Saturday, October 26, 2013

Finding Beauty


We often heard others say, "There's nothing to do," when we lived in Misawa. We never had that problem. There were gorgeous parks within minutes, plenty of beach options within 7 min, mountains and a gorge full of nature within an hour..... It's ironic I find myself feeling that way HERE. In San Angelo there was geocaching,  walking along several rivers, lots of friends....here it seems the big past time is shopping.  I really dislike shopping. It doesn't fit well with our commitment to live on 50% of Michael's salary. ::snort::

The morning was filled by Japanese with  Ryu and Kim and waiting for Jamin's Conference race results. As we waited we plotted a course for the rest of our day. EVERY suggestion involved 2 - 4 hours of travel or shopping. I begged we look for a few places near BEALE where we could enjoy nature, hike, play, unwind...no shopping! We're open for suggestions, y'all! I do not plan to live in the past, or develop a discontented attitude....I just need to find some things we ENJOY doing which are nearby.

Jamin was disappointed with his race results. We were disappointed with him. It was not his best time - and we were all surprised....YET...he made all conference. He'll have two weeks to train hard and rest well and show everyone what he has at NCAA Div 2 regionals. I'm so very proud of the young man Jamin has become. He's a winner.

I remembered a park "under the bridge." We all remembered oodles of soccer fields, but it seemed there may be water down there....Michael suggested we stop by  and then head to Sam's club....I begged to skip the shopping. We did. ::grin::

We found beauty - under a bridge with lots of traffic - but beauty.


Though I thought, "No Swimming" was posted, this rope told a different story. I began to look for a platform...Michael found it....


Arielle perfected the tree crawl....

Success - sort of - she's not at the end

 I would love to know what was in Zander's mind at this moment. 
  
She wouldn't be coaxed to stand on the platform...but did well to get out there....She yelled down to me  she thought this would be a good spot for an engagement proposal. I found her observation quite odd. I must quiz her further on this matter. ::snort::  I sure love these two. 

Sparkly water - took a bit to convince the youngers it WASN'T gold! 

We left the bridge park (not sure what it's really called) and decided to explore historic Marysville. I WAS excited to find the Yuba County Library!  We found The Candy Box and broke our  "no shopping" edict. We discovered a restaurant, The Brick, which has several vegetarian items on it's menu. Vegetarian is good as we can say, "no cheese please" and be vegan! We also found the Bok Kai temple....which provided strange solace on a day when several of us were missing Misawa.
 

I came home from Texas to a  shocking turn of events. Stacia has decided to be healthy too. I asked her what that meant and she said, "No Meat or dairy or chips and work out!" On a daily basis only 2 of the 6 of us at home are real "meat and potato" eaters. I'm toying with making more meatless meals.....cooking two meals a day can be wearing. I'd say the three are more "nutritarians" and I'm more vegan - but we're all healthier than we were last August.

I love being home with these five. I do find my mind running to the four I left in TX on Wednesday....and the two in OR.....

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...