September in San Diego

This is a huge outdoor organ in Balboa Park. Concerts are given on Sundays. The organ pipes are behind that gold, arched door. While we were there the organist was practicing and he was on the right hand side of that arched doorway. We looked in and saw him as he was just finishing playing. Mom at LaJolla Beach. It was such a perfectly beautiful day. A little breezy in the morning but by afternoon it was just right. We bought Subway for lunch and ate it on the beach. Gavan got busy making a small sand castle and Andy and Mercer played in the water with his boogie board. Dad and I just tried to take in a little sun and have fun with family. What more could anyone want? we did an early morning session in the Temple. It was so beautiful inside and out. We asked the Brother senior missionary to take out picture to remember it by.

top photo: Andy and I by a shop that had Mexican wares in Old Town. The bottom photo was at Sea World stopping for a minute to eat ice cream .

September Fun

This is the Stingray pond at SeaWorld. Dad bought us some little boxes of small fish to feed to the Stingrays. They were pretty big and they come right up to the edge of the pool to get their food. There was a little child showing me how you hold the fish for the stingray to suck it up. You hold it between your fingers and he just comes up and sucks the fish into his mouth. We petted them and they feel like smooth, wet leather. It was really a fun experience. The stingers had been removed by the way. There is a sink and soap area nearby where you can wash your hands when you're done. Otherwise you smell kind of fishy all day.

L&STimes: AUGUST OUTING

L&STimes: AUGUST OUTING

AUGUST OUTING

This is Dad after the cruise. This is me after the cruise too. Saturday Dad and I took the day off and just had some fun. It seems like a long time since we have done that. We drove up to Newport, WA especially to check out a campground that we had previously made reservations at for September 8 and 9th. I think it will be a good one to stay at. We had lunch down by the lake - it was beautiful and serene. From there we drove through Priest River and into Sandpoint. We had reservations for a little cruise around Lake Pend Oreille on the Shawnodese. It was a cute, little cruise vessel that holds about 40 people is all. There is an upper deck with lawn chairs and a lower deck with tables and benches and food and snacks. We sat on the upper deck because we wanted to use the binoculars. We did see an Opsprey flying and also a nest with the mother and babies in. The cruise goes from 2:30 - 4:00 and is most relaxing and so beautiful. Everything was blue - the sky, the mountains and the water. The captain actually constructed the vessel which took him 2 years to accomplish. His wife helps and also gives a really good history and geology lesson of the lake and how the ice dam was formed 17,000 years ago that led to the creation of Lake Pend Oreille. Children that come on the cruise can actually go up by the captain and be "captain of the day". Linda, his wife, takes their picture and gives them all a paper stating they had been captain on board. They have a little white dog whose name is Willie and he goes around and inspects everyone and is very friendly. On our way home, we stopped in Liberty Lake and Palenque and had our dinner. That is the Mexican Restaurant we all went to a couple of years ago. It sure has been a fun day. Hope you enjoy our photos. Their website is www.lakependoreillecruises.com

Erin did some cooking. We did kabobs and they were so good.

This is Avery riding his tractor in the garden. He loves to make it go in the real garden dirt. This was a slip and slide Erin brought from home. Only bad part was the sun had already gone down . Grandpa J was so nice and brought some pitchers of warm water to pour on it. That made it more fun.

BBQ DINNER

We had a bbq dinner with Erin, Av, Bodee and Grandpa. This is Grandpa J. with Bodee doing a little weeding in his strawberry patch. Bodee was very good just sitting in the shade where it was cool. Not much help yet though.

May 2006

We had a picnic at Riverfront Park and then walked across the bridge at the falls. It was a beautiful day and a fun picnic. Lee just took lunch break and met me and the girls there for a short while.

The boys asked me to get down the cowboy hats and Av got the red one. It's also the one that actually fits the best too. Cutie!

Dad really liked this photo so I thought I might as well add it to the blog. The flowers are doing pretty good, as long as I remember to water them. It has been in the 90's so they kind of wilt by the end of the day. The bees even come to the pond to drink - - I'd rather they didnt do that but whatever ! The raspberries are on now too. Erin and Mindy have been picking and CJ picked 1/2 a bucket the night they were here for dinner. Mindy brought all her kids over this morning and they each picked a bowl full. Our berries seem like they are not quite as full as in years past. Dad is thinking of pulling them up and replanting new plants over by the East fence. Remember that's where we started the berries in the beginning and the kids next door would always sneak some. ha ha.

Grant, CJ and Scott - July 2006

Scott gets to hold Davis and he did a real good job at tending. The boys thought that was pretty cool to hold the babies.

Grant gets to help - not sure Davis thinks so though. The pillow comes in handy too.

It's time to blow out the candles and of course the little guys got to help. What's more fun than helping to blow and blow. How do you like the twin shirts?????

Dad is opening his gifts and everyone is just relaxing their dinner. I think Mindy had a better picture of the group. Mine is kind of dark. sorry about that. Beka was just happy holding the babies and keeping them happy. She really has the knack for that and Mindy and Erin enjoyed having the help too. We all kind of hibernated in the house with the air conditioning because it was so hot outdoors.

Cory and Dad's Birthday Dinner

This is the birthday cake for Dad and Cory's birthday party. Course, it had to be red,white and blue. WE had a bbq dinner where Dad cooked the hamburgers and hotdogs on the new grill. He did really good too. I did some salmon in the oven and everyone brought the other food items which made the dinner very successful and yummy. And best of all, we got to eat birthday cake for dessert.

THE LAUNCH

These pictures are kind of in the wrong order so start at the bottom and you will get a better idea of how they are suppose to go.

Mindy and Dad went out to try their luck at fishing. They were gone a good 45 minutes but came back empty handed. Darn. Evan and I just stayed and chatted a bit while Davis took his nap. Mindy said three fish jumped up by the boat and were just eating the bugs on the water. I think she should have had a fishing net and just whopped them into the boat. There was a guy that docked just before they did and he had a good catch. Well, better luck next trip. At least we got the boat launched and had a good ride as well. Maybe next time I will be brave and go too. Who KNows?

We had a really nice picnic area which was up on a raised grassy area. We did find an ants nest but - hey - what's a picnic without ants. We ate and then took the boat out again.