This month's calendar                         Archives                            Our Google Calendar                   

July 10, 2015

IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July because I sure did! We had the whole family down and we decorated the Captain Bell for the Manzanita parade on Saturday and the weather was perfect. We also got an honorable mention ribbon, the first since we have entered the parade some ten years ago. This is such a tradition with our family and I can remember when the granddaughters were all little ones and now they seem so grown up. Lara and Greg had to leave right after our BBQ as they had another function to attend, but Leslie and Jason stayed until after breakfast on Sunday.

We had Dave's nephew Dean and his wife Brenda surprise us too. They live in Michigan, but Brenda has been interning at Boeing in Seattle for the summer and Dean flew out to be with her for the holiday. They decided to drive down to visit with all of us and pitched a tent in Leanna's front yard and spent the night. It was good to get caught up with what they have been doing and of course fill them in on his mother's condition.

Greg and I shared our birthdays once again this year. After taking everyone to the Pizza Garden for dinner, we came back for cake and ice cream. The kids went together and presented me with a juicer for my birthday. I haven't had a chance to try it out but it will be on my list when I get back from our vacation. I can't wait to try some of the recipes.

Well, the time is getting short as it will be less than a week before we are on our way. I got a notebook and organized all the travel papers by countries so that we will be able to find our hotel, passes, train tickets, etc. in a hurry. I also sat down and wrote a couple of pages for the house-sitter about what to expect while living here for the rest of the summer. Watering my plants and garden is a top priority!

Next will be getting out the suitcases and figuring out what we really need to take with us. Since it has been really hot in Germany and rainy in the UK, I will have to do some creative thinking to try to come up with enough clothes to keep me cool as well as warm and dry! We are taking the laptop along so that I will be able to post my journals, but I won't guarantee that they will be consistent. Instead of every Friday, I'm probably going to have to do these entries whenever we have the opportunity. So look for me more than just once a week! We will also try to post on Facebook, so look for us there as well.

While we everyone was here last weekend, I went into the closet and pulled out boxes and boxes of old photographs. These ranged from old photos of our parents, to a bunch of Lara and Leslie as kids to several of the grandgirls when they were younger. We had a great time looking at them and the grandgirls couldn't believe some of the ones taken when their mothers were their age. We couldn't believe some of them either. Sometimes I wonder what I was thinking when I dressed my girls for picture day! We laughed so much we were crying. It was a lot of fun.

We wrapped up this part of our week on Thursday by heading into Oaks Park in Portland to attend Dave's 55th Benson High School class reunion. There were about 50 classmates that attended. We had a nice BBQ and chatted with a few people that we knew. Some of the guys were asked to bring their "old" cars and as I was walking around I spotted an old familiar 39' Chevy that belonged to an old boyfriend of mine. What a blast from the past! I remember in my younger days riding around in that car and it brought back many memories. It was fun to see Bruce Murray again and get caught up with his life. We were struck by two things - well, other than all the old people who were there. One, how many of his classmates are gone. They had a huge board with the names of those who have passed away. The other thing was how many of his classmates have had or are currently battling cancer. I think we counted on one hand the number of people who have not been fighting cancer. Bruce was one of them, he'll find out Monday whether he'll have chemotherapy or not. Meanwhile, Dave is going to turn around and head back in to town on Friday afternoon as he will be attending a KYXI radio reunion. I decided to stay home from that one, I may never know who I would run into! We decided that the weekend will be devoted to getting ready for our trip. Anyway I am posting this early because I don't know whether I will have time later.

For now, Good Bye, Doeg, Auf Wiedersehen, Bon Voyage, Cheerio, Geannacht, Guidbye!