Welcome to  “Angry Julie Monday’s Wordless Wednesday MckLinky”! If this your first time here, HELLO! I am doing a link-up every Wednesday! Post a picture(s) that you took in the past week and link back to it here.

A few weeks ago, my BFF, Stacey texted me.  She wanted to know if Angry Kid and I wanted to go whale watching. I looked at the text for a few moments and responded.  Well you can only guess my response right now was something like, “sure, when, and how much?”  She told me that she would make the arrangements, and forward the information to me later when it was all confirmed.

Well she confirmed the details and sent me the place and time. Now all we had to do was show up.  What I didn’t expect was to go on a boat ride, the day after a tsunami warning. Good timing, right? But I chanced it, and took a even bigger risk.  I did not take anything for seasickness.  I figured, well, I can just lean over the side of the boat if I get sick, right?

Angry Kid and Stella were very excited to go on the boat.  I was a bit hesitant after seeing the waves coming in on the nearby jetty.  But we managed to go aboard the boat.  They warned us that the waves might be a little, umm choppy. I could already see the way going over the jetty, but I somehow managed to get onto the boat.  Angry Kid stood along the side rail and watching as we pulled out of the Dana Point Harbor towards the Pacific Ocean.

As the pulled out of the main harbor area, that is when the waves really started.  They were coming at full force.  It got quite rocky.  I made Angry Kid sit on the bench next to me. Stella was hanging onto Stacey and was not moving.  Here’s a picture of the waves we endured.

We went out about five miles from shore and went around from left to right. The Captain said that they saw some water spouts in the air, so we headed towards that way.  All of the rocking and motion from the waves was putting Angry Kid to sleep.  I was trying to keep myself from puking, and Angry Kid was sleeping.

Well we went from side to side in these choppy waves on the hunt for blow holes and whales. We did not see any whales. But we did see a great big pod of common dolphins frolicking in the ocean. They were a riot. They were doing flips and jumps, as we went by.  We stopped for a few minutes as they put on a show for us.

Angry Kid decided that he would get up from his boat-induced nap to check out the dolphins. I kept telling him that there were dolphins around the boat, but he did not believe me. He finally got up to check them out himself.

I wasn’t able to capture some of the dolphins “better” tricks, but Stacey did.  I found this photo on Facebook and had to “borrow it”.  This dolphin was quite the acrobat.

With all of the turning that the boat was doing, added with the waves, Angry Kid got a little sick.  He told me that he needed to go to the potty.  He looked a little “green”. I said, “do you have to puke?” He nodded.  I told him to just puke over the side of the boat.  He looked at me, with a crazy look.  I said, “It’s ok, you can just stick your head over the side and feed the fishes.”  So he proceeded to do that. This was one of my most awesome parenting days, because he refused to eat breakfast and I didn’t force him.  It was probably a good idea that he had not eaten anything.  He sat down after his “episode”. With the boat rocking, and the water spraying on us, he proceeded to fall asleep again.

Stacey took the picture above. Once again, I “borrowed” it from her Facebook. I’m a good friend like that.

As we came closer towards the Harbor, we saw a red buoy that it appeared to have some “natives” on it.  The boat went out of its way to cruise towards it.  I woke Angry Kid up to go and check it out. Stella got just as excited and went to the side of the boat with him.

Once we got into the Harbor, the water current slowed down. Angry Kid got up and walked around. He announced that he felt all better now. He proceeded to climb up to the second deck with Stella. Stacey went up there also to supervise.  I had already gone up there prior to “find” Angry Kid.  I have issues with the height and was not going to climb up there again.

After an almost two hour tour, we headed back towards the dock.  I was kinda excited, as my stomach was churning a little.  I freak out about everything.  I was pretty proud of myself that I did not get sick.  I gave myself a little pat on the back for that. I love the view of the dock from the boat.  The building is The Ocean Institute and the boat on the dock is The Spirit of Dana Point, a 118-ft. topsail schooner.

I made Angry Kid run to the bow (front) of the boat.  I made him stick his arms out. I was trying to get a little “Titanic” photo. Of course, he had no idea on what I was doing. I said “learn forward, and stick your arms out”. This is what I got.

And of course, we had Stella and Angry Kid take a photo together. I’m sure in a few years, they will refuse. But we have to get our cute pictures of them together while we can now. Stella is only two months older than Angry Kid.  But she is much taller by several inches.  They’ve totally got the Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise thing going on with their height differences.

Well we got off the boat, and headed for lunch after this. Angry Kid was fine and so was I.  We survived our whale watching trip and boat ride. We got to see some pretty cool common dolphins and some lazy sea lions.  Angry Husband asked me if “we saw any whales”.  I said, “no”.  He argued with me about, “isn’t that the point of going whale watching?”  I told him that in all my years of taking Marine Biology and living near the Coast, I barely saw a whale one time.  It is pretty much an urban legend to see a whale on a whale watching trip. But I’m ok with that.

P.S. This was not a sponsored post. Stacey is a HUGE fan of The Ocean Institute and their programs.  They even have Spring and Summer Camps.

P.P.S. My computer got very excited with my ocean pictures. They are a tad blue.  The ocean is more of a green color.

P.P.P.S. I’m good with this whale watching trip.  I don’t plan on owning or going on any yachts in the near future.

This is my first time entering an “I Heart Photos” Photo Challenge.  I take pictures all the time, perhaps every day.  I’m that person with my SLR always hidden in my purse. I can’t help it. I feel in love with Amy and Angie at Blissdom. Really, what’s not to love, they are awesome gals.  So I figured that I would start entering some of their weekly contests.  I have so many photos in my archives that I’ve never shown anyone or posted. I went through all of my photos and hunted for one of my “better” outtakes photos.

This particular photo was taken at the end of the summer.  I went to dinner with some of the gals for their pre-race dinner as they were running the Disneyland Half-Marathon the next day. Of course, we took the kiddos along.  After eating dinner, the kids discovered this fountain.  It was summertime and it was hot. What do you expect with kids?  Well the security guard kept trolling this fountain and giving us the evil eye.  We were watching the kids, and it’s not like they were bathing in the fountain.

I can’t wait to participate in more of their challenges coming up!!!

Here are FIVE of my favorite posts from the past week. Each week I will be highlighting some of my favorites. I have many blogs in my reader, as I have many friends with all different types of “niches” or “non-niches”. I will post serious stories, fun stories, pictures, recipes, etc. They will most likely be in a random order.

1. This Mama Makes Stuff-The Slim Slack

Carrie re-fashions a pair of men’s slacks into boy’s slim slacks.

2.  Livin’ The Simple Life-Folding Shelf Drying Racks

We’ve been looking for a way to get rid of our rolling rack in our garage. This is simple project which will eliminate the bulk of a bigger drying rack.  It’s also very inexpensive.

3.  Well, That’s Just Fabulous-Starting Over, This is going to be a long one

Danielle talks about picking up and moving to Chicago from Los Angeles all by herself. She has had some bumps along the way, but she’s planting down her feet.

4.  The Unexperienced Mom-Finding a Blogging Mentor

I met Tamara at Blissdom. She’s a realist like me.  She talks about finding someone to connect with during/through your blogging journey.  She is also launching a new website for blog conference newbies.

5.  Living with Lindsay-Real People Don’t Live in Magazine Spreads

Lindsay, a real life friend of mine, talks about getting ideas from design magazines and websites. But no matter what, your home is fine just the way that it is, and you never see people living in those magazines.

I do not cook very much, rarely, or ever.  Angry Husband will probably say that I’ve cooked maybe 5 times in our marriage. I know it’s more than that, like 10ish.  I’ve always said, my skill is making money.  I can’t cook. I don’t clean very well. And I’m not very crafty.  But oohhh, I have a black belt in shopping and I’ve had a job since I was 14.

When we got married, I registered for Lenox’s “Poppies on Blue” pattern. I may have registered for EVERYTHING that they sold with that pattern.  Seriously, we had so much stuff, it became overwhelming.  We moved about 4 times in the first 5 years of our marriage.  Every time we moved, that china and all of its accessories along with us.  Right before we bought our house, I finally decided that the china had to go.  We had barely used it.  It wasn’t our every day china.  I had never even seen my own mother use her wedding china.

So I placed it on e-bay and sold it piece-by-piece.  I also sold some pieces to a friend.  I had a few place settings left, and actually had a couple from Palm Springs drive 2 hours to come and get the china from me.  Angry Husband was impressed, because I sold the china for more than it was probably originally paid for.  I’m pretty good at e-bay, when I try a little.

After selling this wedding china, I decided that we needed some everyday china.  I became a little obsessed (see a pattern here), and starting buying (collecting) Fiestaware. It all started with a few dinner plates, then salad plates, then bowls. I have tons of it now, and all different colors. I think that’s my favorite thing about Fiestaware. That you can mix and match the colors.

You can see some of my Fiestaware in the picture above.  This is one of our kitchen cabinets.  I have more pieces, but they are in random places around the house. Some of the pieces that I have are actually Vintage Fiestaware.  My mom has found them in antique shops around Orange County.  I’m currently on the search for my serving dishes. I only have one problem with Fiestaware though.  They keep coming out with new colors.  I have at least 25+ dinner plates.  I want more. Because I love all the colors. Aren’t they pretty?

What do you collect?

P.S. The “My Precious” title was in reference to Gollum in Lord of the Rings. If you haven’t seen any of the movies, you will have no clue on what I’m talking about.