Christmas Tree Harvest

When I was growing up in Southern Oregon, it was a tradition for my family to load up in the old 4 wheel drive Dodge, and head in to the hills to cut down our own Christmas Tree.  Since the move to California, we've had to settle for picking out a tree at Target or Home Depot ever year.  So this year we decided it would be nice to start the tradition of cutting down our own tree with our kids.  Problem here is there is no place to do this legally in Southern California...unless you go to a Christmas tree farm.  Onother problem is...we like Noble firs and they dont grow them in the tree farms down here.  Usually, they only grow Pines trees or Douglas firs and have the Nobles shipped in from Oregon.  There is a place up the coast though, that grows a variety of trees that are similar to the Noble and we decided to go for it and make a vacation out of it.  We first visited Solvang, CA and enjoyed thier anual Christmas Parade and did some shopping.  It was a lot of fun.  My sister in law, her two kids and my mother in law came along also.  We made them stay in a different room. lol.  On the last full day, we drove up to Nipomo, CA and hunted for the perfect family Christmas tree at Holloways Christmas Tree Farm.  that night I shoved them into the back of the mini-van to keep them from being stolen over night.  The next morning, we did our final shopping and then, I decided that it would be smart to keep the trees inside the mini-van for the trip home as I didnt want them to desicate in the 3hour drive.  This was extremly comical getting both of these 6-7 foot trees to fit and still allow three kids to sit comfortably in the middle section.  I wish I had taken pictures of this process because it is just too crazy to explain it and I'm not that good of a writer.  So, anyhow...here are som pics from the trip...

Thanksgiving Visit

An old friend from way back in the day came to visit me and my family for Thanksgiving.  He is a pilot in the Marine Corps and is about to retire in a year or so.  We owe him our gratitude, as he has served 2 tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.  Plus, he's just  a great guy.  His name is Tony and he reads this Blog sometimes so, leave a comment for him if you would.  (Of course, he may be the only person who reads this Blog in which case maybe he should just say hello or something. lol)