Mary & Lucy visit the Bay Area

Maryn, Lucy and Parents came for a visit with Grandma and Grandpa. We had a blast. Since I really love photos, I will tell you what we did mostly with pictures. I have posted lots of photos on facebook, but if you don't check out facebook, this will be a great way to stay updated. We played at home a lot. We played with barbies, bears, water play, picking veggies, taking walks, going to the boat. We had a trip to the Tilden to visit the steam train, merry-go-round and the little farm. I think the highlight of Maryn's trip was a visit to the Jelly Belly Factory.


Here we are on D B's boat on San Francisco Bay. My friend Helen, her son Paul and his girlfriend's parents from Paris joined us on our cruise of the bay.

Here we are at dress up time. These are very old dress up clothes from Laurel's young days. In fact, Lucy is wearing a costume from Erica Smylie Douglas's very young days.

DB, Jess, Mayrn and I took a walk by the boat. Maryn got to play and also see how grandpa traps bait near his boat.


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We did take time to have hot fudge Sunday Treats. Lucy really liked them and so did Maryn.

I found a moment to get a family picture. I love family pictures.

It's water play time. Doesn't it look like he is squirting those precious little girls.

Here we are at Tilden Park... Riding theTrain.

Here we are at the Little Farm





Here is the Merry-Go-Round.

Aunt Laurel tried to visit as much as she could. The girls love their Aunt Laurel.

Here is the grand finale.... Our trip to the Jelly Belly Factory. Maryn just loved this. It is pretty fun with lots of free samples. Jess discovered the wonderful cold stone ice cream flavors. Oh my goodness... They were wonderful.



It was so much fun to have the Portland Ballanti's visit us. We had a great time. But, now I know why I was so tired. We did so much while they were here. Jess tells me that Lucy took a 4 hour nap today. She is trying to recover from so much fun. I hope I didn't wear you out with pictures. I have hundreds more if you want to see them.

Cascadel Woods with the Family

Our Family all managed to get together at the Ballanti Cabin. What a great experience. Here are an abundance of pictures from our trip.


We had this family picture taken. Maryn doesn't really like to pose, so you just have to imagine her behine the tree. The good news is that we were all together.

Jess's brother Tom and her good friend Stephanie came up to the cabin too, so here is a photo of them with Chris.

Young Adults Visit Yosemite and Old folks hang with the kids

Here is a picture of Chris & Laurel in smoke filled (controlled burning) Yosemite. They went to Glacier Point and didn't really get to see very much because of smoke. But, they had a good hike. Oh, the mosquitos seemed to love Jess and her brother.

Chris & Jess at smoke filled vista.

Grandpa teaches the Lucy and Maryn how to throw rocks in the pond.

Lucy tries to perfect her toss.

Maryn gets into the throw.

Maryn is a very good artist. She is busy with a water color session.

The girls play with noodles on Grandpa's boat.

OK, this is just a really cute picture of Grandpa with the girls.

Lucy liked playing with the windsock.

Laurel relaxes on the back porch.

Hanging out at Bass Lake

It was unusually hot at Bass Lake, so we spent quite a bit of time in water. We brought our very old kayak. Don and I made the kayak the first year we were married. I guess that makes it 37 years old. We all took turns cruising. Lucy preferred playing in the sand. Maryn wanted to kayak with Aunt Laurel. It was so much fun to have the family vacationing together.

Maryn paddles grandma around.

Laurel and Lucy explore.

Chris Jess and Lucy prepared to swim. Lucy thought the water was too cold.

Laurel & Maryn kayaking.

Lucy contemplates getting wet

Dinner at Manzanita

We went to Manzanita Lake for a pizza dinner. The girls loved the lake, the sand and they really loved the ducks. Did you know that ducks love pizza?

Feeding the ducks was a favorite activity.

Lots of Barbie Play And Water Too

We had 12 Barbie dolls (from Laurel's old stash) and 1 Ken and 1 Donnie (as in Donnie Osmond). Maryn loved the barbies. We even had a Barbie pool.

Butfest 2009

What is a Halibut? Here is Mr. Ugly. This is the big bruiser that DB caught at the start of Butfest. It weighed 35 lbs. Now that is a nice big halibut.Here we have Mr. Slim. Bob caught this guy on the last day of fishing. He is young and much more handsome than Mr. Ugly. He weight about 6 lbs. and he probably tastes better. My new favorite way to prepare halibut is Halibut Piccata. Yum!

Halibut are very slimy. You probably can't tell, but that is slim dripping from Ron's halibut. I don't participate in this part of the fish.

Here are all of the guys. Some with fish and some with a good imagination.

FOOD SECTION: When all of the guys come for Butfest, we eat really well. But, this year we really had one of our best dinners. Filet Mignon, Lobster, Ahi Tuna, Cesar Salad and Fresh Corn. Ron was in charge of the Lobster, Bob grilled the filet and ahi, Laurel worked on the salad and corn and the whole thing came together perfectly.

This was outstanding!

OK. We are back to fish. This is Don with Mr. Ugly.

Here is Bob with Mr. Slim and Mr. Slim's friend. They both went back to Boise with Bob. I can see Halibut Piccata in his future

Another Great Butfest Gathering

CBS Leader Summer Gathering

Did someone say they loved June Gloom? Well, today was perfect. My kind of weather. I had a few of the Community Bible Study Leaders over for a tour of the fishing boat (aka “the other woman”) and Rosie the Riveter Park. We had our coffee/tea, scones, muffins and fruit and then went for a short walk to enjoy the bay and look at a few of the WWII mementos at Rosie the Riveter Park. Mostly we just enjoyed each others company. What a great day!

This is one of the monuments at Rosie the Riveter Park.