A busy week!

On Sunday we had brunch with the kids.  Poor Stephen had a really bad toothache and upset stomach so he and Marissa didn't stay long.  After we ate Ted and I drove out to Stephen's lot and toured the model of the house that has just been started being built for he and Marissa.  It is supposed to be done in March of 2013 (hopefully)!

On Monday morning we left for Texas.  We made it to Needles, California and camped in a dry camping lot in back of the Avi Resort and Casino.  You can park at a lot of casinos for free, but you have no electric or water even.  We went in for dinner and did a little gambling after dinner.  Ted lost $25 and I doubled my money!  It was fun (for me) and  relaxing after driving.

On Tuesday we decided to drive on route 40 through Flagstaff.  There were no road condition warnings.  It had snowed the night before and was a beautiful, clear but cold drive.  We decided to head south from Flagstaff.

We headed south and ended up in Eloy, Arizona, south of Tucson!  On Wednesday we headed out and passed Picacho State Park.

We passed on through afternoon rush traffic in El Paso on Wednesday and luckily did not have any problem with the wind and dust storms that follow route 10 through New Mexico and Texas.  We actually had a tail wind and go over 10 1/2 miles per gallon...whoohoo!  We made it to Van Horn, Texas about 7:30 p.m.

You can see the dust behind us in this picture, almost blocking out the setting sun, but our roads were always pretty clear!

On Thursday we had a little over 400 miles to go and made it to Boerne around 5:00 p.m.  It was an easy drive with clear skies, little traffic and no large towns to have to drive through.  We got set up and drove over to Ted's cousin's, Gloria and John, to surprise them.  We called them from the front door to give them an "update" on our travel progress!  When they asked where are you?...At your front door, it's cold, let us in!  We arrived a day earlier than we thought.

On Friday Ted and I did a little Christmas shopping before meeting John, Gloria and Bonnie (their daughter visiting from Dallas area)!  Us ladies went shopping and had a fun afternoon.  Gloria and Bonnie ran into some friends at Old Navy!

We met up with John and Ted for dinner at the Cracker Barrel in San Antonio. Tomorrow we plan to have more fun!

Safe driving..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Craig and Claire's great Christmas Party!

Last night Craig and Clair had a Christmas/open house/housewarming party. They have really worked hard on the house this past year and it looks beautiful!  We bought some things for the party and came by early to drop them off and I took the opportunity to take some pictures of the calm before the storm!  The house looks great and we are really proud of what they have and continue to accomplish!  They have gotten to know a lot of their neighbors and some of them came by.  They invited friends from school, work and friends of Chip and Stephen. Needless to say, they had a lot of people!  In spite of the low 40' s temps, some of their friends hung out by the three fire places they had set up outside!  I would say the party was a huge success and we heard so many people talk about how perfect their house is for them!

The back yard!

I didn't take pictures of the party goers, just too many!  I did get a picture of Craig and Claire, Stephen and Marissa and Chip.  Ernie and Linda are Claire's parents and Jack is Claire's cousin.

Today we are going to have lunch with all of the kids and then a trip to see Stephen and Marissa's lot...they have just started building their house!

Love these kids..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Early Christmas in Fresno!

After we left Vegas we took two days to get to Atwater, California . We have friends that live there and they host the Red Lips party every Christmas.  Several of us arrived on Thursday and got together for dinner.  Three ladies; Marion, Pat and Joette left from San Diego and didn't arrive until after midnight!

We had a group of 17 this year.  We decided to have the gift exchange Friday night this year. After we had Jim and Della`s awesome Spaghetti dinner, we first played a 1964 trivia game for a prize!   Della was the big winner and won a box of 1964 candy!  The candy was not really around in 1964, just the kind of candy!   1964 was the year that Ted`s high school class graduated and most of the group are from that year!  There was also a game question on how many states Ted and Susan visited.  Duane was the big winner and won 10 scratch off tickets for $4.00!

We had a really fun gift exchange this year. Everyone brings a $20 good gift and a $5 gag gift!  There are always some interesting gag gifts and this year was no exception.  We had "mop the floor shoes", "hand sanitizer in case you touched your genitals", "a bottle of Tequila with two urine sample glasses to drink from" to name a few!  Phil always finds unusual gag gifts and this year his gift was really odd, to say the least.  He sent a gift in his absence because he is working in Austria and couldn't make it to the party.  He took a beer bottle, put some clothes on it, some eyes on it and a chunk of his ponytail!  It was hysterical and we all had a good laugh over it and all the gag gifts in general!  Box alcohol sets seemed to be the most popular good gifts along with Starbucks and a couple of household items.

 Kelly found the best "red lips" gift for Billy and Vicky, our host and hostess!  She found it on one of her bike trips and had to carry it in her backpack while riding her bicycle for eight weeks!  It even made it all in once piece...and so did Kelli!

It turned cold and grey on Saturday but it didn't stop the band from playing!  Vicky and Billy's son plays in a band and he has a lot of musician friends that seem to like to come and play for us. We always have a huge pot luck and lots of beer and the band and their friends have a good time playing, eating, drinking and singing for us.  One of our classmates had a bucket list wish to sing with a band.  Joette sang the Jose Cuervo song.  She was very brave and did a good job!  We try and get them to play music for us from our era and it doesn't always work, but it's always a great time!

Sunday morning about half the group met for breakfast and then we head out in all different directions!  By Sunday we all are exhausted!  Such a fun weekend!

From there Ted and I were going to go over to Sacramento for a few days but we were unable to connect up with friends so we headed down to Fresno. So far we have had lunch with the oldest nephew, Craig.  We had a good visit with him and have run some errands. Wednesday was cold and rainy so we took advantage of an opportunity to just rest up and read our books!

Last night we went to Costco with Craig and then met up with everyone at his house.  Craig and Claire are having a huge Christmas/Open House/House Warming on Saturday and were busy with the house.  Stephen had to study for finals so Chip went to dinner with Ted and I.  We had a good time catching up with him!  He is really enjoying teaching high school math and being the assistant wrestling coach.  He loves working with the kids.

I'm trying to download the Red Lips party pictures so I can get this posted!  Pat took a lot of great pictures of the group!

Enjoying the early holidays..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Almost ready to leave Las Vegas!

We had a fun evening with David and Debbie.  They picked us up and decided we would go to downtown Las Vegas for dinner!  We had not been downtown in forever!  We were there at 4:00 so there were not a lot of nice places to have dinner until 5:00 and there were lot very many people around for a Saturday afternoon.  We ended up at the Grotto at the Golden Nugget!  I had an angel hair crusted Mahi.  It was fabulous!  Everyone enjoyed their dinner and then we decided to take a walk on Fremont Street. 

Freemont Street is a few blocks long and we started at the beginning.  They have opened the street for walking and there is a covering over the street that goes on for three blocks and is a big screen!  It is a show all by itself!  And then there is the street people...you can see almost anything and everything...not kidding, it's scary!  We saw an Elvis, Sponge Bob Squarepants (whose costume was very dirty), Darth Vadar, women of the evening (if you get my drift), a guy painted all in gold (clothes and all) and one in silver.  There was an indian with beautiful headfeathers and a thong (he had seriously cute cheeks)!  I didn't take any pictures of the people because they all want money for their picture!  I did take a picture of the giant tv screen!   There are live bands and muscians scattered all around!  Near the end of the street there is a restaurant called the Heart Attack Grill!  If you weigh 350 pounds you can eat for free!  They give you a hospital gown when you come in and all the waitresses are dressed as nurses!  They advertise the "most butter fat in their milkshakes" than anywhere else!  It's a kick!

On Sunday we met Howard, a co-worker of Ted's at the County for lunch.  We had lunch at the Sunset Station and caught up with what he was doing.  We gambled a little and I came out ahead this time!  It was fun.

Yesterday we went to see the movie Skyfall.  We had been told that it was more like the old James Bond movies.  It was very good and kept our attention the full 2 1/2 hours!  I am excited about one of the previews and that is "Jack Reacher".   Jack Reacher is a character in a series of books written by Lee Child that I enjoy reading.  The Reacher character in the books is a really big guy and so I have a hard time picturing him as Tom Cruise but we'll see!

Today we are getting ready for the RLS Christmas party that we will be headed to tomorrow.  We will spend one night in Bakersfield and then arrive in Atwater on Thursday when the festivities will begin!

Enjoying the sites of downtown Las Vegas..."Ain't Life Grand!"

More Grand Canyon Pictures!

I worked on my pictures from the Grand Canyon this morning and thought I'd add them to the blog! 

Tonight we are going to have dinner with our friends David and Debbie Hawkins!  They are on the go alot so we were lucky to catch them at home!

Still enjoying the Grand Canyon..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Now In Las Vegas

We had such fun the last couple of days at the Grand Canyon.  I will post more pictures later.  We took the shuttle out to Hermits Rest.  It was really nice because it was not crowded!  You could get off and on the shuttle at each stop and not have to wait with throngs of people to get back on.  There are some pretty sites along the shuttle route.  You can see the Colorado River in several places and the colors in the Canyon are just amazing.

We made the drive to Vegas on Wednesday.  It was pretty uneventful except for one thing!  We bought a Power Ball ticket in Arizona (no we weren't the winners) and got to talking about what we would do if we won and missed our turn off to Vegas.  We went a few miles out of the way before realizing it and so had to turn around and go back!

Yesterday we visited the casino.  Ted did really well and more than doubled his money.  I lost $17 so a pretty good outing for us!  Today we took the truck in for an oil change and of course there is a casino near by so the shuttle took us over and neither of us had any luck.  Fortunately it didn't take too long to change the oil and filters so we weren't there too long!

While we are here we have lots of little things to take care of and we hope to see some friends.  We also want to get a movie in some time before we leave on Wednesday.  After Wednesday we will be moving every three or four days until we head to Texas on the 17th of December!

It is pretty windy out there this evening, happens alot in this area!  It's not as cold as the Grand Canyon and has been in the 70's in the daytime, can't complain!

Visiting Vegas..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Hawaii Cruise November 4-19th 2012

We are back from our cruise and at the Grand Canyon!

We had a great time on our cruise.  We boarded the Celebrity Century in San Diego on November 4th.  It's an older ship and needs a little sprucing up but everything was nice and clean.  We had wonderful food including an herb crusted flounder, lobster and chateaubriand to name a few!  The ship's crew were all very friendly and great!  The entertainment was great.  The muscians around the ship were really great and enjoyable.  There was a guitarist, pianist and an acapella group that were especially good!  We attended a few nighttime shows including the "clean comic" and a few of the variety type shows and musicals.

There are lots of things to do on the ship on sea days and we participated in some of them.  They have a casino which Jeri and I frequented, bingo, pool activities, trivia, golf, bowling (on the X-Box) and more.  There are great places to read your book, banana daiquiries to drink and lots of ocean to see!  Jeri and I also had tea (or a latte for me) every afternoon with a little cookie to munch on! 

One afternoon the four of us had champagne high tea in one of their special dining rooms.  It was very elegant.  The waiters were dressed formally and they had four at our table to pour the first cup of tea to each of us.  I had the Vanilla Orchard tea and it was delicious.  The sandwiches and desserts were also yummy!

 We arrived at Hilo on November 9th.  We had to tender in to shore and boarded a Waterfall and Rainforest Tour!  Our first stop was the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Factory.  It was quite interesting and we purchased some Macadamia Kisses!  You can watch some of the process through windows.  Next stop was the Waterfall.  Unfortunately they had three days of a drought on Hilo and there was only a small bit of water falling!  They have 113 inches per year of rain!  We also visited a black sandy beach and could see smoking lava, cliffs with the ocean crashing on them and drove through a rain forest.  We stopped at a park that lava had gone through and saw lava trees!

Our next stop on the 10th was on Kona.  There we took a glass bottom boat out to see spinner dolphin.  There weren't many fish to see but we did see the spinner dolphin, spotted dolphin and bottle-nosed dolphin.  After we got off the boat Jeri went to visit her friend's mom that lives there.  Ted, Stach and I went shopping.  Jeri met us back at the Kona Inn for lunch.

On the 11th we stoped in Lahaina.  Our friends David and Debbie Hawkins were also there and so we met them in Napili for lunch at the Sea Horse Restaurant.  We had a great lunch and then we headed back to town.  Ted and Stach went back to the ship while Jeri and I did some shopping!

Our last stop in the Islands was at Honolulu.  We got off the ship and went to the International  Market Place to shop.  We bought a few things then walked across the street to the Royal Hawaiian for their famous Mai Tai and lunch!  It's a beautiful view of Diamond Head from there.   The guys headed back to the ship and Jeri and I went to find a nail place without success, they were a little far to walk to!  But we managed to find a Starbucks and had coffee!  We went to catch the bus back to the ship and it took us back to the shopping center where we caught the bus that would take us to the ship.  Unfortunately we had to go all the way back around to where we started and then the bus broke down.   They had to send another bus which took awhile and then they took us on a long ride back to the ship!  We were tired by the time we got back and ready for our sea days!

We arrived in Ensenada at 7:00 p.m. on the 18th.  We didn't get off the ship because we wanted to go to the final show after dinner.  We arrived back in San Diego around 5:00 a.m. on the 19th.  Ted and I were awake so just got ready to go to breakfast and watched the ship dock! 

It was a very enjoyable trip and here are some pictures:

Hilo

Kona

Lahaina

Honolulu

I will add some of Jeri's pictures after she sends them to me!  It was a wonderful trip!

Cruising to Hawaii..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Grand Canyon November 2012!

After we  got off the ship in San Diego last Monday, we ran around running errands so we could leave for the Grand Canyon!  We were so tired we decided to leave on Tuesday morning...relaxing and having fun on the ship was very tiring!

We drove all day Tuesday and made it to Kingman, Arizona which left only 170 miles to get to the Grand Canyon on Wednesday.  We arrived around lunch time to a sunny but cool 60 degrees!  Our evening temperatures have been in low 30's with 28 being the coldest around 6:00 in the morning!

Jim and Della had friends, Cindy and Randall, staying down in Williams, Arizona which is about 50 miles due south of the Canyon.  They drove up for a look at the Canyon and Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday.  Jim and Della had cooked the turkey at home and prepared the trimmings at their RV.  We brought everything over to our house and we had dinner here with the six of us.  Ted and I did the dishes (so much better than cooking)!

On Friday the six of us spent time at the canyon, in the shops and having a glass of wine on the El Tovar porch!  It was a lovely day!

On Saturday we took a ride to the Desert View Point to see the Watchtower.  You can go inside up to top, four floors a total of 85 steps! I walked up to the top and the view was spectacular!   The Watchtower was built in 1932 as a re-creation of other towers.  Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter designed and supervised the construction of the Watchtower and adjacent kiva.  It was designed to look like an original Indian tower, complete with designed flaws, cracks and partially finished patterns seen on the outside.  The entry and shop reflect the architecture of a kiva ceremonial chamber used by the Puebloan people.  The circular painting on the inside wall (as shown in my picture) and other paintings decorating the first floor were painted by Hopi artist Fred Kabotie.  The petroglyphs were created by another Hopi artist Chester Dennis.   It is very cool!

After the tower viewing we came back to the campground to rest up before going to dinner at the El Tovar.  We got over there early and had a glass of wine on the porch.  Just can't get enough of that view!   We went in to the El Tovar dining room for a wonderful dinner!  Della and I had duck with a cherry Merlot sauce that was delicious!  Jim had the Bison steak and Ted had the Fillet Mignon.  Everyone enjoyed their dinner and Jim had the Hazelnut Creme Brulet for dessert!  A great meal!

We've had a few Phase 10 card games with Della winning two games, I've won one game and hmmmm Jim and Ted are zero games!!!!  I'm sure they will try and get even with us in the next few days!  We leave here on Wednesday!

Yesterday we rested and I blogged and finished laundry!  Today we are getting ready to go back over to the Canyon!  Depending on the time of day, the Canyon looks different and beautiful every time we see it!

Viewing the Canyon with friends..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Back to Pio Pico...again!

After a great weekend of baseball, Trent's team won the tournament!  The last game was very exciting and was much closer!  Trent had a very good weekend of baseball!

On Monday we had lunch with our friend Rusty Coole.  Rusty and Ted attended elementary school together and then high school.  We had a good lunch and visit with Rusty.

We drove back down to Pio Pico on Tuesday.  Yesterday we ran a bunch of errands getting ready for our Hawaii trip.  We leave on Sunday and are we are very excited!  We are going with our friends Jeri and Stach.  We have 5 days at sea to get to the islands, five days on and around the islands and five days back to San Diego with a stop in Ensenada!  Should be very relaxing!

Ted has gone to lunch with his friend David Prime and this evening I have will meet the GNO Girls!  Always look forward to seeing the ladies!

Excited about cruising..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Keeping busy in Hemet!

On Friday Ted and I drove to Maywood, California, in Los Angeles County.  My brother George lives there with his wife Lori.  It has been a long time since we've seen each other.  They invited us to their home for lunch.  We had not met Lori yet and it was nice getting to know her.  Shes a very nice woman and I think she's really good for George.  Her daughter, Casey, is lovely and Casey's children were really cute and very well behaved.  It was a lovely afternoon.  Oh yes, and then there was Bailey.  She is a really sweet little dog and very cuddly!  She gave me a nice "puppy fix"!

Today we drove to Lakeside to see Trent play baseball.  Today was his first game with his new team.  He's been practicing with them a couple of weeks.  I think we were all a little nervous for him.  His team is a really good traveling team.    The first game his team was quite a bit ahead and the coach had him come in and play right field.   No balls came his way but on his first up at bat he got a nice hit and ended up scoring.  He struck out on his second at bat.  Coach told him that was okay because they really brought him on for his pitching!  They won the game by over 20 points and they called the game.  They have a "Mercy Rule" when teams get so far ahead.  The second game they played against Trent's former team.  Again we were all a little nervous.  The coach brought Trent in to pitch in the third inning and he had a great inning.  He pitched great and his team supported him in a 1, 2, 3 inning!  Trent even made the first out at first base when the first baseman had to get the ground ball, Trent raced to first to catch it in time to get the player out!  He only got one at bat and hit a very nice ground ball and got to first base.  It was an exciting game for us but he was pretty nonchalent about the whole thing!

Tomorrow they play again so looks like we are headed back down to Lakeside!

Seeing family you have not seen for awhile..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Back at Wilderness Lake

Okay, I've been very bad about doing the blog, seems to happen when in San Diego!  Not because we are sooo busy, its just not very interesting for you readers when we are in the home area!  We got back to Wilderness Lakes Campground yesterday afternoon.  At least here we have good wifi and cell service...yay!

Some of the things we have done the past week include celebrating Ted's 66th birthday on October 12th.  We had a lovely and delicious dinner at Chez Loma in Coronado followed up with coffee at the Hotel Del.  I have a picture of the four of us but I'm having problems downloading my cell phone pictures all of a sudden!

Ted and I both had dermatology appointments for freezing the very important pre-cancer cells on my face and his head.  We looked lovely for a few days!

We attended some of Trent's baseball games.

The girls night out group had a very fun wine tasting at Marcella's house.   A wine distributor, Julia, came and presented seven international wines to us.  We had a ton of laughs, some good snacks and wine.  We split a case of French wine so we must of enjoyed it LOL!

We had the RV washed and waxed and the carpet cleaned.  The guy did the best job of anyone on the waxing.  We were very pleased with the way it looks!

Ted had a bad cold for a couple of days!

We took off to Julian with Jeri and Stach last Thursday.  It was drizzling and pretty chilly!  I know October is always a busy month up in Julian but we didn't realize it was Ocktoberfest!  We could not believe how busy it was and decided to not park and walk a mile in the rain for lunch.  We went down the hill to Santa Ysabel to the casino had a good lunch and Stach watched football while the three of us gambled a bit!  Ted and I were both winners...not huge amounts...but so much better than leaving a deposit!!!!

We had lunch with our friend Peggy on Monday and ran some errands.  We were headed to Snooze in Downtown San Diego.  We were there about 11:30 and could not believe how crowded it was...on Monday...not a holiday...not vacation time...and a 45 minute wait!  We decided not to wait and had lunch at Black Angus.  Snooze is a very good place to eat!

Today friends Steve and Kathe drove up from San Diego and met us in Old Town Temecula.  We had lunch and browsed the shops.  Ted and I found a couple of Christmas things and it was a good visit with Steve and Kathe!

That brings you up to date on our life and remember..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Back in Jamul!

On Tuesday, despite over 100 degree temperatures, we came down from Hemet area, stopped off at South Coast RV for a pre-check appointment before we bring the RV in on the 10th and got set up in Jamul! 

We've had a busy week going to doctor appointments and visiting with friends.  

I got my hair cut and colored and I am now a redhead!  It's actually and auburn color.  It's a little harsh to me and I think I'm going to have her put in some highlights.  It's definitely a stranger in the mirror!  Ted asked who was coming in the RV, it sure didn't look like his wife!

Yesterday we went to Bates Nut Farm with our friends Jeri and Stach.  They have a couple of craft fairs out there for Christmas shopping!  It will be here before you know it!  I bought a pair of earrings and Jeri bought a picture made out of dried flowers for $10.00 that was very pretty.  We didn't break the bank so we headed out to Harrah's for dinner.  Stach watched college football while the three of us gambled.  Ted and I each lost $10 and Jeri won a bunch!  It was fun and we had a good dinner except for the fact that I ate too much!

This afternoon we are going to Trent's baseball game.  We always enjoy watching the kids play.  They are 11 and 12 now and it's gotten very interesting!

Seeing our San Diego friends..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Leaving Wilderness!

Tomorrow we are going down to Jamul and will be at Pio Pico.  I apologize for being very negligent with my blog and when we go down there, its really difficult to do anything on the internet.  Depends on the space we get some times!

We've kept busy here at Wilderness.  On Tuesday we took the truck in for a 45,000 mile oil change and to check a couple of other things including the Turbo.  It would never register above 20 lbs and would drop down in low gears instead of powering up the hill with the turbo.  This ended up being no easy thing in that they had to take out the intake manifold and do some testing, put it all back together and then drive it and then they had to take it all apart again and retest!  The found a problem with an EBT tube and fixed that as well.  This time at least, Ford paid for a rental car.  With all the problems of our last truck, they never offered to do that.  We got the truck back at 5:00 on Thursday and it seems to be doing better.  Real test will be when we load on the RV and actually travel up hills!

On Friday we took the RV to Camping World and hung out there for a few hours while they checked the air conditioning.  The new one that was put in when we were in Indiana would stop pumping air and just hum very loud and then would start blowing out air again, but of course this happened sporadically and we could never find a pattern.  So we packed up, drove there, it didn't fail, drove back to the campground and set everything back up!

Saturday we went down to San Diego to watch Jeri and Stach's grandson, Trent, play baseball.  Their team started off very slow but made a comeback and both games ended in a tie.  We then went out to dinner with Jeri and Stach, a fun day!

Yesterday we watched the Chargers win!  They certainly give me a heart attack every game but they pulled it off!  I also defrosted the freezer.  They haven't figured out how to make an RV refrigeraters frost free so I used the hair dryer and did it the good old fashioned way!

Today was lunch with Rusty Coole, one of Ted's high school classmates.  We took a ride in his new car and caught up with what had been going on with he and his family.  We had a good lunch and then we came home.  He helps out a lady by working part time in her fruit stand.  She's been a farmer in Escondido for a very long time.  He brought us a cantelope and some golden delicious apples.  I cut up the cantelope so it would be cold for breakfast and tried it!  Oh my gosh, it is the sweetest cantelope ever!

Poor Ted, tomorrow he has to pack us up outside with over 100 degree temps.  It was 107 when we got home at 4:00 today.  We are going to try to leave early tomorrow and hopefully we will be down at Pio Pico before it gets too hot.  We'll be happy when it cools down!

Sweetest cantelope ever..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Visit to Pechanga!

We met our good friends Jeri and Stach at Pechanga Casino yesterday!  We had at least a two hour lunch catching up.  Jeri and I talk or text all the time but we always have a lot to talk about when we see each other!  We did a little gambling but it was really crowded and not a lot of great machines available, and then we all had a snack together and talked some more!  It was really good to see them.

Today we washed the truck!  It was really dirty and had lots of bugs on the front.  It looks a lot nicer now!  Tomorrow we take it in for a regular service and for them to check a few things.  We still really love the truck!

Seeing good friends..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Wilderness Lakes in Menifee, California

On Wednesday we had a great dinner with our nephew Chip.  He is a math teacher at the High School he graduated from.  This is his first year as a full time teacher and at this school.  Last year he was a substitute at a High School in Madera and worked most of the year as a sub but now he has his own regular classes.  He teaches Algebra 1 and II.  We had a good visit with him.

We left Fresno early Thursday morning so we could get through San Bernardino and Los Angeles area before traffic gets too bad.  At Tehachapi we fueled up and changed drivers.  As we got down in the Mojave Desert area Ted was having a good time watching all of the aircraft.  He saw a C130 and a B-1.  You don't see the B-1's very often any more.  The next thing we saw was Space Shuttle Endeavor!  We knew it was coming to California but had not paid attention as to when it would be coming here.   As we got closer to Edwards AFB we could see it really well and there were throngs of people pulled over everywhere along the road and the off ramps!  I usually take the pictures so we got none since I was driving!   I did take a couple of pictures off the tv yesterday when she took her farewell tour flying around Sacramento and San Francisco before landing in Los Angeles. Her final stop is the California Science Museum in Los Angeles.

We continued on and made it to our campground without trouble and we will be here for a little over a week.  We will get truck serviced and we have an appointment at Camping World to get the air conditioner looked at that was repaired in Indiana in July. 

Tonight we had the steak dinner at the campground.  It was a huge steak, very tender and cooked perfectly!  We had a good dinner.  It's hotter down here than it was in Las Vegas or Fresno but we are managing to keep the RV fairly cool!

Closer to San Diego..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Enjoying get togethers with the kids!

We enjoyed our lunch with Ernie and Linda (Claire's Mom and Dad) on Saturday.  The kids couldn't believe we didn't talk about them!  We had dinner with Craig and Claire.  It was a cute little place with a really nice wine list and interesting food choices.  I had a gourmet grilled cheese sandwich that was really delicious!  We had a good evening with them.

Sunday evening we all made it to dinner:  Craig and Claire, Chip, Stephen and Marissa and Ted and I.  Fortunately we were at a noisy place so our extra noise didn't seem to bother anyone!  LOL.   Here is a picture of the three nephews:  Stephen, Craig & Chip (on his birthday)!  It is a better picture of a picture I already posted.

We have really enjoyed spending time with the kids.  They get along so well together, it is just fun watching them interact with each other. 

Yesterday I had a Pedi, Mani and a Vanilla Latte...ahhhh so relaxing!  We also ran some errands.  The kids are all back to work and school so they keep pretty busy.  We are going to have dinner with Chip tomorrow night and maybe lunch with Stephen tomorrow!

Since we had a free day today, Ted and I drove out to Table Mountain Casino.  Since we had not been there before, they gave us each a free buffet and $20 of free play!  We brought a little of our money home and had a good time.

When we left we went around to the back of the casino.  Not sure if all of this halloween stuff belongs to the casino or someone who lives right behind it.  I have never seen so much halloween stuff.  Some of the "monsters" looked like real people under a mask and wig!  YIKES!  They made sounds and some of them moved.  It is very well done!

We will leave here on Thursday and will be down at our campground in Menifee.  It is called Wilderness Lakes.  We will be there for a few days more than a week!

Ghosts and goblins, oh my..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Fresno, California!

We can definitely tell we are back in California!  The diesel prices were up 30 cents and higher, a lot more than every where else we have been recently!  But we are happy to be in HOT Fresno seeing the kids!  The temps have been over 100 every day so far. 

We got here on Thursday.  After we got set up and cleaned up we took off to do an errand for Craig (the oldest nephew).  He needed nine frames for a project he was surpising Claire with!  They had seen this done at an Ethan Allen Store.  Claire had a map of Paris that she loved.  Craig had it blown up by a company who does this kind of duplication for his law firm for trials.  They did a wonderful job with perfect detail.  They then cut it in 9 pieces of 11 x 14 inches each.  We got black frames for him and he put the pictures in and arranged it on the wall.  Claire was sooo surprised when she got home and loved it!  It looks great.

Yesterday we met Craig for lunch at Max's.  We had not been there before.  It is a bistro and was a bit expensive.  We did have a yummy lunch with Craig and then he took off to get things ready at the house for the birthday party for Chip (the middle nephew).  We took off to get a gift for him and run a few errands.

Chip turned 26 yesterday, really hard to believe!  Craig and Claire hosted an open house.  Their house is really great for entertaining.  The older folks, us and Claire's parents had the comfy living room while most of the younger folks were in the dining area and kitchen.  Westin had the run of the house and was a pretty good boy.  He is seven months old, is pretty well behaved and adorable (oh by the way, he's the dog)!  We left around 9:30 as the party was really just getting started with the younger crowd!

One of the couples brought him a "beer tree"!  The cans were full of beer and it was a really cute idea!

Today we are having lunch with Claire's Mom and Dad, Linda and Ernie.  They are a nice couple and we are looking forward to getting to know them better! 

Being with the Meredith family..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Fun in Las Vegas!

We left Valley Verde early Sunday morning.  It is quite a climb north to Flagstaff and we averaged less than 6 mpg!  Of course when we were headed west of Flagstaff we had a nice ride downhill and we were up to 13 mpg for awhile!  We averaged about 9.5 which is really pretty good for us. 

In the Flagstaff area the wildflowers were really blooming.  I took the first picture, then found a prettier area and then found a beautiful area of yellow flowers!  They just got prettier and prettier!

Since the bridge over Hoover Dam is complete we were able to go that way this time.  This was our first time over the bridge with the RV.  It sure cut off a long and boring part of the drive.  It is amazing to me that they didn't build this bridge a long time ago. 

The Lake Mead Recreational area is very pretty!

We got to our campsite pretty early, got set up, showered and headed over to Boulder Station for dinner and a little gambling.  We were up and down but I think Ted came out even and I donated about $15!

Yesterday we were invited to lunch at friends' David and Debbie Hawkins.  It was great seeing them.  We ended up going out to lunch and went to "Red Velvet".  I had a delicious shrimp and avocado salad.  We all ate half of our meal and shared a piece of Red Velvet cake!  It was warm and the frosting was soooo yummmy!  We ended up sitting around their house talking so long we all ate our leftovers for dinner!  It was an enjoyable afternoon.

Today we went to the Sunset Casino and neither of us was doing very well.  We were thinking about giving up rather than feeding the machine and I sat down at a machine I had not played before.  It was 50 cents to play all lines and it was only paying me 15 or 20 cents.  Just before I gave up I got the bonus.   It spun just the wheel that had the cat on it and it was loaded with dollar amounts.  The first wheel spun $4.00, the second $1.25 and then the third spun the "Minor" which ended up being a $179.00!  I came out with $215.00!  I even bought lunch today!  While we had lunch we noticed it was pouring so we played a little after lunch and I still had some good luck. 

Tomorrow we leave Las Vegas but before we get out of town, we are going to Camping World for a new tire and will have them move a couple of tires around.  When they are finished we will head to Bakersfield for one night and then on to Fresno to see the "kids" for a week! 

The weather has been hot, between 90 and 105 degrees until today, the rain cooled it down to a delightful 70 degrees and now that the rain has passed its 75.  Wish we could bring it to Fresno with us!  We will be there to celebrate the middle nephew's birthday on Friday!  It will be great to see them, Claire and Marissa!

Winning at the casino..."Ain't Life Grand!"