November 2024

November started out with another trip to a clawcade, followed by a buffet. 

They are obsessed with these claw machines!

Crawfish is not my thing but Anna loved them.She said they ate the head. 

😖 I have no reason to not believe her. 

Sadly, Dan's brother passed away on October 12th. The funeral was November 4th. Dan went out a little bit early to spend some time with his family beforehand and then I joined him the day before the funeral. The funeral was very well done with a eulogy by his children and speeches at the reception by Dan and two friends. He was a well-loved and respected person who always put family first. 

This girl likes to pretend to be sleep with her eyes open when she doesn't want to do something. 

In this case, to go back in the house.

This reminded me of Colorado when the girls and their homeschooling friends 

would make all kinds of shelters out of sticks they found. You don't see it to often around here!

Just a girl and her cat, who causes me no end of allergy issues.

It's a good thing she's cute, Anna, not the cat.

It was time for our annual apple picking adventure! 

Mia and Anna were not really into it for the first time. 

But this one loved it!!!!

Mia sure likes to hang out with Kinga now that she doesn't spit up anymore. 😂

Mae Marie turned one! Just a girl and her grandma.

Here are all of Dar's grandchildren and there's one more on the way!

Anna came with me and the Rossmoor Woman's Club 

to help pack Thanksgiving boxes for Food Finders.

The first weekend of Thanksgiving break we decided to take a 

trip to Las Vegas to watch a Raiders game. Eddie World is always a must stop.

They always have something fun to read while you are sitting on their toilets.

We had great seats! It was Military Day so that was fun and very patriotic.

The stage was right behind our seats and Sammy Hagar sang at halftime. 

Yeah, he's getting up there in years.

Mia created a new game where to win you had to play chess and then checkers and as you captured the other opponent's pieces you got to guess a battleship coordinate. Whoever sunk all five battleships won the whole game.  It took her and I three hours to play it. She won. It was a one and done for me. 😜

We had Arek's family over for Thanksgiving. 

Becky and Ada did the appetizers and I think it was more food than the actual dinner.

It was a beautiful 75 degree day so we talked outside until dinner.

But mostly we watched Kinga entertain us.

And then she helped with the golfing after dinner.

Arek's 39th birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year!

On to December!

 

October 2024

Anna is our cooking and baking queen! 

Darlene got her some Hello Fresh meals to make for her birthday. 

Her first success was a lasagna made with tortillas.

She impressed even herself!

Dan and Mia are working on articulated wings for a cosplay costume. 

She was hoping they would be done for Halloween but they weren't. It's a process!

We golfed in a twilight charity golf tournament with Carolyn and John. 

We weren't big fans of not being able to see. Guess we are getting old!

But I did win a prize!

We did another 36 hour turnaround to go to Gabby's wedding in Colorado. 

It was a gorgeous October day - perfect for an outdoor wedding.

It was at Cielo, the same place where Dan's retirement party was held.

Anna had her first drama event of the 2024-2025 school year.

It was a story about several events that happened in the same room. 

She played the subconscious of a teenager with angst.

Beth came down in the middle of the month to take the kids to Disneyland. 

It was great to also be able to spend my birthday with her. 

Our nephew, Bryan, and his son, Landon, were also here for the weekend checking out USC as a possible place for Landon to play baseball. I forgot to take any picks of them :(

These cousins all love to be together!

Checked out a claw cade for the first time. Not that we need any more stuffed animals...

Anna was surprisingly good at it.

Mia has a fantastic Japanese teacher. Once a year she requires them to cook a Japanese dish at home, take pictures of it, and have their parents fill out an evaluation form. 

I gave Mia an A for it. She worked really hard.

Final product - some sort of Japanese omelet.

We celebrated Kinga's second birthday! 

Time is just flying by.

It was time for the La Crosse Halloween Scramble - the boys versus the girls! 

Mia played goalie for part of the game. It's her favorite position - no running involved! lol

We always like to give the girls an experience as one of their Christmas presents. Due to Anna's desire to maybe work in the restaurant business one day, we gave her a dinner at the restaurant at Cal Poly. 

It is completely run by the students, from the servers to the cooks.

You can see everything happening in the kitchen.

We had a nice window seat.

The girls really enjoyed it. I'm really slacking on the picture taking!

 It would have been nice to have some photos of our meals.

The girls still love to carve pumpkins and decorate for Halloween. 

Again, no pictures of the decorating but I did manage to take some of the carving!

Cutest witch on the face of the Earth!

Kinga had her birthday party on Halloween. We came for a little bit.

And then we had to get home to the teenagers.

That's a wrap for October!