Trip to the Lighthouse

This last Tuesday was Veteran's Day and Manburger and I both got the day off. Oh, the joys of working for the government! We decided to take a little trip to the Cabrillo Lighthouse. I love national parks, so I was excited to check it out. Half the fun was the drive through Point Loma to get there. I really enjoyed reading the street names as we drove along, b/c all the cross streets had names from literature...Poe, Shelley, Hugo, Dickens, Zola, Keats, Emerson, etc. Maybe we are just nerds, but I thought it was fun to try and see if I knew all the names and their respective eras or genres in literature. Also along the way was Fort Rosencrans National Cemetary. We saw a lot of families there visiting the graves of loved ones. That seemed like a very fitting Veteran's Day activity. Once we got to the Cabrillo National Monument, I didn't even feel like we were in So Cal anymore. Along oneside of the park, all you can see is the ocean and cliffs, no cities in sight. It was gorgeous. I loved the sedimentary layers in the cliffs; I think part of me still wants to be a geologist. I mean, rocks are so cool! I took this great picture of Manburger as he contemplated the mysteries of the universe.
After checking out the coast, we drove up to the visitors' center and actually saw the lighthouse. What a crazy life it must have been as a lighthouse keeper. In some of the displays, they mentioned that the family in the lighthouse rarely had visitors and there were no stores nearby. I don't think I could handle the isolation.
After our fun day at the national monument and going to watch Highschool Musical 3 (I have the greatest husband, I know!) we drove home just in time to see this amazing sunset. The colors were phenomenal. I love living right on the ocean.
The last photo is of Manburger and I getting ready to head off to the local pub to watch the UFC fight. Don't we look tough? It was quite the experience watching the fight with a bunch of drunk folks. Not too bad of a time, b/c I did get to watch the fight, but it sure made me even more glad that we don't drink. People sure do act like idiots after a few beers (or maybe they are like that sober too, couldn't tell). Unfortunately, Brock Lesnar beat Randy Couture, but payback should be coming soon, either Frank Mir, Big Nog, or Fedor will put his WWE butt in its place. Sorry to all those Lesnar fans out there, but I just don't like the guy.

Happy 233rd Birthday, Marine Corps!

We got to go to another Marine Corps Birthday Ball this year. It wasn't in as nice of a spot as previous years, but it was still nice. Two years ago, we were at the Marriott, last year we were at the Sheraton, and this year we were at the Holiday Inn. We were all joking that next year's ball will probably be in a Motel 6. As long as it isn't at a chowhall, I'll be okay. Anyway, we really enjoyed ourselves.
We actually got to eat birthday cake this year, which made Yogurl very happy. For some reason we haven't gotten to eat any in the previous years. There was also a super cool ice sculpture of an Eagle, Globe and Anchor. By time we got a picture, the melting had caused some blurring, but it still is really cool.

Fighting the good fight!

This Saturday Manburger and I did another round of sign holding in favor of Proposition 8. A bunch of other church folks met and for two hours we held Prop 8 signs on corners of a busy intersection. Mostly we got positive reactions, but of course there are always the angry people who flipped us off or mouthed "Nooooo" as they drove by or shot vitriolic comments at us. I think Manburger found humor in seeing how the against Prop 8 people reacted when they saw our signs. It's been really fun being involved in the fight to gain more support for Prop 8 here in California. I am eager for election day to be behind us so I can stop worrying about what the outcome will be and move on to other things.

Halloween on the cheap!

We had a fun Halloween this year. After we made the mistake of waiting until the week before Halloween to seriously think about our costumes, I made do with what we had in the house. I'd have to say I did a pretty good job making cool costumes out of a couple of sheets, some safety pins, and curtain ropes.
Manburger and I went to visit our friends (Brad and Lisa) in on-base family housing for trick-or-treating. After having two kids come to our house last year, we figured it was time for a change. Four of the ladies on Lisa's street set up chairs in one driveway and then Brad and Patrick took all the little girls trick-or-treating. It was so much fun seeing all the adorable costumes. I also enjoyed seeing whole families dressed up together. We definitely did not have leftover candy at the end of the night. Here's a picture of Brad and Lisa's super cute family. I love the little skunk costume Kayli is wearing.