Christmas in San Diego!

Ted and I had a very enjoyable Christmas!  Before Christmas we had already given each other their present, quite by mistake!  My friend Jeri was telling us how much she loved her Kindle.  I was thinking what a great idea for us because we don't have a lot of room to carry around books so I ordered one for Ted.  Jeri told Ted that I would really like one so he went to order one for me and when he connected to Amazon, it came up on the computer that I had already ordered a Kindle!  When I got home, he had a smile on his face and wondered aloud if I had ordered myself a Kindle!  A long story to say we both got a Kindle for Christmas and are really enjoying it.

Max enjoyed his Christmas as well!  He loves to open presents and he's good about not opening any that he isn't given!  I think he enjoys the opening even more than the gift!

On Christmas we went to our friend Peggy's for brunch.  Her son had cooked a brine turkey and a stuffed flank steak.  I think they could have fed the whole neighborhood!  Everything was delicious. 

We left their house hurried home to let Max out and then headed to Tony and Gina's house (our friend's Jeri and Stach's son and daughter-in-law) for an Italian Christmas of lasagne!  Again, lots of delicious food.  We had a gift exchange and Jeri and I each added a gag gift.  After the gag gift was opened we gave them the good gift!  It was a lot of fun watching the expression on their face and not knowing what to say!

Ted and I hope our family and friends all had a safe and Merry Christmas!..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Merry Christmas Eve!

We are in San Diego, in spite of the rain!  We did our Christmas with the kids on Sunday at brunch, had a good dinner with Craig Sunday evening and left Fresno Monday morning.  Poor Ted had to tear down in a pretty steady heavy rain and deal with the lake we were sitting in!  It took us all day to drive to Beaumont with the heavy rains and the winds.  Again, poor Ted unhitched in the rain so we could go get fuel and have dinner.  We never even opened the slides except for our bed slide.  Tuesday morning, still raining!  Ted hooked us up and we made it down to Pio Pico in Jamul!  Because of the rain we finally got fully set up today, a beautiful sunny day, and finally have internet that doesn't work all the time and is very slow, especially with pictures!  It is better than nothing!

Oh yeah, and Max is pretty sick of walking in puddles and getting soaked every time he had to go out to go potty!  He loved getting out in the sun today!

We've spent the last couple of days running last minute Christmas errands and had lunch with our friends Jeri and Stach on Wednesday.  Tonight our friend Peggy came to dinner.  That catches you up on our week.

I only took a couple of pictures of the kids while in Fresno, and missed getting any pictures of Stephen and Marissa this time.  Here are Chip and Hayley, Claire and Craig!

We wish all our friends and family a very Merry Christmas..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Winning at Chukchansi!

We met our friends at the casino on Wednesday.  I was having some good luck until we ate dinner.  Dinner was delicious I might add, steamed crab legs were pretty good!  After dinner we gambled some more and Ted and I were both losing.  We stopped by one last machine and both of us had good luck.  Ted made back half his money and I actually made back all of mine plus $70.00 and we got out of there fast!!!!

Last night Claire (Craig's fiancee) invited us to dinner at her family's home.  She made dinner for her Mom and Dad, her brother and his family, Craig and his brother's and girlfriends and us.  Claire made a great dinner and it was a lot of fun getting to know them better.  Claire made puff pastry filled with ice cream and covered in chocolate syrup for desert along with some cookies.  Everything was delicious!

They have been predicting lots of rain in California and we know that at least in Fresno, we are getting it!  Fortunately we are parked on a concrete pad because there is a lake all around us with much more rain expected tonight!

Tomorrow is brunch and Christmas gift giving with the kids and then we leave here on Monday for San Diego (hopefully).

Getting to know Claire's family..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Visiting the guys in Fresno!

On Monday we had lunch with Craig and Claire.  They are both on break from law school.  Craig is working full-time in the law firm and Claire works part time in her Dad's law firm.  They are very busy with wedding plans!  It will be the second biggest wedding of the year, just a bit smaller than Englands Prince William!!!!

Last night we had dinner with Chip and Hailey and Stephen and Marissa.  All but Chip have finals yet this week.  Marissa leaves on Friday for Missouri with her family for a week. 

We have more get togethers planned with the kids this week but today Ted and I are going up to Coarsegold to meet our friends Judy and Clem (red lippers from Ted's High School) for an early dinner and a little gambling at Chukchansi Casino!  It rained yesterday but is showing partly cloudy for today and in the 50's so we don't think we'll find any snow!

Family and "vice"..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Red Lips Christmas Party 2010

It's Sunday evening and we are in Fresno recouperating from the Red Lips weekend!  What a fun time.  Our hosts Billy and Vicky Whited (from Sweetwater High, Ted's high school) are the best. 

On Saturday, Billy and Vicky's son Jeff, who is in a band, had some of his fellow muscians over to play some good time rock and roll music!  The band was great and Billy and Craig (party attendees, even sang some songs with the band)!

We took pictures all day long, here are some new classics:

As you can tell, we were already having fun and then came the gift exchange.  Each person brings a $5 gag gift and a $20 good gift:

Vicky picked one of Phil's gifts last year, Glen.  This year she tried really hard not to pick Phil's gift...oops!

One gift that keeps on giving each year is Mr. Dickhead.  You remember Mr. Potatohead?  You can use your imagination on that one!  You can bet that 2010 is NOT the last time this one will be seen!!!!!

After the gift exchange, there is always a group picture.  Unfortunately this year Marion wasn't feeling well and so she and Pat had to head back to San Diego.  Craig also had to leave before the gift exchange, but here is the rest of the gang that attended!

This morning we had breakfast together and then everyone went their separate ways:

Great fun, food and friendship..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Atwater, California 2010

Today we left Sacramento and headed south to Atwater.  We are staying at the Air Castle RV Park and Air Museum.  We are now official members of the Air Museum.  They add new planes all the time and is a large, interesting museum.  The RV Park is a parking lot with a park!  But they have 50 amps and sewers so life is grand!

I haven't mentioned it, but after all the trouble with our truck registration, it is now official!!!!  We have truck and RV registered in South Dakota!

Attending Christmas parties with friends..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Raining in Sacramento!

Sunday was a rainy day watching the Chargers lose!  Sunday night was rainy and extremely windy!  We went over to Yuba City on Monday, north of Sacramento to look around and pick up some groceries.

Yesterday we met our friends Joel and Lale for dinner.  They are looking well.  Lale had a pacemaker put in a few months ago and is doing so much better.

Today it's raining again and we are just planning a trip over to Camping World to pick up some RV stuff.  Pretty boring to write about but nice relaxing days!

Tomorrow we leave for Atwater to party with our red lip friends!

The first party of the holidays..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Sacramento December 2010

We had a fun 24 hours in Fresno.  I got my hair cut (thank God) and we saw the kids.  We had happy hour with Craig and Claire before they went to Craig's office Christmas party!  Claire looked beautiful and Craig handsome, but unfortunately I didn't have my camera.  We did some Coldwater Creek shopping before heading home!  On Saturday before leaving Fresno we met Chip and Haley and Stephen (Marissa was unavailable) for breakfast. 

The kids are all doing great.  Chip's getting pretty good hours at the company and is getting paperwork together to substitute teach (including being to coach wrestling) at the high school.  Haley is doing great at Fresno State and has been accepted to the graduate nursing program and is excited about school.  Stephen is working a lot at the bike shop for Christmas and doing well at Fresno State.  He's changed his major and plans to go into real estate law, so law school after Fresno State!  Marissa is doing very well at community college and is thinking about the nursing program for her future.  Craig and Claire are very happy and are doing well in law school!

We are now up in Sacramento to visit some friends.  From our campsite we can see quite a bit of snow on the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

A quick visit with the kids..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Enjoying the Valley of Fire!

Yesterday we took a drive in the park.  We hiked back to the "Mouse Tank".  It was named this because of a renegade Paiute indian who caused great trouble for other indians and settlers.  He used this area to hide because of all of the nook and crannies.  There is a "tank" made from a stream worn basin which traps and holds water for long periods of time!  We were surprised at how much water was being held in this rock. 

Along the way we saw many petroglyphs.   There are some writings that we couldn't figure out how someone could have climbed up to write on the rock face!

We also hiked to the "petrofied logs" that were found in the park.  There was a forest several miles from the park made up of Pine trees.  From the "age of reptiles" over 150 million years ago the floods carried the trees to the park.  They were buried under sand, silt and seawater.  The water around the logs deposited the minerals in the logs crevices.  The pretty colors were caused by oxides of manganese or iron.

This morning we left Nevada and are in Bakersfield tonight.  We will spend tomorrow night in Fresno.  I need a haircut and we will see the guys!  We will be back on the 12th to spend more time with them.

Seeing the sights of the Valley of Fire..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Camping in the Valley of Fire

We left Las Vegas on Tuesday morning headed for the Valley of Fire, about 55 miles north and east of Las Vegas.  It is really gorgeous here.  The campground is surrounded by red sandstone and is so nice, has water and electric only, and lots of space between campers.   It was 45 degrees at 2:00 when we arrived and stayed in the low 30's all evening and this morning.  Max is really enjoying his walks and sitting on Dad's lap!

We leave here tomorrow morning and will end up in Fresno so I can get a hair cut.  We will then head up to Sacramento to visit some friends before heading to Atwater for a Christmas party with our RLS friends!

Enjoying the peaceful scenery and the red red rock..."Ain't Life Grand!"