Halloween at Disneyland!

Disneyland decorates the park according to the major seasons here in the States: SoCal Sun, Halloween and Wintery Christmas. It's really cool to go down in the afternoon and catch a few rides, watch the fireworks and then head back home again. That way we don't get too tired and sore from walking around so much! Today we went down to see the Halloween theme for the first time together!

It's Fall!!!

I was so excited to go and spend my birthday money on fall decorations for our apartment! Since I am starting late, there are tons of sales on at Jo-anne's, Target and Walmart. There are also such fun things given away each Wednesday night at Sem Wives at Grace Church, so now my apartment is kitted out! This is what I came up with!

My Official Birthday Dinner

Another family tradition in the Ramsden/Dedekind home was a choice dinner for the Birthday girl or boy! Usually this was home cooked, but Andrew was not feeling brave enough to take on the kitchen and treated me to eating out instead!

The Big 24!

Can't believe another year has flown by! I think this was my first birthday away from home, and Andrew did a great job of making it special! He held up longstanding Birthday traditions from the Ramsden Household which was really fun! I was woken to the sweetest rendition of "Happy Birthday" and a good cup of coffee, followed by an assortment of prezzies!

The First Rains!

It hardly EVER rains here in Santa Clarita, except for a couple of days in the year, and when it does, it pours! There is nothing nicer than a day at home with my husband, hearing the rain fall on the roof and snuggling under the duvet on the couch! What a lovely early Birthday present! I can't remember many birthdays growing up that were not washed out by rains, so it even feels like the right time of year to me!

On my Way back to LA!

Finally! I get to go home to my husband! I just had to get through the day!!! First I got a pic of the coffee shop I had been going to regularly there to use the internet. Then it was time to find a thank-you gift for the lady whose house I was staying with!


These flowers were perfect, since she seems to love plants since her house is full of them!
Here are some pics of the flat I was staying in...





Canadian money is way prettier than US money!

Then Judy came back to say farewell and take me out for lunch! So we went to the local sushi joint for the real deal!!!



These guys did NOT play around! every kind of raw meat you can imagine was available!



The whole place looked so authentic, and don't even get me started on how good the food was! Check out the spread!


Dear Judy


Then it was back into town to go and visit an old primary school friend that moved to Vancouver all those years ago! Unfortunately I got horribly lost!

But eventually I got there and spent a few minutes with Corinne catching up! It was so great to see her!!!

then it was a mad dash to try and get to pick up my passport in time!!! It was so stressful to navigate there and I called the transport company to give me the quickest route! I ran as fast as I could from the underground station and made it with only a few minutes to spare! Thanks to the Lord for grace to enable me to make it otherwise there would be big problems with me leaving later on this afternoon! After I got it, I strolled back to the bus and decided to try to get a few pictures that I never managed to get on the previous days, before heading back to the house to be taken to the airport.







On my way back, I stopped off at the beautiful local churches



J.I. Packer's old Anglican Church before the huge Legal Battle: http://www.stjohnsvancouver.org/legal-update.php


As soon as I got back we climbed into the car and I was delivered safely to the airport! I was so excited to get on that plane and see my husband again! But not until midnight tonight!!!









Last glimpses of the fall colours!


So when I saw this plane I was not convinced. They still use planes like this one?! Apparently its better for places where there is a lot of ice. But still!


And man was it NOISY!!! I was right next to the propeller and it caused the whole plane to vibrate! Next time I'll check on what plane they will be using!


The cheapest flight we could find for me was one that landed in Ontario Airport which is about an hour away from home, so Andrew had to drive a long way to get me! There was another flight that left an hour earlier to Burbank, but I had checked in my baggage so I couldn't transfer! It was so sad to see it leave and I had to wait longer!

but soon enough I was seeing the lights of LA shining below me and could hardly wait to be...

United again!!!