Birthdays***Best Friends***Grandchildren

My 60th birthday celebration just seems to just keep on happening. Helen and Karmi took me to the city for tea. There is a new tea shop at Ghiradelli Square called Crown & Crumpet. It is very cute and bright and the food was wonderful. So, we had a leisurely meal while Helen's granddaughter slept. When we finished eating Avery woke up and was sweet and adorable for everyone to enjoy. The January weather in San Francisco has been wonderful, so it was a picture perfect day.

It was such a delight for me to get a phone call from Maryn while we were still in San Francisco. She doesn't call me on the phone very often. She said "Grandmaaaa, I skyped you two times and you didn't answer." I explained to her that I wasn't home, but I would skype her as soon as I got home. She said, "OK, goodbye." Aren't grandcildren the greatest? I think both Helen and I would agree.

While the women are away, the fishermen will fish!

So, while I was at the women's retreat (see the blog below this one), Don and his brother Steve decided that they would go look for things to slaughter. Isn't that just like guys? Well they each caught a very sought after sturgeon. They have both been fishing a long time and this was Steve's first sturgeon, so you can see that he is really excited. There are very specific rules for keeping a sturgeon. It must be between 46 and 66 inches long. Otherwise, you have to toss it back. They both got keepers. Don's was 62 inches and Steve's wa 50 1/2 inches. And here is the most amazing thing. Don actually got out his camera and took a picture. So, of course, I had to blog this. Nice job! Did I mention that Sturgeon really tastes good.

Women's Retreat at Asilomar

I went to the 25th annual women's retreat at our church. This was my 10th time attending. We always have such a great time. You would too. Check out these pictures. We had an amazing speaker. The topic was forgiveness. Who can't spend time reflecting on forgivenss. And look at the beautiful setting at Asilomar in Pacific Grove. I just love spending time on the beach and being with wonderful Christian friends.

Here is a picture of the coming up.

I got up before breakfast to take a pictures on the beach.

Here I am with Fran, Jeanie and Helen. We drove down to the Monterey Bay together and enjoyed stopping, taking pictures, shopping and having a great time together. These are great ladies.

Here is a picture of me with Helen. Helen and I have been best friends for years. I've known her since 1985.

I had to include the photo of Fran. She was the moderator at the retreat. She did a wonderful job and we all enjoyed her humor.

Here I am with Kathy. Every once in a while I asked someone to take my picture, just to show you that I was really there.

We are sitting by the beach just catching those last few minutes of the ocena before we had to go home.

June and Fran are thinking that they are going to stay in Pacific Grove.

Jeanie, Kathy and I are sitting on the beach, drinking wine and waiting for the sun to set. It was well worth the wait because the sunset was outstanding.

Here is the view of the sunset. This is why we sit on the beach and watch it go down. It was so beautiful. I love the beach.

One of the things I love to do in Pacific Grove is to visit the migrating butterflies. I didn't have my long lens with me when we went to see the butterflies because we didn't think we would see many. But, there were some massive clumps of them. There are hundreds of butterfies in this picture. When the butterflies are in town, it is a sight to see.

Yosemite 2009

I almost don't have to write anything here. I just love this place. The view of half dome right after you come through the tunnel on the way to Yosemite Village is just breathtaking. They have cleared out some trees that blocked the view and it so perfect.

This is why we drive for an hour and a half to visit Yosemite . It is just magestic. And we look pretty cute too, don't we?
Here are the two Steve's. Little Steven looks like he is touching the moutain.

I wanted a family photo here but Megan was sleeping. No, we weren't about to disturb a sleeping baby.

So, I finally got the family to pose. One day they will tell Megan that she went to Yosemite when she was 6 months old.

We ate lunch at Yosemite Lodge and then we walked up to Yosemite Falls. Don stayed at the Lodge with Megan because the walk was slippery from ice. Here is a suggestion if you ever leave a great uncle with a baby in a public place. Give them some details about the baby. Like how old is she? People kept commenting on what a cute baby Megan is and they asked how old she was. He had no idea. He looked at the tag in her shirt and it said 12 months. He thought that sounded too old. (he was right!) But, he just ended up being honest and told people that he really wasn't sure how old she was. He was just watching her. But, Megan is really cute and brings in a lot of comments. Now back to the ice hike. Here they are at the start of the walk. It does look icy.


We made it to the falls pretty fast. I have never seen the path so empty. People walking down warned us to watch the path for ice. We had to go off of the path, just to keep from slipping. But, it was well worth the effort.

Aren't they cute !Katie made it!

The Cabin for New Years and Birthdays

We had such a great time up at the cabin. It was great to spend time with the Smylies. The weather was in the 30's at night and 40's during the day. That made it great for walks. There was snow on the ground in places, but you will see that Steven was able to sled on pine needles too. Don went fishing almost every day. We have a lot of trout. Here are some of the pictures that I captured. Every once in a while I asked someone else to take a picture, so you could see that I was on the trip too. My favorite part of our trip was going to Yosemite. That is why I blogged Yosemite in a separate section.

This is a picture of Kevin playing in the snow with Steven. In the picture above we are on the same walk and Don in in short sleeves. Now that is great California weather.

Here is Steve teaching Steven the ins and outs of red vine. Steven caught on real fast!

Here are Katie and Steven doing the peek a boo thing

This is Don's birthday celebration. Steven really got into this. The cake was a no carb brownie created by Laurel. It was "interesting".

Here are some of the reactions to the birthday brownie. We wish you could have joined us.

So here is Steve on his birthday. He got Russian Tea Cakes. Little Steven was helping him blow out the candle. Given the dire economic picture, we used the same candle for Don and Steve. Their birthdays are one day apart.

Here is Steve hanging out with Meg. She is such a cutie.

This is Steven pine needle sledding. He liked this because he didn't have to get wet.