2012 SUMMER VACATION PART 2: Sequoia National Park and the Monterey Bay Aquarium with the Gillies!

Well, it has taken me far longer than I hoped to write this post... It is a lovely overcast day in LA and Blue is taking a nap. I thought that I would go ahead and seize the moment!

We are officially past the half way mark for this semester. It is hard to believe! Izak is working harder than hard and Blue and I are trying to keep up! In all this craziness, the Lord continually proves to be faithful. Honestly, sometimes I wonder if I would have grown to know Him like I have over the last while without the mounting stress and discomfort. 

I was just reflecting on after Blue's birth, where I was at the hospital alone (Izak had gone home to grab a shower and some fresh clothes) and Blue managed a 'wonderfully meconium-like' poop (those unsure of the term and brave enough to investigate ... click on this wikipedia link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meconium). Surprised by the fact that I was in fact responsible for diaper changes as a new mom, I managed to get the extremely pliable poop EVERYwhere! When a nurse finally burst into the room, I admitted defeat and melted into tears. I felt sooo alone. Where was our family? Our closest friends? (A sad reality- our loved ones would have LOVED to be there but it just was not possible with the distance etc.) The truth is that He was there. So close by and in reflection, it eases my apprehension about what may lie ahead because I know that His nearness is sufficient. He is enough- more than enough. It reminds me of that precious truth from Psalm 121:5, "The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade on your right hand." 

All that to say, I have experienced His grace and would not trade it for anything. His beauty astounds me- even during the times that are not easy and this semester is another tough semester which simply brings us to our knees again in dependence of the One who is able to sustain us!

Now, let us reflect on part 2 of our wonderful vacation! I want to share some snip bits of our time in the Sequoia National Park and some pics that we have from when we visited the Gillies!

Here are some of us enjoying the beauty of Sequoia National Park:

Blue on his daddy's shoulders! He LOVES it up there:

 Join us on the Sherman Tree trail: (with some brightly clad monks!) Plus, everyone kept commenting on our sturdy our little Blue looked- not sure if it had to do with my huffing and puffing on the inclines, but everyone appeared to be impressed with how solid our little guy was! hehe)

This is us on top of Moro Rock: (Quite a climb to the top!)

 These are some of us at the Crescent Meadows:

 And some of the beauty surrounding us as we drove around the park:

We had such a wonderful time with the Gillies again! Blue was absolutely mesmerized with Mary and it made for successful car trips since he just stared and contemplated! So sweet.

We went to check out Mavericks one day: We spotted these little pink sea holly flowers - I had them in my wedding bouquet - only they were a grey-blue! :)

 And... Mavericks- unfortunately not sporting the waves we would have liked to see!

 Just to prove that it was indeed Mavericks!

And finally, we had an incredible time at the Monterey Bay Aquarium! Click here to check out their site: http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/ My favourites were the LARGE variety of seahorse and also this incredible tank, which has several FLOORS so that you can spectate the aquatic life at the various levels! I really enjoyed the huge lazy sea turtles!

 Varieties of seahorse:

 These seahorses look like plants! Amazing!

Well, I am sure that you can see that we had a wonderful time away and I think that I will make Izak look at these pictures to remind him of the break with how busy things have been! We hope that you will leave a comment or send an email and let us know how you have been!

Lots of love!
Your LA Bakkes'

2012 SUMMER VACATION PART 1: The Log House Lodge and Silver city adventures

We spent a week away just in time for the new semester to start- it was such a  wonderful time to relax and enjoy our little family and for visiting our darling Dave and Mary Gillies...

This post will just feature our first days, we spent the first couple of days in Three Rivers, which is  a little town close to the Sequoia National Park. There is a couple (Tim and Mauriene Landry) who own a bed and breakfast and allow seminary couples to enjoy two nights there for free every year! What a blessing! Typically children can't really stay there (in the upstairs rooms because there isn't really space for them to play and there are steps etc but Jonathan was just small enough to make the cut since he isn't mobile yet! We were so thankful.)

Here are some pictures of our road trip up to Three Rivers- such beautiful areas and our lovely car!

Here are a few pictures of the Log House Lodge: (well of the room we stayed in...AND the rocking horse is the actual horse from the Mary Poppins movie!!! The husband (Tim Landry) works for Walt Disney company as an Imagineer and that is how they got the prop!) and a link to their site for more of their pictures: http://www.loghouselodge.com/

Each morning before heading out to explore the Sequoia National Park, Mauriene served up a delicious homemade breakfast and we got to share breakfast with other couples who were staying there at the same time. 

On the first morning that we set out to explore Sequoia, we took a 'slight' detour! hehe- actually we ended up all the way up the side of this mountain which was in fact in the park, but it was a side of it that had no roads that joined to the other parts of the park and it was verrry 'out of the way' and for the serious campers.

(There are major bear warnings in Sequoia- you are not allowed to leave any food in your car- or even scented things because bears will literally rip your car open looking for food! Eeeek- give me lions any day!) Anyway, so this side detour looked like BEAR territory to my over-active imagination!

After following this very windy, steep (Taryn=carsick) road, we finally discovered that we were in fact on the wrong road but enjoyed this little campsite called 'Silver City' pretty high up the mountain, where we had a coke, which helped to ease my intense feelings of motion sickness and took in the sights!

The entire road up was beautiful, but very steep and there were several parts which only one car could drive on at a time. I am glad that we went off the beaten path and discovered a different part of Sequoia that we would never otherwise have found! Here are some pictures from our time:

 I'll do part two of our trip in the next post, but it was such a blessing to get away and I wanted to share some of it with you in the meantime. Before we left I honestly had no idea how we would manage to start a new semester after such a busy summer, but by the time we got back, both Izak and I felt recharged and ready to get the show on the road! Praise the Lord for His grace. He knows our frame and provides for our needs- Matt 6:8b, "...your Father knows what you need before you ask Him." I am truly relieved by this truth.

Well, I hope to write part two soon! Leave a comment and please pray for us to have a productive and less stressful semester!

Lots of love,
Your Bakkes trio!