Sequoia National Park

Tony and his family along with Greg, Emily and I visited the Sequoia National Park for a couple of days. It was absolutely breath taking and we all had a great, great time. We stayed at the Buckeye Tree Lodge just outside the entrance - definitely recommended.   All God's creation in full bloom.  I went through Bakersfield to get there which is the most north I have travel since I have moved here.  The drive up to Sequoia had lots of mountains, farmland, orange trees, wineries and lakes.  We went past Pyramid Lake which lined the road for quite some time.  There is a Pyramid cut out in the rocks.  We met a couple from Germany taking a two month vacation in the United States in a rental RV.  Tony and Rikki did the cooking.  Kru, Emily and I enjoyed a water gun fight.  Jax enjoyed the stairs.  Greg enjoyed having his own room at the cabin and taking lots of pictures.  It was a nice trip.

Beach Day

After church, Emily and I joined Nina (running friend) at the beach. Emily played in the water and drew pictures in the sand while we chatted. Weather was nice. Another beautiful day God has given.

San Diego Wild Animal Park

Rikki, her Mom, myself, Emily, Kru and Jax went to the Wild Animal Park this Saturday. The weather was perfect. The kids had a great time and Emily is ready to go back and explore some more. We got there a little late so we didn't get to see everything. I liked the lush foliage everywhere.

A Visit from Bob

It has been a while since I updated this blog. Time just gets away so instead of catching up, I will just start again with our visit from Bob, Jim's brother. We hadn't seen Bob in at least a year. He flew in after visiting with siblings in Arizona and skiing at Telluride. Emily was so excited to see him and really enjoyed his visit. She told him he looked like her Dad. I was taking care of the grandsons the first two days he was here. We took the boys to the park and Bob flew a kite with them. He was so good with them. He took Emily to the movies while I had my ladies over for Bible Study. Saturday, we drove to Mission Viejo and saw the house the family lived in when they lived in California. We took the Ortega Highway - beautiful scenery but much too curvy for me. Sunday we went to Seaworld for the day. It was a really good visit. Tony took him to breakfast at a local airport. Bob likes anything to do with planes.

Grandsons

It is official. I am babysitting two wonderful grandsons every Thursday and Friday. Kru will be 2 on October the 25th and Jax was born June 18th of this year (on his Daddy's birthday) making him almost 3 months old. I have babysat them for 2 weeks so far. Kru looks mostly like his Dad, is very active, very smart and articulate. He doesn't forget a thing, very strong willed, very precious. He is not one to sit and watch TV or play with a particular toy for very long. He loves going to the park, riding a skateboard, playing basketball, riding Emily's Razor scooter. Jax is a little more laid back, or at least it seems so. He likes to be talked to. He is a chunky little thing with cute cheeks, beautiful blue eyes and a slightly darker complexion than Kru. He looks mostly like his Mommy. He likes to have something over him, like a blankie or something. He loves to look around. He smiles and laughs and holds himself very well for his age. He has the softest skin imagineable. It is a real joy to babysit them and I don't do anything on those two days but watch them. We go to the park about 9:30 to 11:00, then we have a picnic lunch at the park. They both fall asleep on the way home and take about a hour and one half nap. We then do various things. I am very thankful that I have a son and daughter-in-law that trust me to take care of these precious boys. I look forward to watching them grow up. God has been so very good to me.
This is Jax enjoying the swing. Are those some cute cheeks or what?

What can I say? This baby is just so adorable. Yummy!



Kru found himself a little friend. He took her hand and led her all over the play ground. She tried to take him down the big slide but he prevailed and pulled her towards the monkey bars.

Here I am trying out the carrier. It is complicated.

Kru playing in the sand.

Love the rolls.

Santa Barbara Train Trip

Emily wanted to ride on a train so we decided to take a trip to Santa Barbara. Everyone has told me how beautiful it is and I was not disappointed. Absolutely stunning! I reserved Amtrak tickets but we had to take the Metrolink to get to Amtrak. We missed the first train, drove to the next station, missed it too. So we waited knowing we missed our Amtrak but it all worked out. Amtrak was great, beautiful ride up the coast. Emily enjoyed the cafe and making some new friends. Our hotel was great - across from the beach. We rented some sort of pedal car - a really good workout - doubtful if we do that again. We went to Stern's Wharf and went to the Sea Museum, went shopping (I could have really enjoyed that but Emily is not much into shopping), went swimming in the pool. The next day we went downtown and saw several historical sites and visited an art museum. We caught the train for home about 3pm. It was a great trip.
This is the view out of the Amtrak window.

Emily playing puppets in the Sea Museum.

Santa Barbara Beach

Our hotel room

This was the hotel we stayed in.

We pedaled this along the bike path for 3 to 4 miles.

This is the bike path along the beach.

Campland 2010

We just got back from 4 days of Campland on the Bay in San Diego. Emily and I had a great time with brother-in-law Dave and his wife Barb and lots of friends. Emily and I rented a Kayak. I didn't realize what a great arm workout it would be. We also rode bikes, scooters and Emily sang in a talent show. She was very proud of her medal and free ice cream coupon. I went ocean swimming with a girlfriend and enjoyed the beach and a few glasses of wine. I love riding Emily's beach cruiser. I turned on my air conditioner for the first time today. It was very warm when we got home. I did not take a single picture. Hopefully, I can scavenge some soon. I always enjoy Dave, Barb, family and friends.