Disneyland

We will post more pictures, but here are a couple. Cady really enjoyed her first trip to Disneyland! Thank you, Tita Cionie for the tickets. We enjoyed seeing you!

We also went through the old neighborhood, the house looks great! We are so glad to have a property manager that does a good job. That, coupled with great neighbors who keep an eye on the house, makes landlord ing much less of a headache.

We head home tomorrow, and Cady will start in her new classroom Monday. She asked us to put her on the potty four times this weekend! She is getting so, so big!

We're on the move....

Well, actually, we've been here and there and everywhere in between. Dan's still going between Southern California and Northern California, with a trip to Cincinnati in the middle. Mom, Cady and I are mostly in Northern California, with my exception being a quick overnight trip to LA and then a trip to Memphis next week. We're in contract on a house! It's literally just across the street from the house I grew up in. It's a really nice sized lot, and a house that will be just right for us, for the long haul. It's a short sale, you'd fall over if I told you how much money the seller had in it. Let's just say that if the bank approves the short sale (which is what we're waiting on), they will be selling it to us for just under 50% of what the people owe. OUCH! But it would be good for us. Cady will be starting at her fancy pants day care next week. We are all so excited for her. She's going to love it. We LOVE the place and are looking forward to seeing all she learns and experiences there. She is eating "big people" food now, and all kinds of things. We still haven't found anything she doesn't like. We took her to dinner at Super Taqueria last week and she devoured it (smart girl). You'd think we never fed her. She tore into her tortilla, avocado, and chicken with both hands. She's extremely close to walking! It won't be long at all!

We're back!

It was a busy vacation, but so much fun! After leaving Cincinnati, we headed down south. We spent the weekend with my best college friends. Since college, our original group of four has expanded to include three husbands and eight kids! The weekend was great, we stayed in Fort Morgan. We did a lot of eating, watched Alabama football and played at the beach with the kids. Here's our whole crew.

After the weekend, we went to my parents' house. Unfortunately, Mom was just getting over a cold, Cady and I picked one up in Cincinnati, and Pop had it too. We kept it pretty low-key, since we'd been running around almost non-stop since we left LA and since most of us were sick. We did do a big family dinner on Friday before we left.

Cady's Cincinnati Debut

Our trip started with a redeye flight from LAX to CVG, where we sat behind LA's mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa. When we arrived early yesterday morning, we took the shuttle to pick up the car, and we realized we left a laptop on the plane. Luckily it wasn't a turnaround flight, so we went back and got it. It was 32 degrees when we got in the car. By far, the coldest weather Cady's seen to date.

After a quick nap for all of us, Cady went to her first Gamma Phi Beta event, a Founder's Day luncheon. It was nice catching up with these ladies!

Then, we went to Mike and Stephanie's house where Cady met her cousins. She didn't cry the whole time, but she was pretty crabby after a short night's sleep on the plane and very little nap time during the day. From left to right in the back: Josh, Zack holding Cady, and Jake. In the front: Kelly, Jessica (Josh's wife) holding Maura, Alana, and Kelsey. She also met the majority of Dan's mom's side of the family. Yes, that's a whole lot of people. Needless to say, Cady slept very well last night.
Look at this adorable cake! Thank you Stephanie, we loved it! Today, Cady is six months old! We took a few pictures from Mt. Echo Park, with quite possibly the best view of Cincinnati.
We went to another family gathering late this afternoon. This time, Dan's dad's side of the family, also a whole bunch of people. They get together this time of year to celebrate Thanksgiving so that everyone can do their own thing for the actual holiday. Cady was really good, and her cousins were really helpful. They pushed her around in her stroller and did what they could to entertain her and keep her happy.

There will be two recipes to follow...once we get them from Kelsey and Stephanie. One is a spicy chicken dip and one is a Halloween candy leftover cake.

Cady's First Camping Trip

We spent the weekend at Silver Strand in Coronado. Cady seemed to enjoy camping, which is good since we have three more trips lined up. She saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time, and had her feet in the sand. We stayed Sunday night, which was a first for us. It's amazing how few people are there, it's really nice!

September

In September, we went to Vegas again. Ciara and I were very excited to go see Brittney Spears in concert at Mandalay Bay. It was a pretty good show, her dancing is fantastic.

August

In August, we went to McGrath State Beach to camp with Ciara's family. Denise, Andrew and Ciara stayed with us in our camper. Jen and Ben came down with Nate, we were so glad they could make it. It was Nate's first camping trip!

July

In July, we went to the Colorado River with our neighbors, and later we went back to Morgan Hill for my 16th High School Reunion.

Dan and I out on the River...

Out on Lance's boat...

Jenny and I on the way to the reunion, after a stop at Rob & Colleen's house...

The girls, Me, Colleen, Jenny, Ginger, Dawn and Erica.

June

In June, we went to Las Vegas for Ciara's 30th birthday. Later in the month we went to Morgan Hill for my 30th Dance Reunion Recital. Yep, I danced in front of a full San Jose Center for the Performing Arts, twice!


Ciara and Denise on the way...

Denise, Melissa and I at the Hilton...

My old audit team member Dwayne met up with us at the Hilton, it was so great to catch up. He had just moved to Vegas for a job with Harrah's/Caesars. This is the guy Dan saved from a foul ball to the face at the Boston Red Sox game at Fenway a few years ago.




On to the recital...Here's the artwork for the Dance Recital. This was on posters all over town to advertise the big event.


Jenny and I started dancing in 1978, when we first met. We were some of Lana's first students, and were so happy to be there for the 30th!

This was most of the alumni group that performed...

This was the venue....
Jenny and I before the second performance of the evening...

Our age group...

Top Row L to R: Jimene, Sarah, Me, Lana, Jenny, Christy, Pauline

Bottom Row L to R: Lottie, Jenny, Danielle, Leilani, Masumi

My Gosh, We've Been Neglecting This!

Sorry for the lack of posts since April! We haven't fallen off the face of the earth. Here are a few things you've missed since the last time we updated!

MAY

We went to Alaska with our parents in May...here we are, all piled in the rental minivan driving around Seattle.

The dads, Bob in his blue coat and Pop in his hat. Both very prepared with their backpacks.

Mom & Pop on the White Pass Railroad in Skagway.
Here are all six of us in Ketchikan...
Mary thought that was "just the neatest idea"....

Dan's Birthday Weekend

We went to Lake Skinner this weekend with the neighbors for Dan's birthday. It was a beautiful weekend, it looks like summer is almost here!

Here's the new camper, Casa Tres. We really enjoyed it, everything worked great!

Dan and the guys did a bit of fishing, but Kevin was the only one who caught anything (a large mouth bass).

I finally flew my elephant kite that Dan bought me while he was in San Diego a while back. It was a lot of fun. I had forgotten how much fun that is!

We hooked Chico up to Cody so they could run around on the trails. It was so funny, Cody would lead for a while, then they'd stop and Chico would lead for a bit.

Dan and Mike took the kayaks out for a sunset paddle.

Weekend in Phoenix

This weekend we went over to Phoenix. Our friend Ciara had to go during the week for a conference, so she invited us to come for the weekend. We arrived Friday night and went to dinner at Zen 32 for sushi. Saturday morning we slept in, then went to lunch at an Irish pub downtown, and then spent the rest of the day by the pool. That night, we went to ASU to check it out. Good times with good friends, as usual!

Our New House....On Wheels!

We love camping, and this weekend, we found a great deal on Craig's List for this camper. Dan can use it for his office, and we can use it as a guest room when we're not camping in it. It's a 22' Fleetwood Mallard. Here it is, parked out back.

Here's the view from the master bed. To the left is the bathroom, and a vanity. There's a curtain that divides the master bed and bath from the rest of the camper. You can see the kitchen here, pretty big refrigerator and freezer, stove, oven, and sink.

Here's the couch, it converts to a bed. The camper sleeps up to 7. The 7th has to weigh under 150 pounds, to sleep on the bunk bed.

The dinette is down, making a bed here, but you get the idea. You can also see the master bed and bunk, and the door to the bathroom.

We're excited to use it, and can't wait to take it out with our family and friends.

Camping at Silver Strand

This weekend we went camping at Silver Strand. It's a little strip of land that connects the island of Coronado with Imperial Beach. We went with the neighbors, as usual! It was such a great time. We got down there on Friday and spent the evening out by the fire. Saturday we rode our bikes to Coronado, past the Hotel Del Coronado, up to the Coronado Brewing Company. CBC is one of our favorite places to eat in the San Diego area, and their beer is great. I'm a big fan of Neptune's Nectar, and Dan likes Mermaid Red.