Monday or whatever day they have the parade, that I will be in the city taking part in the fun celebration. They all want to come too. Not sure how I am going to work a field trip for all 500 out them.

World Series Mania

The World Series starts today. Just 4 wins until a team is crowned the champions, my hope is that it is the San Francisco Giants (and the hope of at least hundreds of thousands too). I'll post more later as I have to go to work, wish I was going to the game though.

LET'S GO GIANTS!!!

Giants Are Going To The Series

Orange October will continue for at least 4 more games! Yeah Hey for the Giants, they won the National League Pennant and are going to the World Series!!! This has been a great year for my Giants. One of my lifetime dreams (on my bucket list) is to see the San Francisco Giants win the World Series. Another item on my bucket list is to go to a World Series game with the Giants playing. Not sure, maybe this year?

On a side note, I am really tired of the media bias against the Giants. There have been several times I have had to mute the TV to silence the announcers and how they are talking about the Giants or talking the whole time about the Phillies (or the Yankees, Braves or almost any other east coast team). There is local announcer that should be taken off of the Giants radio broadcast station, KMBR 680, and his news sportcast. He has always been so anti-Giant, that I am sickened. Personally, I would like to stick with Duane, Mike, Dave and Jon and wish they could announce the series on the TV.

Orange October

Orange October. Wow, so much orange in October. Orange has become my favorite color especially this October. Nothing better than an Orange October.

Every morning as I drive to work the east sky is a painter's canvas (God is the Painter!) with all the incredible hues and shades of orange. When I am running a little late, the sun has popped into the scene and is an enormous orange ball. Many of these mornings I am pleading with God to give me wisdom, insight, strength and love for my new job. Seeing the glory of the morning, the majesty and goodness of the LORD, my restless heart is reminded that He is with me, that He is faithful, He is working and that He is for me.

Every Friday I wear a orange shirt for two reasons. The first reason, it is spirit day at school and school colors are orange and black. The second reason, every Friday this baseball season is Orange Fridays, to cheer on the Giants.

There has been much more orange going on in October. Back in September, I had my toe nails painted orange to help push my Giants into the playoffs. The Giants won the National League West on October 3rd to go to the National League Division Playoffs (I will share about this game in another post- it was one of the most incredible games I have been to- EVER). The Giants won the NLDS and today start the National League Championship Series. GO GIANTS!!! There is a little baseball superstition in me, (isn't there a little in every true baseball fan?) not changing the toe nail color. I need a pedicure bad but have not been able to fit it in to get my nails done orange again. Every day the Giants win or the day after they have clinched, I am wearing orange. Last week, I had a whole load of orange laundry. Sure hope I can keep wearing orange until the end of the month (if need be, a few days into November!).

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Man of Sorrows! what a name
For the Son of God, Who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned He stood;
Sealed my pardon with His blood.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Guilty, vile, and helpless we;
Spotless Lamb of God was He;
"Full atonement!" can it be?
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Lifted up was He to die;
"It is finished!" was His cry;
Now in heav'n exalted high.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

When He comes, our glorious King,
All His ransomed home to bring,
Then anew His song we'll sing:
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Last week at church, we sang one of my all time favorite hymns, Hallelujah! What a Savior! by Philip P. Bliss written in 1875. The Bible that is still "lost" had this song written among the songs I would like sung at my funeral. So in life and in death this will always be one of my favorites, sung here desiring to see my Savior face to face and sung seeing Him in full glory!

Trekking

Happy Labor Day!!!

The trekking through Broines Regional Park continues. By November 11th all the trails need to be completed. Today's hike was on beautiful trails with incredible scenery and sweet fellowship. I've been back at work with students now for 2 full weeks, it's been awhile since my "walking gals" have all been able to get together, but this morning we were all present. We had a good time laughing and talking while hiking 5.51 miles. I praise God for my dear sisters in Christ.

At one point, Kim asked me what theme my photos had for the blog. I have no real theme except documenting our trails, and I have noticed that there usually is some sort of gate and oak trees included in the photos.

Most of the trails were new today, only doing the first section over again. The trails on this side today were much more shady, scenic, and not so "heart attackish". The gals asked me if picture breaks were truly picture breaks or breaks for my heart to get back in my chest.

Our trek started on Bear Creek Road to the staging area, Old Broines Road Trail, Crescent Ridge Trail, Broines Crest Trail, Seaborg Trail and ending on Bear Creek Trail. The Bear Creek Trail was lush and woodsy, loaded with poison oak. If I don't get a patch of the oozy, itchy skin from the poison oak, I will be surprised. I should have taken a photo at one point when we were walking through the narrow trail. We all were walking with our hands in a pyramid shape above our heads. Our boots had about 16" to walk and the poison oak was reaching out to our boots, calves, arms and down to our heads. The others said that they did not think they were allergic to the poisonous plant. There were a few points on the creek trail that we had to crawl under or over a tree that had fallen down. In this picture the trail widened slightly and this path looked like fall has already arrived. The fall colors were sprinkled across the trail.

Right towards the end of our hike we came across Bear Creek. It was a pretty area and the water was moving ever so gently. I bet during the winter and spring time after a good storm that this creek is moving well.

The question was asked today, how the goal of doing all the trails in the park got started between Suzy and I. Suzy gave the challenge after our first hike, my first hike in Broines. Most of my entire life (except the 10 years in Los Angeles) has been in the East Bay and I had never been in Broines. What a blessing for me to be able to hike these trails. The trails display God's incredible creation, His goodness to allow us to enjoy His beauty, to allow my body to get some wonderful exercise (I don't like traditional gyms, only God's gyms in the outdoors), and to have some sweet fellowship with my friends.

The first time Suzy and I hiked on the Bear Creek side, we came across this area called Newt Hollow. I'm not sure if I commented in my post on the area the first time. Suzy thought Newt Hollow would be a wonderful place for me to be married one day, when God brings the man I am waiting for into my life. The area is so beautiful, so reflective of God, and would be a good place for my guests too. Not sure if this would work out when I get married, the Lord knows but it is fun to think about. If that day happens, I will not be wearing shorts and hiking boots!

I love this little old fence above Newt Hollow.

Another great hike, another step closer to finishing up the goal.

Broines Missing Links

The last two Briones hikes have been somewhat familiar. Parts of the trails we have hiked before and other parts were connector trails. There is something nice about familiarity, you remember certain landmarks, steep uphills, slopping downhills, and which way the trail bends. With new territory, you wonder how high a hill goes, if the downhill on the other side of the hill will cram your toes in your boots, or if there will be a post marker telling you where to go.



Today's hike was the second shortest in distance, but took the prize for the hottest temperature hiked in yet. The temperature was close to 100 today. Thankfully, most of the hike was under the canopy of the trees giving huge relief from the blistering heat. Last time we hiked the Pine Tree trail, it was foggy and cold and we slogged through deep thick mud. Today the ground was nothing but leaves and fine dust.







The poison oak is alive and well this year. Oaks and poison oak seem to go hand in hand. Poison oak and I don't have a good relationship with each other. I have done a pretty good job this year to stay clear even though there has been a ton of the poisonous plants on every trail we have hiked. I have had 3 or 4 tiny isolated spots of poison oak this season. I do not want a repeat outbreak like I had in high school a few times. The leaves are real pretty at this time of year, especially when the sun hits the leaves from a certain angle.




On the hikes, we have discovered lush, green, protected areas and we have been out with the grass (very dead and dry at this time of year) with not a tree in sight. From the hikes, I have discovered that I like the lush and cool areas better than the open hillsides.

The second to last hike we took was on the last day of July. There was a flock of turkey's looking for food. There were two "Tom's" in this bunch. One was on the fence and the other is the one with his head up checking us out. The Tom's are pretty protective of their hens. They make a bunch of noise too.

Summer's Last Hurah!

Once again, I am behind on my posts. What is even more sad than not posting is that I am procrastinating doing my lesson plans for next week to do a post!

Two weeks ago Dawn and I took a little day trip to Monterey. We brought our bicycles along and rode 25 miles up and down the coast. Honestly, it was nice to get out and do something different than the norm. The fresh air was good for my heart and mind with the new job and all that involved with starting up.

Check out my new bike, it is a nice upright hybrid by Trek. I love riding a bicycle but my back can not handle the strain of leaning over a racing or mountain bike. My bike is so cute, it is baby blue with dark blue Hawaiian flowers on it. My back loves it. I got a great deal on it too!

The old light house has been turned into a museum. On this day, the sun never really came out, it was buried deep in the summertime coastline fog.

Today's W's

Whooping, Wasps, Work, Walk, Wonder

Whooping- got my whooping cough vaccination today. "This will be a slight prick", OUUUCH!
Wasps- sprayed them dead tonight at dust as they rest in their nest.
Work- will not be able to meet my new principal until 2 days before school starts, yikes cutting close.
Walk- back to the normal routine of my morning walk with the gals, was missing it.
Wonder- God worked in a wonderful way at last week's Vacation Bible School that causes me once again to be in awe and wonder of how mighty He is.

Summer Yum!

The blackberry bushes are ripe and ready to be picked on part of the route where the gals and I walk each morning. After we walked our 5 miles, we grabbed our containers and bags and started picking. We picked about 4 quarts of yummy sweet juicy berries, got a few scratches, have purple fingers and the makings for some delicious food.

When I got home I made gluten free blackberry pancakes for breakfast. In fact, I was so excited about the blackberry pancakes, I forgot to brew my coffee. Quickly I discovered my loss and got some brewing.

For lunch, I had the rest of the berries with some milk. One of my favorite meals in summertime is fresh fruit with milk. I eat it like cereal and I can have it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, a snack, or for dessert.

God has been so creative in the foods He has created for us to enjoy in California.

YUMAHUH!

Briones- Getting Closer

Last Friday, Suzy and I, took on another chunk of our goal to finish all the trails in Broines Regional Park by 11/11/10. By far, this was our longest and most time consuming hike we have done. We parked the car at the last staging area that we had not started a trail at, the Lafayette Ridge Staging Area. By the mileage on the trail map we did 7.03 miles and took a few wrong turns adding about .50 miles. Our feet hiked the Lafayette Ridge Trail, Buckeye Ranch Trail, Springhill Trail and back to the Lafayette Ridge Trail.

The first major chunk of the trail seemed to not be scale according to the map. The map has it at 2.85 miles but it seriously took us over two hours. The ridge trail was the first ridge trail we have taken in the park, and I now understand better why it was a ridge trail. Most of the trail was up and down, up and down, steep downhills on either side. The trail was very deceiving, when you got to the top of one hill, you thought you were done with uphill for awhile, but you saw a down and then up again.

Both Suzanne and I were tired and did not think we could make it up another hill top. We must have done 20 hill tops and it was taking a very long time compared to other hikes we had taken. Finally, we saw a trail marker that gave us good news, we did not have to hike up the next hill top which was big and steep. "Oh we are blessed, blessed indeed", was all we could utter.

At one point, we decided to change the Law of Newton to, "what goes down must go up" and called it Newton's Reverse Law of Gravity. The trail looped at the end of our time on the ridge and we knew that we had to go back the way we came to get to the car. On the side of the hill we saw distinct deer trails that cut off the top of the hill and kinda leveled out the up and downs, so we decided to take the deer trails. NOTE TO SELF: Don't take the deer trail again, scratched legs and a tiny bit of poison oak is not worth it.

The last point of worth noting about this hike was confusing guideposts or missing all together guide posts. There were several trails we took, thinking we were going the right direction because the sign said so or we guessed when there was no real clear sign. The sign here to the left is one such example of the confusion, every side of the sign had different arrows point which way to go. So, we know for next time but it was trial by error this time.

Got a blister on my right heel bone again this time. Need to get some new socks I think.

Another great hike. Think we have about 6 left, maybe we will hike a small one to tie up loose ends in the morning.

I'm loving exploring God's amazing and beautiful creation.

Papa's Birthday Weekend

For the last 4 year's, since there have been grandkids, Papa's birthday has been celebrated over a weekend with the entire family. There is a BBQ swim party at my house and Dad takes all of us to a Giant's ball game(this year there were 10 of us, 11 if you count Baby F., from my 95 year old grandma to my 2 year old nephew). Papa had a great time in the kids lot helping Joey bat, run the bases and play the outfield with the kids. Dad really enjoyed himself. I love the first picture, Trinity has her hand on his leg for security. Joey a little bit later had to play right where the outfielder is on the painted wall. It was pretty cute. When my sister passes along a photo of all of us, I will post it up.

At the swimming party, Trinity showed off her new skill of swimming and jumping off the diving board. Actually, we could not keep her off the diving board, she was so excited to jump off my diving board. Mom, grandma, Amy and Jen cooked up some yummy food for the party. Yumahuh food indeed! In my family, yumahuh and good times go hand in hand.

Before the game got started we were able to go down to field level right by the Giant's dugout and look around and take some pictures. Me and my loves!

The only thing missing was a win. Funny has it, everytime we have all gone, the G's have not won. This time we should have won but the ump blew a call in the bottom of the 9th. We'll try again next year.

A Teacher's Dread, A Parent's Excitement

Two more days until I turn my calendars to August. Every teacher's longing is to keep the calendar in July, every parent can't wait for August to arrive. August 1st marks the final countdown of the days left on summer vacation.

Not exactly sure, but I think I have to be back August 18th and the students a few days later.

I am excited for my new job, my new mission field but I do like my summer vacations.

Job Placement

Waiting on the Lord has great reward. I don't think in this lifetime I will truly understand the fullness and complexity of waiting on God's perfect timing for a perfect answer to my prayers. He is faithful to give me glimpses of the rewards in this life. Last week I found out my job placement for this upcoming school year. To my great surprise, I actually had a choice of 2 jobs. Option 1 was being at 3 separate schools each work week, 2 days, 2 days, 1 day. Option 2 was being at a single site, a site that is going through major overhaul to improve test scores. My choice- option 2! What an honor to be offered option 2, to be part of the rebuilding process, to Lord willing, assist a struggling school to become a successful school. God gave me a little reward for causing me to wait upon Him.

For me, waiting on the Lord is not so easy. Daily I need to go to Him, begging Him to help me wait on Him, to trust in the sovereign plan He has for my life. The duration of the wait this time on the Lord was short compared to other things I am waiting on the Lord for (20+ years). There is still much waiting on Him with this job, there are so many unknowns at this point. And then there is the science test.

Waiting and trusting. He is so good all the time.

Psalm 100

Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth. Serve the LORD with
gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. Know that the LORD Himself is
God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the
sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with
praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the LORD is good; His
lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all
generations.

The Kids

I have not updated pictures of my "loves" recently. Trinity is 4 3/4 and Joey is 2! They grow up so fast. I love them so much . Children are a blessing from the Lord.

















I already love this little "love". Baby F is due on Feb 2, 2011. I'm going to call this embryo "little scoop". At almost 10 weeks, it has a strong heart beat, and 10 toes! God is amazing!



Trin Trin played on a little "hit, catch and run" team in her home town. Guess what team she was put on? You got it, the Giants!
















Joe Joe loves his doggy Harley Jean.

Kids, water and fountains. There is something that is so fascinating to them.

Having fun at the zoo!

Bucket List- check

CHECK

One of the items I was able to check as completed on my "Bucket List", was Opening Day with the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park. Everything lined up this year for me to attend, I was on spring break from work, I actually was able to purchase tickets the first day tickets went on sale (part of checking off this item on my list), they were not expensive and my dad was able to go with me.

What a beautiful day in the city. The weather was perfect, perfect baseball weather. There was something special in the air this day, the Giant's won!

Dad and I took BART in and walked by the waterway to the ballpark.

It was pretty incredible to see the huge American flag at the start of the game.

Dad loves his fish and chips and tradition has it about 9/10 that we get fish and chips from the Irish Pub on the 3rd level. We walked out to the seats to hear the national anthem and to see the fly over. From our vantage point, we saw the fighter jets come in through the Golden Gate Bridge and under the Bay Bridge.

Something special about the feel at the yard on Opening Day.

On an exciting side note, my mom has really taken to the Giant's this year. She has enjoyed the Giant's but she is really getting into the games this year. She listens to all the games and is following how well the individual players are doing. On a regular basis she either calls me or I call her to talk about something that just happened in the game or to talk about the game afterwards. Both of us are on a first name basis with the players. By far, without a blink of an eye, her favorite player is Andres Torres. He is "her boy" and the best player on the whole team. The "boys" are even getting nicknames in her book, and mine too, there's Huff Daddy, Buster Boy, UuuuuRibe, Whitey, Eye Candy, Panda, Ichy, Freddy Boy, and Boch. I'm having fun talking baseball, mostly Giant's baseball with my mom. Love her dearly.

Next weekend we are celebrating my dads birthday and he is taking the whole family to the game. We have done this for the last 4 years. Fun time.

Briones Goal Update

Even though I have been behind on my blogging, I still have been keeping up with finishing all the trails in Briones Regional Park. Suzy and I have walked 3 separate hikes since my last trail update, Kim and Freddy, her American Bulldog, joined us on our last venture. From my estimation of the map, 2/3 of the trials have been completed.

Part of the enjoyment of the hikes is to see how the scenery and landscape changes with each passing month and season. The first hikes were in late fall, the weather was turning cooler, the hills and trees were going into dormant state, then we hiked in the cold and fog, to bright and vibrant hillsides in the early spring (early spring here is late winter in anywhere but California), to a few months later- California's golden hills, to our last hike, dry, dusty and hot.

Each hike has brought some new sighting of wildlife and changes in the oak trees.

Another thing that has increased is the amount of mileage hiked on each hike. The hikes started out smaller and now are getting progressively longer (just a head's up Suzy, the next few I have planned are in the 6-8 mile range).

The three above pictures were taken on 3/7/10 on a 4.7 mile hike. I love this picture right above. On an earlier post, I have this same tree and fence post in the fog. This day the sky was mostly clear and you could see Mt. Diablo in the background from the top of our hike.

The below three photos were taken on 5/30/10. More critters. I think this fat lizard just ate it's breakfast, he was just sunning and taking in a little Vitamin D. The snake was seriously in the middle of the trail and I almost stepped right on him. I think I let out a little yelp. My curiosity won the best of me and I had to poke him with a stick. Somehow he had just died recently, don't know how but he was soft and not moving. When we got back to the trail head there was a sign telling the difference between a rattle snake and another snake (I think it was a whippet snake). The snake we encountered did not have a diamond shaped head so it was not a rattle snake.

The hills were turning golden or as my sister says, "brown". She and I have had the debate of the color of the hills in California for some time now. I insist since California is called Golden State(that comes from the color of the hills) that even though the hills are brown, they are golden. This hike started on the Bear Creek Trail Head, a side we had not hiked before and was about 3.71 miles (2nd shortest hike)

The last hike we did was 7/7/10 and I did not have my camera. Not sure what I was thinking because I have been taking pictures each time out. I think the reason was because we did this hike as part of the normal morning walking routine. Thankfully, almost each week day morning a group of ladies from church have been getting up and walking 4.5-6.5 miles each time. A month into my summer vacation and we have already put in some serious miles, getting close to 80-100 miles if I was to count them up.

Thankfully, the weather was cooler and there was some fog off on the coast, which traveled up to the hill tops we climbed. The first 30-45 minutes was pretty much all up hill and my heart was jumping out of my heart. We ascended about 1000' getting close to the highest peak which we climbed on another previous hike. Of the 5 trial heads, the Gloria Terrace is by far the steepest uphill at the beginning and the steepest downhill at the end. I actually prefer the steep uphill to the steep downhill. My knees and feet take a beating on the steep downhill. There was a little extra unplanned chunk of trail that we also did so that we would not have to come back to it later to finish the goal. When all was said and we got back to the car, we hiked about 7.25 miles. The hills were really dry now and the wooded areas on the west side of the hills were lush and green.

Maybe we'll get another hike in this week, if not this week, maybe next week. The adventure and hiking goal continues. Thank you Suzanne for the challenge, thank God for His beautiful creation to be able to explore.