July 2025

Here is a little glimpse into the all-girl band practice.

We went to Becky's house on the Fourth of July for a block party.

The fire truck came for a visit. Pretty exciting for Kinga and Wally!

On the 6th we left for our fourth trip to family camp - where the magic happens!

Arek came the next day.

Even though it's not five star accommodations, we still enjoy the special welcome on our dorm door!

Awww...a whole week of not cooking. It makes eating dorm food seem like gourmet.

Walking back to the dorms after our first meal of the week at FVC.

A lazy afternoon on the lawn.

Grandpa should know not to start the tackling. There's too many of them now and they are big!

First day always has a drink mixer to meet new people and reconnect with families from our last stay.

Day 2 was the family carnival!

Before the carnival was finished, we had other plans.

Mia went to the DMV in Santa Barbara and got her permit!

Some of the kids took surfing lessons later and I took a beautiful hike to go watch them.

Every second night is a welcome dinner at Glen Annie Golf Course. 

Our friends, Melissa and Barry, have been at FVC every time we have.

Day 3 is field trip day for the kids. They had oodles of fun. And after dinner was BINGO!

My favorite part is when they get to stand on the tables and dance.

That night it was adult carnival! 

Is it a good thing that our family won two of the three drinking games???!!!

Day 3!  Mia went horseback riding and absolutely loved it. I golfed for the first time at FVC.

In the afternoon was the swim party!

And dinner on Day 3 was a night out!

After a delicious dinner at Oku we headed to a beer garden.

Day 4 is barbecue at the beach for the kids. Becky, Beth and I went out to lunch.

But first we shopped at bit. I had to take a picture of the "sale". 

Only in ritzy Santa Barbara is five percent off considered a deal!

This city is so lovely. But they work at it. Even the signs are a thing of beauty!

Dan and Greg went on a brewery tour while we lunched. Poor Arek had to work.

That night was campfire and photo shoots.

Paige just loves Kinga.

After s'mores, the counselors lead us in a few songs.

But my favorite part is when they call up all the kids to sing Puff the Magic Dragon with them. 

There aren't many dry eyes.

That night Mia and Anna went costume bowling with the High School Group.

The last day is skit day. Kinga was in her first one as a full-fledged member of Small World.

The "the hands in their pockets gang".  

The last night the counselors give out awards as well as put on a show for us.

Chase, Oli and Paige got the special award this year. 

They had helped man the front desk all afternoon.

We left FVC on the last night as we drove up to Dave's 70th birthday party the next day.

It was hibachi for dinner!

My dad is to my left. I didn't realize I totally blocked him from the photo!

Here is the birthday boy with his kids and grandkids.

A few days later Mia left for Denver to visit with Lorelai for three nights.

While she was gone, her quail eggs were finally delivered!

Since we didn't have time to go out for our anniversary, Dan and I went out for Ethiopian food together.

The food was delicious. I wasn't a huge fan of the spongy traditional bread, but it is gluten free!

I got to take Kinga to her dance lesson. 

We couldn't find most of her ballet clothes but she didn't seem to care.

Next, Donna came down for her annual visit. 

Denise picked her up at the airport on Monday and spent some time with her.

 Then we all met in Pasadena for dinner on Wednesday.

We forgot to take a photo at dinner so you get a parking lot pic.

After dinner I took her to my house for a couple of days. 

We spent the next day playing games and eating lunch at Crystal Cove.

On the way home we stopped at Roger's Nursery. 

It's just what you might expect for a nursery in Newport Beach, seven or eight gift shops, 

a restaurant, and very expensive plants.

The day after Donna left to go to Dar's house we headed to Seattle.

 I'm just now realizing how crazy July was!

We hadn't been to Seattle in two years. 

At the last minute, Anna got invited to go to a running camp in Big Bear so it was just Mia with us.

We love to walk to the duck house. They change this up every few months. 

It was Camp Wedgwood for our trip.  

Wedgwood is the area of Seattle Beth lives in.

We had an unexpected view of Lake Washington from our Air BnB. 

I booked it so long ago, I didn't remember anything about the place.

The next day we headed off to Pike Place Market.  There is so much to see and do there!

The kids got honey sticks in random flavors.

This is the best way to try and see the thrown fish. 

I got a picture of the guy catching the fish!

This guy gave Paige a personal magic show at the magic store.

We encountered our first trip to the infamous gum wall!

I had to make a deposit!

Chase was happy eating and carrying around his fresh baked loaf of bread.

We headed over to the Great Wheel next.

From there, you get a fantastic view of downtown!

All the activity made us hungry so we stopped for a seafood meal on the pier.

After some resting, we headed off to Top Golf for dinner and fun!

A special gold ball rolled out during my turn and, luckily, Greg stopped me from hitting it!

Because....

I had just won a Happy Gilmore putter!

That was fun!

On our last day in Seattle, we took a ferry trip.

Chase loves to look at maps.

Our destination was Bainbridge Island.

The younger kids did a Where's Waldo scavenger hunt while us adults shopped and browsed. 

Then we all had Mexican food for lunch.

And we learned that pickle ball started on Bainbridge Island.

The skyline was amazing as we head back to Seattle on the ferry.

Goodbye Seattle and goodbye July!

 

June 2025

Welcome summer! I planted some corn this year. we'll see how it goes. I'm not really liking how it's looking and it will get about five times the size it is here. Not my best decision.

Anna ran in the middle school district 800 final. 

There were only three of them, her and the two "scary" runners from the other middle school.

She came in third but wasn't that far behind. They all medaled.

Hanah placed first in the long jump.

On June 5th, Anna was promoted to high school! 

She did a great job in middle school and we know she will do well in high school. Go Griffins!

Tyler was also promoted so the neighbors were there as well. 

Afterwards, she chose to go to her newest favorite place, 

Cyprerss Crab Shack, and had her fill of crawfish.

Everybody else had something less bug-like.

I went with Becky, Jenny and Martyna to take Kinga and Wally to see Blippi!

If you don't know who Blippi is, well then you are lucky.

I didn't go to see Blippi but to see Kinga see Blippi.

They absolutely loved it, almost as much as the glow sticks.

We had to have a new picture in the newly painted chair.

We went to Grandpa's to take him to lunch for Father's Day. He and Mia fit in a game of chess first. It was a stalemate! Grandpa chose a barbecue place to eat at. Interesting choice for a vegetarian.

Our first trip this summer was to Big Sur. 

We rented a cabin in a campground.

We hadn't been there since Becky was two years old, 

at which time she made us carry her around in a lawn chair. 

By made us, I mean she sat in the dirt and refused to walk anywhere.

On our first full day we headed to Andrew Molero State Park for a hike to the ocean. 

Absolutely gorgeous!

There were only three of us who braved the wind on the trail to get down to the beach!

The next day was Julia Pfeiffer State Park for a forest hike. 

The kids decided to stay in the car.

We regaled them with all the wildlife we saw on the trail, 

a whole family of foxes, a wise owl and a pencil snake (truth). 😉

Maybe they'll go with us next time.

And before you get too judgmental, tell me you never make up anything about a man in a red suit...

I looked and looked for a four leaf lover but came up empty.

Did you know clovers close up in the sun? 

It makes sense that they would thrive in Ireland!

We had a lunch stop at Nepenthe, a beautiful gift shop and cafe. 

There's also a restaurant but we got scared away when we saw a cup of soup was $18.

There was no cell reception in the campground so the girls had to find other things to do. 

Basketball was a big one. 

Mia wore Dan's big hat the whole time because I made the mistake of mentioning there might be ticks.

Just in case you had to make a phone call you could use these ancient artifacts.

If you aren't interested in birds you're done until next month.

This is a Steller's Jay. They were EVERYWHERE in the campground we stayed at. 

We don't have them in Southern California.

 

On a walk to the library I saw a pin-tailed whydah up close. I've only see them on telephone wires. 

You can recognize them up high by their long tail, sometimes eighteen inches long.

On a bird outing to a local park someone pointed out to me a baby red tailed hawk on the edge of the nest. 

The person said the nest was the owl's nest last year.

Another couple, showed me these three great horned owls way up in a tree. 

This is my favorite birding pic yet.

It pays to wear binoculars. People point out random birds to you.

First month of summer on the books.

 

May 2025

May started off with Anna qualifying for the 800 meter district meet. Three people qualify from each middle school and only three ran in the qualifying race for her school. We were proud of her for not dropping out like all the other kids did who didn't want to run against the two best runners. 

So she gets to move on! 

Arek became an American Citizen! 

We had a little celebration at our usual Sunday dinner.

Becky and I went to Dani's baby shower at a tea house in Upland.  

It was great getting to see all the nieces and to celebrate Danielle's miracle baby.

Darlene and I went up to see Aunt Helen for Mother's Day weekend. 

We stopped at this huge nursery/cafe on our way from the airport. Super cute and good food!

Anna was in her last drama production. They did Aladdin and it was fantastic!

She has had a great two years in drama but is going to concentrate on cross country next year.

She played the head guard of the palace and was in quite a few of the scenes.

Oliver celebrated his 10th birthday. Where does the time fly???

That's his girlfriend bottom left.

Kinga and I go to the library on most Thursdays. This one week they were having an event for elderly persons. Since there was no one attending, they let Kinga participate!

The cellist played Edelweiss and my eyes teared. 

It's the song I've song to all of the kids and I think some of my kids sing it to their kids as well.

Dan and I went to the Sunset Sip fundraiser for The Guidance Center in Long Beach.  

Dan's dear sweet golf friend, Jim, bought a table.  

My dad was in and out of the hospital in May with afib. He's been so healthy his whole life that this has really been different. On one trip up top see him, Mia beat him in chess. 

That never happens! He made sure he beat her twice after that. 🤣 She is really good.

Last but not least, a quirky picture of dessert at Carolyn and John's house. They always serve takeout when we come over but we thought why not put dessert on a fancy cake plate.🤣🤣