Love Extravagant | Ong-Goings

16
Mar
2021

Straight Into Eight

The world shut down shortly after his 7th b-day and here we are, a year later! Thank goodness this boy is easy to please — ice cream, Ramune soda, Lego’s and Pokeballs.

Have to say that we feel grateful and blessed for the immense amount of time that we’ve been able to spend with him these past months… And how proud we are of him for being so adaptable and resilient through crazy times. And yes, we still owe you a stay at Legoland!

Quite some boxes showed up on our doorstep that day and we cannot thank our friends, family from near and far for being so kind and making this boy’s day with plenty of unexpected surprises!

Neighbor A dropped by in the evening to hand deliver a Pokemon haul. Of course they couldn’t help but want to start playing, lol.

Hopefully, your 8th year won’t be spent in quarantine but who knows what will happen… One day at a time. :) Keep up the positivity, joie de vie that we love about you. And thanks for still finding your parents cool enough to want to hang with us. (Think we’ve still got a few years.) :P

Check: last peak in the 5-Peak challenge! Pyles was def the longest one as we had to go up Cowles first, descend a bit and then ascend.

When these two are together though, the miles just click on by. J went with us all the way to the peak while his parents headed down shortly after Cowles.

Birthday haul meant his Lego collection got yet bigger…

Typical Sunday afternoon “recess”. :)

Bring us back to the sheer excitement of a stick!

We helped Daddy move out of his “optional” office in downtown. They are 100% remote indefinitely. We could technically live anywhere but for the time being we might just still pick SD. :) Apparently we aren’t the only ones. Housing market is insane here!

Last chance to take advantage of chess and ping pong perks…

The hills are alive! Can’t take the post Spring showers green for granted as soon they will turn brown come summer.

Haven’t had a coffee shop drink in who knows how long so we treated ourselves with some to-go refreshments en route to Julian for a longer hike over a long weekend.

Vamos a Volcan.

We could see all the way to the Salton Sea.

Provisions at the top! The boys had planned on getting the famous Julian apple pie while in the area but a quick check told us the store closed earlier than we thought. It was a literal sprint to the bottom, making it to the shop 5 mins before closing!

Some chicken sightings after securing the pies. :)

Eyes on the prize, lol.

And Daddy insisted on picking up i.c. on the way back for a la mode. ;p

27
Feb
2021

Waters

Been rainin’ a bit more so we’ve been soaking up some waters…

This verse has come to mind:
When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
– Isaiah 43:2

One of our favorite hikes so far – Cedar Creek Falls! It requires a permit with limited capacity per day so it was pretty quiet on the trail.

It was also Valentine’s Day… Bromance is in the air, lol.

Made it! The last bit was quite a bit of scrambling so J’s dad stayed behind but well worth the effort.

Fist bump.

Mothers’ loves. :)

And then Daddy decided he wanted to climb further (via a VERY steep slope) to the top of the waterfall…

Who can spot the little dot (from the Little Red Dot, haha)?

Daddy’s view from up top. Apparently it was sketch enough that he had a slight fear for his life… :|

Can you see us below? Next time you’re having a bad day, take a deep breath, zoom out and realize how small we really are… whatever we’re going through is a passing moment.

More of what Daddy saw and what we missed out on…

And we waited quite a while for him to get back to the base of the falls.

Just chattin’ by mountains majesty… :)

First time finding a pair of underwear on the trail…

The boys got a real kick out of those dropped drawers!

Ladies and gents, no, that background is not a fake backdrop. ;-)

Got back right around sunset… Driving back with the waning sun on the mountains was perfection.

Another new to us beach area… mossy rocks and glorious light. :)

How many shades of beautiful are here? :))

Footprints in the {swirly, wirly} sand.

Would ya live here?

Canyon hike to a smaller falls.

Dream team creek crossing! (But uh, leaving Mommy to fend for herself). :P

12
Feb
2021

Solace

“The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.” – Anne Frank

Well said, Anne, well said.

Things are happening… new leader, vaccinations. Wonder if many of us have stopped waiting for everything “to go back to normal”… just living a new normal? But in essence, we find our S.O.P. (in Daddy’s army talk) hasn’t shifted too much — work hard (doing what you love), slay the day, love God, love people, cherish moments, stay active, preferably in His playground (aka nature).

So feet on the ground, onward (and sometimes upward!). :)

Yet another new tide pool area…