Kibaki's Korner

Hawaiian Business Trip (and a little fun)

2012-02-05T21:57:00.003-05:00

We took a break from going into Honolulu each day to buy condo supplies, to have Matsumoto's Shave Ice.
One night we had Kristine over for dinner. . .here we are in front of the Laie Temple. . .Margaret, Kristine, and Donna.
We also went to the Barber's Point Coast Guard Air Station and were able to tour the facility thanks to Lt. Garrett Faulkner. Dad is shown here in the cockpit of a C130 plane.
We are in front of the C130 plane right now.
Garrett is shown here explaining the rescue helicopter to us.
After a day of work at the condo, we had a short Happy Hour at Turtle Bay.
Sunset at Turtle Bay.
Dinner out at the Banzai Pipeline with Tat and Ryan.
We decided to try another shave ice at Aoki's. . .we thought it was just as good as the previous shave ice.

4 Generations Celebrate Chinese New Year

2012-01-28T23:41:00.002-05:00

Megster's preschool classes this week focused on Chinese New Year. So we celebrated this week with a feast of Chinese food. Our friend, Shing, came over and taught the little kids about what life was like in China when she lived there. Thanks, Shing!
Grammie, Ed, John, Alana, and friend Charlene all helped celebrate too.
We all made good things to eat. Ian was here for dinner and interviews at a university. Alana was here for the weekend as well - Steve was glad to have his wife back here.
Ed, Charlene, and Stephanie helped to decorate.
Everybody ate their fill of chow mein, slippery shrimp, orange chicken, beef and broccoli, fried rice, and egg rolls.
Clever Charlene made little red dragons for dessert. . .Happy Year of the Dragon!
Afterwards, the kids all watched one of their favorite movies, Mulan.
Today, we went to see the Shanghai Acrobatic Circus at Citrus College. The little kids were amazed at what these young people can do with balance and strength.
Here is the group that went to see the circus. Another 4 Generation Field Trip.

The Utah Reception

2012-01-15T23:53:00.002-05:00

Alana and Steve's second reception was at the Manor at the Riverwoods. Alana and Pat are shown here helping to decorate the reception area. . .and Alana still has the rollers in.
The outside area of the Manor was lit with thousands of lights in the trees.
Alana's dear friends, Paul and Sarah Scherbel and their adorable kids, came for the reception. They were Alana's adopted family over in Brussels. . .we will forever be grateful for their hospitality and kindness to all of us.
Ruben and Reyna Diaz drove all the way up from Los Angeles for this reception because they missed the one in Los Angeles, due to scheduling conflicts. We loved having them with us and being able to show them around Utah a bit.
Mel and Linda Reeves came also and it was so good to be with them. . .with great friends it is always like coming home.
Uncle Richard, Robert's (Steve's Dad) identical twin brother, came to the wedding. It was fun to meet him.
We also had Matt Cardon and his wife Lisa drive down from Idaho Falls. Matt Cardon was one of the missionaries that taught us the discussions. It was so much fun to see them again. He and Lisa have 6 handsome children. We also were so fortunate to have Roger and Christine Christensen drive down from Salt Lake for the reception. We love the Christensen family - and even if Megster hadn't married James, we would still love to spend time with Roger and Christine. We are very blessed to have wonderful in-laws for all of our four children.
Thanks so much to Scott for coming to greet us when we went to see The Spoken Word in the Tabernacle with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The moderator announced Ruben and Reyna to the audience. The program was outstanding today, with the emphasis on Martine Luther King. Some of the songs are ones that Brad's Southern California Mormon Choir sings.
After the performance, we walked around Temple Square, then went up to the This is the Place Historic Monument. Thanks to all of the people that drove so far to make this reception special.

Christmas Break Activities

2012-01-01T15:11:00.004-05:00

As part of our Christmas celebration this season, Helen, Erin and Jeannie attended a performance of Tchaikovsky"s "The Nutcracker" at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco.

A tradition that started last year is all the girls in the family heading out for a quick breakfast on Christmas Eve before all the cooking, wrapping the gifts, etc. begins. This year was especially nice because we had Alana just back from her honeymoon to join us. We are enjoying breakfast at Mimi's.

Christmas morning and all the gifts being unwrapped!

Relaxing after a delicious Christmas dinner at Margaret and Brad's house. It's great to have Evan back after returning from his mission and wonderful to have Steve joining the family this Christmas.

Another family tradition is having a competitive table tennis tournament set up by Ian. The weather was magnificent on Christmas Day and it gave us the opportunity to be outside for this event. Hey . . .who won the tournament anyway???

Since Jeannie had to work a few days, the Crumps drove back to Northern CA. We also spent a couple of days in the Fort Bragg area, along the northern coast. We hiked around MacKerricher State Park with it's beautiful ocean views and coastal prairie terraces. This northern coast of California was a huge logging area in the mid to late 19th Century and into the 20th Century. It is quite the tourist area today.

This is Point Cabrillo Lighthouse, just north of Mendocino. It was first illuminated in 1909 and is still used today. It was interesting touring the grounds. We also saw a few migrating whales off the coast in the distance.

Beautiful coastal views helped end our Christmas break in Northern CA.

Wedding and Christmas Activities

2011-12-12T12:23:00.003-05:00

About a month ago, Steve's Mom, Pat, and Alana flew down so that Alana could go to the temple. Alana's dear friends, Roxy and Larry, drove down from Utah to go to the temple also. It was pretty wonderful having all of these great people with us. Evan also had his homecoming talk about his mission in Argentina in Sacrament meeting the next day. Many dear friends and family members attended and we are grateful for their love and support - it meant more than they will ever know. We are pictured above in front of the LA Temple (thanks Roxy for some great photos).
About a week later, Alana's sister and Megster, aunt, grandmother and cousins threw a bridal shower for her. She received lovely gifts and got to see some dear friends.
Then we transitioned into Christmas mode for the weekend. Gavin and Coco are shown here looking at the Christmas town. . .sure, it's cheesy but the little kids love it.
I had a meeting downtown and the little kids joined Evan for dinner and looking at the Christmas lights.
I worked the Rotary Breakfast with Santa and the kids, Meg and Erin got to talk with Santa about what is important.
At the ward Christmas party, Ellie and Gavin were Joseph and Mary in the Nativity play.
We also got to see Santa again this past week at the Leven Oaks Christmas Party. Santa has been really busy this year going to a lot of places.
Then it was off to the Brush Christmas Party, the best Christmas party ever. The food is delicious, the decorating is over the top and Santa always shows up there too. Thanks so much, Dan and Mary.
Just look at all of those desserts - and this is just a small sample of them!
James and Lisa couldn't believe their eyes. . .all that sugar in one place.
Uncle is shown here with the little kids when they left the party after seeing Santa. . .what fond memories we all have of this party.
Santa always comes to our house when we are at the Christmas party and he leaves some early packages for the kids.
Santa always knows that the kids need some new pajamas and he gives the pj's to good boys and girls ahead of time. Thanks, Santa!

Thanks at Thanksgiving at the Marin Headlands

2011-11-26T11:21:00.004-05:00

We spent the Thanksgiving weekend up in the Bay Area, specifically, Marin County. But we stopped first at Fenton's, the iconic ice cream parlor featured in the animated film, "Up". We had some delicious ice cream sundaes.
We stayed at a hostel, which was built in the early 1900's and was the Bachelor Officer's Quarters for the army. Evan is shown here sitting with Grammie and Grampie on the front porch of the house.
We smoked our turkeys this year as usual.
Our group attending to the turkey.
Helen, Evan and Brad in front of our hostel. We overlooked this big lawn and Rodeo Beach.
The work crew in the kitchen just prior to dinner.
Finally, we sat down to our feast, all 18 of us.
Since most of my family was here, Alana and Steve opened their wedding presents from them.
Steve and his new cousins-in-law.
We played games in the living room after a great dinner.
The following day, we walked across the Golden Gate Bridge from Marin County and went to Fort Point, the fort at the base of the bridge.
The inside of the fort is shown above. It is now just part of the National Park System.
From the top of Fort Point, looking back at San Francisco.
A view of the bridge from underneath.
After a trip to Ghirardelli Square for hot fudge sundaes, we went to Rodeo Beach in front of the hostel to watch the sun set.
Steve, Alana and Evan doing a silhouetted jump shot on the beach.
Steve and Evan found a log to play with as a teeter totter.
Sunset from the bridge in front of the hostel.

The End of a Great Trip to Argentina

2011-11-20T11:48:00.003-05:00

On our way home from Iguacu Falls we stopped at the ruins in San Ignacio, a UNESCO World Heritage site. We took a very informative tour of the property. The Europeans, in the 1600’s, specifically the Portuguese and the Spanish, settled this area. The Spanish settled more the western part of South America and the Portuguese more the Eastern part of the continent. The missions were primarily located in Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina, in this Misiones area. The Catholic Church benefited by spreading their religion, the Indians benefited because they received protection from marauding people, and the Spaniards were able to benefit financially. Throughout the 18^th century this mission grew to become one of the most important in the region, inhabited by more than 3,000 indigenous Guarani converts. Following the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767, however, San Ignacio, along with all the missions, fell into decline until in the 19^th century it was destroyed and its occupants ejected.

We stopped in a small town for the night. Jeannie and Gavin decided to ride a fake bull.
The next day we took a tour of a mate' (tea) plantation, one of largest in the province of Corrientes. On the plantation, there were a lot of capybaras just roaming around. They are the largest rodent on earth.
On the plantation there was a small chapel dedicated to the owner's daughter who passed away many years ago as a small child.
Along the highway, we saw many shrines dedicated to Gauchito Gil. He was like the Robin Hood of Argentina, who the people believe has caused many miracles to occur. So they erect these small red shrines to him in hopes of a miracle.
We went to the famous cemetery in Buenos Aires called Recoleta, where many of the rich and famous are buried. Eva Duarte, aka Evita, is bured in this cemetery.
Just before we left for the airport we stopped for a milanesa sandwich at one of the sidewalk cafes in Buenos Aires.
Evan and Gavin posed in front of an Argentina flag made of Legos at the airport.
We had a large contingent of family members at LAX to meet us and welcome Evan home.
First stop after leaving the airport? In and Out Burger on Sepulveda for Evan's first In and Out Burger in two years. . .fortunately he was in a country where good beef was ubiquitous so he didn't suffer too much. It was a fabulous trip and the best part is that Evan is finally home after serving a great mission.

Happy Anniversabirthary at Morro Bay!

2011-11-12T22:33:00.003-05:00

Earlier this week, Grammie, Grampie and Helen spent a few days in Morro Bay enjoying Fall in the Central Coast. The weather was awfully nice with warm days and cool, clear nights. Here is one of the spectacular sunsets from the deck in front.

One day we drove north to the elephant seal colony, just north of San Simeon. The male and female elephant seals were doing what they do best which is resting, occasionally grunting and flipping sand on themselves.

It was fun watching the elephant seals just lounging on the beach. The afternoon was nice and warm.

Erin and Dan drove to Morro Bay on Friday evening and of course, no trip to the Central Coast is complete without an outing to Bali's for some yummy frozen yogurt. Pumpkin with caramel sauce was a favorite that night. And despite the rain that night, Bali's was actually packed.

At McLintock's on Saturday night, we all enjoyed a delicious dinner celebrating Grammie and Grampie's 61st anniversary and Erin's 26th birthday. Happy Anniversabirthary!

The Good, the Bad and the Best in Argentina

2011-10-26T05:46:00.006-04:00

We went to church with Evan's ward in San Pedro this past Sunday. It was a lot of fun to see the people that helped him with being a missionary in this wonderful town.
Gavin had such a good time with the Maru children. Here they are together right after Sacrament meeting. Gavin will miss his new friends along the rest of the trip.
The ward building in San Pedro.
The usual "jump" picture right outside the city limits of San Pedro.
We stopped at a truckstop along the way up to Iguacu Falls so Gavin could play. Gavin will have to gain a bit more weight for this teeter totter.
We decided that we all needed a new country so we decided to drive through Uruguay on the way to Iguacu Falls (which is about a 15 hour drive from Buenos Aires).
We ran into a huge rainstorm while driving up to the falls and since it was late at night, pouring rain, and we were on a two-lane road with lots of semi trucks bearing down on us, we stopped for the night in Mocoreta. Here was the "hotel" we stayed at. . .it was the only game in town so we didn't have much of a choice.
This was the inside of the rooms. . .definitely not a highlight along the route. But we could all laugh about it afterwards (and hope that we didin't pick up any critters to bring home with us).
We took a detour for Gavin's potty stop into a mate' plantation and saw this capybara walking across the field. Gavin wanted to bring one home as a pet.
The trip was totally worth it when we got to our rooms. This is our view of Iguacu Falls from our hotel at the Sheraton - thanks to Ian for that surprise!
The inside of this room is slightly different than our "hotel" in Mocoreta. We loved sitting out on the balcony and just listening to the thunder of the falls.
Brad and Evan out on our balcony.
We celebrated Evan's birthday with dinner at an Argentine restaurant called "a Piacere" in Puerto Iguacu - great Argentine beef.
Breakfast the next morning was very pretty overlooking the falls.
All of the day was spent walking amongst the falls on the Argentine side. Gavin and Evan are shown here at Devil's Throat, where the drop is 270 feet.
More of Devil's throat.
The coatimundis are so cute. . .they will approach people and are very accustomed to humans.
Evan and Gavin at the falls on the Upper Circuit.
Of course Gavin wanted to bring a coati home for Ellie.
We walked down the catwalks so that we could take the jet boat up under the falls. Really amazing view from under the falls.
Here we are getting ready to go up under the falls.
We're in the boats and getting ready to get really wet.
We all got soaked we got so close to the falls.
Right under some of the falls. The falls stretch for a mile or so along the Argentine side of the river.
Here we all are after our jet boat trip up the river.

Argentina Adventures

2011-10-25T06:08:00.004-04:00

We left Buenos Aires, headed out to the pampas and the land of the gauchos. On the way out we stopped at the city of Lujan to see the big, and I mean BIG, cathedral. The two towers are over 350 feet high. The reason this cathedral is located here in this small town relates back to the 1600's. A cart was carrying a terra cotta statue of Mary and the cart broke down on this site. The owners of the statue thought it was a sign that a cathedral should be built here.
The terra cotta statue is shown above. This basilica is said to be the most important Catholic shrine in Argentina. Pope John Paul II said mass in this cathedral.
Moving further on, we went out to San Pedro, where Evan spent 8 months of his mission. This was the estancia (ranch) that we stayed in. The view from the porch is lovely as it overlooks the Parana River. We had the whole casa to ourselves.
We met up with the Maru family, the people that Evan was closest to in San Pedro, and we had a great dinner at the San Pedro Club Nautico on the river. We are grateful to the Maru's for "adopting" Evan when he was in San Pedro.
Gavin really enjoyed their kids (Franco, 12, Toby, 10 and Dafne 7) and played with them all the time. Here they are shown in the back of the van on our way home from dinner.
We got up the next morning and had hot chocolate out on the terrace, with the Parana River in the background.
The meat in Argentina is very flavorful. Evan wanted to have an "asado" at our estancia so we bought 15 pounds of various meats (including some blood sausage - I was not a fan of that) at the carniceria.
Gavin brought the Maru kids some light sabers. One of Gavin's favorite toys is the light saber that his parents got him and he thought that some other children would enjoy them also.
Just before the big asado, we drove out to the highway and picked up cousin Jeannie who had just flown into BA - and navigated the bus system to get out to San Pedro, which is two hours away from BA.
Brad and Evan did a superb job with the barbecuing of all the beef and vegetables.
Gavin and the Maru children built up a huge appetite playing Star Wars with their light sabers out on the lawn.
In addition to the Maru family, we had the two elders currently serving in San Pedro come to the asado.
What a great feast we all had!
Enjoying the asado - Great food and wonderful family and friends!
After dinner, we all went into town for helado (ice cream) - and Jeannie, Evan and Gavin played on the toys outside the Heladeria.

Argentina Reunion

2011-10-21T07:44:00.004-04:00

Here we are at the mission office picking Evan up.
Trying to load all of the luggage in the car.
Enjoying our first meal together at Pizza Donna.
Evan taking Gavin out on the town.
Reading a story with Uncle.
Temple in Buenos Aires (they are enlarging it).
When Evan and Donna first met up at the airport.
Our favorite restaurant in BA - Bonjour Pizza.
We went down to Caminito to see the colorful houses - and Evan and Gavin posed for us.
Brad was caught doing the tango in Caminito, with Auntie in the background getting ready to tango.
Some of the colorful buildings in Caminito.
Gavin wanted to shake this man's hand.
Donna and Evan in front of the Bombonera, the stadium for the Boca Juniors, Evan's favorite soccer team.
Inside the stadium, that seats 55,000.
All of us, in front of the presidential palace, the Casa Rosada.
In front of the Cabildo, where the treaties for independence were signed.
The Obelisko on the Nueve de Julio, the widest street in the world.
The elections for President are going on this weekend, and this was a vehicle with a speaker on it carrying the President's message.
Evan giving one of his favorite companions, Elder Tidei, some Jelly Belly jelly beans. Elder Tidei is Argentine.

Fleet Week in San Francisco

2011-10-14T19:41:00.002-04:00

Last week, Grammie, Grampie and Stephanie flew to northern CA to attend Fleet Week on the Coast Guard cutter ORCAS. The night before, we had dinner at Erin and Jeannie's apartment on Polk St. Cousin Ne was able to join us for an Octoberfest dinner in the city.

Earlier in the afternoon, we were enjoying a beautiful view from the rooftop of their apartment as the Blue Angels were flying over the city in their practice drill. Can you see them flying in formation with Marin Co in the background?

On Friday, we were treated to gorgeous weather as the ORCAS patrolled, keeping pleasure boats out of the no sailing rectangle on the Bay. One of Jeannie's friends on the CGA softball team, Laura Hutchinson, is the executive officer on the ORCAS.

The Snow Birds, from the Canadian Air Force, also practiced their formations. Can you guess what they are making? A heart!

Jeannie and Stephanie on the stern of the ship with the Golden Gate Bridge. Did you notice the BBQ in the background?

Blue Angels flying over Angel Island! Thanks to Jeannie and her friend Laura for arranging our wonderful day on the ORCAS.

This Past Week in Our Life

2011-10-10T02:01:00.003-04:00

Alana was home this past week for her placement break from law school. She had plenty to do, including taking engagement pictures. These two pictures with the swans were taken at Meg and Danny's old condominium at Lakeview Terrace. Coco and Gavin went and had a great time seeing the swans.
Steve and Alana enjoyed the swans also.
On Friday night, it was movie night for some of the ward kids at our house. Megan prepared a pasta dinner and the kids watched "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs."
It was a big night for Grammie and Grampie this past weekend when they were honored with an award for being Duarte Philanthropists. Ian flew in for the event so we had 4 of our kids here, shown with Stephanie and Steve (can't wait for Evan to be home in a couple of weeks.)
The Education Foundation that honored Grammie and Grampie had their annual dinner at The Village Restaurant and of course there had to be a belly dancer. . .and Uncle Jim was caught dancing with her. We had over 220 people for the dinner.
Here is one of the family tables.
All of Mom and Dad's 4 kids were present for the award.
Ken Bell, current school board member and good friend, presented the award to Mom and Dad.

Rocky Mountain High - Colorado!

2011-10-01T15:58:00.004-04:00

These girls are just excited to be out hiking in the beautiful fall colors!

Last weekend, Dan and Helen flew to Denver to spend some time with Allison, her roommate Kim, and Ian and Annie. The weather was just perfect for a weekend in the mountains, to hike and see the spectacular aspens changing color.

We stayed at a rustic place called the Hand Hotel in Fairplay, CO. It's a cute bed and breakfast with each of the rooms decorated in a different theme depicting life in the old West. Here we are enjoying happy hour on the back deck with sweeping views of the Rockies.

Ian suggested we venture to Alma, CO which was about 15 minutes from Fairplay. We had dinner that night at this interesting saloon, billed as the highest saloon in the USA! The food was excellent at this local hangout.

The next morning we met Ian, Annie, Kim and Leah, a friend of Allison's at Kenosha Pass at 10,015 ft. for a 5 miles hike through changing aspens trees. What a glorious day to be outside enjoying the countryside!

When we returned, we made tacos for dinner with the group and enjoyed sitting out on Allison and Kim's front porch for this warm evening.

A favorite ice cream store very close by Allison's new apartment is called Little Man Ice Cream. After a long day hiking, we deserved a break with one of the yummy flavors called Salted Oreos. After church on Sunday, Ian and Annie invited us to their apartment for a tasty dinner with Lane, Robyn, Whitney and Nathan, Annie's family in Denver. Many thanks to Allison and Kim and Ian and Annie for their gracious hospitality in Colorado. It sure is beautiful there!

Napa Ragnar Relay

2011-10-01T01:33:00.004-04:00

This year Helen and I were the Major Exchange Managers for Exchange 6. The exchange was located at the College of Marin, in Kentfield, in Marin County. We arrived there at 5 a.m. on Friday and then finally left about 7 p.m. that night. Everything went well and we had plenty of volunteers to staff our exchange but it was a long day.
The day before, on Thursday, we helped to set up at the start line at the Marina on San Francisco Bay.
Our volunteers consisted of about 30 members of the College of Marin Baseball team. They were great workers and a lot of fun to be with.
Here we are setting up at about 7 a.m. We received a lot of support from the staff of the college.
Here is the actual exchange, waiting for some of the runners to come through.

High on the Hills was a. . .

2011-09-25T18:39:00.006-04:00

We had quite the weekend this past weekend. But I will work backwards starting with last night. As seen in the above picture, the little kids were dressed as the Von Trapp children for the Hollywood Bowl "Sound of Music Sing-a-Long". We had so much fun!! Many of the 18,000 people at the "movie" showed up in costume. There was a long line of people trying to get on stage to be able to be spotlighted in their costumes but these four were selected to go onstage and strut their stuff. A lot of people commented on their outfits (Grandma made the girls' outfits and the two Megan's made the boys' outfits).
Ellie and Gavin liked hamming it up in their costumes.
When all four of the kids got onstage, they were pretty starstruck. The lady on the right in pink in the picture is the real Liesl from the movie "The Sound of Music". As it turned out the 5 girls in the Von Trapp family from the movie all showed up for the show. We had a lot of fun as it was pretty interactive during the movie (e.g. not only did we sing all of the songs but when Baroness Schraeder appeared in the movie, everyone hissed).
Earlier on Saturday was the Duarte Route 66 Parade down Huntington Drive. Danny was the announcer with Katie Bayless - and they did, according to the crowds, a marvelous job.
Margaret and Brad got to ride down Route 66 with the four grandchildren - lots of fun for all of us.
A 3-month old pony was curious about the kids in the car so he walked over for a closer look.
Here are the four grandkids, with several other children, and the Mayor of Duarte, Tzeitel Paras. Notice how Coco is styling with her pink cowboy boots and blue muu muu.
Steve joined us for the breakfast. We are pictured here with the Grand Marshall of the parade, Newscaster for Channel 4 News, Chuck Henry.
Here is the the whole city council, minus one, with the Grand Marshall and his wife, Kay, with the Parade Chair, Lisa Magno, and our city manager.
Friday night was Disneyland for us so Stephanie and I got our picture taken right in front of Disneyland.
It was a late night for us so we all rode in the caboose to make it back to the front of Disneyland.
One of our favorite rides is Big Thunder Mountain. . .Ellie really loves this ride.
Steve got a great score on his dental exam so we celebrated with Pineapple Whip from the Dole Center.
One of Coco's favorite rides is the King Arthur's Carousel.
Stephanie and Coco both enjoyed it.
"It's a Small World" is always a hit with the kids.
Coco waved to the princesses on the parade float.
Another real favorite is the Matterhorn. . .the monsters always are exciting to the kids.

A little bit of our life in San Francisco

2011-09-23T00:38:00.000-04:00

Jeannie and Erin officially moved to San Francisco in mid-July and have been having a lot of fun in the city by the bay. We will be better about posting but for now here's a little recap on some of our adventures:

On August 4th we celebrated Coast Guard Day with a 5k run across the Golden Gate Bridge. Please note the lovely SF summer weather.

Erin planned a fun day on the bay for her department at work. She pulled the "my-sister's-in-the-coast-guard" card and got to help with the sails.

We've also been to quite a few Giant's games and at this particular one were lucky enough to witness a brawl on the field! AT&T Park is a great ball park with fantastic views of the bay.

We also went down to the Santa Cruz area and went wine tasting. While Napa and Sonoma are very close, it's fun to check out the smaller wine regions that California is also known for.

And these are some pictures of our apartment. Including the view from our roof deck.

We've already had so many visitors and have enjoyed them all. We can't wait for more people to visit us in the city!

Aloha and Mahalo

2011-09-18T18:32:00.004-04:00

We went to Hawaii to work this past week and got quite a bit accomplished at the condo, despite only being there for 5 days. It still left a bit of time to head to our favorite beach, Malaekahana in Laie.
The water was so warm and we all went for a swim in the beautiful ocean.
We watched sunset from the patio at the resort. . .and watched some of the surfers ride the waves in.
Our job this trip, other than working out some of the administrative essentials, was to scrape and repaint the lanai furniture. . .so just to prove that we did do something, here is the proof shown above.
One night we took dinner to the beach park at Chinaman's Hat. In the background is the beautiful Ko'olau Mountains, where they filmed the television series Lost.
Every time that we go down the Windward side of the island, we stop at the Macadamia Nut Ranch. . .and eat plenty of samples but bring home bags of the chopped nuts to use in the White Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut cookies.
The first day on the North Shore, we made the obligatory stop at Ted's Bakery to pick up Chocolate Haupia Pie.
Dinner at Chinaman's Hat Beach Park.
Now you can see why it is called Chinaman's Hat.
We love going up to the resort and watching the sun set over Turtle Bay.
We visited cousin Tat in her new home over in Kailua.
Dinner out on the lanai overlooking the golf course is always a very relaxing time.
Sunset over the golf course, taken from the lanai.
I brought muu muus and Hawaiian shirts back for the grandkids - and Megan taught them to dance a bit.
Here they all are with their new outfits on.

Sierra Summer

2011-09-11T17:43:00.006-04:00

Mono Lake was the first stop on our long-weekend Eastern Sierra trip.
We met Ian and Annie at Tioga Toomey's Whoa Nellie Deli for incredible ribs and steak caesar salad.
Then we drove into Devil's Postpile National Monument and set up our campsite by the river.
We also took a hike up to Shadow Lake. . .about an 8 mile roundtrip hike.
We made it to Shadow Lake and stopped for lunch.
We met up with Meg, Danny and the kids and Brad got in a little bit of fishing with Gavin.
Ian and Annie decided it was hot enough to take a brisk dip in the river. . .this little girl wasn't so sure about that.
An overview of our campsite.
Gavin and Coco liked Dutch oven cooking. . .chicken and rice with gravy.
After dinner, Danny helped Gavin with his marshmallow roasting skills.
Gavin woke up the next morning and changed in the car. . .it got down into the 40's at night.
Annie and Gavin enjoyed a cup of hot chocolate together in the morning.
We met new friends from Berlin, Germany and shared a Dutch oven breakfast of eggs, hashed browns, bacon, and cheese, called Mountain Man Breakfast.
Then it was off to some hot springs for a little bit of a swim.
Parts of the river were pretty cold but they were warmed by the hot springs coming up out of the sand in the river.
On our way back down into Devil's Postpile, we ran into Jim and his girls, Tat, Ne and Tica and Ne's friend, Jay, returning from a hike. We drove them back to their condo in Mammoth as it was pretty crowded for them to take the bus out of the valley.
Coco and Gavin enjoyed the Junior Ranger program at the camp.
One part of the Junior Ranger program requires that the kids take a hike - so we all took a hike to Devil's Postpile.
Finally, after Grandma and Grandpa helped Gavin and Coco answer some of the questions in their Junior Ranger books, the kids took the Junior Ranger pledge and became official Junior Rangers.
After 3 days of living in the dirt, Coco was ready to put on her blue muu muu and relax in an air conditioned car. Thanks Ian and Annie, and Meg and Danny - it was a fun trip.

Colorado Road Trip

2011-09-09T00:05:00.000-04:00

For the long Labor Day weekend Erin flew out to Colorado to hang out with Allison, Kim and their friends. We were invited to her friend's ranch - basically a 2,000 plus acre mountainside. Needless to say it was beautiful!

We drove through a lot of Colorado starting with a drive from Denver to Aspen for a concert. Along for the trip was Allison, Erin, Kim (Alli's room mate) and Leah and Rachel (two of their friends in Denver who also moved to Colorado from California.) We stopped at the top of Independence Pass.

The next part of the journey took us from Aspen to the "ranch" near Gunnison, CO. We spent all of our time in the great outdoors and had a lot of fun ATVing all over the property.

A group shot of everyone at the top of a cliff on one of our hikes.

We also explored an actual bear cave on the property. Thankfully there were no bears around!

It was great to be out in the wilderness. It was very remote - we never saw anyone other than our group the entire weekend and had no cell phone reception or internet!

Another hike that shows the beautiful blue skies and green trees everywhere!

In the words of SNL Will Ferrell, "simply stunning!"

We also went fishing. Allison caught quite a few fish, including this good looking one. Some of us struggled a little bit more with unhooking, catching and releasing our fish. Let's just say that fishing might not be Erin's best sport.

Kim also caught and unhooked her own fish. She was extremely brave the entire time!

And the beautiful aspen groves that were everywhere. Did you know that an aspen grove is all ONE organism? Making it the largest organism in the world.

Thanks Alli and all for a great outdoorsy weekend!

One Giant Race by the Bay

2011-09-02T22:36:00.003-04:00

Last Saturday, Erin, Jeannie, Dan and Helen ran in the Giants Race with Erin running the 10K and the rest of us slackers running the 5K. The starting line was just south of the ball park, but the finish line was actually in the stadium across home plate. Very cool! Most of the runners were decked out in orange and black (Giants colors!).

Jeannie and Helen sprinting toward the finish line - or at least attempting to sprint! The weather was just perfect - a little overcast and cool as we ran along the Embarcadero of San Francisco Bay. This is a really great race with lots of cool treats and a very flat course. There was even a children's race that ran around the bases. Next year, we will get some of the younger crowd to run this one.

After the race, we all drove to Santa Cruz for a delightful dinner on the harbor. The weekend was just fun spending it in San Francisco with Erin and Jeannie. Thanks for your hospitality!

Another Disney Night

2011-09-01T00:16:00.003-04:00

Our Disney passes were getting ready to expire - so we are making a few more trips to Disneyland and California Adventure.
Ellie had never been on Grizzly Rapids - so we decided to go - and we didn't even get too wet.
Here we are just before going on the rapids.
After that, we went on a new ride in California Adventure, called Ariel's Adventure. The little kids really liked it.
And then it was Midway Mania time - we love this ride because it brings out the competitive spirit in all of us.
While the older kids and adults went on the Tower of Terror, Ethan, Coco and I did Frances the Ladybug, in Bug's Life Land - and we did it 4 times.
Then for more excitement in Bug's Life Land, we did Heimlich's Chew Chew Train - 4 times!! Because there was no one there in line, they just kept letting us go round and round.
Ethan could hardly contain his joy when he got to go on the ride that went high in the air. Yea!

"These two years sure went fast" he said.

2011-08-31T01:25:00.004-04:00

In Evan's e-mail this past week, he wrote that he couldn't believe that his two years on his mission were coming to an end. He has 6 more weeks before he is through the middle of October. He thinks that he will finish up his mission in Tierra del Fuego. Then he will fly back to Buenos Aires just before he leaves the mission on October 17th - that is unless they aren't flying planes into TDF due to the Chilean volcano, and Evan has to take a 48 hour bus trip as some of the other elders have done when they were released recently. Evan is shown here wrapped in the flag of Tierra del Fuego, on the cliffs of Cabo Domingo, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
One of the things that Evan learned how to do was to make gnocchi, an Italian pasta. There are many Italian immigrants in Argentina so Evan's cooking reflects this influence.
Evan is in Rio Grande on the Atlantic ocean, which is about 2 hours from Ushuaia. He would take his zone to Ushuaia on a p-day and they would get to see some of the sights (penguins, glaciers, guanacos, etc.) on the Beagle Channel in Ushuaia.
In Rio Grande, they hadn't had a baptism for over a year when Evan arrived there in March. Then they had two baptisms back-to-back in June. More importantly, the wards in the city started doing things together and the people seemed to be more involved in the church.
Evan and his companion with Lucas, shortly before his baptism. Evan said that Lucas is very anxious to go on a mission when he turns 19.
Evan with two of the members of the church that he has become good friends with.
The high temperatures for the past several months have been in the 30's. Evan has said that this area reminds him of Alaska.
He said that it is cold but also that the wind blows nonstop. He sent this picture to show that the ice crystals (icicles) form horizontally due to the strong and constant winds.
This will be a story that Evan will tell his grandchildren I am sure. Someone told him that if you boil your white shirts, then they will become whiter and stains will disappear. Well, he boiled them and forgot that they were on the stove - he said that the smoke in the apartment was so thick that they could barely see. The result of this misadventure in laundry is shown below. . .good thing he is almost done and doesn't need too many white shirts.

Hollywood Bowl Concerts

2011-08-28T19:28:00.003-04:00

We decided to take the family to the Hollywood Bowl several times this summer. We started out with picnics at some parks around the Bowl. The little kids enjoyed the picnics and running around.
There's nothing better than fried chicken before the Bowl.
Everybody needed a ticket to get in so Ellie and Gavin presented theirs to the ticket taker.
James is going up the moving walkway with Ellie and Gavin at the Bowl.
We all enjoyed the Fantasia concert, especially with the popcorn.
It got a little bit cold that night so Coco bundled up.
The kids loved the fireworks at the end of the concert, timed with the music of Tchaikovsky.
We also went to the John Williams concert. Here we are once again, having dinner at a park.
One of James' coworkers lives next door to one of the First Violins in the LA Philharmonic. He met us at intermission and talked with us about working with the conductor and composer of the evening, John Williams (he composed the music from such motion pictures as Star Wars, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, E.T., the Extra Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, Jaws, etc. He has won 5 Academy Awards.) It was a fabulous concert. Also, the performer James Taylor was onstage to read part of a book, The Reivers, that was later made into a motion picture, that John Williams scored. Since James Taylor was onstage, he favored the audience with a song on his guitar.
One of the funnier things that night was people whipping out their light sabres during the Star Wars music. The little kids thought that was great.
Shifting gears a bit here, we had one night where we bought 4 cakes at the wonderful bakery, Patticakes, in Altadena and tested them for potential wedding cakes for Alana. . .they were all excellent but we chose two of them, for the bride's and groom's wedding cakes.

Random Summer Happenings!

2011-08-26T00:44:00.004-04:00

Several weeks ago, Dan and Helen drove to Morro Bay to stay with Grammie, Grampie, Megan, Danny, Gavin and Coco. We had a fun couple of days there. We had Helen's and Danny's birthday celebrations at McLintock's in Pismo Beach. It looks like Gavin enjoys getting his glass of water filled up on his head by the servers!

Later that evening, Grammie read one of our favorite books, Balto, to Gavin and Coco.

One evening, Helen and Dan met Jeannie, Erin, Ian and some friends in San Francisco to enjoy a Giants game at AT&T Park. Too bad they didn't win. However, we are enjoying Ian spending time in the Bay Area with his work over the next couple of months. Great fun getting to see him.

For my Mother's Day gift this year, the girls decided the best gift they could give me was to have all of them together for a weekend. This was the first time our family had been together since last Thanksgiving. We spent the day hiking the Rubicon Trail along the shore of Lake Tahoe. One of our favorite places to spend time together.
We have enjoyed some wonderful summer memories together.

Nor Cal Trip

2011-08-21T12:47:00.005-04:00

We had a wonderful trip to the Sacramento and Bay areas this past weekend. Even though it was a quick trip, it was a lot of fun to spend time with family and we saw a lot. Our first stop in Sacramento was Capitol Dawg's, a gourmet hotdog restaurant. Erin and Alana are shown here with with Coco and Gavin with the restaurant mascot.
Here we all are at the restaurant.
Jeannie was working at the mobile Coast Guard location at the confluence of the American and Sacramento Rivers so we went to visit her. The Orange zodiac boat is one of the Coast Guard boats that Jeannie drove up and down the river.
Jeannie and Erin with Coco and Gavin.
We also took a long walk along the river and looked for crayfish.
Then it was off to Folsom Lake for swimming and dinner.
Thanks for a great dinner Helen. . .loved the pulled pork sandwiches.
It was off for the tour at the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield. . .most delicious tour ever.
We made it to San Francisco for lunch with Erin at Panera and then walked along the canal near her office and watched the bridge raise up for a boat to go through.
We also got up close and personal at AT &T Park.
We spent time with Ian in San Ramon and had dinner at Zachary's Pizza. . .really great deep dish pizza.
Then it was off for dessert at the San Francisco Creamery in Walnut Creek. . .it was so much fun to see cousin, Dr. Ne, who was able to take a quick break from the E.R. at the hospital.
It was off to see Lombard Street, arguably the curviest street in the world (Burlington, Iowa claims that their street, Snake Alley, is curvier).
Coco and Alana waited for the cable car at the top of the hill.
We rode the cable car to the Cable Car Museum.
Coco and Gavin are yelling "All Aboard" on the fake cable car at the museum.
More museum shots.
It was a tasty treat to go to the fortune cookie factory at Ross Alley in Chinatown.
Off to the Golden Gate Bridge to walk across it. . .the fog was starting to close in .
Finally, a delicious seafood dinner on Fisherman's Wharf, topped off with chocolate sundaes at Ghirardelli Square. Thanks to the Crumps and Ian for a delightful weekend.

Ice Cream and other Summer Activities

2011-08-13T23:10:00.003-04:00

Gavin swam the whole length of the pool, unassisted, so he was able to take his cousins out for ice cream at Coldstone to help celebrate.
Here is Gavin swimming the length of the pool.
He also dove for the diving rings.
Ellie and Ethan were taking swimming lessons this week. Ethan is shown here jumping off the diving board for the 2nd time. . .he did such a great job.
Coco likes to dive for the rings also.
We celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary by going to Robin's in Pasadena for some really tasty barbecue.
Lois and I went to a basketball clinic at Northview Middle School. The Collins twins, Jaron and Jason, who graduated from Stanford and then went on to play in the NBA, spoke to the students about the importance of strong academics as well as athletic talent.
Alana and Steve went to Steve's family reunion up in McCall, Idaho and enjoyed a lot of time on the lake.

Cape Cod Memories

2011-08-06T10:30:00.007-04:00

One of the most fun activities that we do while at the Cape is to wait until low tide and walk out onto the sand flats in the bay. The tide takes the water on Cape Cod Bay out about half a mile. The clamming is great the further out we walk. In the above picture we had just finished dinner and walked out to see sunset over the bay.
One of our greatest epicurean delights is to go to Liam's at Nauset Beach and order a large basket of onion rings. . .some of the best ever made.
On several of the nights, after a dinner of seafood, we played a couple of rounds of a game similar to Hearts, but we call it Mormon Bridge, for lack of a better name.
On a couple of the days, we went to the ocean side of the Cape and went swimming and boogey boarding. . .the water was 59 degrees and pretty darn cold. But it was a hot day, so it cooled us off pretty well.
Here is the group from the deck. . .we had a wonderful week with Brad's family.
This is all of the group for Happy Hour, where we had plenty of cherrystone clams on the half shell and baked stuffed clams to eat.
We went to Wellfleet to pick up the lobsters for our lobster feast one night. . .two of us would split a 6-lb. lobster. Brad is shown holding the huge bag of cooked lobsters.
Georgine and Bob are shown here relaxing before the big lobster dinner.
Really excellent lobster!!!!
Here we all are just before digging into all of that lobster. Thanks for the memories, Georgine and Bob. It was great to be with Bill and his family also.

Cape Cod Cooking

2011-07-31T17:43:00.003-04:00

Last night we had some incredible swordfish for dinner. . .seated at the table starting from left to right, Bob, his friend Ariel, Bill, Vinnie, Georgine, Grandpa Bob, Bill, Brad, Mike, Alana, and Bill's friend, Amanda.
Alana, Brad and I went out on the flats last night and dug for razor clams. We got a lot of them, and even found some quahogs.
Brad is the best at getting the razor clams - and he only cut himself once. Alana was good at spotting the holes where the clams were. . .and then Brad and I chased them down in the sand.
Buzz and Jack were there at the beach house for a day when we got there. It was great to see them. Here we are on the deck of the house.

Summer Ativities

2011-07-24T18:32:00.004-04:00

One of the kids favorite things to do in the summer is to have dinner out on the front deck and then have root beer floats for dessert.
There is a great FREE museum down at LAX called the Flight Path Museum. It is just south of the south runway and has interesting displays, as well as a DC 3 that is parked right on the runway there. The kids got to climb on board the plane to see what it used to be like to fly on a private airplane owned by Chevron.
The outside of the DC 3 airplane was intriguing to the kids - propellers instead of jet engines.
Ethan and Ster looked at the largest plane made today over at the international terminal at LAX - the A380.
Helen and Erin came down for a wedding in San Diego and then we all had artichokes one afternoon and started planning for Alana and Steve's wedding.
We have a lot of summer birthdays - the kids helped to blow out Alana's birthday candles. . .
. . .and then Beth Stogner's birthday candles. . .
. . .and then finally, Uncle Jim's birthday candles.
Another summer activity that we like to do is to take our picnic dinner to Santa Fe Dam.
The kids get to play on the park toys and some of the adults get to ride their bikes down to the dam.
Coco, Gavin, Ellie and Ethan have all been taking swimming lessons this summer. Coco is showing no fear going off of the diving board.
Gavin likes to go off the board now also - both he and Ellie can swim across our pool by themselves now.
Alana's good friend from law school, Eileen, is spending the weekend with us. Yesterday was a marathon day for them with shopping at H & M at the mall, going to the Getty, Venice Beach, shopping in Beverly Hills, touring the USC School of Dentistry, and finally dinner at the iconic Miceli's in Universal City.

Backlots and Bathing Suits

2011-07-18T01:04:00.003-04:00

Typically we don't get the opportunity to go on movie sets, especially when those back lots have just finished being constructed. But Ster's brother, who is an Art Director for the movie industry, just finished an 18-month project up at the Golden Oak Ranch in Santa Clarita, also known as the Disney Ranch. It is a 900-acre ranch that Walt Disney bought in the 50's or early 60's, knowing that the Disney company would eventually film there. The movie, Old Yeller, and the Mouseketeers episodes were filmed here. A few years ago, Disney decided to build a back lot with a residential street of houses and a downtown area on this property. They just finished the project and Steve took us up for a tour before it opened for filming.
This is one of the Craftsman style of houses on the street. . .it looked pretty fabulous from the outside but on the inside. . .
this is what we saw. As it is unfinished, a movie or TV series can come in and build the inside up any way that they want.
This is the residential street that the 360 degree houses were on. . .they were not just facades so they could film from many different angles, not just the fronts. There are many different types of architecture including old California, Tudor, Colonial, etc. - basically whatever you need to film.
Steve said that he designed this house, a sprawling California ranch, with ideas that he had from living at our house for the first few weeks after he came to California.
Here is part of the downtown area that Steve helped to design.
The Brownstone area in the background is one of the areas of the town that Steve designed. It was a great opportunity to see behind the scenes in the movie industry. Thanks for a great tour, Steve.
The kids were all taking swim lessons at the Duarte pool. . .and they all improved quite a bit.
Ellie jumped off the diving board several times.
And Gavin went flying off the board also.
It looks like Little Buddy was headed for a belly flop.
Coco swam to the side of the pool, with a little help, after she jumped off the diving board.
Back at home in the backyard, the kids swam every day last week, after swimming lessons.
Coco got a little cold and climbed out early.
Ellie loved getting on the boogy board and being pushed across the pool.

Independence Day Activities

2011-07-09T17:42:00.004-04:00

All the kids donned their Old Navy t-shirts as they got into the Fourth of July this year.
James and Ster's ward has a 4th of July breakfast with a bike/scooter parade. Ellie decorated her scooter and was a real champ riding it.
The family enjoying the pancake breakfast.
Grandpa worked the Education Foundation fireworks booth, and Gavin and Coco brought lunch to him because it was too busy for him to take a break for lunch.
Afterwards, we all gathered for a barbecue at Warnicks and Stogners and to watch fireworks.
Ethan pushed Coco on the riding truck in the cul de sac.
Craig explained to all of the kids what fire safety was.
Gavin rode his decorated scooter at the picnic.
Coco and Gavin really enjoyed the sparklers.
Gavin joined them in watching their sparklers sparkle.
Thanks to the Stogners for making great memories for our grandchildren.
Steve and Alana watched the fireworks with Ellie
And there were some pretty spectacular safe-and-sane fireworks.
We all watched the fireworks from the sidelines and the kids loved being so close to them.
Coco stood by Craig to watch the fireworks. . .she knows who the fireman is in the crowd.
Afterward, we went up to Grammie and Grampie's house to watch the gorgeous big fireworks shows in the valley. . .and their were so many of them. It is a tradition to have root beer floats as we all watch the fireworks down in the valley.
It was a great way to end the day, marking the birth of our nation, honoring the brave men and women that have kept our nation free.

It's Cold Out There

2011-07-09T01:58:00.002-04:00

Evan is shown here, apparently ticking off a dog that he happened to walk by. . .I don't think I'd want to mess with that dog, Evan.
The river by his town has small icebergs in it. . .now that's cold.
Evan helped a member in the ward to build his home, as a service project.
Evan is shown here with that ward member, whose name is German.
With only about 5 hours of daylight in Tierra del Fuego this time of year, it's hard to get everything done in those short days.

Where in the USA. . .? (part three)

2011-07-07T19:03:00.002-04:00

After Dan and Helen picked up Jeannie in Cleveland, our next stop was Columbus and The Ohio State University. Helen hasn't been to OSU since 1978 and the campus has changed a great deal. Jeannie and Dan were surprised at how large the university is. Apparently from this picture, there is a difference of opinion!

We made a stop at Helen's sorority house - Alpha Chi Omega. The house was locked up for the summer. But still looks the same as when she attended in the mid 1970s. It was fun visiting my university and showing my family. Just wish Erin and Allison could have been here!

After crossing the Ohio River, we headed into Kentucky. Another new state for Dan and Jeannie. Dan's paternal grandfather was born in Horse Cave, Kentucky and we have always heard about the little town. We finally visited this little burg! And we do mean little!

After we dropped Dan off at the Nashville airport to fly home, Jeannie and Helen walked through downtown "Music City". We had dinner there and then attended a country music concert with Darius Rucker on the Riverfront. The fireworks at the end were terrific and there was estimated to be over 100,000 people who watched from the Riverfront area. The trip is going just great! We are seeing some fabulous areas of our country. More later. . .

Where in the USA. . .? (part two)

2011-07-04T23:23:00.004-04:00

After touring through western Pennsylvania and West Virginia, Dan and Helen arrived in Akron to stay with Georgine and Bob Finlay for the night. As usual, we received the red carpet treatment from the Finlays. Helen enjoyed showing Dan all around Bath Township including their home on Bonnebrook Lane (pictured above).

Georgine and Bob drove us through Holmes County which has a large Amish population. We went shopping at Lehman's Hardware store in Kidron which has just about everything you would ever need. Pictured here are the four of us enjoying a delicious chicken dinner at Der Dutchman restaurant in Walnut Creek.

It's always interesting to see the contrast between the Amish carriages and the modern cars. We were able to view a livestock auction in the Amish community.

And of course we drove down Market St. to view the old Goodyear facility. Goodyear has broken ground on their new corporate headquarters just a short distance away from this point. Thank so much to Georgine and Bob for showing us a marvelous time in Akron.

Fourth of July Concert

2011-07-03T18:58:00.002-04:00

Last night was the annual Patriotic Concert in Arcadia. The main speaker was newly appointed Los Angele County Fire Chief Daryl Osby. His fire department and emergency services is the largest in the world. He did an excellent job speaking and at the end of the concert, a number of fire fighters marched up the aisle, to a standing ovation by an SRO crowd. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy so it was particularly fitting to honor the courageous firemen of Los Angeles County and Arcadia Fire. Beth Stogner, Brad and I are pictured here with the fire chief.
The Southern California Mormon Choir performed also. It was a great night and a marvelous concert. Many family and friends attended the concert.

Where in the USA. . .?

2011-07-01T07:05:00.004-04:00

On Wednesday, Dan and Helen flew to Baltimore to pick up Jeannie's car (thanks James and Ster for driving it there) and to start the cross country trip to move Jeannie to San Francisco. Along the way, we are stopping to take in some tourist destinations. Here we have the famous bell that rang for liberty that has a crack in it.

This famous hall was used as the building where out forefathers signed the document that declared our freedom from England. Also the Constitution was written and signed here.

Further inland, this famous winter encampment was where George Washington and his troops camped during the winter of 1777 - 1778. This is Washington's headquarters. Two thousand troops were lost to disease that winter.

Dan and Helen spent the night in the capital city of Pennsylvania along the banks of the Susquehanna River. The weather has been just beautiful.

Our last clue for our first stop along our journey is the famous Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich from Geno's. If you guessed in and around Philadelphia, you are correct. More to come on our next portion of the trip.

It's Official - Steve and Alana are Engaged!

2011-06-29T02:58:00.004-04:00

So Steve has been planning this for awhile now. . .and Alana didn't have a clue. They first met at a Young Single Adult activity one year ago today at Dockweiler Beach. Steve had two friends set up a table at the beach, with crystal and silver and candles, and they delivered In and Out Burger for them for dinner. But before that, Steve went down earlier in the afternoon and spelled out "Will You Marry Me?" with rocks and plants on the beach. Two girls, in the background of this picture, stayed at the beach two extra hours just to watch Steve propose to Alana. Steve picked Alana up at work and they drove to Dockweiler to play frisbee. . .and then they walked over to the message on the beach.
They stayed at the beach and watched the sunset together.
They enjoyed the dinner served by one of Steve's friends, all dressed up in a white shirt and tie.
Another of his friends went undercover with a blanket and took a lot of pictures of the whole evening. To Steve's friends - thanks for making memories for them.
Steve drove Alana home. . .and we had all gathered in the living room to surprise Alana and talk about their evening together - and to have Alana's favorite Chocolate Satin pie. Sue Tuilesu, who was particularly close to Steve because she married a Samoan and Steve served in Samoa, joined us also for the big occasion.
Here is when Grammie and Grampie and Sue first saw Steve and Alana.
Alana's good friend, Hillary Miller, came over right after work to help us celebrate also.
And for James and Ian that thought that once Steve proposed, he wouldn't be nice to Tony, our Siamese cat, here is solid proof that your thinking was flawed.
And finally, now Alana has someone to share the other purple cup with.
Alana and Hillary were talking about the engagement ring.
And here is the engagement ring. . .nice choice Steve. Congratulations to both of you! We couldn't be happier.

A Myriad of Activities This Week

2011-06-26T18:22:00.003-04:00

The week started out with all of our children being present for Father's Day, with only Evan missing - but he'll be back next year :-) It was a great day to celebrate all of the great fathers that we love.
Then I drove up to Morro Bay to surprise my Dad on his 86th birthday. We got a lot done like fixing the front gate and most importantly, Dad getting his driver's license renewed. . .way to go, Dad.
We celebrated his birthday by going to McLintocks for dinner. Happy Birthday, Dad!
One afternoon, we went out to meet Mel and Linda's Zone Leader missionaries and spoke to them for about 40 minutes. What a treat for us to meet these fine young people. Mel and Linda are being released as Mission Presidents and it was fun for us to also be present to hear and see what a zone leader conference is like. . .gives us an indication as to what Evan is doing in Tierra del Fuego at his zone leader conferences.
All of us with some of the missionaries and the Reeves.

On another day, it was the free day at the Arboretum so we all met there and had a picnic lunch with the kids. You will notice that Ethan thought it was a good idea to try and eat his Cheezits by putting them between his toes and then pushing his foot up to his mouth. . .gotta love the creativity of children.
Coco, Gavin and Ellie liked the bamboo stalks and stood at the base and shook them.
Then it was time to feed the turtles in the pond by the Queen Anne Cottage. . .lots of things to do at the Arboretum.
Friday was the first time that Gavin and Ellie had a sleepover at Grandma and Papa's. Of course we stayed up, had popcorn, watched a movie and read books before going to bed later than I think their parents knew about. . .it was so much fun. We also had 10 Young Women staying with us from church so that meant that we had lots of extra guests in the house.
Aunt Lana helped to read books before everybody finally fell asleep.
And in the morning, the kids helped us to make syrup for the waffles. . .we had such a good time with the little kids. We'll do it again soon and the parents won't be invited!
Finally, on Saturday, was the Relay for Life that Lisa Magno chaired. So we did the relay for part of the day and then went back that night for the candle ceremony. Brad is dressed in his tux because he also had his Choir concert that night. It was a busy week for all of us but we loved every minute of it.

Birthday and Father's Day at Morro Bay

2011-06-23T18:27:00.002-04:00

Last weekend, Grammie, Grampie, Sue, Jim, Erin, Dan and Helen celebrated Father's Day at the Morro Bay house. We are getting ready to sit down to a delicious dinner for the special occasion. Erin did an outstanding job on the BBQ with the tri tip and salmon.
A trip to Morro Bay is never complete without a stop at Bali's Frozen Yogurt. The way we look at it is. . . there's always room for Bali's!
The three fathers in the backyard with the flowers in bloom. One the activities that we enjoyed was visiting the elephant seal population that was lounging on the beach just above San Simeon. The males are molting this time of the year (elephant seals that is!).
The following day was Grampie's birthday. Margaret and Brad left home around 5am to surprise Grampie on his birthday. They are just arriving here about 8:30am to surprise him. He was so thrilled to see them!
To help celebrate Grampie's birthday, we took him to McLintock's in Pismo Beach. Don't move Grampie! Otherwise the waiter might spill the water on you! What a great weekend to celebrate our fathers and a special tribute to our Grampie on his birthday.

Father's Day Weekend

2011-06-19T20:18:00.004-04:00

We had a fun Father's Day weekend with just about everybody here in the LA area except for Evan who is on his mission. On Saturday morning, we took the boat trip for the Sanitation Districts out of San Pedro. Katie, the Warnick's neighbor, came along to help with the four little kids.
Above is part of the group on the front of the Ocean Sentinel, the research ship used to monitor water being released from the outfall off Palos Verdes peninsula.
Ellie was fascinated with the sea lions sunbathing on the buoy as we were leaving the harbor.
Coco had no problems with sea sickness while Gavin was a little bit more tentative, especially when we were trawling for fish.
The marine biologists on board pulled kelp up from the ocean and explained what the sea creatures were that lived in the kelp forest.
One of the big starfish that was pulled up was pink.
Ethan was thrilled to see the big sea star.
Coco didn't want to have anything to do with the big sheep crab that the biologist showed to her.
Annie and Ian held a small sea star and the sheep crab.
James is explaining to the little kids that the one of the eyes migrate to one side or the other of the flat fish like a sole.
Ellie showed Gavin one of the fish from the tank.
The kids all enjoyed listening to the marine biologist and touching the different fish that had come up in the net and then were put in the tank.
Ethan and Coco liked to look over the side of the boat when we were underway.
We caught two octopuses and Katie held one of them before they let it go in shallow water.
The Friday night before the boat trip, we all had dinner with friends that wanted to see Ian and Annie.
Finally, this weekend, we not only celebrated Father's Day, but we celebrated anniversaries at a wonderful Italian restaurant near Universal City called Miceli's. Ian and Annie celebrated their first anniversary, and James and Ster, Megan and Danny just celebrated their 8th anniversaries. Gavin and Ellie came also and loved watching the waiters perform their songs.

Birthdays and Friends

2011-06-12T17:06:00.006-04:00

We had two birthdays this past week. The first one was Gavin's and he specifically asked his mom to make a birthday cake with trucks and an airplane on it. So she made a runway with a plane on it and UPS trucks at the "terminal". It looked great and Gavin loved it.
Here the four kids are eating some chips and a healthy corn and black bean salsa.
Gavin wanted to have a Slip-and-Slide birthday party just like Ellie had. . .so even though it was a bit chilly out, they still seemed to enjoy it.

Gavin, with help from Ellie and Coco, blows out his birthday candles.
At Downtown Disney, there is a shop similar to Build-A-Bear that is called Ride Makerz. So when Ellie's birthday came around, she wanted to Build a Bear. Gavin wanted to Build a Ride, so he picked out a red car, Lightning McQueen from the movie Cars, and built his car, with custom wheels and tires. It was pretty fun as the kids get to help put in some of the screws to put the car together.
Ellie helped Papa and Gavin put the car together.
Finally it was done. It took a little while to make it and then we went on a couple of rides at California Adventure.
Here we are having a snack at a restaurant in Downtown Disney.
Ellie got to pick out an outfit for her Build-A-Bear dog, Fluffy Ear. Her favorite character is Tinkerbell so she picked out a Tinkerbell outfit for her dog. Steve and Alana are standing with Ellie and Gavin and their new purchases.
This past weekend, we went up to Larry's swim and tennis club (Larry is a neighbor across the street), where his company constructed a water ride. The kids loved playing on the slide.
The water was warm and Coco played with the neighbor across the street from her house, Katie.
Here is the family enjoying a snack at the swim and tennis club.
A week later was Margaret's birthday and Grammie had a nice party up at her house for her. Friend Shirley and brother, Ed, and his family all came out for it.
Coco and Gavin helped Grandma blow out her birthday candles.
On one of the presents was a big bow, which Coco wanted to wear in her hair. . .Beautiful!!
After opening presents and eating a wonderful dinner and dessert, we played the game, Catch Phrase, which Alana got her mom for her birthday. . .lots of fun.
Finally, this past Saturday a good friend from Alana's high school days, Pete Smithsuth, dropped by for lunch. Pete is headed back to his home in Thailand before he starts on his round-the-world trip that will take over a year. Best wishes to our good friend Pete for a safe journey.

Racing Fun!

2011-06-09T10:01:00.000-04:00

Last Sunday, Helen and Erin ran in a 5K race for the Women's Fitness Festival in Sacramento. The event was attended by over 4,000 women and is Sacramento's largest all-women run/walk. Even though the race was in June, we've been having some unusual weather and there was a chance of rain but it held off during the run.

The race was a big loop around the Capitol and through the pretty tree lined streets of downtown/midtown Sacramento.

The weather was perfect, the company was fun, the t-shirts were cute and we had a great race.

The even was sponsored by Kaiser Permanente, Nike, Whole Foods and Blue Diamond Almonds so there were also a lot of yummy treats at the end!

Evan in Tierra del Fuego

2011-06-05T11:38:00.002-04:00

Evan has been in Tierra del Fuego now for about 2 1/2 months. He is located on the ocean in a city of about 60,000 people called Rio Grande. He is a zone leader and is shown above with his zone and the President of his mission, President Gulbrandsen (back row). There is a senior couple from Temecula, CA serving a mission in Rio Grande (seated next to Evan).
He loves where he is located and says that it reminds him of Alaska. Above he is shown with his new down parka which he bought just in time because he is now going into the winter in Argentina. I just looked at the high for today in Rio Grande and it said 38 degrees Fahrenheit. . .and winter is just beginning. During the dead of winter, there will only be about 5 hours of daylight.
Evan is shown here on one of the downtown streets in Rio Grande.
Before it got too cold, Evan and his companion went hiking to an area called Cabo Domingo along the coast. He is shown here doing the "jumping" photo.
This was part of the hike along the coast. . .looks beautiful and pretty desolate.
Evan, with part of his zone, on his preparation day.
There was a zone conference in Ushuaia several weeks ago and Evan took a few pictures. Ushuaia is the southernmost city in the world and is located on the Beagle Channel
Another picture taken in the Ushuaia area.

A Weekend at Morro Bay

2011-06-01T00:58:00.003-04:00

Since it was a long weekend, we all decided to go up to the beach house and play on the beach. It was sunny the whole weekend but a bit windy. The four kids are shown here just getting a little bit wet. . .except for Ethan who got a whole lotta wet.
Gavin and Coco stayed a bit drier but liked playing on the sand flats.
Ethan decided it was a lot more fun to just sit in the mud and soak up the local ambiance, as well as the sea water.
Coco got a big kick out of Ethan stomping in the mud and getting filthy. The next step was when they all started throwing mud. Needless to say, everybody was hosed off outside before they got to go in for a bath.
Brad and Steve enjoyed catching the crabs at Crab Beach, when the tide is low. Ellie took a real interest in looking at them, as long as she didn't have to hold them.
After everybody cleaned up, it was time for a trip to our favorite ice cream store in SLO, Bali's.
Coco liked to feed Ethan some of her frozen yogurt. . .and he obliged very willingly.
Another generation is eating at the little table in the family room.
The wind was pretty strong so we went out to the Rock to see how high the waves were.
On Monday morning, Steve and Alana went kayaking out in the bay. The conditions were excellent, with no wind and very calm water.
Next stop on the way home from Morro Bay was the Little Red Schoolhouse in Ballard. This is a schoolhouse that was built in 1882 and is still being used today. The rope swing there is a favorite of our kids.
Gavin enjoyed his first ride on the rope swing.
Coco loved riding on the swing also.
Next it was onto the miniature donkey ranch. . .the owner also had rescue animals, one of which was a pot bellied pig that Gavin liked to pet.
Brad helped Coco and Gavin become comfortable with being around the miniature donkeys.

Gavin's Birthday at F. McLintocks

2011-05-28T09:55:00.003-04:00

It is a family tradition to go to F. McLintocks in Pismo Beach when somebody's birthday is close. So on our trip up to Morro Bay, we stopped to help Gavin celebrate - even though his birthday isn't for a few days. They are a kid-friendly restaurant and immediately upon arriving, Coco was given crayons and a cow picture to color.
Gavin wasn't sure that he wanted to have the waiters pour water into his glass, on his head (kind of a signature activity that the waiters entertain the customers with). This waiter, blindfolded, stood on a chair and poured into Meg's glass. . .she didn't even get too wet.
Then it was Gavin's turn - and even though he was hesitant at the beginning, he enjoyed it thoroughly.
The waiters and waitresses all came over and sang Happy Birthday to him - and he got a Brownie Sundae.
Another treat for the kids, which our children all remember, is getting to pick out some toys in the saddlebag if they eat a good dinner. Gavin and Coco are shown here rooting through every toy in the saddlebag.
There are a few stuffed animals at the restaurant. . .Coco and Gavin couldn't believe how big a buffalo was.
Afterwards, they rode the small horse toys outside - and they can't wait for Uncle to come home from Argentina in October so he can ride on them with him.
Coco learned how to ride with one hand in the air for balance.

The Final Days of our Croatia and Italy Trip

2011-05-28T09:38:00.003-04:00

After spending the night in Austria, we drove over to Italy. The above picture is the valley that leads off to Cortina, Italy, where they held the 1956 Olympic Games.
We went to the Brenner Pass, as my Dad had always wanted to see the mountain pass that figured so significantly in World War II. All along the pass, there are small towns and villages and the one we had a picnic lunch in was Chiusa. Note the convent located high above us, clinging to the hillside.
We drove by Lake Garda, one of the mountain lakes that Italians like to vacation at in the Dolomites.
We stayed around Verona for our last night and here Pat, Alana, Helen and Donna are shown in front of Juliet's balcony. . .Verona was very crowded.
Finally, here we are shown in front of the arena in Verona where they have marvelous operas every summer.

Happy Birthday Ne!

2011-05-27T20:09:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was cousin Ne's birthday and Jay helped to plan a surprise party for her. Aunt Sue, Uncle Jim, Grammie and Grampie drove up from Southern California, Aunt Helen, Uncle Dan and Erin came from Roseville, Jay was already there looking at apartments and Tat flew all the way from Hawaii for the occasion. Ne came home from work and had no idea we were all hiding out in her bedroom. She was very surprised when she saw all of us!

But she was even more surprised when she went to take a shower and Tat jumped out of the tub!

We had a great happy hour at Ne's apartment in Oakland, a delicious dinner at the Lake Chalet restaurant on Lake Merritt and then back to Ne's for dessert and a fun slideshow of Ne's life made by Aunt Sue. Happy 30th Birthday Ne!!

Croatia, Slovenia and Austria

2011-05-21T16:45:00.004-04:00

Our days were coming to an end on the cruise and in this picture we are shown with Zlatko, the outstanding maitre ' d on our ship. He did everything for us at dinner. Zlatko and most of the crew were Croatian.
Here we are shown at the dinner table one night. We usually tried to move around to different tables as the people we were on the cruise with were from mostly Europe, with 3 from Canada and 1 from Australia. There were 24 people in all, with a crew of 8.
We had fish on most nights and it was excellent. On this night, we had sea bass that they had just caught.
Here we are riding on cobblestones on the island of Solta, which is known as the Island of Olives.
We toured a small olive oil factory and then had a taste testing of different kinds of of flavored olive oils.
In this picture we are shown, after our last ride, on the top deck of our boat.
Pat got us started shopping at the Aqua stores. They are a uniquely Croatian store, with clothing and accessories that have stripes like many of the nautical clothing lines tend to have.
On our last day, Helen, Alana and I walked around the streets of Trogir, an ancient city where our cruise started and ended. Because Croatia has been under Italian influence and governance for many centuries, the country looks very much like an uncrowded Italy.
Zlatko, Mom, Alana and Erin just before enjoying our final dinner of the trip.
Jenny, one of our tour guides, plays guitar on the last night while the crew members sing. One night in Skradin, Jenny took her guitar out to a cafe/bar with all of us and we sang for awhile that evening for the customers at the cafe.
After leaving the ship today, the 7 of us headed through Slovenia and stopped at the absolutely beautiful town of Bled. It was pretty crowded today due to it being a Saturday and many people from the capital city of Ljubljana were visiting. We decided to continue onto Austria where it wasn't so crowded.
We found a small town in Austria call Mollebrucke and saw that instead of people and cars on the streets, that we had to contend with cows blocking the road.
Here we are on the balcony of our hotel in Austria. It was a beautiful little village and had the best spaetzel I have had in a long time.
The town also had a real maypole in front of the city hall. It was a tree that had been cut down from the local forest.
This was the little hotel that we stayed at in Mollebrucke. Onto the Brenner Pass and Lake Garda.

Beautiful Croatia

2011-05-19T15:17:00.002-04:00

This is the Croatian flag. The five crests at the top of the checkered part symbolize the 5 regions of Croatia.
We rode our bikes up and over some mountains today, to the part of the Krka River. There is a monastery behind us in the middle of this slow moving river that flows into the sea about 5 miles further on.
Donna, Erin, Natalie and Alana did the "jump" shot right in front of the Franciscan monastery.
Here are Helen and Mom riding down the last hill before we got back to Skradin, the town we stayed in last night.
Pat and I went out kayaking off the boat, and even though the swans were friendly when we were feeding them from the ship, they steered clear of us when we tried to kayak near them.
Here is the town of Skradin taken from the kayak.
Helen and I went out kayaking next and here is a picture of Erin, Alana and Pat waiting for us on the back of the ship.
In the afternoon, we took a boat up to Krka National Park, that has amazing travertine falls.
We are all pictured here in front of some of the falls.
We walked around some of the boardwalks, up and down the waterfalls.

Zadar and the Kornati Islands

2011-05-18T14:59:00.003-04:00

Last night we spent docked at Zadar, an ancient city. Helen and Mom are shown here in front of St. Donat's Cathedral, which was built over a Roman forum. This city was under Italian control in World War II and was bombed pretty heavily by the Allies.
Alana and Pat are shown here by the Sea Organ. This was constructed on the strait between Zadar and the Kornati Islands. When the waves come in they push air up through some pipes and we heard different harmonious sounds coming out of the Sea Organ. This was built here on the shore in 2005.
This was sunset over the strait next to Zadar.
After watching sunset, we went to a local outside cafe and posted to the blog. There are so many outside areas where people congregate here. . .really a lot of fun.
This is another modern art piece that was built right on the harbor. It is called a Salute to the Sun. There are hundreds of solar batteries that collect the light during the day on the ground, and then at night there is a computerized light show that was so fun to walk on and take a jumping picture on.
Here are Aunt Eileen and my Dad on the bow of the boat.
When we were riding on one of the islands, a goat came out from the hills and started running behind us. These islands in many cases have been overgrazed by sheep and the goats. There are only a few cities on these islands and most are inhabited by seasonal people.
This was one of the highest points that we rode to on the island of Dugi Otok (which means Long Island in Croatian).
Here is Pat on the bow of the boat, going through a narrow strait between the islands.
Here are some of the cliffs on the south side of Dugi Otok. We only rode about 20 miles today but it was all up and down hill.
We hiked to the Salt Lake and these donkeys were there waiting for us. They were very tame and liked to be patted.

We had about a 5 hour ride in the afternoon to get to our location tonight at Skradin so we had a yoga class on the upper deck(er) of the ship.
This is part of our group just prior to being called to dinner. We spent most of the afternoon reading and relaxing.

Bicycling in the Zadar Archipelago

2011-05-17T15:04:00.003-04:00

After being kept in the port of Vodice one day, due to 45 knot winds, we sailed to Pashman Island and rode about 20 miles today.
This is Alana before breakfast with Zlatko, the maitre d in the dining room.
Donna, Natalie and Erin were riding on one of the paths.
We stopped at a high point on the island to watch our boat sailing through the strait.
Alana and Pat were crossing the bridge here.
Alana, Jenny (one of our tour leaders from England) and Chris from Australia doing a jump picture on the island.
We stopped for a gelato (one of many) and this man decorated the gelato in kind of a fun way.
Donna and Pat enjoyed a gelato treat at the same place.
Here is our group from California.
Dad is riding back to the boat.

The Bike Trip on the Adriatic

2011-05-15T12:35:00.004-04:00

Yesterday we got on board our ship, the Romantica. We all have above deck cabins. Alana is shown here at the back of the boat in Trogir at the beginning of the trip.
Here are Pat, Alana, Erin and Helen on the front of the boat in Trogir harbor.
Our first night of dinner. . .we have 6 German people on board and 2 Italians and 3 Canadians and us.
Mom and Dad after the first day of biking. We did about 10 miles that day.
Erin, Natalie and Alana skinning a sea bass that we had for dinner last night.
Sunset from our ship.
We rode our bikes about 12 miles today to the village of Primosten, shown in the background. The ocean is unbelievably blue.
Primosten in the background. . .a really lovely town.
We took the ship to Sibenik and toured the city, that has a cathedral that is a UNESCO world heritage site. We are shown here playing at the playground.
Our ship, the Romantica, at dock tonight.

Italy and Croatia, part 2

2011-05-13T15:35:00.004-04:00

The other two posts that I did two days ago will hopefully return to Blogger as they were accidentally deleted by Blogger - a maintenance problem. But for now, the above picture is taken from our balcony of our pensione about 12 km north of Dubrovnik. The Dalmatian Coast is lovely and there are hundreds of small islands off the coast. Two islands are shown behind Erin and Alana in the above picture.
Here we all are at a restaurant on the Adriatic Ocean. . .the scampi risotto was great but having the entire scampi staring at you from the risotto was a little scary.
The following morning, we got up and walked down the road and saw that bread is delivered to houses just like milk used to be delivered in our country. . .the bread man just hangs it on the wall before 6 a.m. - yes, the sun comes up about 5:30 a.m. here.
Here we are by one of the fountains in Dubrovnik.
Alana and Erin pose in one of the streets of old walled city of Dubrovnik.
A photo of the walled city.
A bridge going into Dubrovnik where the cruise boats park.
The village of Ston on our way north on the Dalmatian Coast. This is the longest wall of a walled city in Europe.
Happy Hour at my parent's room in the town of Tucepi.
We had an incredible dinner of gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce at this restaurant by the sea.
Our hotel was on the ocean with these high mountains as a backdrop.
Sunset from Tucepi in front of our hotel.

Italy and Croatia

2011-05-11T16:35:00.000-04:00

We arrived on Monday in Verona and traveled to Ilenia's house. She served us a delicious dinner at the B and B. Her parents, Valter and Lucia, and her husband, Igor, joined us also.
The B and B San Biagio is located right on her parent's vineyard. The B and B is the white building and Ilenia and Igor's home is the wooden home behind it.
Having morning hot chocolate out on the balcony of one of the rooms.
Ilenia had breakfast for us in the kitchen of her home.
We spent the day in the town of Padova (Padua). Here we are at the Prato in the center of town.
Alana and Grampie are in the courtyard of the Basilica of St. Anthony.
Afterwards, we enjoyed gelato in Esde, just south of Ilenia's village of Valle San Giorgio.
In the afternoon, we hiked to the mountaintop to the former convent called Villa Beatrice.
Another view from the Villa Beatrice.
Lucia and Valter, Ilenia's parents, had all of us over for a wonderful dinner of homemade fettucine with ragu sauce, osso bucco, homemade bread, and wild boar. Incredible!
Ilenia, with her father, and her adopted "Grampie".
The view from our window at the B and B San Biagio.
Ilenia and her mother in front of the B and B.
After we left the B and B, we drove to Croatia and toured the Skogjan Caves. Alana is shown here at the end of the tour in the cave. They were huge caves with a river running through them.
Here we are at the end of the cave tour.
Finally, our first Magnum Bar at the end of the long hike on our cave tour.

Evan's Mother's Day Call

2011-05-11T16:29:00.000-04:00

We had a great talk with Evan on Mother's Day. He pretty much looks and sounds the same. We can't wait for him to come home from his mission.
Everybody got to talk with him, including brothers, sisters, grandparents, etc. Keep warm in Tierra del Fuego, Evan.

Sister's Southern Road Trip

2011-05-10T03:39:00.000-04:00

This past weekend Jeannie, Allison and Erin took a quick little road trip from Florida to Virginia. Car rental companies have cheap one way car rentals to get all the cars out of Florida after spring break so we took this as the perfect opportunity to do some sister bonding, see some beautiful country and get some new states! Some people thought we were little crazy but we wanted to see the South before Jeannie moves back to California.

After driving up through Florida our first stop was in Savannah, Georgia. It was a beautiful Southern town that we enjoyed shopping in and exploring. This is Jeannie and Erin along the waterfront.

We then drove that night to Charleston, SC to meet up with some of Jeannie's Coastie friends. We all enjoyed brunch on Saturday and then spent the day with Annette (a fellow Ragnar runner), Ryan and Matt.

We thought this sign was funny - "wade at your own risk"...

...so of course they did!

We spent the afternoon at the Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka Distillery. This has become one of our favorite drinks over the years since Jeannie has lived in the South and sweet tea is so popular down there. We had a great time tasting all the different varieties.

The distillery is located on a coastal island so it was fun for us Californians to see such different landscape with all the Spanish moss and magnolia trees.

We were also able to take in a different view of the city from the roof of Matt's apartment. We spent most of our road trip in Charleston and absolutely fell in love with the city and its Southern charm. It also has a lot of history and beautiful architecture. Some people relate it to a Southern Nantucket. We can't wait to go back!

All in all the trip was a success as Allison bagged three new states and Erin got one!

Ellie's Birthday and the Museum

2011-05-08T09:35:00.003-04:00

We went to the Natural History Museum on the free day this past week. One of our favorite rooms is the gem room. One of the exhibits is a display of how crystals are found in nature. Ethan kept looking up the cave, thinking that there was more to it.
Ellie is pointing out the gigantic elephants to Ethan in the African Mammals room.
The Insect Room was not my favorite but it sure held the attention of the kids. They loved looking at the spiders (there were massive-sized tarantulas) and the biggest cockroaches I have ever seen.
After the museum, we met Steve for a picnic lunch on the grounds of the museum.
Jeannie said that the Cookies and Cream Shakes at Chick Filet were the best - so Grandma shared one with Ethan.
Ellie turned four and she had a Slip and Slide Party at our house. Fortunately, it was a hot day so the kids all had a lot of fun running around and getting wet. They didn't quite understand at the beginning that you were supposed to slide, not just run on the plastic.
Finally, they started to slide on their knees.
Ellie loves Angry Birds, so Ster, in her clever and imaginative ways, created Angry Birds balloons - they looked great!
Ellie is shown here blowing out her candles, as all of the other kids look on.
Look at the beautiful Angry Birds cupcakes that Ster made - and they tasted as good as they looked. Happy Birthday Ellie!

Basketball and Waterslides

2011-05-01T17:59:00.004-04:00

Last night I played in a benefit basketball game on our Duarte Route 66'rs basketball team. We didn't really have a coach so one of the main sponsors was Sonic Drive-In so Cherry Limeade ended up coaching for us. Evan is shown here with the "coach".
Here is our rather "ragtag" team. We played against the Harlem Ambassadors from New York and they really beat us badly - they play like the Harlem Globetrotters but have a good message to the kids about staying in school and staying away from drugs.
Gavin enjoyed the game. . .more for the snacks than anything else.
The kids also came out to the desert for the day and went in the pool on the water slide.
Coco enjoyed the slide also with Mom.
Just a little something to snack on before heading home.

Easter on the East Coast

2011-04-29T19:56:00.004-04:00

During Easter week, Dan and Helen flew to Norfolk, VA to spend a few days with Jeannie. While Jeannie worked, we drove to Petersburg, VA to tour several Civil War battlefields. We learned all about the "Dictator" - a Union cannon used to shell Confederate batteries. Also, new to us was the Crater. On July 30, 1864, Union troops exploded a mine under the Confederate battery, attempting to create a breakthrough into Petersburg.

We also drove across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel which is 17 miles long to the DelMarVa Peninsula. Chincoteague Island was our destination. Here is a picture of Jeannie and Dan right outside our hotel on the island.

Assateague Island is the barrier island to Chincoteague Island. This is the old lighthouse on Assateague Island. It has been guiding ships since 1864.

Chincoteague Island is known for its wild horses. Legend says that these horses are descendants of those that were shipwrecked off the coast in the 1600s. These horses run wild on the island and each July, a certain number are herded to the other side of the island and sold at an auction. This island became popular from the book entitled Misty of Chincoteague. It is a beautiful area to explore.

We also toured Yorktown, VA which is the location of Cornwallis' surrendered to Washington to end the Revolutionary War. The town is very quaint and a very interesting Visitor's Center.

The South is known for its beautiful azaleas. And they were out in full bloom during our visit. After church on Easter Sunday, we walked through the Norfolk Botanical Gardens and saw such variety of colors. Thanks Jeannie for your gracious Southern hospitality!

Easter Weekend

2011-04-24T18:25:00.006-04:00

Alana came home from her second semester at BYU Law and immediately was set to work helping her nieces and nephews dye the Easter Eggs.
The following day, we all went down to the ranch in San Marcos for the annual Easter Egg Hunt. The grass in the field was really high this year. A new calf was born at the ranch so the kids enjoyed seeing him.
Alana and Natalie helped the little kids play pin-the-egg-in-the-basket. Thanks to Megster and Megan for the fun games for the little children.
Everybody brought side dishes for the lunch - and the food was plentiful and good.
The kids, even the big kids, got to hunt for the eggs in the field.
Nice cake by Katie and Natalie. Good thing Jerry was there to help scoop the ice cream.
Gavin got quite a haul of candy.
Ellie was excited with her Easter Eggs.
It was a pretty big group this year.
The pinata was a big hit with the little kids.
Ellie and Gavin had a great time.
Ethan decided to tackle one of the cupcakes. . .
and he really enjoyed it.
Ethan then decided to pull Larkin around in the wagon.
Coco didn't feel great so slept through most of the day.
Thanks to Eileen for hosting another great egg hunt. Here are the two Ferguson siblings.
On Sunday morning, we all awoke early to go to Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills for the Easter Sunrise Service at 6 a.m.. The doves were released at the end when the Hallelujah Chorus was sung.
Sue, Beth and Brad did a great job singing at the Sunrise Service. Steve, Alana, Grammie and Grampie came this year also, which made it extra nice.

SoCal RAGNAR Relay - 200+ miles of Friends, Family & Fun

2011-04-17T15:39:00.010-04:00

This is the beginning of our Ragnar Adventure for this year. We rented two vans and spent the night at our house. . .we had people from fly in from all over the U.S. - Annette from Charleston, S.C., Jeannie from Norfolk, VA, Ian and Annie from Denver, Erin and Helen from Sacramento, Allison from Denver, and then all of us locals, Brad, Margaret, Danny, Megster, Donna, Christopher, and Steve. Our start time was for about 9 a.m. on Friday from Huntington Beach so the first van, pictured above (minus Brad, who joined us later that evening), headed down there.
Of course, the most important participant, Nemo, our mascot, was packed very first thing. We had 3 first timers this year, Annette, Steve, and Christopher, and they did super.
Pictured at the start line are Donna, Christopher, Nemo, Allison, Jeannie and Annette.
And they're off. . .there were almost 500 race teams this year with 12 team members each, running 3 legs apiece with mileage ranging from 3 miles to 9 miles. They start team groups about 15 minutes apart.
Jeannie was our first runner, with Nemo helping her along. It was a beautiful day running along the beach.
Here is Helen starting one of her legs of the race, doing a quick Nemo pass before she started her 5 mile run about 10 a.m. It was just starting to get hot.
While we were waiting for Helen to finish her leg, we all took some time to get a picture of us in our van, that was still in reasonably good shape at this point (not too sweaty).
I started my leg of the race, 4 miles, right at Angel Stadium. Here Allison, Annette, Jeannie and Christopher doing the classic "jump" shot.
Helen passes the slap bracelet with Nemo to Margaret and she is off - unfortunately, it was getting hotter and it made running a bit more difficult.
Margaret passed off to Annette who ran up some pretty steep hills in Anaheim. . .Nemo was there to motivate us.
Ian is looking pretty fresh here after Christopher passed off to him. It was close to 90 degrees for most of Ian's run through Gypsum Canyon.
When Ian took off, we all posed for a picture at Yorba Linda Regional Park. Mom and Dad joined us about this time to cheer us on.
James, Brielle and Ethan joined us as well as Megan, Gavin and Coco to inspire us. It was either run the race or watch the kids for the 36 hours. We're not sure which was harder.
The four kids are refreshing themselves as they watch their parents run.
Ian finished his run, exhausted after his 9 miles of 90 degree heat. Megster looks pretty happy here. . .before she realized that she now had a big hill and 7 miles to run.
It was lunch break time for Ethan and great-grandpa.
Gavin and Coco shared a peanut butter sandwich with great grandma at a park in Corona.
The first van reached Lake Elsinore in time for a bit of a nap after running 6 legs. . .hard to nap with hundreds of people wandering around. Van 2 was completing their first 6 legs of the race before they handed the slap bracelet (baton) back to us about 8 p.m. Fortunately it started to cool down for all of us as we ran all night down side roads to Escondido.
The final member of our team, Steve, met up with us in Lake Elsinore. . .he didn't realize all the fun that he was going to have. His first leg was scheduled for 2 a.m. and he earned the nickname "The Green Flash".
Fast forward about 18 hours, after we had all done a number of other legs, round-the-clock, and here is Steve finishing his 2nd leg of 6 miles right on Mission Bay in San Diego.
Ian, Steve, Nemo, Coco and Erin are all posing before Erin has to run her final leg of 9 miles, where we finished up about 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at Silver Strand State Beach on Coronado.
We were waiting here at Silver Strand Beach with our bowl of noodles at the end of the race. The little kids loved playing in the sand.
Pretty much everybody is here except for Erin who was finishing the last grueling leg of the race. . .way to go, Erin.
Finally, as the sun went down, we all jumped for joy that the race was over. Thanks to Ian, Annie and Erin for all of the time that they put into planning it. It was a lot of fun and plenty of family and friend bonding time in the vans. . .we finished in about 35 hours. Maybe we will try a different Ragnar Relay next year. . .Napa Valley anyone?

Llamas and Astronomy

2011-04-12T18:16:00.003-04:00

This past weekend, the historical museum here in Duarte had an astronomy night with a picnic ahead of time at Encanto Park. We ate dinner ahead of time and then took dessert to share.
One of the special guests was Copper the Llama. All of the little kids enjoyed feeding him his Bermuda grass.
It was still pretty light out but we were able to get a close-up look at the moon.
The kids enjoyed seeing the craters of the moon, as they were studying outer space in Megster's pre-school class.

La Brea Tar Pits and General Conference

2011-04-05T23:50:00.003-04:00

Our field trip this week was to the Page Museum and the La Brea Tar Pits. The kids enjoyed seeing the "fake" animals in the water and tar.
Megster is helping the kids feed the "kitty" that helps to support this interesting museum.
To help the kids understand why the animals couldn't get out of the tar pits, the museum has rods stuck in tar that we all tried to pull out.
Here the kids are looking at the skeletal remains of an animal that was stuck in the tar pits.
We tried to convince Mom that the kind of teeth that humans have are more adapted to herbivores.
The kids were engrossed in a very lifelike depiction of an attack by a saber toothed cat on a giant sloth.
We had a great lunch on the grounds of the Page Museum on a beautiful April day.
This past weekend, Alana came home and we all watched General Conference in the family room. Gavin and Coco played with Colorforms and drew pictures of what they were watching.
We had a big family dinner just before Alana headed back up to BYU and her final three weeks of her 2nd year of law school.