No Photo Yet - Haircuts

Well, some of you reading know that I have short hair. Sometimes it is really short (Pixie style) other times it is a little longer, enough to flip up the back a bit or scrunch it. Well, today it is short, very very short. Let's see, I would say about 1 1/2 inches on top and about an inch on the sides and about 1 1/2 inches in the back. I truly love it! It is easier to maintain and I don't get hair everywhere. Well, not MY hair anyway! Kaleigh is trying to grow hers out so that when she cuts it it will go to "Locks of Love" and organization that takes hair and makes wigs for children with cancer. It is a great thing she is doing though the hair everywhere is making me nuts! I mean 3 out of 4 people in this family have very short hair, and her hair all over is just yucky. On the floor, on the bathroom counter, and of course in the shower and so on. I will try really hard to let her grow it out, but it is not easy. She has trouble brushing the bottom of her hair and I usually have to do it. It gets horrible tangles and she is constantly saying, "ow!...OW!" whenever I brush it. We are going to try to get some more spray in conditioner, since we are all out. So anyway, we all went (the kids and I) to the hairstylist and I got mine short, Cole got his hair cut for school (has to be over the ears etc), and Kaleigh had hers measured. So far she is at 7 inches from a pony tail top. She needs at least 10 inches to make the "Locks of Love" thing happen. So I will try to keep my sanity for about 4 more months or so. Apparently hair supposedly grows approximately 1/2 inch a month. More so in the summer months. Her hair seems to be growing pretty quickly, but I think this is the last time we attempt this because she is not the type that has superfast growing hair. My hair did not grow that fast either. So around the first of the year we may try again, unless I measure it and it grows faster, then we will do it sooner! Wish us luck in that department! One good thing, at least there is one less payment a month for a haircut. Of course Carl cuts his own. His is about oh 1/8 of an inch all over! Hee hee.

Turtle Bay Exploration Park - Part 2 The Fun Part!

To say that the kids enjoyed this part is an understatement! They really enjoyed this place and we could have probably stayed longer but the time was not bad, we got to see all that we wanted to, without doing things over (not that the kids didn't want to go back and do things again!). The best part for the kids was the Paul Bunyon fun camp. They really enjoyed the water feature that was a flume type thing that they could control the flow of the "river" and make a waterwheel turn and so on...

My favorite part was the bird house where we were able to feed the cockatiels and the parakeets, and of course the butterfly house was cool too. I, of course, got photos of both kids with the parakeets but the butterflies were not doing a lot of landing at the time we were there, maybe too early, not sure. But one of the workers noticed that Kaleigh really wanted to hold a butterfly and she found one to have Kaleigh hold, very nice, don't you think? If you are wondering about the banner behind the kids, in the first photo, that was a new part of the museum that had all sorts of planetary information about planets and stars and how they form and what they are made up of, that sort of thing, not much to do with aliens...weird advertising if you ask me. Maybe there will be more later... who knows. We know that it was a fun time!

The Last Leg of the Journey...Turtle Bay Exploration Park - Part 1

The Sundial Bridge

So since the drive home is sooooo long, we decided to break it up a bit. We stopped in Washington over night, then drove through Oregon and stopped for an hour to have ice cream with the Kiesters, (can't go through there and not!) and then stopped in Redding where when making reservations before we left, I discovered that Redding, CA has a place called, well it's in the title, I don't have to type it again, right? Well, we decided to visit this place and check it out. First stop was the Sundial Bridge, very impressive! The bridge goes over the Sacramento River and is really quite beautiful! Since we got to the park early that was the only thing open so far so that was the first thing we did. Of course in most cases like this the photos really don't do it much justice, the thing was enormous! The kids thought it was pretty cool too!

Tapas - YUM!

Ok, so Carl and I are usually not too adventurous with our choice of foods, but since Connie made the effort to

introduce us to a new place in Kettle Valley called the Tapas, Bar and Grill, we couldn't refuse! We all decided to pick one appetizer or Tapas from the menu. We really ended up all discussing them so we could all try each one. We ended up with this (first photo), from left clockwise (and Connie, don't get mad if I get the name wrong) Pear and brie on flatbread with carmelized onions, the salmon duo, with tarrow root, cranberry and goat cheese on flatbread and a metz platter, with olive tapenade, pesto and chipotle crush. At least that is as close as I can get to a description. All of it was good, but my favorite had to be the cranberry with goat cheese. It was delicious! Omi and Connie and Carl and I all had a taste of everything and we also had creme brulee and apple cheesecake for dessert! Ooooooh that was good too....are you drooling yet?

Fun With the Cousins...

The kids had a really good time with their cousins and were more than happy to hang out with them when we adults went to have a nice dinner and another time when we went for appetizers in Kettle Valley. They played at the park, at Omi and Opa's house and at their house. We even went to the lake beach in the evening and all the kids went in the water except for Kaleigh, who was far too busy making the perfect sand castle! All in all it was a fun time and Kaleigh even got some of Catherine's drawings which by the way, are now hung up in her room as I write this! Thanks for the fun!

The Birthday Girl

Well, as hard as it was with Opa in the hospital, we finally decided after much thought to go ahead with our plans for dinner for Omi's birthday. Omi and Opa had invited their good friends the Kohlgrubers for dinner

and we felt we didn't want to just stay home worrying about Opa, and Opa told Omi to go and have fun and that he would feel bad if we all didn't go to dinner. But wait, the morning before, Saturday that is, Connie and I took Omi to breakfast at the Pheasant and Quail Pub. A favorite of Omi's it has a nice brunch. So we did that on Saturday and on Sunday was the big dinner. Catherine was kind enough to babysit the kids and we all went to the Minstrel Cafe and had a wonderful meal! Some had Salmon, some had steak, it really was yummy! We then came back home to have delicious hazelnut and chocolate cakes! Of course the hazelnut cake was not as good as Opa's but hey, he was in the hospital! So we enjoyed a piece of cake and coffee and good company!

I think Omi enjoyed her birthday, but of course it would have been precious if Opa would have been there too!We did toast him at dinner and missed him at dessert!

Arriving at Omi and Opa's

Well, the visit with Omi and Opa would have been better if Opa had been feeling better! He was doing so well too!

We arrived on the 1st of August and started to visit a little, when Opa said he didn't feel so well. He went upstairs and then Omi went to check on him and he really was feeling poorly and said he wanted to rest. He had a bit of a fever and Omi decided that the next morning she would call the doctor. Well, the next day he was in bed most of the day and got up to eat a couple of times. Then on Friday we decided to go to the lake and rent a speed boat. That way the kids would have fun and Opa could rest quietly. Well, when we arrived home, Omi let us know that Opa was in the hospital. The blood work from that morning's doctor's appointment showed his white blood cell count was again very high. So there he stayed the rest of our time there. Carl and I visited a few times, mostly Omi and I or Connie. He seemed in good spirits and I am really glad I sent along more Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock mags! The kids had fun with their cousins and with Omi, and I think they cheered her up a bit too? More later...

And now the Kiesters!

Well, once we left Craig and Nancy's place, we headed for Tina's place. Kaleigh decided to ride with Tante Tina and I am sure gave her an earful of interesting vacation information?! Who knows. We arrived to check in to the Holiday Inn Express, Roseburg, which was very nice by the way, with a beautiful view of the Umpqua river (that we failed to appreciate until it was light the next morning)! We met the Kiester family for dessert at Denny's and then headed back to the hotel to bed! The next day was very nice! We went to the River Fork Park (sorry if the name is wrong, Tean Bean) and had a picnic and played in the river (where fishies were nipping at our toesies), and had a grand ole time! Then back to the hotel, to meet with Tina and Connor to swim in the indoor pool at the hotel. The kids had a great time! Then we all went out to dinner at Alexander's Greek Cafe where we had really yummy food! Now, I did enjoy the food, but I didn't enjoy the spider falling from the ceiling onto me. Ick! It didn't ruin the evening though, I was quite impressed with myself that I didn't scream and cause a scene! I did get up and Lee killed the ucky thing for me. So that was that, we went back to their house and had delicious Umpqua Ice Cream for dessert! I think for the second time that day, heehee, can't get enough of that ice cream let me tell you! So, all in all a good visit. As Tina and family would say, it was a bit short and we plan to rectify that next year! Thanks for a great time, Kiesters!

OUCH - Get Off!!!

Hee hee, sorry Carl but that is exactly what Trinity seemed to be saying as soon as you got on!

Carl decided (at the insistent urging of his children) to take a ride on Trinity too after the kids were done. I rode too, but you don't have to see me on the horse, I did fine, though I couldn't get Trinity to go more than a few steps. But when Carl tried to get on, the first time the saddle almost slipped off! Well, that was easily fixable, Nancy just tightened it. Now that should have given Trinity a warning that the person getting on was not as light as the others...but no, when Carl got on, she literally had to get herself stabilized! All her legs kind of spread apart a bit, to get a bit more leverage. It was pretty funny to watch... almost like she went "whoa, what was that?" I am not being mean, people, well just a bit, but hey he is my hubby, I can tease a bit : ) Anyway, he managed to get Trinity to move a little, but the poor horse kept trying to come back to let him off!

Next Stop - The Ranch

Our next stop was Oregon. But we didn't head to Tina and the Kiester home first. Well, it was a Kiester home, just not Tina's! We had planned to stop near Medford in the nice little town of Shady Cove to go and see Nancy and her horses! Tina said we might be able to ride a horse or two so we stopped there and the kids were able to ride Trinity, a nice calm horse....well, so calm that she didn't want to move! But the kids had a great time! As you can see "Cowboy Connor" was an old hand at this and he showed Kaleigh and Cole how to do it! They really had a fun time trying to get Trinity to go! The kids did all get on at one time too! We had a really nice visit with Craig and Nancy and we had a very yummy spaghetti dinner there too (except for Cole who had yummy chicken instead)! Thanks again, Nancy for your hospitality!

Onto The Jelly Belly Factory!

After San Francisco, we stopped in Fairfield, about 45 minutes east of S.F. We stayed in a Holiday Inn Express and the next morning we drove bright and early to the Jelly Belly Factory. We did the tour, but since you can't take photos in the actual factory, I took a before the tour photo and an after the tour photo. The kids and Carl and I found it very interesting. It is truly amazing to see a room with over 5 million Jelly Bellies in it!

The place smelled yummy too! They gave out a few samples and we ended up getting a case of Belly Flops (these are Jelly Bellies that are not "perfect", they are either too big, too small or misshapen) They still taste great and they are more than half the price of the normal Jelly Bellies! Just to give you an idea, a small bag of Jelly Bellies cost approx. $5.99 and that is for about 1/2 a pound. Buying a case of Belly Flops (which is 12 2lb bags) is $36.00. Which as some of you "math-in-your-head" types will know is only $3.00 for a 2 lb bag! It really was a great buy and they turned out to be great gifts! The first to benefit was Lee's brother Craig and his wife Nancy! They were kind enough to let us ride a horse at their farm, and they served us dinner as well!

But I am getting ahead of myself, that story is next!

In the Beginning....

Our first stop was a visit with Carl's brother Craig and his family. As you can see by the first photo they are a very cute family! We had a lot of fun in San Francisco with them! Will, (Kaleigh and Cole's youngest cousin) really enjoyed having his cousins there to play with! He especially liked tickling people! The kids also got to go to the park with their dad and their uncle while the mommies got to have some tea and rest and visit awhile! We had yummy chinese food for dinner and the ladies enjoyed a little shopping trip too! The visit was really nice and the weather was wonderfully cool! Thank you to Craig and Lisa for a terrific time!

Almost Ready....

I know you are all waiting for a new post and as soon as Carl gets my photos on this computer from the laptop, I will post something new and exciting! Well, maybe not that exciting but something new anyway!
Ciao for now!