family journal
amu
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Posts by amu
Anne of Green Gables
Dec 13th
I know it’s odd for me to write about a children movie. But I can’t help to write something about it after spending 6 hours of my last 24 hours watching the first two DVDs of this three set DVD collection that we bought from Best Buy last night.
I remember watching the first half of the first movie “Anne of Green Gables” with Hani about a month ago on some online video streaming site. Since then we’ve been hunting to rent this movie on the near by Blockbusters in our neighborhood and none of them carried it. Last night we went to Best Buy to try out a lens for our camera and we stumbled upon the Collector’s set DVD aisle. We were disappointed that we couldn’t find our “Anne of Green Gables” in that aisle so we moved on to the next “Family movies” aisle and wala! Guess what? We found the 3 DVD collector’s set which seem to be abnormally misplaced in the midst of other movies. So we happily got back home with the movie.
I started watching the second part of the first DVD at about 10:30pm (Hani was sound asleep next to me). I can’t help but laugh at a scene where Anne Shirley broke open in a confession about the dead mice on the pudding dressing – which woke up Hani. And then Hani and I continued to watch the rest of the second part of the first DVD and then the 2nd DVD titled “Anne of Green Gables – the Sequel” until 5:30am.
As we watched the movie for more than 6 hours I recollect us going through so many emotions. We laughed at the wittiness of Anne, cried together when Matthew died, angry at Rachel Lynd, anxious about what Anne would say when Gilbert asked her to be his wife. We felt like little kids again. It’s so hard to find a decent movie these days that emphasize on genuine love without any obscene content. It’s been so long that I’ve cried watching a movie (that’s a confession). I can’t wait to watch the last one, I would have started it tonight but that wouldn’t be a good idea when I had to wake-up at 6:30am to drive an hour to the 9am worship in Claremont.
I totally recommend this movie. For those of you who are vivid readers here’s your link to Amazon. I wish I had the gift/discipline to take a book and read it cover to cover (like my wife). I hardly complete any book. 
Anyway, off to sleep… have a blessed Sunday!
Our first hiking / camping experience
Oct 20th
Quick Summary:
- Total distance hiked: 6.2 miles (round trip)
- Total hiking time: 3 hours (approx.)
- Number of hours slept: almost 12 hours in the tent
Crystal Cove SP hike trail
The maps shows the route that we took for the hike. The ranger station told us that if we take the brown hike trail then it would be quite hard because of the higher inclination. And guess what? We took that one going up. The inclination was crazy! But we made it! The Pacific ocean was behind us as we hiked up the mountain. We started hiking around 2:30pm and we were there at the campgrounds around 4pm. It took us about an hour and 40 minutes to make it up there. And I thought that was quite impressive for a first time hikers to hike 3.1 miles. :)
We camped at the Lower Morro Campground which is a 3.1 mile hike from the ranger station. All of the campground at the Crystal Cove SP has a picnic bench, decompose potty place and trash bins. We decided to pitch our tent closer to the potty place (not too close) and the picnic bench. We watched the sunset on the Pacific ocean as we ate a warm chicken noodle soup from Campbell’s Chunky! The temperature dropped significantly after the sun went down so we decided to go into the tent and lie down. It was around 7ish when we lay down on the comfortable Coleman airbed. After the strenuous hike we were able to appreciate the air bed so well that we slept until 7am next morning.
We ate (warm) Campbell’s Chunky clam chowder for breakfast with some clementines. After breakfast we decided to have a relaxed walk to the Upper Morro Camp Ground. We had a good time talking about things that are important to us at this time of our lives as we are preparing to be parents. The hike to Upper Morro Campground seemed so easy without the ~30lb backpack!
We left the campground at 9:50am and we were down at the ranger station at 11:20am. We took the ‘easy’ route (turquoise blue on the map) to get back to the ranger station. We both agreed that this ‘easier’ route was a bit harder as it had a continuous declination (that means continual incline going up). And on this route we were not able to see the ocean as we had a mountain hiding the ocean from us all throughout the hike.
Overall, it was a great experience! Being out there in the canyon with nothing around, no city lights, no loud mariachi music, but the chirping of crickets and the bright moon and stars above is an experience that would certainly demand us to be in awe of a Wonderful Creator!
Things that I would do differently, next time:
- Won’t stuff myself with a yummy pizza 10 minute before the hike
- Certainly pack lighter. Probably get rid of the airbed and pack two foam pads
- Get protein / energy bars
- Pack more fresh fruits
- (maybe) Get a hiking pole
- Leave on Friday afternoon and come back on Saturday, so we can still go to church on Sunday
Will we do it again? Yes (I hope Hani agrees with this one)
Getting ready for camping
Oct 13th
Neither of us are veterans in camping. I’ve camped 2 times with the guys from the church. I think Hani has hiked/camped more times than me. So for our first year anniversary (October 27), we’ve decided to hike 3 miles uphill and spend the night at Crystal Cove State Park’s camp ground. I don’t know if it’s a good idea or not to hike 3 miles with our 40 pound backpacks on a first year anniversay; but we are a bit excited preparing for the hike.
Last weekend (October 11, 2008) we went for a say 2 hour hike with our friends Tim and Jennifer at Del Cerro Park, California. This was our second time hiking at this trail and we did a lot better this time compared to the last time. Last time I wasted my energy running on an uphill at the beginning of the trail and I didn’t have strength hike back to the car! But this time we just had a relaxed walk talking with our friends and covered more distance and we weren’t exhausted at all. After the hike last Saturday morning we ended up in Hof’s Hut a great breakfast food place in Torrance. I think we gained more calories that morning eating at Hof’s Hut than the calories that we lost in the 2 hour hike.
Anyway, back to our camping preparation. Hani and I did some shopping this weekend getting ready for our first camping ever, here are the gears that we have so far:
- North Face Terra 60 and Terra 40 bacpacks
- Coleman queen size air-bed
- Ozark Trail 9′ x 8′ hexagonal tent from Walmart
- Ozark Trail 9′ x 12′ heavy-duty tarp from Walmart
- Coleman Micro Packer Lantern
- Energizer 6 LED Head lights
- Swiss Gear queen size sleeping bag
- Compact Stove + container (to heat-up the soup)
- Campbell’s Chunky! (THE soup)
- First aid kit
- Emergency pancho
We need to pack in water since the campsite does not have any water. We are looking for some kind of a water container that could hold water for an overnight camping for two people, and remember we need to hike 3 + 3 miles with it. Could you please let us know if you have any suggestions on that and if there is anything else that we should pack ?