Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Camp and other things

Chelsey & Brittney in their Sunday best
Brittney & Chelsey enjoying the pool
Brandon & Dylan with air soft guns Katie & Courtney with camp counselor Dylan (far left) and his friends and camp counselors


Summer is really going fast. Courtney and Dylan are at Timberlake Ranch Camp this week and are coming home friday. Brandon & Dylan have spent a lot of time this summer playing air soft wars with their friends in our yard. It has also been hot and so the girls have spent a lot of time in the pool in our yard and at our public pool.







Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Just me and my dad in California

Aunt Marion, Aimee, Dad, Anthony & Micky (bride & groom), me and Darlene

Me, Aimee, Dad, & Darlene after eating lunch at Pier 39


A ship with Alcatraz Island in the background When in San Francisco you have to get chocolate!
Dad and I with golden gate bridge in background
Golden gate bridge through the smoke





Dad and me with a Giant Redwood tree


Dad in the middle of 2 redwoods

I just got back from a trip with my dad to California (Monterey area) to attend a wedding on my dad's side. I left Omaha, NE and dad left Rapid City, SD on June 26 bright and early and met in Denver and flew together to San Jose, CA. We were picked up by my cousin, Darlene, and her daughter, Aimee. We then decided to go to San Francisco as neither me nor my father had ever been there. We saw a lot of really neat things like the Bay bridge, baseball stadium, Ghirardelli Chocolate store, Golden Gate bridge, Alcatraz Island and the very steep hills and houses side by side. We were very grateful that Darlene and Aimee were able to take us as I believe we wouldn't have known where to go or what to see. We stayed at Anthony's house and spent time with the family as they were preparing for the wedding. The wedding was beautiful--outside in a garden in Monterey-close to the ocean. Sunday we rented a car and drove to Visalia where my Aunt Marion and Uncle Paul live. Monday we went to see Uncle Paul. Paul lives in a nursing home and Marion lives in an assisted living place. It was quite emotional for my dad to see Uncle Paul as he was very close to him. We believed that he may have recognized dad which was pretty cool. Dad and I decided then to go to Sequoia National Park. I did not realize what kind of roads that I would be driving on and it was pretty scary for me as I am afraid of heights. I did rather well considering how high we were. We didn't get to spend much time there as we had to take our car back to Monterey and have Aimee drive us to San Jose for the night before flying out the next day. We flew out Tuesday morning (July 1) early and had a very uneventful flight home which we both were very thankful for. I said goodbye to dad in Denver and flew to Omaha. The kids were pretty excited to see me, although dad was pretty fun while I was gone.