Bob & Gail come for a visit

I listed this in my photos as Butfest II. This one was with sister-in-laws, so we went to the city and had a great visit while the guys fished and didn't take any pictures. Steve and Debbie came for an overnight and Bob and Gail stayed for 3 nights. We missed Ron and Pam this time. The guys fished two days and the girls went to the city. Debbie, Gail and I had a wonderful full day of touring in SF and then came home and joined the guys for a picture perfect evening on the Bay with dinner and drinks. I am always amazed at how perfect the weather can be when company comes to town. Actually, it was almost too hot on Thursday.
The guys caught lots of halibut and we didn't get a picture of one until the last day. They just don't think to take pictures.
Day one in the city was a tour by car. Mosaic Steps (my new favorite place), The great highway & Cliff House (lunch at the Beach Chalet), drive though the Presidio, walk on the Golden Gate Bridge, followed by latte's and shopping in Tiburon. Then we came home and collected food and went boating.
On Day two, Bob and DB went fishing and Gail and I joined some of the kitchen ladies in the city for a culinary treat at the Slow Food Nation Event. We did so much food tasting that I couldn't even finish my ice cream. This was the first Slow Food Nation event of the caliber in the US. It goes on for 3 days. I wish I could share flavors on my blog. Gail and I loved this and we brought home some amazing cheeses for the guys to taste.
Ok. That's enough of the wonderful time we had together. Now to the pictures.

On the mosaic steps.



The view from Grandview Park in the Sunset.

And down below we are taking in the view of the Golden Gate Bridge

Debbie & Gail near the Cliff House.

Here we are heading out for our evening on the bay.

I finally got a picture of the 3 brothers on the boat. they did fish a bit during our dinner cruise, but mostly we ate, drank and fed sea gulls.

Check out the wonderful sunset below.

Above is Gail standing by the garden planted outside of the San Francisco City Hall for the Slow Food Nation event.

Here I am with the kitchen ladies at the Slow Food Nation outside of city hall.

Here is the picture of Bob with the last Halibut that he caught. Fishermen just don't think to take pictures. They had caught 6 halibut the day before and they were much bigger. (No fisherman's tale).

A Visit with Dave Erin & Baby Madelyn

Today I drove to Loma Rica to visit Dave Erin and Madelyn. Madelyn came to California for her first visit. It was great to see the ring bearer from my wedding with his first child. (Did I mention that I have been married for 36 years?)
Madelyn is such a happy baby and very social. She had a hard time sleeping because she didn't want to miss any of the fun. Little did she realize that she was the fun.


Here is Madelyn with Grandma Sue. Madelyn has that look of "I'm not tired and I don't really want to sleep." I guess it didn't help that I was taking pictures.
Here is Madelyn drooling for Krystin. What a great visit!

Now for a blast from the past. Here are some picture of Dave when he was a small guy. Yes, tha is me with him in two of the pictures and that is my dad holding him in the third one. I am getting into scanning old pictures and it seemed appropriate to share these. Wasn't he a cutie? Oh, he still is!

Happy 1st Birthday Lucy

Happy 1st Birthday Lucy. She is such a sweetheart. This first picture is one that Jess took for her birthday invitation. I just love this picture and I'll tell you why I had to include it at the end of this blog.Now this picture was taken on her actual birthday. Note Lucy's hair and Chris's hair. They really have almost the exact shade right now. Lucy's hair is starting to curl too. I think we have another red head.

Here is Lucy's birthday cake. We struggled with hot weather (over 100) and melting frosting, but it still turned out really cute. Jess is so creative at putting this together.
This was Lucy's pinata. Instead of using a bat, each child got to pull a string on the bottom. Only one string made the candy come out. It was perfect for little kids.

Watch for this picture in a Christmas card. We were all together for her birthday. That doesn't happen very often. The party was in Jess's friend's backyard (Kim). It was perfect for the hot weather because the kids got to go in the pirate pool to stay cool. Thanks Kim! I had to include this great picture of Jess's family at the party. It is so much fun that they now live so close to Chris & Jess. Doug loves to cook and I managed to get 3 invites to dinner at their house. Yum! Did I mention that they also have air conditioning.

So to conclude this post I want you to know that I wanted to include a lot more pictures of my one week in Portland. But, I think I have a bad memory card in my camera. Pictures keep disappearing. I've lost some before and then they came back, so I'm hoping that happens again. I am now on the way to the store to buy a new SD card for my camera. I'll keep playing with the old one and if I can find the pictures, I'll do another post of my week in Portland. If I can't find the pictures, then you will just have to imagine 400 pictures of really cute kids.

Tahoe 2008

We had another great year in Tahoe. Laurel came up for a couple of days. Here we are near Cascade Falls. That is Eagle Lake behind us. This hike is right near Emerald Bay. Laurel and Don rode their bikes (20+ miles) with our friends Tim, Rick and Sally from Tahoe City. This is a beautiful hike and we had a great lunch that we bought at the farmers market that morning.

Here are the Choys. Karen came up with Jack for two days. It was fun having a young one up at Tahoe again. We first started coming up to Tahoe when Laurel was about Jack's age.

Here is Sally, Time, Sue and Rick about the beautiful Eagle Lake.

The condo that we stay at is right now the Lake. I love this view.

Laurel is here posing for me, but she had just done laps. She is trying to get ready for her mini-triathlon in October. Swimming in a pool near the lake is a great way to practice. Laurel plans to do the triathlon with Erica, Jess and her cousin Rachel. Go Girls!

Here is Karen (Paula & Chet's Daughter) with her son Jack. Don't you think that Jack looks like Steven Smylie. Check out those cheeks. I posted a picture of Steven below this one, so you can decide for yourself.

Here is Steven! What do you think?