Gert & Nanda

We have been staying at Gert and Nanda's place for 2 1/2 weeks now. We have had a fantastic time in getting to know them and sharing times with them. For Marielle she has really enjoyed the opportunity to spend some serious time with her sister after all these years of being apart. It has been nice and relaxing for me as well. The first few days their children needed to finish school for the year. Then the rain set in - in fact 8 inches in December (the yearly average for Ramona is 10 inches - so a bit wet to say the least.) The time was spent relaxin, a bit of shopping, and getting ready for Christmas.

Christmas was different for us this year as we do not normally give gifts to each other. Gert and Nanda have this custom so we joined them this year. We each took a name of the other family out of a hat and then selected a present from the list that we made of items we would like to be able to receive. The children enjoyed the opportunity to shop for the presents and then wrap them. There was a lot of excitement and expectation for Christmas day.

On Christmas day we attended the United Reformed Church in Escondido (as Gert and Nanda's church did not have a tradition of having a service on Christmas day). They also had a choir singing with the halaeuigh chorus after the service). 

After we arrived home we had a relaxing time with small eats and drinks. This children had the opportunity to empty their stockings of goodies. Dinner was very nice with great food and lovely company. After dinner we exchanged gifts. Overall a lovely day with nice memories

As a family we visited Balboa Park (and Railroad Museum), La Jolla, Boardwalk (for Ten Pin bowling - a huge rink with 60 lanes), foreshore area of San Diego, Julian, Midway Museum, Seaport Village along with shopping trips. We still are planning a few items, with the Animal Park and the Creation Museum on our visit list.

Tomorrow it is Sunday and we will be going again to the OPC in Escondido. We have enjoyed the services there and look forward to communing with the people there as well.