The Steed Family

First Day of School

2011-09-08T11:12:00.000-07:00

Sadly, our summer ended yesterday with the first day of school. We have enjoyed the summer months so immensely that it's really hard to go back, especially since the weather was a blistering 107 degrees!! This year is very special, because Grayson started kindergarten. I still can't believe it. He was up bright and early, and ready to roll by 7am!

It's hard to start school when you don't know a soul in all 4 kinder classes, but Grayson did great! He was confident and attentive, and not surprisingly, the tallest kid by a head!

This is Mrs. Rushton, his teacher. She was highly recommended by several good friends, and we even got to meet her a few days before school started. She's very nice and sweet, and Grayson's initial comment was that he thought she would be bigger.
These other two blondies are headed back to another year at Balboa Magnet (one of the top schools in the state, I might add). Up until the day prior, their hair was a lovely slime green, thanks to all the swimming. A vinegar rinse took it out so they wouldn't frighten the children on the first day, or cause their teachers to think they are "artistic".
Aww, they love each other so much. Grayson may or may not have socked Derek after this photo.
Can you believe she's in the 5th grade????? Me neither. Her outfit of choice: cutoffs, fake Tom's, and some funky shirt she found. She no longer wears a backpack, BTW- she's way too cool.
Derek is all business. 2nd grade is very serious, so you'd better button up your polo all the way- despite your Mom unbuttoning "just the top one" twice, and despite it being 107 degrees. He insisted on this lunch box (aka- mini cooler), as well as three ice blocks. This from the kid who eats next to nothing.

Unfortunately, we couldn't take any pictures in front of the school this year. It's drop and run so I can get Grayson to his school on time.

I'm the only one having a hard time adjusting; after almost 11 years I am kid-free during the day and, so far, I don't like it. I'm sad to have my little Grayson away from me!

Pure Joy

2011-07-14T13:22:00.000-07:00

I have a ton of pictures from the vacation week spent with the family but I have been sick so this is delayed. I promise I will upload my pictures to a web album so you Steeds can have them all. I wanted to at least post these few pictures of all the fun the tire swing had to offer. The kids loved that tire swing!

I tried getting a picture of the kids together and Wes went a tumblin' down the hill! Ooops! I captured part of the fall. I think it turned out to be a funny picture!

A Spring Review

2011-05-24T21:15:00.000-07:00

We started our spring with another year at Giants' spring training. While it rained at home we basked in the sun with temps in the high 70's. We went to seven games and had a great time at Mesa Spirit snowbird RV park. The photo is from a Giant / Dodger game - won by the Giants, of course. We have to rub it in while we can - it may be another 52 years before the Giants are World Series Champions again.

On our way home we visited Aunt Glee in Yuma. We hung out with her and Ecco.

We stopped by Bradfords on the way home from Arizona. I was treated to my birthday dinner and cake. At Family home Evening we played Cut the Cake - the game that is so fun to lose.

Before we knew it Wesley was 1 year old. Erin and Ali joined many others for a fun Birthday Party. Kirk served as grillmaster and Carrie provided delicious cupcakes etc.

The Robot cake was a hit with the Birthday Boy. Looks like he's keeping an eye on those other kids going after his new toys!

Next stop was Colorado. The boys like to help grandma make brownies.

On the first of May Brett blessed and named Gia. This was our group. Kevin, Ali and Erin flew in for the event. We had a great weekend together. It was good to catch up with Edmund and Margarette too. Gia looked fabulous in her blessing dress. (by Margarette)

We drove south to Grover Beach for step #3 of my tooth implant. We ran into this cute little boy with the fresh haircut. We spent a couple of days at Wilson Manor.

Our schedule at home is all about working on the "get ready lists." We are just about done with all of the projects in the house and yard. We are also almost ready to pack up and go. It is hard to believe that we will leave in 46 days.

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T20:32:00.000-07:00

WE LOVE YOU!!

7 years Already?

2011-05-02T21:04:00.000-07:00

We had a great time celebrating Derek's 7th birthday the last three days. We designated it "birthday weekend" and started on Friday afternoon. After three days of various parties/outings/special dinners/treats, and of course about 5 dozen cupcakes, I am officially declaring birthday weekend OVER. But Derek had a great time!

I had a blast decorating not 1, not 2, but almost 5 dozen of these gems. They did come out cute, though!

Sunday evening we celebrated 3 birthdays with friends. Chocolate covered strawberries, the black and white cookie, cupcakes, root beer freezes, and the best rice crispy treats I've ever made rounded out the menu. Sugar high, anyone??
Today I brought more cupcakes to school, where Derek's friends each wrote a cute birthday wish to him and sang, of course. (Note that the only other blonde haired child in the class just happens to be in this picture.)
And opening presents was of course the best part! Derek and Grayson can't wait to try out the new glove and baseballs!

Then finishing the celebration, Derek chose to dine at Claimjumper. It was Carissa's choice, as well, back in February, so it must have made quite an impression!

Happy birthday to my sweet, silly Derek!

Making a Case For Sunblock

2011-03-07T13:56:00.000-08:00

...and hats. For those of us who grew up slathering our skin with baby oil and Crisco, who never wore a hat outside unless it was for a baseball game, and who sunbathed until our skin blistered- here's a reality check. Although it is funny that Lee has another injury, the very scary fact is that his teeny tiny little spot of non-melanoma cancer cells took 5 hours to dig out and stitch up. It was really nasty, too. So- wear your block and for crying out loud- BUY A GOOD FLOPPY HAT!!

My Creation

2011-02-22T20:00:00.000-08:00

On Sunday we had our traditional "Sunday night Birthday Celebration" with our friends, this time celebrating Carissa's 10th birthday. I would have taken pictures of all the fun, but I was a little occupied making pasta dinner for 24 people (yes- 24 people in our tiny house), and I didn't get the camera out until dessert. However, I am extremely pleased with myself and the cake I made. I tried to re-create the Cheesecake Factory's Red Velvet cheesecake. For a first try, I thought it came out really well. It was especially good for breakfast the next morning.

And yes, that is a shoe on the counter next to the cake, placed by Grayson a split second before taking the picture. ( He wanted to go outside, apparently and needed help with his shoes.)

Two layers of homemade form scratch red velvet cake, with a homemade cheesecake in the middle, covered with cream cheese frosting and topped with shaved white chocolate. Delicious!

Christmas Flashback

2011-02-01T21:11:00.000-08:00

I waited to post these pictures from Chistmas until sufficient time had passed. I like to look back at the event and savor the memory. Here is "Uncle Wesowy" with his big cousins in the 2010 PJ's

This crew held still just long enough to pose for a quick shot.

The cast and crew of our Christmas Story - Shepherds, wiseguys, various animals, angels not to mention Joseph, Mary and Jesus.

The Family Party with Clyde and Marion's family - now that was a crowd of kids!

There is nothing like a hot cup of Cocoa as you sit in your snow chair.

What a perfect day for snow play. I am convinced that snow shoeing is the way to see the countryside. Everybody had a good time on this outing.

On the top ten list of things that can't work. #3 Any actual sleeping when this group "sleeps under the Christmas Tree."

It is so quiet around here. We miss all of you. We had a most enjoyable and memorable Christmas. It has never rained so much. We got to help Kirk and Carrie move in to their new house. We set a new league record for consecutive meals with 23 eaters. Believe it or not we have left over bacon!

Mom and Dad

The Best Surprise EVER

2011-01-24T21:00:00.000-08:00

We used to be the only SoCal residents I knew who had not taken their poor deprived children to Disneyland. Thanks to a fabulous co-worker of Lee's, who has an employee pass, we were given the gift of 5 tickets during the last week of vacation. We chose not to tell the kids we were going, which we thought would heighten the excitement. Our plan nearly backfired about 10 minutes out when Carissa, extremely annoyed that we wouldn't divulge our destination, set off a chain of events that resulted in our nearly turning around. However, we restored peace in time, and the kids figured it out just as we reached the parking structure. Someday I will figure out how to post the video. It was priceless.Here we wait for the tram to take us to the park entrance. Note Grayson's scratched face (skateboard accident. saw that coming)
After moving Grayson into near hysterics with Indiana Jones for the first ride, we decided to slow things down a bit with the Jungle Cruise. Same jokes after all these years.
Grayson and I rode the merry go round and Winnie the Pooh while Derek and Carissa opted for Thunder Mountain Railroad.
Thanks to Lee's "dizziness problem" (how convenient), I got to ride the teacups 4 times. Thanks. A lot.
The underground interactive 3-D Bug's Life show at Cali Adventure.
My little daredevils did it all while Grayson and I rode the world's slowest train and bumper cars. Lee of course had no problem with the upside down roller coaster. Hmmmmm.
Hours of fun at Brother Bear obstacle course: netting, rock walls, rope swings, slides and caves.
While the others rode space mountain (again), Grayson and I opted for Autopia.
The Christmas decor was still up on Small World.
Surprisingly, not one of them could finish it. But it kept them busy for a good hour.
11 0'clock, two parks, one day, unending excitement= Pure Exhaustion. But definitely the happiest place on earth for them.

I Have a Dream

2011-01-24T20:39:00.000-08:00

...that every year on MLK day I will be treated to a perfect beach day in January. Thank you Martin, for providing me with this civil liberty: a no traffic ride to the beach with easy parking and perfect weather.
Carissa getting ready to go in.
Grayson doing what he does best after a cold swim.
Lee doing what he does best after playing volleyball with mere amateurs.
Giving us the number of waves she caught.
Just looking cute.

Next up: Cesar Chavez Day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CALEB!

2011-01-21T01:08:00.000-08:00

Our sweet little guy is 2 years old! Can you believe it? Happy Birthday!

A very late Thanksgiving Post

2010-12-15T21:21:00.001-08:00

I know it is almost Christmas, but I just found several pictures from the Thanksgiving that I had completely forgotten about.

Thanksgiving week was quite eventful. First off, the Bradford's rode the train up on Monday to hang out with Caleb (and Grandma and Grandpa too, who arrived later in the afternoon)!

Here comes the train...

It was a joyful reunion, as you can see, not over-dramatized at all...

Safe and sound at the end of the journey.

Later that night we celebrated Sara's birthday. Dad made some of the best salmon I've ever eaten, and we topped it off with some red velvet birthday cake.

Happy Birthday Sara!

Early the next morning, Caleb went in for his extraction.

Getting drugged up..

The last known photo of his tooth

A day later, we parted ways for our separate Thanksgivings (really you guys, we need to plan this out a little better next time). Mom, Dad and the Bradfords had a beachy Thanksgiving in Pismo, and Tyler, Susie and Caleb drove to Visalia and had a full-on redneck celebration at a Gun Club. Actually, it was quite fun, but the downside was that I discovered that I am a horrible shot.

Don't mess with the Wilsons.

And Now back to all things Christmas...

All I want for Christmas is my maxillary central incisor...

2010-12-06T14:10:00.001-08:00

Caleb and Grandpa are looking very similar these days. I think Tyler is trying to give us all a warning...

Timber!!!

2010-12-04T12:14:00.000-08:00

Nosario and Pedro survey the damage after the Oak tree at the corner of the house was cut down. The root was dangerously close to the foundation so the tree had to go. Jeremiah's crew was here for two full days cutting, grinding and schredding. I have three people lined up to take the firewood - which looks to be about three cords.
Jesus did all of the high work - in the bucket if it reached - and he took down the three trees in front of the corner bedroom. The other problem tree was the big Oak that used to have the swing in it. The giant rot hole, a systemic Mistletoe problem and obvious rotted areas on both major upper limbs doomed it. The third tree had been crowded out by the other two so it was both ugly and leaning toward the house at a pretty good angle - so it went too.

After the rotted trunk was down Jeremiah dug out the treasures of the past 37 years including several plastic army men, three rubber or nerf balls, various soda cans, burrito wrappers, unidentifiable metal stuff, a plethora of otter pop wrappers - but no Yellow Cup!

Mark, the stump grinder guy, ground down all of the stumps from trees past so there is no trace of any deforestation.

So, this is what it looks like in front. However, all of the trees, including the Digger Pines, were trimmed for balance, broken limbs from the big snow of last December, dead wood and mistletoe. The place looks good but we will have to do some replanting and pouring of concrete for the corner walkway.

Fist Photo Shoot

2010-12-01T13:58:00.000-08:00

After 12 years of marriage, we decided it was time to actually have a professional photographer take some pics of the family. We did this shoot at Leo Carillo in Malibu and thoroughly enjoyed the day. Lucky for us it was an 80 degree November day. I'm really pleased with how they turned out and wanted to show off my cute kids!

SLO Gran Fondo

2010-10-29T11:21:00.000-07:00

The serial hobbyist strikes again... We all need to give Tyler a big slap on the back for completing the SLO Gran Fondo century (100 Miles!!). I think he deserves extra credit for not dropping out after seeing how good the surf was when he rode by Moonstone Beach.

We showed up at the San Luis Mission just in time to watch him come in. Here he is, with all of the other old dudes in bike shorts (seriously, who is behind the design of some of these shorts??).

"Go Cutters!!!!" (yes, there is meaning behind the name as I discovered lastnight, thank you Dennis Quaid). And check out the diverse local sponsors. I especially like the aptly-placed Gastroenterology sponsor.

Dirty, smelly, and ready for a hot meal.

This little guy enjoyed the bluegrass band after the race. I was just glad that his shoe turned up. Dang velcro...

But back to the old dudes: I think cycling is more of a mature person's sport, simply because it is so time consuming and the equipment is so prohibitively expensive that you kind of have to be an older guy with money to be a part of the snobbery that is road biking (no offense Tyler).

Yay! 100 miles!

A Tribute To San Francisco (and some sweet '78 style)

2010-10-28T23:10:00.000-07:00

Catch the Fever

2010-10-26T13:47:00.000-07:00

HUMMMM - BABY!

The Road Home

2010-10-12T16:44:00.000-07:00

We left the story of our trip back in southern Wisconsin, where Carl won the coveted perpetual green visor trophy on our final evening of Sequence, Yahtzy, Phase Ten and Mexican Train Dominos. Carl and Bobbi went south to I 80 and headed toward home.

We stayed in the fields of Iowa. This soybean field surrounded by corn was at the edge of a cemetery near Anamosa IA.

Some of the old towns looked rather prosperous - others were in bad shape. This sign was in downtown Anamosa. I like the slogan at the bottom of the sign.

Anamosa State Penitentary was a classic from the 1880's

The Warden's house was in the top two floors above the administrative building - right on the front wall of the big house.

Some of the old courthouses are beautiful, such as this one in Clarinda, Page County, Iowa - the birthplace of American trombonist and bandleader Glenn Miller.

We crossed the Missouri River into Nebraska and found the city of Plattsmouth - County Seat of Cass County. The town was another preservation of the late 19th century.

Plattsmouth is, of course, at the confluence of the Platte and Missouri Rivers. It has the best tower on its courthouse of all the courthouse towers I have seen.

We camped outside of Omaha for a couple of days. We spent few hours at the Winter Quarters Visitor's Center. It is located adjacent to the pioneer cemetery in Florence NB where the Mormon pioneers buried the 500 people who died during the 18 months in Florence.

What impressed me most about this place was the fact that after laying out this little city, building over 800 log homes and getting the first three groups ready to cross the plains, they left it all behind and moved back across the Missouri River into Council Bluffs Iowa. We found our relative, Chauncy Loveland, who at age 50 was a member of the "Vanguard Company" led by Brigham Young, listed on a document that was on display in the museum.

We made a long drive across Nebraska to Stirling Colorado. The next morning we drove a short hop into Arvada to stay with Brett, Mireille and the boys. Oh boy, let's help grampa wash the truck!

We went to a local harvest festival. We got to get up close to some rescued birds of prey. This Bald Eagle was from Alaska.

This cute little boy is from Arvada.

Evan and Brady were kind enough to pose for me.

After several days of fun in Arvada we hitched up and departed for Utah. Everything was smooth and easy until we had to drive through this thunderstorm. Now, that is what I call weather!

We were rewarded with the magnificent drive across I 70 through Colorado and Utah. It is one of the most beautiful and unpopulated roads in the country. You've gotta love the West.

We made a couple of long drives: Arvada to Salina UT and Salina to Barstow CA. We dropped the trailer at John Sage's place and continued on to North Hills for a visit with the Bradfords and the team of Susie and Caleb.

On Saturday 10/9 we got to see Carissa and Derek play their soccer games.

The day was very hot.

After church on Sunday we visited with "Uncle Eric." His remodel is in the finishing stages and it is gorgeous! He has removed walls in the old house to make the kitchen and dining area quite spacious. He has done the same in the living room.

When you climb the free-standing spiral staircase from the master bedroom to the deck the view of Palos Verdes and the blue Pacific is fantastic.

We drove the final 400 or so miles of our journey on Monday the 11th, arriving home in time to see the Giant's squeak out a division series victory over the Braves. We traveled 6,569 miles through 13 states and saw stuff we have always wanted to see. We are so fortunate to be able to do this.

On the Road with Ma 'n Pa - II

2010-09-23T15:35:00.000-07:00

While at Bayfield, WI we drove to what seemed like the top of the world. We found Kayakers making the journey to some of the Apostle Is. One guy died two days ago. The swells come up suddenly and can be huge. One Island was closed due to "bear activity."

We shopped at Ehlers - a great general store in the northernmost town in WI.

We sailed with Captain Paul on his 34ft. sloop. It was a lovely day with good wind.

Cap'n Paul let us steer - really.

The area outside of Bayfield was dotted with apple orchards and berry farms.

At the tip of Whitefish Point stands the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. It is small but very well done. One of the displays is this Surfboat used by the Surfmen who rescued thousands - yes thousands - of people from foundering ships and boats in the great lakes. The Boat is a self bailer.

The ship's bell from the Edmund Fitzgerald. The displays of all the shipwrecks were good and the one on the Fitz kinda' the centerpiece.

We moved from Bayfield to Taquamenon Falls State Park. Mom is checking out the upper falls. The water is colored brown from tannin that the rotting trees produce.

Next stop: Sault Ste. Marie. Big ore freighters everywhere. This one was down river - St. Mary's River - from our camp.

The Soo Locks were a kick - very busy.

A Lake ship going into Lake Superior - upbound to the ore processors.

What a great camp. This is from the back of trailer spot at "The Soo."

CClose up of the ore boat and its tender in the previous picture.

On the shore of Lake Huron with the Mackinac Bridge.

The British soldiers (the guard detail) all slept together in this bed back in the day at Michilimackinac Fort.

These Redcoats showed us how to fire a flintlock.

The ride over and back may have been my favorite part of the day on Mackinaw Is. The swells were big and the wind blew hard - made it an "E" ticket ride.

The historic streets are covered with Horse manure so don't ride your bike on a rainy day. Unless you have great fenders you get brown streaks from front and rear tires.

On to Escanaba to visit Peg and Tom. We had a great time over dinner. Tom was down with a bad back but made it downstairs for dinner.

We must have missed the beltway... Hwy 151 runs right up to the State Capitol Bldg. We were on city streets for a long time before we escaped Madison and moved on to our camp.

We are camped in the midst of lovely farms in the town of Keiler, WI. Now it is on to Iowa and our family history days. See you all soon.

September 17th Nature Walk

2010-09-17T11:36:00.000-07:00

We decided that today's report had to be more pictures than words. We took a nature hike this morning and early afternoon. We walked about 8 miles up the Tahquamenon River. It is the opening of bear season so we asked the first hunter we saw if he was out for bear. No, he was hunting for partridges. We saw a lot of evidence that answers the question about what a bear does in the woods but saw no bears. When we walked back into camp our neighbor told us that we missed all of the excitement - a bull moose visited the camp while we were gone. He strolled right down the roadway in front of all the campers and into the river! I was going to title this post - Strolling through the saprophytes.
We saw so many beautiful mushrooms. This one was shaped like a trumpet.

Many of them had delicate designs.

Some of them grew by the dozens on rotting birch trees.

Some were quite delicate and clean looking.

This one had a rich yellow color to it.

These looked like a couple of slices of toast that had popped up out of the downed tree.

This one was a tiny parasol down among the pine needles.

The leaves have also begun to turn so the forest floor and some of the pine branches are dotted with bright fall colors. We hope to find whole forests in Autumn color when we get farther into the woods away from the relative warmth of Lake Gitche Gumee.

We only saw a few critters - ground squirrels, chipmunks, a snake and some birds. This toad stopped long enough for a picture. He was in his best Fall camouflage. We made it back to our campsite feeling pretty lucky to be able to see the north woods.

Trailerin' with Ma and Pa

2010-09-12T14:25:00.000-07:00

Just to review our travels I thought we ought to post a few photos. We'll skip the two days of Nevada and the Utah desert. We had a good visit with Kevin. This is his recording studio er..I mean living room.

We stayed an extra day in SLC. Here we are sitting on Brigham Young's couch. We had a distinct westward movement theme for the first several days. We enjoyed the church history museum at Temple Square as well as our Tabernacle Organ recital.

Does this look familiar? I can't fix it and neither can a Dodge dealership. The right brake light and turn signal for the trailer will not work. Everything else is performing just fine.

Jackson Lake with the Teton Range in the background is such a treasure.

Here is George Armstron Custer's marker. The spot to which they carried his lifeless body OR the place where he fell on "last stand hill."

Did I tell you that it has rained a few times. Especially in North Dakota.

Medora, the little city right next to Theodore Roosevelt NP featured all kinds of action including this gunfight. The Finnigan gang was dispatched by the good guys while we watched.

This is the fancy dining room on the ore ship that we toured. US Steel spared no expense back in the day when steel was king.

Duluth was a very pleasant surprise for us. Here is the big lift bridge at 135 feet over the water as a medium sized ship passes into Lake Superior.

Rocky Point on Madeline Island, Wisconsin. This is the turn around point on our 17 mile bike ride. The woods and coastline around the lake is just beautiful.

We saw another car like this one which was for sale, if you can believe it. The sign said, "Think ice road." We are here at the end of the season. Everyone is getting ready for "freeze up."

We will send installment II when we get a couple more weeks under our belts.

Zonked

2010-08-22T13:38:00.000-07:00

Ahh, industrial carpet never felt sooo good...

Cats in a Wall Perform at Muse Music

2010-08-15T01:45:00.000-07:00

So! Here is a little update on my band "Cats in a Wall" We played an open mic night a few months ago after which the man in charge told us to bring a demo cd because he "dug" our sound. He said it reminded him of his old band...Abby somthing....Abbynormal! So we didn't and instead played open mic night again last monday where the other guy in charge asked us if we wanted to play an acoustic show that coming thursday. So we Agreed even though it meant missing the FREE Matisyahu concert in salt lake. So suffice to say that we played, we rocked, and we basked in the warm glowing warming glow of the loving audience! So here are a few pics and maybe a video!

Neil Young (aka Jimmy Fallon) and the Double Rainbow

2010-07-31T18:38:00.001-07:00

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Wrights Lake 2010

2010-07-30T01:09:00.000-07:00

Kirk, Wesley and I only stayed at Wrights Lake for one night but it was so much fun. Here are a few of the pictures Kirk took...

Way back by the tree line Carissa is on the paddle board with Ben.

The First of Many

2010-07-08T16:20:00.000-07:00

We were able to take the first of many "Wes and Ella" pictures at the Summer Spectacular Fireworks party last Saturday.

Aren't these two adorable?!? (You too, Kirk and Melissa!)

More Kinder Stuff

2010-06-16T15:18:00.000-07:00

Good Bye Mrs. Navajas (full time assistant)! "I joost lub Dedek. He ees soo cute!"
Good bye Mrs. Blakley, best kindergarten teacher in the entire world!!Derek's Young Author presentation in front of a 2nd grade class. He was trying not to smile in front of everyone.

The amazing scrapbooks put painstakingly together by Mrs. Navajas and other parents. What an amazing year he had!

Adios Kindergarten(that's irish for Good-bye)

2010-06-16T14:42:00.000-07:00

Derek's end of the year program was last week and totally cute!! Their theme was "Be Our Guest", hence the chef attire. They sang some songs, did some dances, and allowed the parents a moment of adoration and picture/video taking. I'm really, really, really glad they didn't don caps and gowns for and call it "graduation".
Then it was back to the kinder yard for a feast of finger foods! Here is Derek and Jimmy (don't call him Ho), Alex and Eric.

Great Day for a Hike

2010-06-04T23:17:00.000-07:00

On Memorial Day, we met up with the Baileys and went on a beautiful hike along Gerle Loop Trail.

We stopped at a picnic table and ate lunch while Ben explored the area.

The kids did a great job. Wesley was a little champ and slept in the Moby wrap the whole hike (except lunch).

Ben was the ever enthusiastic explorer.

Paige enjoyed the hike up until about lunch time.

Before lunch:

After lunch (notice her feather bouquet):

It was so much fun to get out on the trail and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Afterward, we all headed to Mom and Dad's house for a delicious rib dinner. Yum! It was a perfect Memorial Day!

Remodel Done!

2010-05-30T10:07:00.001-07:00

Not bad, eh? Mom did a great job making new cusions out of the old ones. We kept most of our seating and gained a good deal of floorspace.

The other need was counter top prep area. The raised cabinet at left gives us a good prep area and added shelf and storage space as you can see below.

We also added storage in the tomb bedroom.

Last but not least - more storage. This is for CD's and DVD's.

We are ready to go and try out all of this new stuff.

Dad

6 years Already???

2010-05-11T19:54:00.000-07:00

We had a birthday boy on May 2! Derek was so excited to wear the special crown and bring cupcakes for his classmates, even though it was a couple of days before the big event. This is Jimmy, who is Derek's best buddy at school. His Mom told me that before they became BFF's, Jimmy would cry almost every day. But now he looks forward to seeing Derek. From what I gather, their relationship is based primarily on Pokemon.
Part of the kindergarten posse.
On Saturday, for his birthday activity, Derek chose to go to the park for "...baseball, hiking, and climbing trees."

Then it was onto Islands for his choice of birthday dinner. He chose an adult-size cheeseburger with a basket of fries and bottomless Sprite. And yes, he polished it all off.
On Sunday, for his actual birthday, we enjoyed cake and ice cream with friends. He decorated the cake and enjoyed all the attention very much!

Turning 6 was never so much fun!!

And This Makes 5

2010-05-11T19:42:00.000-07:00

Broken windows, that is. A fly-killing fist, a golf club, a flying spoon, a hammer (I accidentally hit the window with a hammer!), and now a wild softball pitch have all given Lee a new skill to add to his handyman business card: Window Pane Installation and Glazing. The only repeat offender? Grayson, of course (flying spoon and hammer).
When questioned as to what occurred, Carissa replied that she was using the front brick flower bed as a target for her pitching practice. Hmmmm. "Did you consider that a mere 2 feet above the planter are many glass windows?" (Dumb question, of course she didn't.) Luckily, glass is cheap, and Lee is a pro now. But note to self- lock up all softballs, golf clubs, baseball bats, hammers, spoons, and don't punch flies out if they're on a window.

S†rawberry Pickin'

2010-05-11T19:30:00.000-07:00

We have been to this farm to pick strawberries many times now, and it just never gets old! The tractor ride out to the fields is always fun, and I personally like how all the tractor drivers are young-ish girls who can pull these massive wagons into tiny little spaces! Grayson and James, his BFF at class, enjoyed it, too!
But the best part about picking strawberries here, besides the delicious berries we take home, is that you can eat as many as you want while you're picking them. For Grayson, that means one in the basket and 3 in the mouth.
Or he just sat down in the rows and chowed.
Unfortunately, Grayson's entire basket of strawberries (except for 3) was consumed during the tractor ride back to the main farm- about a 3-5 minute ride. However, mine survived, and we all enjoyed delicious berries with dinner. Now I'm ready for cherry season!

Wassup Roof!?

2010-05-10T20:11:00.000-07:00

Kevin had all sorts of altruistic dreams when he agreed to come down on his 2 weeks off and help us roof. On the first day he was ready to go! Wearing his roofing uniform of WHITE shirt, strategically placed bandanas, sweet shades, and of course that enthusiastic attitude, Kevin seemed ready to conquer the whole roof.Well, that's before the roof smacked him around a little bit.

But still he smiles! All that hard work left 3 grown men half-dead, but in the end, it was Kevin who dominated the roof. ( And apparently he also got a side job as a chimney sweep.)
This is a 40 yard bin, picked clean of metal by the sundry drive-by Mexicans, yet which still weighed 8 tons. That's 16000lbs people! And I personally shoveled a whole lotta that. (The guys at the roofing place thought I was joking when I told them. )
Thanks Kev, Dad, and Mom. Once again, you've saved the day!

Uncle Kevy!!!

2010-05-09T16:46:00.000-07:00

During the last few weeks, we had a special visitor at our house - Uncle Kevy! Caleb was pretty frightened of Kevin when we picked him up from the train station, but once we got home, it didn't take long for him to consider Kev his new best friend with full block privileges. We all had a ton of fun together, and we were sad to see Uncle Kevy go. Seriously, I loved having him here.

We had the camera on hand for a few of our little outings.. but certainly not all of them!

On one of them, we met at Spyglass in Shell Beach - Kev and Tyler paddled there, I hiked with Caleb down to the beach. It was a beeeeeeutiful day. I even switched with Tyler for a bit (first time since October...) and caught a few. Caleb played in the rocks and taste-tested pretty much all of them.

Kev tried out Tyler's SUP several times throughout his stay. He picked it up pretty fast, which is commendable, because it is not as easy as it looks.

Up and paddling

Later in the week, we took a hike out to the Pirates Cove cave, just south of Avila. Another beautiful day. Caleb fell asleep of course.

A very pretty trail.

Looking through the cave at Kevin.

Don't FALL!

Susie and little Cable

"Wait a sec, is that a pair of saggy, leathery buns?"

Alas, it was. Beautiful secluded cove + sunny day = naturists

We hit up Doc Burnstein's afterwards. Actually, it was strictly business - we had to do a taste test comparison to the SLO-Maid ice cream that we had at Avila Barn a few days prior. Kev votes for DB's, while I prefer SLO-Maid.

Kevin conquers the impossible.

Caleb waits patiently like a good little boy with his arms folded (haaa!!! I love this picture). This little person LOOOOOOOVES ice cream. And cookies.

What a lucky duck.

Towards the end of Kev's stay, we hung out at the beach closest to our house (5 mins walking), which, oddly enough, I actually don't frequent much with Caleb for beachy-play (He's usually strapped in a jogger, poor kid). He loved playing in the little sand dunes, so I think I'm definitely going bring him back.

Kevin and Caleb

Kev, in vacation mode. Chillaxin.

Me, in mommy mode, full sprint. The days of sunbathing are over.

Caleb, digging.

And digging. And probably eating something..

"Come back Kevin! I'll be your best friend!"

No really, come back! And everyone else needs to come too!

Trailer Remodel Project

2010-04-29T11:52:00.000-07:00

We wanted a little more floor space in the trailer so we tore out the small dinette. I rebuilt it into a couch with storage space underneath. I used the old panels and frames so it matches nicely.

We lost a little storage but not much. The seat bases still flip up to access the storage space.

The floor space that we gained is 18" x 73" - it opened up that really cramped area in front of the refridgerator and closet.

We thought about not having the bed but after the last trip we realized that kids still like to stay over with Gramma and Grampa. The legs screw into the bed support. The plywood support flips back and sits on top of the seat panels.

Presto - change-o - it is a 41" x 73" bed.

We are going to re-sew and re-cut the cusions to fit but you can see how it will be set up. We also cut down the panel that is the back of the storage cabinet. I will trim the front edge with a piece of white Oak and we will have a soft fabric trim on the top edge. Once the extra holes are filled and the trim is painted I think it will look like it was the original design.

Oh yeah, we found a 2' x 4' plastic fold out table that can be set up in front of the couch for extra eaters. The old table was such a good table that I am adding fold out legs so it can be used outside for incidental stuff. We are adding a couple more storage places on the walls (for CD's by the player and more bedroom storage in the tomb) I will send a final picture when we do the last couple of steps.

Finishing the roof

2010-04-28T19:27:00.000-07:00

We worked long days on Monday and Tuesday to get the roof down. Everybody worked on the various phases of tear down, rebuild, painting stuff, laying felt, measuring, cutting, and finally nailing those little fellers in place. (let's not forget keeping the kids busy, preparing meals and throwing the gator aide bottles up to the sweaty roofers)

Lee setting up the ridge

Kevin the nail master shooting away. Thank goodness Tuesday was a relatively cool day. We were able to work pretty fast from about 7:30 AM until 8:00 PM to get 'er done.

Final steps of nailing the ridge caps on. Lee and Kerry holding the snap line in place while Kevin sets the ridge. Derek climbed up to assist grandpa. Notice the clouds rolling in. We finished the roof, cleaned up the tools and "tarped" what had to be stored outside just a few minutes before the rainstorm hit. Perfect timing!

This view from the back shortly before we left this morning shows off all of the hard work. Kev took the train to Grover Beach. Kerry and Shanna drove back to P'ville and Lee, Sara and family returned to a normal schedule without the hum of the compressor, the impact of the nail gun and the whine of the saws.

On the Road Again

2010-04-25T20:51:00.000-07:00

The night before we left we hosted an amazing fireside with Denis Winn. Here he and Ila are with Dad and a five dollar bracket which cost the gov't about $2million in transportation and research costs as part of the international space station. Google "Electric Universe" to read some of the stuff Denis talked about.

We stopped in Salt Lake City and had a brief visit with Rachel and baby Gabriel at their cute condo in the city

In Provo later that day, we spent a little time with Kevin and his girlfriend Daydre.

The Peays were gracious hosts for one night in Provo. Lisa makes the most amazing chocolate chip cookies! Jonny posed with us for a parting shot.

On to the Bradfords for fun in North Hills. Can you believe how big these darling kids are?

Up on the roof with a big problem----the air conditioning unit. Down on the ground, everyone helped!

More fun with the air conditioner. Lee, Kevin and Scott worked from morning til dark and finally conquered.

Below is a close up of the multiple layers of tar and shingles that had to be dug out and scraped off the big AC unit flashing. (That is 56 years of re-roofing!) It took hours of intense chiseling and scraping. We sharpened the chisels over and over. Finally we could begin putting the roof on.

The workers hustled shingles until dark each night - thank goodness for air-nailers.

Kevin spent a good portion of the afternoon IN the attic helping to reposition the AC unit. Between that duty and scraping tar he was a sight at the end of the evening.

In the morning what could be more fun than snuggling in Grandma's bed!

Finished Product - The Garage came out very nice and the house will soon be finished. With the AC problem fixed, and all of the new shiplap painted nailed in place and the edge moulding set the rest of the project should go pretty fast.

Photos of Wesley

2010-04-11T18:09:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, a whole bunch of photos of Wesley! The oldest ones are on the bottom and the newest ones are on the top. Enjoy!

Baby Boy Steed

2010-04-10T16:06:00.001-07:00

The long night waiting------Kirk, Ellen Beatty, Molly Beatty and Shanna were there to cheer on Carrie.

At 7:03 AM, weighing 8 lbs 6 oz and 20 1/2 inches long, the precious little boy arrived.

Congratulations Carrie and Kirk!

California Coastal Camping Capers

2010-04-01T13:03:00.001-07:00

We camped at New Brighton State Beach from March 21 thru 26th. We got in our bike rides and walks on the beach. The background to the beach picture is Seacliff State Beach, where you can park your RV right next to the beach. We explored both Captola and Santa Cruz. We went to a movie and shopped in SC. Capitola is ritzy-quaint. I worked for Pearson for two full days in the Scott's Valley to Watsonville area and also in Salinas, Carmel and Monterey.

This is an old state park so the campsites are isolated from each other. We were in among the Eucalyptus trees. The nights were cool but the days were quite warm.

On Friday the 26th we rolled out of New Brighton and headed south. Our drive was about 75 miles, so we had plenty of time to stop along Highway One to take in the view. This is a tough drive to beat for drop dead gorgeous scenery or winding roads with shear drop-offs.

How did we miss Pfieffer Big Sur all of these years?? The place is spectacular - nestled among the coastal Redwood trees. Our camp was next to one of the many creeks that feed the Big Sur River. We settled in and then looked more closely. We were camped in the middle of a Poison Oak forest!

This is the view from the back of our trailer site. The entire meadow was encircled by P.O. I was standing there admiring the shiny, oily leaves when a fellow camper - in shorts - went charging into the brush to retrieve a Frisbee. I ran over to warn him - turned out he was from England and had no idea about the itch, the festering, running sores or the way it just hangs on and won't go away. (Did I overdo it with my warning?) I told him to scrub in the shower and bag up his clothes.

Susie, Tyler and Caleb arrived later that night just in time for dinner. Next morning we explored the camp and then took off for Andrew Molera State Park just up the coast a few miles.

Reaching the beach included a cold walk across the rocks of a little river. Susie is just entering the deeper water near the beach. Mom and I didn't have water shoes but do have tender old feet so we complained but no one else seemed to mind the ford.

Once we were on the beach we had our own little cove to play in.

The boys explored the rocky beach and watched the surfers at fairly close range.

There were only two or three surfers out at a time all afternoon.

Besides the blue Pacific in front of us the Spring grasses on the Coast Range made a spectacular background for our lunch on the beach. We went back to camp to await the arrival of Sara, Lee et. al. and the Bailey clan but nobody showed. Sara and Lee lost a day with a pair (not just one -but a pair) of flat tires. They arrived just about at sunset on Saturday. Ali and Jeremiah came in a couple hours later. Susie and Tyler said a quick "Hi and G'by" before going home.

The big group activity on the 28th was a bike ride. Two other families from SoCal were also in camp by now - so we had quite a bunch of kids on bikes.

The campfire included woofums and smores until you couldn't take another bite.

The Bailey's keeping warm and well fed around the fire.

What would camping with grandma be without a full on cooked breakfast in the trailer? We discovered precooked bacon this trip - I recommend it for groups of two or more.

Outside the men took care of the pancake griddle.

Just across Highway One is a federally operated beach on an unmarked road. It was beautiful and wild with eroded rock formations through which the waves crashed. It had broad sand beaches with a purple hue to them. A great place to relax.

Or strip down to your skivies and run wild...

or pose infront of the hole in the wall of rock to wait for a wave that fills the entire hole...

Mom and I took off to get a last look at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Beach.

This little cove offers one of the most idyllic views on the entire coastline. This little cove is a California treasure.

Everybody was exhausted when we met back at camp but after a great burrito bar we kept out of the rain by playing games. Actually, Shanna is teaching the kids how to bet a straight flush without scaring off all the suckers.

We finished our 22nd trip in the "new" trailer. We were on the road for 36 wonderful days. It sounds like a long time but as always when you are having a good time - it flew by.

On the Road with Ma and Pa

2010-03-21T10:33:00.000-07:00

So, it took us two days to get almost to LA. We celebrated Carissa's ninth birthday with the Bradfords (including Pam)

We spent a day at Joshua Tree NP. Lots of big boulders and Joshua Trees (named by early Mormon settlers)

On to Yuma where we spent two days with Aunt Glee Sage. Here we are at the Hell Hole of The West - the old Arizona Territorial Prison. Movie makers lowered this doorway to make their leading men look tall in numerous films shot on site.

On to Mesa for the Cactus League baseball games. We went to seven games in all. Like everything else the stadiums are cut right out of the desert landscape.

We did other stuff too - like visit a ghost town from the gold rush of 1893 just outside of Apache Junction.

Our wonderful RV park - Mesa Spirit - was just three miles from the Mesa Temple and surprise...a regional Family History Center. The temple is beautiful inside and out. Bonus of the trip was Shanna finding seven generations of Carl's Fickle line. He was stoked.

Don't laugh - The Snowbirds are very organized. They even had a parade to celebrate their season in the sun. Note the Canadian flag. The park was about half Canadians, followed by Americans from all of those cold northern tier states.

Okay - on to the games. We were not the only celebs in attendance. Costas got to see the Giants beat the hated Dodgers in an extra inning walk-off victory. So what if doesn't count for anything - a victory is a victory.

Not all of the action was on the field. Bobbi and I dominated Mom and Carl in some spirited miniature golf games. Okay, we won some of the time.

Our seats were so close that we could see and hear everybody. Here is Pablo Sandoval who hit like crazy and fielded like an all-star. He is lighter this year - down to 250!

Nothing like a foot-long hot dog at the old ballpark. We rated the dogs at various parks and found them all to be pretty good.

We left Arizona on 3/19 and made great time to Palm Springs. Then we zoomed all the way to Paso Robles for Kerry's birthday on the 20th. Guess who we found at the beach? We spent an afternoon with Suze, Tyler and Caleb before getting ready for our run up to Santa Cruz.

Carrie's Shower

2010-03-15T10:23:00.000-07:00

Carrie's baby shower was on Saturday and it was wonderful! The Beatty girls really know how to throw a shower - the food, the cake, the treats - it was all amazing!

Check out this spread. I'm glad I came hungry because this food was delicious. Sooo tasty. Everything tasted so fresh and so yummy.

The chocolate on chocolate cake that Allison made was SO good. The polka dots were adorable too!

Cute little baby boy clothes on the line...

Carrie is looking good, isn't she? I can't believe she has less than four weeks - FOUR WEEKS!

Kirk even got his own present at the shower. Yes, it's a murse (man-purse) but the cool thing is that Carrie's sister Mary had it screen printed with "Them Crooked Vultures" (Kirk's fave band). Pretty cool, eh?

Carrie opens the present from the Steed girls - what a surprise - an Ergo Baby Carrier! (She knew it was coming, but played it off well...)

I wish everyone could have come and enjoyed the shower - it was a lovely day! I can't wait for little Albert Magnus Franklin Walter Steed to make his appearance!

Satan's Cesspool

2010-03-09T08:47:00.000-08:00

Summer 1998 - High Water

This is the picture that comes after the one Susie posted. We were both laughing hysterically, or overjoyed by the fact that it wasn't us who took a dip!

Mrs Bailey, It's your Birthday!

2010-03-04T11:09:00.000-08:00

It's your birthday sis! Thismorning, I started going through my old pictures (and letters...) and I realized that even as much as we clashed (nice word for fought) growing up, there is and always was an irreplaceable bond - a closeness and an understanding that resulted, simply, by being so close in age, sharing a room, sharing friends, and sharing experiences (and spending LOTS of time sitting on the hearth "working out our differences"). You were always a few steps ahead of me - 8th grade to my 6th, Varsity to my JV, top bunk to my bottom bunk, driver seat to my passenger seat. I wailed like a professional mourner when your hamster Twinkle died, and you stood sentinel at my parakeet's funeral in the front yard. Maybe we could have been closer or nicer to eachother - I could have chosen NOT to cut your purple 8th birthday dress with scissors in a fit of jealousy, and maybe you could have chosen NOT to write mean things on the slats of our bunk bed where I would see them every night... but then what would we have to laugh about? Ultimately, I think that is what we've carried forward - the things that were and are so dang funny, and the moments of shared childhood glee and freedom. I'm so glad that those moments were ours, and so grateful for you as my sister.

You & me a long time ago.

At the WTC on our trip to New York in 1996, just us. Remember what mom told us about walking around in the Bronx? "Cover up your blonde hair! It's a Coooooooooooooold wind that blows down Fordham Road...." Yeah, yeah, ok mom...

At the Met on the same trip, right before Sara abandoned us to go to crew practice.

You and your blue nail polish

Hangin out with Amy at Foster's Freeze

Enduring I mean Enjoying another caroling party... (looks like our fellow carolers are having as much fun as us).

Remember when we took the 10' NRS down the SoFo at 9,000 cfs, and they made that obnoxious kid come with us? We weren't really experienced..and a little scared as I remember, but I totally trusted you. Definitely a lot more than the moron who was with us who guided us into the trees above Barking Dog. I guess he got it back when I accidentally pushed him out at Satan's (photo evidence above). oops.

Ali & Paigey girl

In the subway tunnel beneath downtown L.A., when you guys visited me at work! Ben is in utero.

Ali & brand new Ben (I guess he does look a bit larval)

A winning team!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Corner Kitchen!

2010-02-24T21:06:00.000-08:00

Mom, Susie, Caleb, Ben and I made the trek up to Main Street Georgetown to enjoy the simple, yet tasty breakfast at The Corner Kitchen. It was good! Ben REALLY enjoyed all the meat products, especially.

It really wasn't that busy - we did come about 10 am - so we don't have any good riff-raff stories to tell, but trust me - anything is possible in Georgetown!

It seats 24 people, and the highlight is getting to watch your breakfast being made right behind the counter. (That's the cook right there...)

Caleb was adorable, as usual.

It's always fun to make our way up to G-town. Thanks Mom and Suze!

Caleb Turns ONE!!!

2010-01-29T10:27:00.000-08:00

Caleb celebrated his first birthday on January 21st, but we waited until Saturday to have the official One-Year Birthday party with Grandma and Grandpa Wilson.

We started off with a few presents...

And lots of balloons..

Then it was cake time (yes, I'm aware that I screwed up the "1").

He wasn't quite sure about what to do with his slice of cake at first. He squeezed it and eventually tasted it, and when he realized that it was frosted with whipped cream, he really went for it.

The blueberries were a little sour though.

Once the cake was mostly destroyed, we put a scoop of strawberry ice cream on the tray, and he REALLY loved that.

And then threw it on the floor.

All in all, a good birthday!!!

I also put together a little video, mostly for my own enjoyment, with snippets of our first moments together and his first two days of life (in the hospital), to remember the special day a year ago that we became a family. He was definitely the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, and he still is.

Happy birthday, little one!

So, you just push a button?

2010-01-12T21:27:00.001-08:00

Wow, I can lift it with one finger - and the rollers don't come out of the track either!

Mike, the garage door guy, was impressed with what cat pee can do to a heavy steel garage door. Now, with all of the cats "out of the way" this new door will stand a chance of survival. Mike had the old one out and the new one installed in a couple of hours.

Then it was my turn.

I read the novel --er, instruction book and spread out the parts for the wonderful new opener. Mom and I worked together to get the motor and chain drive up before she left for the F. H. library. Then I ran the wires and put the garage back together. It all works! Push the button - door goes up - push the button - door goes down.

Evening view from the inside

Scenic view of the 3/4 hp drive motor

It is raining like crazy tonight but you will notice that we got the wide panel model. Tomorrow I am installing new wiring for the motor and several 4 ft. garage lights.

What a great gift - Thank you to all of you!

Pismo Beach in January

2010-01-12T20:18:00.000-08:00

Yes, it really was beach weather. Shorts, swim suits and playing on the beach were the order of the day. Sara, Lee and family, The Bartons and Kerry and Shanna decided that Jan. 4 - 8 looked good for a little camping just down the street from Susie, Tyler and Caleb's house. This was a week that reminded all of us why we live in California. We had the beach mostly to ourselves and enjoyed warm sunny weather every day. We rode bikes, walked, saw the Elephant Seals, stayed up late and got up whenever the kids decided that it was time to get up!

Sand Castles

Carissa in her "Steed-wear"

What is it about jumping off sand dunes? All ages love it. Grayson demos the correct technique.

We had glorious sunsets.

Oooooo..Ahhhhhh!

Life in camp around the Bradford tent trailer is always fun.

I had to "pinkie swear" not to show anyone the secret entrance to Derek's hideout. He is up in the lookout tree.

Caleb has the fastest and most efficient crab-crawl that I have ever seen!

While the others are off to the beach I am headed for all the private schools that I could find between Paso Robles and Orcutt. I worked a day and one half.

Running on the beach !?*

Tyler introduced us to two new campfire activites. First, we learned (but didn't do very well at) the number game "Big Booty." Then he told us about "woffums" and Scott made woffum toasters out of pieces of dowling about two inches long attached to 1/8th inch wire. We wrapped canned biscuit dough over the end of the dowl and roasted it over the hot coals. Then we filled the middle of our woffum with butter, jam, cream, pudding, sugar and cinnamon. The name is well earned - we woffed 'em as quickly as they were baked! They were the hit of the week along with the Barton's new over-the-fire popcorn popper.

Everybody except Kerry and Shanna left on Saturday so we retreated to Susie and Tyler's. We had a wonderful time on Saturday and took care of Caleb so S and T could go out Saturday night. We attended Pismo Beach Ward on Sunday (good, strong Ward!) and were treated to one of Susie's specialty dinners on Sunday night. We made the drive home on Monday just in time for a special appointment on Tuesday.

3 Buddies

2010-01-04T10:37:00.000-08:00

Wade, Caleb, and Max. Three little buddies, hanging out on New Year's Day.

So Long, Christmas Tree

2010-01-03T22:38:00.001-08:00

I came to the conclusion recently that the saddest day of the year is the day that the Christmas decorations get taken down and put away, and the tree - which was so so carefully pruned, lit, and ornamented at the beginning of December - gets dumped outside like trash in January. That's why we decided to give our tree the thrilling, fiery end it deserved.

Lovely Leo (Carillo, that is)

2009-12-21T11:00:00.000-08:00

In honor of Lee's birthday, and as a kickoff to Christmas vacation, we took off after church and went to Leo Carillo yesterday for a quick camping trip. We decided to go sans trailer in the name of simplicity and also to show the kids how to set up a tent. There were a handful of other campers there, but we mostly had the place to ourselves.

Across the PCH there are tidepools, caves, tunnels and beach. It is just north of the Ventura County line and a favorite spot.

There was an amazing sunset and unfortunately, our camera just doesn't do it justice, but it was radiant.

We cooked old school style with the outside stove and lots of canned things, but it was delicious! We even made stovetop popcorn!

Now it's time for Lee's big celebration!

Snowy Christmastime

2009-12-08T17:18:00.000-08:00

We made it through night one of the deep freeze - it was only 24 degrees. Lisa and Emily Steed on the other hand are snowed in and Greg can't get home. They have over two feet of snow and the old neighbor with the snowplough died last spring! Lisa says she is fine but lonely.

Tonight is our last very cold night for this storm. Only one person on the block had a freeze break in a water line but several had frozen lines that cut off their water supply for the early morning hours. I love it when the street is covered with snow and the traffic lanes overlap.

Mom is hard at work getting stuff ready for the big ward dinner on Friday. Somehow the Christmas lights look better with all of the snow on the roof and the ground.

I snapped this photo just after six pm and it was already below thirty degrees. I almost went down on my keester when I slipped on the ice as I picked my way down the driveway. This one looks cool enlarged. Tonight it is hard to imagine the summer heatwave that we shared back in July. I hope everyone is staying warm.

Fireworks and Snowfall

2009-12-07T17:47:00.000-08:00

We joked about the weather service never getting it right when they predict a big storm but this time they were right on the money. We got about ten inches of wet snow on Monday morning.

Branches began snapping and falling on the house at about 4 AM. We lost our electric power at 4:45. By that time Shanna and I were on the couch in the great room. We were sure that a limb was going to come into our bedroom. We watched the flashes of brilliant blue light as trees fell all around the neighborhood blowing up transformers. I have never seen so many trees down on power lines - even more than in that storm in 1988.

Wouldn't the grandkids have fun on this swing. Great snowball snow, too! No school so many kids out in the snow. I saw one snowman that was at least eight feet tall!

Some of the carnage from the heavy snow on the Live Oak trees. In all we lost about ten major branches but without any damage to the house or electrical service. Kathy Beavers lost a large Live Oak which fell across her power hook up leaving her blocked in her yard without any power. Jeremiah to the rescue! He cut a path through the downed tree and then flattened out the snow so she could get her car out. She went to stay with Lisa.

Didn't move the Dodge all day and with a low of 20 predicted for tonight she may sit in her spot for another day or two. Many cars over the side of the little roads on this ice and snow. It would have been fun to have this storm when the family was all here but only for about five hours. We now have our power back and are ready for the next round.

Until 13.1 Do we Part...

2009-11-11T10:17:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday, we extracted ourselves from bed at 5:30 am and reluctantly made our way to Santa Barbara for a race neither of us wanted to run, and for which neither of us had really prepared (unless a lot of surfing and baby-lifting counts...). Ultimately, we decided to suck it up and get it over with, and at least get the t-shirt we paid for.

Sara was the hero of the day. She met us at the race to watch Caleb while we ran. Of course, she was early, and we were late (would you expect anything less?). Caleb was in fine form though, spreading sunshine and cuteness to all within his presence.

I admit that it was a fine day to run; the weather was perfect, and the scenery was (is) some of the best in all of coastal California. But that didn't change the fact that we both felt like crap the whole way.

Tyler and I reached new levels of cheesiness, staying together throughout the race, and holding hands across the finish line. Half-marathon finish time: 1h 46min.

Unfortunately, the t-shirt wasn't all that cool. Maybe we should have slept in after all. Oh well.

Caleb finally got some food when we were done. Look at this big bite!

After the race, we headed down to Montecito for some lunch at a favorite spot - The Montecito Cafe. Before we headed in, I was having a good laugh with Sara about our frequent run-ins with Dennis Franz in Santa Barbara. Tyler always saw him when he worked at the SB Airport, and we saw him the last time we ate lunch at this place.

Who should drive up not 5 minutes later? You guessed it - Dennis Franz. He came in and had lunch with his wife.

Pre-Halloween Party at Nickelodeon Studios

2009-10-31T11:57:00.001-07:00

Friday night was the annual Nickelodeon Halloween Party in Burbank. Our good friend, Ashley, is a producer there, and provided us with tickets again! Here was our clan, which everyone thought was one family, all offspring from me! You cannot believe the looks we got. The fun started with tons o'food. Cotton candy, candy apple station, sliders, hot dogs, fries, pizza, etc. MMmmmmm. Junk food.Here's Ashley, enjoying her last day of work before she has twin girls in a couple of weeks. There was also cookie decorating, crafts, and pumpkin decorating.

Then we visited each department in Nickelodeon to trick-or-treat. They were amazing! Each department (i.e. Sponge Bob, Dora, etc.) decorated their hallways into spook alleys. THey were pretty cool, but the kids were much more interested in the candy.This is the Sponge Bob underwater dance party balloon stomp.And here the kids are digging candy out of a huge nose.This was some show, which they 3-D animated around a campfire. Grayson liked it! ANd then it was time to leave. Now we get to do it all over again tonight!

Fall at the Bradfords

2009-10-31T11:20:00.000-07:00

DISCLAIMER: Recently an unnamed member of our family dropped my camera, destroying the lens, so a friend offered to lend me her old camera until I can replace mine. Thus, the quality of these pictures is not the greatest.

So here is what Fall means to us in the lovely SFV (San Fernando Valley for the non-Angeleons out there). First, it means soccer. Our lush, green city fields offer the perfect playing surface for our children, who are forever grateful for the ever increasing city taxes which serve to keep all our public facilities kept up so beautifully. Where are we, Afghanistan???
Carissa is on the U-10 "Cotton Candy" this year, and has a great team! She is the "frustrater" (as Lee calls her), and has the best stamina of any of the girls. She's really improving each year! The pale green weeds you see are courtesy of the rain showers from a few weeks ago. And of course, MY favorite- Fall brings volleyball season which means, not one, not two, but 3 all day Saturday tournaments for Lee! The last is today, which will be the end of the season. His JV team and the Varsity are both undefeated and should easily take the city title (the equivalent of the Sac-Juaquin Section).

We graced everyone with our presence for one full game this week. Why only one, you say? Grayson+ Bleachers= TROUBLE. Plus, Derek doesn't care for the warm-up music. Fall, of course, means back to school, and the return of Miss Bradford and her loyal pupils Grayson and Derek, and the other "imaginary" class members. (There's a class list.)Things go well until the unruly students decide to not follow directions and Miss Bradford inevitably learns that teaching is a thankless job!And what Fall would be complete with out a trip to the Pumpkin Patch. We went to Lombardi Ranch with Grayson's class which included an animal tour ("Horses were brought to the west during the colonization period. Who can tell me what colonization means?? Hmmm??") I'm serious. Anyway- we skipped the tour after the "horses" incident and Grayson spent the remainder of the time throwing straw.

Then I decided to skip buying the $15 pumpkins that were trucked in and placed in the farm. "Mommy, we didn't get a pumpkin", said Grayson. "That's because we're going to a different Pumpkin Patch, honey. It's called Trader Joe's Patch." I'd say that at $3.49 a pumpkin it was a wise move.

Now I'd better get into the kitchen before the pumpkins are butchered by Miss Bradford and her class!

Spring Break'09 Project (finished last week)

2009-10-23T15:19:00.000-07:00

Last year we decided to do a little backyard project on the patio that would take, "a couple of weekends- tops". Just jackhammer some concrete, pour a new patio, plant some stuff, and done, right? WRONG!
Remember this? It took place 2 days before Spring Break started, the week were to start the project. Lee wasn't exactly in a state to jackhammer a patio that turned out to be- I kid you not- 18 inches thick.

But eventually he did, and working as a family we lugged the broken pieces to a ginormous bin in the front, then Lee prepped the area for concrete, and with the help of Dad, built the frame.The concrete people finished in about 2 hours. We planted grass on the new dirt area, and put in shrubs which will soon offer a screen between the neighbors yard and ours.

Then Lee built a trellis and we decided to cover the lovely pink brick. Thinking we were professional masons, we got open stock stone and tried to put it up. Big mistake. It's an art, and Lee and I are definitely not meticulous, methodical, or patient with this type of thing.So it all came down, was given away on Craigslist in about 10 minutes, and we bit the bullet and bought some nice El Dorado stone instead. We like it a lot! Eventually the vine will grow through the trellis and hang down from the top and we won't have the pleasure of waving to our neighbors in their bedroom from our bedroom window.
Lee also built a gate, which I think he did a great job on!
Now we are trying to figure out what to do in this corner. But for the time, we are happy to not be looking at pink brick! The boys may miss the play structure that once stood here, and was falling apart,but they've more than made up for it with their PVC pipe swings, as evidenced by the dead lawn spots. Maybe next Spring Break we'll fix those!

Pappa's Got a Brand New Boot!

2009-10-13T11:46:00.001-07:00

No broken bones---hurray---but lots of tearing and wrenching and probably up to four weeks of the boot and recovery. Bummer. Today is windy and rainy, so Dad is not as frustrated as usual about not being able to get out and do all his planned projects. He really appreciates everyone's kind thoughts and concerns.

In the meantime, Gma made it to Paige's soccer game and we heard the reports for Carissa and Derek. Go Bailey and Bradford players!

Erika and Erin from our Saturday at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. Fun day, which started out toasty and warm, and ended up windy and frigid. Brrrrrr!

I snapped a few crowd pictures during breaks. This young woman was collecting signatures for legalizing marijuana. Of course, people were partaking to our right and left and all over place. The MC asked people to be considerate and remember that cigarette smoking is not allowed in San Francisco parks, but just laughed off pot smoking.

And the lady signing people up to vote! What a great place to people watch.

How we spent Wednesday

2009-10-08T11:38:00.000-07:00

Yea! a year's supply of pellets safely stored by Kerry, Shanna and Ralph. And Ralph. . . . huh?

Well, Dad started the process, unloading his pallet of wood chips, however. . .

The old step stool ( remember, it was Gma Steed's?) decided to collapse as Dad stepped down on it. He dragged himself up to the house, in pretty bad pain, having heard lots of cracks when he went flying, with his foot tangled in the ladder, and ended up on the pavement

But, you know, the GE repairman was coming-----soon!------to fix the stovetop, so

Dad cheerly waited until the repair guy came, and then we borrowed a pair of crutches from the Skinners ( they have four pairs!) so Dad wouldn't have to crawl to the car, and drove to Roseville and the nearest Kaiser hospital, where Dad received excellent and speedy care, and is now

kind of relaxing at home. No apparent broken bones, but he'll see the podiatry doc on Friday for a final diagnosis. In the meantime, lots of baseball playoffs for him and, using the phone intercom, he even talked Sally and I through installing a new battery in her car today.

So Long Teardrop

2009-10-04T20:48:00.001-07:00

(Picture taken broken down on the side of the road somewhere, circa 1980s)

On Saturday we took the teardrop up to the new owners in Paradise, Ca. It was a sad day, but also a whole new beginning for the teardrop. Jock and Paula, the new owners, plan on pulling the teardrop behind their classic 1954 Chevrolet and also their 1941 Ford. We really couldn't have picked a better place for our cherished family heirloom to go. I must admit I was a little sad when we unloaded the teardrop, pushed it into Jock's garage and pulled out of their driveway. It was the end of an era.

Jock hopes to have the teardrop finished in a month or two, and he promised me he will send pictures. I guess we will all have to stay tuned to see what the future holds for our little ol' teardrop!

I Don't Feel Tardy

2009-09-10T09:43:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately for Carissa and Derek, tardy is what they will be a lot this year, thanks to nightmarish traffic in the morning and schools 4 miles apart. Whatever happened to bus stops in the front ??

All the pictures came out blurry because the camera was on the wrong setting, but here is the crew for the ritual "in front of the tree" picture.

At this point Grayson thought he was going to school, too. Derek was going for an A&F pouty look in these pics.
Thank goodness for this huge lighting up backpack! We have an entire lunchbox in there!!

Yay- we got Mrs. Blakley! (that's not her, BTW) Mrs. Blakley was Carissa's teacher, too and WE LOVE HER!Sitting on the carpet, getting ready to say goodbye. Derek did very well. And he even made a friend, "Eric". The person most upset by it all was Grayson, who screamed and cried when he realized Derek wasn't coming home with us. He got over that fairly quickly, however. Poor Carissa had to get dropped off super early in order to get Derek to school on time. She didn't care, however, and likes her new teacher, Mrs. Woods. She's mostly happy about being able to play handball again without a cast. That girl was made for school!

I mostly enjoyed not breaking up fighting boys every ten seconds. It was a very peaceful day!

Rocky Mountain National Park

2009-09-03T16:20:00.000-07:00

This is where geology classes should be taught. Is this the heart of the Rocky Mountains or what? The gravel road built in the 1920's takes you past amazing scenes.

Besides the Elk, Antelope, Deer and little critters there are hundreds of Big Horn Sheep.

Even hikers who are in less than prime shape can climb to the heights and feel like they are literally on top of the world. The short trail that led to this vista is near the Alpine Visitors Center.

We hiked past a series of small glacial lakes (tarns) that were spectacular. We dodged the raindrops for a few minutes but were rewarded with more beautiful vistas and good sized Cut Throat Trout that fed on the surface of the crystal clear water.

Evan and Brady wanted to be in the water - just like back home in Ralston Creek - but had to be content to throw rocks and play in the mud.

On the way to the upper lakes Mireille, Brett and the boys stop for a picture at an overlook. This would be a great place for the family to meet up for some summer camping.

Trip to SoCal

2009-09-03T15:44:00.000-07:00

What a great experience we had on Saturday, August 22! The focus of the day was on this little family. Everyone who was fortunate enough to be there basked in the glow of love and family.

Where shall we go to lunch? Each of us has an idea except dad, who got lost on the way to the Cheesecake Factory.

That restaurant turned out to be the perfect choice as everyone pours over the menu.

LUCKY! Amid the din of the little boys and the grandparents, brothers and sisters, friends and cousins, little Caleb conked out and Dad got to hold him.

It's Legal!

2009-08-17T16:38:00.000-07:00

Caleb's adoption was finalized today. Go here for more coverage.

For your enjoyment

2009-08-15T20:44:00.000-07:00

Beauty, Clark!

2009-07-30T18:38:00.000-07:00

We know-----you've seen Wright's Lake before, but we can't help it! We love Wright's Lake-----it is salve to our souls, or something like that. Dad and I drove up early on Thursday and took a scanoe ride first. The narrows were just right, cleared and accessible a fair ways past the loop trail bridge, up to the log jam you see beyond Dad. And the fish! Two weeks ago, Brett and Mireille saw not one fish---today there were hundreds. Yes, they planted---in fact, we saw a planting truck when we first pulled into the boat dock area. Teeming is the word, I believe.

Ahhhhhh----view of the shore in the narrows while gliding soundlessly down the stream. No loons this year. Did I mention the jillions of fish?

Then, we took a good hike. Here we are at Beauty Lake, and it was. We love our hiking poles---keep us from falling on our butts on the rocks.

We took the loop trail and then hooked into the fisherman's trail when we got to the Desolation parking lot and went all the way around the lake back to our site in the day use area.

And we'll never get used to seeing the bald eagles and osprey at Wright's Lake. This guy seemed bigger than last year. Did Dad get a great shot, or what? Be sure to click on it and get the full beauty of a bald eagle that lives just 50 minutes from 6715 Lindberg Ave. Beauty, Clark!

Living Room Updates

2009-07-28T21:48:00.000-07:00

Evidently we never told Kev about the new piano, so here is an update.
We've also begun to fill the dining room wall with photos from our slides--

We just begun, so we'll continue to add pictures and make sure all of you are equally represented----maybe!

And the new piano---a gift from Lorrie Steed. Lorrie Steed's husband was distantly related to Dad. She moved to Idaho and couldn't take the piano, so we were going to store it for her, and then she said she would like to give it to us. Our part was to pay for it to be professionally moved and tuned. It is lovely, to be sure, and Mom is trying to put it to good use. You can see that we got some slipcovers for the couches. Pillow suggestions would be appreciated!

Family Camping

2009-07-19T13:58:00.000-07:00

We spent four days together at Union Valley Reservoir. To our great delight everything about the trip and the campsites was better than we expected. For one thing - hardly any mosquitos! The Lake was very comfortable for swimming. Days were warm but not hot- unlike the "fires of hell" weather back in the Sacramento Valley and foothills.

Wading, swimming, sunning at the little beach near our campsites

The first kid project was the boats. The nail pounding resulted in no injuries. Painting produced some original colors and decorations.

We visited our old favorite, Wright's Lake, for a full day. Erin, Sara, Lee, Ali, Carissa, Derek, Grayson, Paige and Ben took a hike up the Twin Lakes Trail while Brett, Mireille and the boys canoed the narrows.

Kerry, Shanna, Susie and Caleb hiked to Enchanted Falls and the Loop Trail. Caleb loved getting into the water.Life in camp
Each night we had campfire. Smores, painting projects and snacks rounded out the evenings.

Gramma helping the kids with their personalized aprons

Here is the unofficial 2009 cousins camping picture. What a great week for all of the kids to get to know each other.

Lake Pal

2009-07-05T21:55:00.001-07:00

Despite leaving for our Lake Powell trip with an injured team (Lee's knee and Carissa's arm), we ended up having the best trip yet. The 8 hour boat ride to our destination was sunny, beautiful and relaxing. The guys took turns playing captain up top until we reached a section called San Juan, about 75 miles from leaving the Antelope Marina in Page, Arizona.There were very few boats around, which was conducive to lots of swimming and wakeboarding, as the water was calm all day. Carissa was really slowed down by her broken arm, as you can see.Actually, tuving was much more dangerous for the other chilren, who nearly suffered a concussion when hit with a big fiberglass cast on a bumpy ride.My fears that she would sit inside crying and reading books were quite unfounded.I hope Dr. Brookenthal doesn't get a hold of these pictures.I'm not sure that driving a jet ski was on his approved activities list.The kids mostly swam behind the houseboat. Grayson wasn't too keen on it all until later in the week.But then he only wanted to go "'wimming".

And shoot the water gun.Derek took some time out for dominoes.And we ate way too much.And found plenty of time for wakeboarding, etc.Even Lee made it up, although he took it easy on the jumps.All in all, we could not have asked for a better trip

They call me the Glass Man...

2009-07-03T11:37:00.000-07:00

So, here are some pictures of my thumb! I broke it playing capture the flag last saturday evening. It was the first game and first tag of the game, so that sucked! Anyway, I had someone drop me off at the Emergency room which is like 5 minute walk from my apartment. When the doctor, Dr. Hooker, came to examine me after the x-rays, he was like, "Have you ever broken your thumb before?" And so I went onto explain about my condition of enchondroma and he was extremely relieved, because they didn't know what was going with my thumb and the weird density of my thumb bone. They were afraid I might have had cancer, but didn't want to just blurt it out. Anyway, its slowly healing...I think. Here are the pics!

The first day it was MASSIVE! Especially the first joint!

I took these today, a week after it broke... still pretty swollen.

Nasty fat thumb!

My hand is all wrinkled from the duck tape cast I put on it to go swimming!

My "cast/eating utensil" Mmmmm... lower cholesterol!

"So good!"

Happy (Belated) Birthday, Kirk!!!!

2009-06-16T10:03:00.001-07:00

1983 certainly was a good year. I wish I had a few pictures of little Kirky – the little guy who was full of smart, comical quips. But these ones of Big Kirk from the last few years will have to do. We are all so lucky to have such an intelligent, humorous, gentle & loving brother. No one else could take your place in our family. Happy 26^th Birthday! We all love you!

Suz

Playing the air-guitar-sandwich

Kirk & Kev, in their element (some things never change)

A little Christmas cheese

What lovely siblings

Driving us across the Nevada desert.

Uhh...not sure what to label this one...

Kirk and beautiful Carrie, one year ago.

Wrights Lake

Uncle Kirk & Brady

Update

2009-06-15T20:34:00.000-07:00

Carissa was in fairly high spirits today after being the 2nd grade celebrity for a few hours. However, when the novelty of a new cast and friends signing it wears off, I'm afraid the Dr.'s orders to stay completely out of water for 4 weeks may be hard to swallow. I know she would appreciate your prayers as she deals with the reality of a cast for 8 long summer weeks.

In Case You Ever Wanted to Try It

2009-06-14T22:14:00.000-07:00

Roller Skates- GoodScooters- GoodRiding a Scooter while Roller Skating= BADA trip to the ER on a Sunday Evening (bringing the 5 year Bradford total to 6 visits), a broken wrist, 6 weeks in a cast and no water allowed on the eve of Lake Powell. But... " Everyone's going to be really surprised at school tomorrow!!"

So remember- DON'T SKATE AND SCOOT!!

Skinner Wedding Reception

2009-06-02T09:01:00.001-07:00

Ben "playing" with Kevin and Kirk.

Big Tall Sand Hill

2009-05-27T13:28:00.000-07:00

Just north of County Line on the PCH is this extremely high sand hill. Lee used to have to train on it at Pepperdine, and it is so high that guys would be puking at the top. We stopped by on Monday evening and thought we'd give it a shot. I know it doens't look like much of a challenge, but you are deceived.Grayson made it up...with a lot of help and being carried most of the way.

Carissa was more interested in posing.

Lee somehow dragged his legs up there. (I heard all about that later.)

Isn't it crazy how much lighter the shot is when the sun is at my back??

Then we all raced back down. I am ashamed to say I was dead last, even behind Derek.

Random Sampler

2009-05-27T13:06:00.000-07:00

It's the end of May already, I haven't done my visiting teaching, I barely was able to enjoy Spring, and I have yet to post Derek in one of his new basketball outfits!!! This outfit was on moments after the package from Placerville was torn open. Lately, Derek has taken to tucking in all of his shirts, basketball shorts included.Last week we went to the Kidspace Museum, which would only be made better if it were spelled "Kidz Space". It is across from the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, and the most exciting part of the day was trying to find gas for 25 minutes while driving around with the gas light on. No thanks to Ali and Susie, who had called me on my cellular during this fiasco and unsuccesfully navigated me to a gas station, I finally found an Arco and all was well. But that's beside the point. Kidspace is a museum devoted to kids and science and bugs and stuff. I'm not convinced that the kids really learn anything about science at these places; Lex and Derek spent the whole time playing superheroes. There were some cool climbing towers.

And a very exciting rain simulator that Derek and Lex found interesting so long as they could splash each other when it "rained".

Look at how old Grayson is getting!!
Here was a rare moment of solitude and peace in the house for me.

Cute Caleb

2009-05-26T10:18:00.000-07:00

Wearing overalls and being cute.

March Review

2009-05-17T18:49:00.001-07:00

Here are a few pictures from March or February or something.
Standing in Eric's kitchen, looking out the former back door:
Stair to his new master bedroom and bath

Kev cooking Dutch pancakes at Sara's

Clyde and Dad at the open house. Speaking of Uncle Clyde, yesterday (May 16) those of us whose schedules allowed, met at the Sacramento Temple to do sealings of Rosenvinge families whose names Dad brought back from Norway in 1968. He translated the text and Clyde has had Evie doing the ordinances in the last couple of years. President Steed of the Sac Temple was the officiator, and families from as far back as the 1500's were united. It was cool.

Back to March----still room for toys in the new great room

And the Day family made it! Evie and Mike now live in Monterey.

Janness and Marion smiling for the cameraMike and Wes chatting in the kitchen

while the younger set are busy in the bathroom!

Hot! Hot! Hot!

2009-05-17T17:52:00.000-07:00

Just a little post from Pvlle. Nothing much happening---Kev is still working for Eric Miller, bless his heart-----Dad and I planted a little garden. I'm posting some pictures from Clarksville Day last week and some from Kev's open house that didn't get posted. Clarksville, if I haven't already told you, is an old settlement just off Hwy. 50 as you pass El Dorado Hills headed east. It is on private property, but for the last three years has been opened to the public for one day. It was kind of cool------what is left of businesses and houses clustered around a remnant of the Lincoln Highway of 1913 or so. We found that one of the remaining houses is the Albert Griggs house--we never knew that he lived there! So, here ya go:

One of the three remaining walls of the 1850's Wells Fargo Office
Dad admiring an old Ford

Ben was desperate to take a picture. I think he has promise as a photographer!

Old timey music with some very accomplished musicians, including Cowboy Dave.

No pictures of the pony express riders---they were punks!

Cousin Bath

2009-05-05T21:30:00.000-07:00

These kids were DIRTY. I decided to keep Caleb out of this one. But it sure looked fun....

"I'm dirty. I'm dirty. Dirty, dirty, dirty."