Joshua Tree National Park

We were a little sun-burnt (from skiing) and a little sore (also from skiing!) so we gave church a skip today and spent the day at Joshua Tree National Park. It's in the Mojave Desert and has its own rugged sort of beauty.

Enjoying the view.

A Joshua Tree - they are scattered all over the place!

Taking a hike!

Clark had to go climbing trees again!

Skull Rock.

A lovely day spent together in nature.

Big Bear

We went up to Big Bear on Thursday evening to spend the night and then tried out our skiing skills on Friday...needless to say, Clark was up on his ski's taking the chair lift and coming down the mountain with absolutely NO prior experience even before he had his first lesson! Sara got "kicked out" of the first lesson to have an individual "TLC" lesson with another instructor since it became clear that she needed special attention!

This is our cabin at the lodge that we stayed at in Big Bear.

Here's Clark confident on his skis:) We'll post pics of Sara another time after she gains a little more confidence in her skills!

Skiing in Big Bear

This is Clark coming down the slopes...we love the ending the best! Those are strangers that he ends up with!

Back to School

Our best news is that Sara has been accepted at Loma Linda University for her Masters in Speech-Language Pathology! She is starting late September but there is much excitement in the house these days as soon she's going to have to give up her "Lady of Leisure" routine:)

Kritzinger Baby Shower!

Sara attended another baby shower today...more of this and she'll be getting very broody! Clark had to work unfortunately. Devo and Leilani are about to have (really soon!) another little girl join their family.

The Kritzinger clan. Little Lia is getting so big:) Soon she's going to be a proud big sister!

Look at how cute Lia is:)! Sara looked a lot like this when she was little.

A Baby Shower for Jeni-Joy!

Jeni-Joy's sister-in-law threw her a surprise baby shower today and it was so much fun:)

Opening all the presents:)

A delectable Mediterranian feast - Jeni-Joy's favourtie food.

Hitch DIY

After the tram, we stopped in La Quinta and Jacques helped Clark fit the new hitch (towbar for the South Africans!) for the bicycle rack on the RAV4. Clark preferred to do it DIY-style with a little help from a friend since taking it to a fitment centre would have cost money! Now we can hitch up our bikes and head to Santa Monica and Venice beach (and many other destinations!).

Palm Springs Tram

Today we went to Palm Springs and took the tram up the San Jacinto Mountain. This is an activity we have been intending to do for some time and we're glad we did. At the top of the mountain there are hikes, panoramic views and a lovely restaurant.

The old tram at the bottom of the moutain.

The top of the mountain is actually a nature reserve so it is really pretty.

Out in the fresh mountain air:) We both enjoyed our little hike. As you can see, there is still some snow and ice in patches.

On top of the world!

Look at the lovely view.

A familiar face from SA

One of our church friends from SA - Brian Neuman - was around the Loma Linda area this weekend so invited us over for lunch. Brian is an evangelist/speaker and is giving meetings in Canada soon so it was nice that we got to see him on his short stop over in our neck of the woods. Also nice to enjoy his guitar-playing again:)