Halloween, Thanksgiving and Ohio Grandparents Come to Visit

 The kids were all dressed up for Halloween.

 Elise was Rapunzel and Ellie was a Tooth Fairy - very cute!

 Bob Finlay was invited to speak at the City of Duarte's Veteran's Day Celebration

 Brad and James rode the 62 mile Tour de Foothills bike ride.

 Brad, Megan, Elise, Gavin, Georgine and Bob rode the train up the scenic coast of California to San Luis Obispo to spend Thanksgiving with everyone at Morro Bay.

 Out on the sand flats in Morro Bay.

 Jumping for joy at Morro Bay.

 Before Thanksgiving dinner, the kids played with Lincoln Logs in the living room.

 Meanwhile, the adults had Happy Hour out on the deck and watched sunset.

 Erin helping the little kids eat Thanksgiving dinner.

 All 26 of us climbed Black Hill above Morro Bay for a group picture the day after Thanksgiving.

 Then it was off to Montana de Oro to play on the beach.

 After that Megster set up gingerbread houses for us to decorate.

 We went home on Saturday and had a pizza party at Lisa and Larry's across the street from our house.

 Everybody helped make the pizza. . .

 And the 3 girls had a ball rolling the pizza dough.

 Three days later, Margaret was sworn in for the 5th time as Mayor of the City of Duarte.  Liz Reilly was Mayor Pro Tem.

 James invited us down to the City of Hope so that we could tour his lab and see the research that he is doing there.

 We went to Breakfast with Santa on Saturday at the Rotary Breakfast.

 We also took time to set up the Christmas town, that the kids love to see.

 Georgine and Bob loved spending time with the great grandchildren, with two more on the way in 2013.

Finally, Ian and Annie invited us over to their home in Azusa for a delicious dinner of homemade soups and bread.  They have a lovely home, beautifully decorated for Christmas.

October Happenings

 Brad and I drove up for General Conference the first part of October.  Steve and Alana were also there and Steve wanted to go out for one last ski on Utah Lake before they winterized the boat.  His mom, Pat, even went skiing.

 We saw all of the sessions of Conference.  It is always so inspiring to hear the words from these wonderfully dedicated speakers.

 Inside the Conference Center.

 Afterwards, the Reeves invited us up to their home while the men went to the night session.  We had such a good time with Linda and all of the Reeves girls - all such dear friends.

 Several days later, the space shuttle, Endeavour, was being towed 14 miles through the streets of Los Angeles before arriving at its final home at the California Science Center.  We drove down on a Friday night and watched it as it made its way along the streets.

 The next day, I was speaking at a conference at Claremont Graduate University on Motherhood in the 21st Century.  Thanks to my family and friends for coming to support me.

 The first part of October is birthday time for Ian and Annie.  We celebrated with them together.  Their birthdays are 5 days apart.

 This past weekend, we went to Morro Bay with Megan and Danny and the kids.  Our priority was to strip wallpaper in the master bathroom and paint it. . .but we did have a little time to go to the pumpkin patch in Avila Beach. . .it was a lot of fun seeing the little kids running around and playing there.

 Gavin is shown feeding one of the Nubian goats at the pumpkin patch.

 Elise fed some food to the emus.

 Elise also wanted to take pictures with my camera.  This picture of a cow was one of her better photos.

 Next it was time for the haystack maze.  Gavin loved it and wanted to keep going again and again.

 So many pumpkins. . .so little time.  Which one is a girl to choose?

 I went into the maze with the Gavin and Elise. . .Elise didn't know which way to go.

 Brad is stripping the rotted plaster away from the wall.

 Here it is halfway through stripping the wallpaper.

 And here is the finished bathroom.  We still have a few small things to do but we can do that when we are up here again in several weeks.

Finally, this afternoon, we were able to go out onto the beach.  The kids played in the sand, flew kites and even swam.  The weather is so warm right now.  This really is the summer season for Morro Bay.

Our Life for the Past 3 Weeks

 Several weeks ago we drove up to Napa and worked the Napa Ragnar, while our team, the Big Kahunas competed in the Ragnar competition.  Here is our team and the volunteer workers at Exchange 6, which Helen, Evan, Brad and I managed.

 Saturday morning, the rest of our team was still running and Evan, Helen, Brad and I had breakfast at Louie's overlooking the ocean.

 Finally, about 3:30 p.m. after our team had run 194 miles, round the clock, they all finished at the Napa County Fairgrounds.  Way to go, Big Kahunas!

 Jumping for joy that the race is over.

 Our next adventure involved driving down to LAX to see the Space Shuttle, Endeavour, make its final flight to LAX, where it will soon be transported to its new home at the California Science Center near USC.

We had a flyover that went right over us, as we stood on the Parking Spot Garage roof and then had In and Out Burger for lunch.

Last Saturday was the Route 66 Parade and we got to ride in 1953 vintage truck.

The only one that couldn't go with us was Ellie, due to being sick.

James and Ian helped to carry the 40 foot by 60 foot American flag down Route 66.

Alana joined us to ride in the parade.

All done with the parade, and then it was on to doing the wedding reception.

After my Mobility 21 Transportation Conference we were able to spend a little bit of time at California Adventure at Disneyland.  The little kids loved Soaring Over California.

We enjoyed getting a look at the new Cars Land.

The next day we took a ski lift up to the notch on Mt. Baldy with some of the kids and grandkids and Grammie and Grampie.

I got to ride with Ellie and Brad was able to ride with Ethan.  We had a great time with them.

Here is our group just before the breakfast.

Enjoying breakfast out on the terrace before our hike.

The Finlays all prepared for the hike.

Ellie and Ethan were great hikers that day.

We finally made it. . .about 5 1/2 hours hiking up to 10,064 feet, with a 2200 foot elevation gain.  It was about a 7 1/2 mile hike roundtrip.

Finally, dinner tonight with the family.  We had a terrific time with some delicious smoked chicken thanks to Grammie and Grampie.