The Cabin with the Smylies

I had a wonderful trip to the cabin with the Smylie Family. Here is Steven on Grandpa Steve's shoulders. This was our outing at Bass Lake.
Here are the Steves hanging out together.

Kevin and Katie with Steven at Cascadel by Whiskey Creek.

Another picture of everyone at Bass Lake. We had a picnic at the Falls.

Here is Steven soaking the stickers from the deck out of his hands

This is Steven getting the stickers from the deck.

Kevin is teaching Steven how not to get his pants wet when he plays in the water.

Here I am holding Steven and telling him that he could kill himself if he gets too close to the edge of the falls.

I had fun taking these pictures with Steve's new camera. Unfortunately, I didn't know that it wasn't on Auto focus for this picture. Now we have to hope that Katie posts this picture from her camera on her blog. I love this picture.

Cruising with Helen & Ben

The weather was perfect for cruising the bay today. We took Helen and Ben out for a sunset dinner cruise and halibut fishing attempt. The only thing that we caught (actually Ben caught) was Laurel's hat that blew overboard right after she attempted to eat her bait. Another wonderful bay cruise.

Italy 2008

Here are a few pictures from my trip to Italy. My favorite place was Cinque Terra. We stayed at a wonderful place in Monterossa called Hotel Villa Steno. It was so relaxing. Laurel and I managed to hike the trail to all 5 of the cinque terra towns in one day. It was strenuous and we were sore the next day. So, then we got to veg.

These pictures are in no particular order, but I am a visual person and love to show pictures of the trip rather than tell you too many details.




This is a picture taken during our hike in cinque terra.











This is the view from our deck in Monterossa.







Here we are getting ready to hike into Vernazza. This is the second town in Cinque Terra, so we are still feeling fresh.




The picture on the right is of roman Guard at Trevie Fountain. Notice that he is on a cell phone. There is something wrong with that.

















This is Laurel with friends Sharon and Katie at the Pantheon in Rome




















Trevi Fountain Rome

The Coliseum in Rome.

Here Laurel is with all of her friends in Rome





Carol at the Coliseum

Laurel at the Forum

We spent a day a San Gimigano. It wasn't very crowded and we actually got to play . This was a city with many very old towers and surrounded by Tuscan countryside. We sort of enjoyed just sitting on a bench and eating lunch.

This is in Siena. It is a bunch of little kids practicing playing the drums while marching. It was so cute, I had to snap a picture. I am sure they were practicing for marching in a parade during the running of the horses which is a Siena tradition.

We hiked up a hill in Florence and it suddenly looks like rain. We had a wonderful lightening storm follow by a downpour. We managed to hike down a hill and get into a museum before the big downpour.








I loved our deck in Monterossa.

I spent a lot of time there.

These were wild flowers(Iris) blooming on our hike from Monterossa to Vermazza. It was a beautiful hike.











Here is Laurel hiking into one of the 5 towns in Cinque Terra. We hiked all 5 towns in one day and had very sore muscles as a result.

On our deck in Monterossa. You can see why I loved this place so much. With a veiw of the sea, it was perfect.

This is back in Rome with Laurel, Katie and Sharon. It was fun getting to know her friends.

This is tour guide Laurel in the Coliseum

Here are the two of us outside the Coliseum. If it looks like we are always wearing the same clothes, we are. I packed a small suitcase.

This is down the street from the apartment in Rome. It was a great place to get a cappuccino in the morning.

So, I hope you have enjoyed my short tour of Italy. If you want to come over for a slideshow let me know. We took lots of pictures and had a great time. I didn't include food pictures, but I loved the food. Nutella and Crossiants for breakfast with a cappuccino. Proscuitto with Gorgonzola on bread for lunch. Oh, don't forget the blood oranges. Then at dinner our favorite was a bean dish with sausage in it. And best of all, you could get really good and cheap wine. A great way to finish a meal or have a snack on the train was with "pocket coffee". I brought some of those home. Ciao

Easter at the Cabin

Here is my traditional Easter Peep Show. Peeps spent time at the cabin and also took a hike up Lewis Creek, all the way to the snow.

We'v got Peeps in a fishing kreel, Peets on the Bear, Peep in a redwood tree

We have two peeps preparing to raft on Lewis Creek.

Here is DB in a Peep Coffee Shirt

Don't forget the Peep in the snow. It was about 64 degrees out.

Here we are on our Lewis Creek Hike on Saturday. The hike was beautiful. We went from snow to spring time. We saw an eagle fly overhead. We hiked past redwood trees. In fact, the peep above is hanging out in the redwood tree.

All of us on the Lewis Creek Hike! Great Day! (Rachel, Debbie, Steve, DB & Carol

Max and Lucy are the attentive dogs.

This next group of photos are from my hike to Squaw Leap by the San Joaquin River on Friday

Max & Lucy (Steve & Debbies dogs)

Check out the wildflowers on this trip. They were more brilliant than the picture.

Debbie and Adam on the bridge over the San Joaquin River.

I had to show you the river. The spring run off hasn't started yet!

Here we are (Debbie Adam and Me) (Lucy too) taking a hiking break.

Here we are on Friday morning at the cabin. We had the septic tank pumped. It hadn't been pumped since it was put in about 33 years ago. It was overdue, but fine. I knew that everyone would want to see this. We city people just don't know much about these things. We figure that well pump it again in 25 years. Let me know if you want to be there for that event.

So that was our Easter weekend at the cabin.

A March trip to Portland

Here is a pictorial of our trip to Portland to help Chris, Jess and the girls move to a new place. We worked hard moving, but found time for some fun and pictures.

Here is Jess with Lucy. Lucy is 7 months old and sitting up on her own.

Here is Chris holding our 7th month old on their new deck.

This is Maryn nursing her baby "Lucy".

Grandma with both girls.

Grandpa DB holding little Lucy

Here is Lucy 1 1/2 months after open heart surgery. Her scar is even looking pretty good. She is amazing.