Spring Break'09 Project (finished last week)

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!

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

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

(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

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

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

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.