You know you're loved when...

Parents show love by nurturing and rearing their children.  Boyfriends show love by unexpectedly showing up with a bouquet of flowers.  Wives show love by caring for each detail of their homes and husbands.  And one way family shows love is by showing up at your doorstop for a visit.

Jon had the pleasure of hosting the Reimers, Sr. (we are the Reimers, Jr., of course) along with Aunt Margaret for a trip to the Hillwood Estate as well as some of the monuments downtown.  I was asleep...what a terrible waste of a beautiful spring day!  (Photos courtesy of Mom Reimer)

But I did have the opportunity to make-up for the missed trip by taking my sisters and our sweet niece Genevieve to see the monuments and enjoy a fabulous lunch at one of Jon's restaurant favorites, Founding Farmers.  Leave it to DC to combine a historical idea with a hint of sustainable farming.

Thankfully, Jon and I have yet to develop the DC health plague...seasonal allergies.  I fear if we stay here much longer, though, we may gain such a nemesis to spring.  As Charles (our dear brother) mentioned over Easter weekend, we again realize the fallen-ness of our world when we can't enjoy God's beautiful creation without feeling ill enough to want to escape.  But please enjoy the photos, allergy-free (hopefully), and this lovely spring season.

Cali Finale

We'll finish up our California broadcasting with a final slide show of the last few days.  As per the beer sampler below, please see Stone Brewing Company with its beautiful gardens and delicious beer.  Thanks to all the friends and family who gave suggestions, and to a wonderful husband who is willing to travel and plan and spend every hour of the day with me.  Enjoy.

Can we say Lion King?

At Stone Brewing Company

Hotel del Coronado, right after having indulged in Moo Time Creamery on Orange Ave.

Hotel del in all its glory

The wedding at the Athenaeum on CalTech's campus

the beautiful bride, Laura, and her parents

and the incredible reception!

 And what a way to end our week but sit in on a beautiful wedding, not only decorated with dazzling glowers but filled with celebration.  I'm sorry if I'm repeating what I've shared with some of you already, but the wedding message was wonderful...not schmoltzy, but filled with the gospel and encouragement to follow God's guidance on marriage.  It reminded us a little of our own wedding in that sense, a chance for those who haven't heard to partake in the gospel, when they least expected it.  Hooray for Laura and Kevin!

The "Mall" of San Diego

In Washington, DC, we have the National Mall, an area filled with monuments, museums, and cultural experiences.  San Diego has Balboa Park, a place of amazing gardens, beautiful architecture, historical museums, and artistic entertainment.  We only had part of a day (the zoo is on one side of the park), and most of the buildings were closed by the time we got there, but we enjoyed our sunset walk and dinner overlooking the park and the ocean (far away) before our show at The Old Globe.

We saw A Room with a View, a romantic play dealing with a damsel who's plight is choosing a sensible fiance or running after a stormy near-lover.  Who do you think she ends up with?  The theater isn't that different from its Hollywood counterpart sometimes.

Fight Club...Artic style.

While visiting with family over the Easter weekend and showing off our trip pictures, we decided our best photo shoot was with particularly active (for zoo animals) polar bears.  Thankfully this all happens behind reinforced Plexiglas walls...can you imagine catching this in the wild?

The Animal Kindgom of San Diego

One of our favorite parts of the trip was visiting the San Diego Zoo.  I won't be including the exotic animals names, mostly because my memory wasn't prepared for so much information while on vacation.  Please enjoy the photo-shoot anyhow.

Escaping chickens!

Napping fox...they are nocturnal.  Look at those ears!

Dr. Doolittle, I presume?

Tapir...a.k.a. "diaper butt"

I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas...

Red Panda

Hide-and-go-seek panda

Orangutans...getting the honey from the hole in the rock.

"Jonathan, I think its a sloth...wait, no, its a bear."  Actually, its a Sloth Bear.

Feeding time!

They don't have these in Kuwait.

It seems as if Giraffes come from the dinosaur age...

All aboard!

The Taggart family did a lot of traveling, mostly by minivan (the good ol' Ford Aerostar, God rest her soul) and camper, all over the United States.  There are two types of places we'd visit, the historic (Civil War battle fields) and the natural (e.g. national parks), but not so much the contemporary or "amusement" venues unless it was convenient and cost-worthy.  Two adults and four kids...it adds up, for sure.

So from Joshua Tree, we headed south to San Diego...another scenic route with breathtaking views of mountains, vineyards, valleys, and finally the Pacific.  Our first stop was the USS Midway (CV-41), an aircraft carrier (Essex class) that was built and commissioned right after World War II.  It's pretty much the only aircraft carrier that anyone can board without being Active Duty Navy and assigned to the ship.  The history is fascinating, but its also amazing that so many of the parts and workings of that ship are similar to the sailor's life on Navy ships today.  So now Jonathan knows how I spent my 6 weeks aboard the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76), sleeping underneath the catapult and waiting in the long chow lines.  It was incredible!

USS Midway

In the hangar

First aircraft carrier on the left...planks on top were the airstrip!  Right side is the next generation of carriers.

Touring the flight deck

Amber is the color...Fresnel Lens Optical Landing System and the meatball!

Classic...enormous statue on the ground next to the carrier.

Go Navy!  Beat Army!

View from the Island.

The Captain of his own ship.

We were hoping to catch a glimpse of the USS Reagan because she's usually across the way from the Midway, but she is up in Washington state, dry-docked for maintenance.  I guess we already got enough "Reagan" for the week though.