Enjoying the kids (and eating) in Fresno!

We made it to Fresno last Monday.  We had dinner with Craig, Claire, Stephen and Marissa at Casa Corona.  We had a fun dinner with the kids.  There are always a lot of laughs with the brothers and we missed Chip the middle nephew!

On Tuesday we went to see Stephen's new house that is in the process of being built with Stephen and his friend Sid.  Unfortunately the lady that has the key took Tuesday off so we could only see the outside of the house.  Tomorrow we will try again to see the house on the inside!  The house isn't done yet but the kitchen cabinets and the granite counter tops are in.  They have some more painting to do, the outside lights and front and back yard and sprinkler systems.  On the inside they still have carpet and flooring to do and not sure what else.  It is going to be a nice house for the kids when it gets finished and they are really excited!

Then we had lunch with Stephen and his friend Sid and they had us in stitches the entire lunch!  We went back home thinking we were done eating for the day and Craig called.  Claire was getting her hair done so we met him for a glass of wine and dinner at the Elbow Room near his office.  We had a nice evening visiting with Craig.  We took him home and I noticed the full moon in the background and so I took his picture!  (I keep forgetting to take pictures when I'm with the kids)!

On Wednesday morning we took a ride up to Coarsegold to the Chukchansi Casino.  We gambled a couple of hours and I came out $40.00 ahead and Ted lost $36.00 so we broke even!  We had a late lunch and then headed back to the campground. 

Again, we weren't expecting to see anyone and thought we'd had our big meal for the day!  Craig called and said he and Claire were available for dinner around 7:00.  They were going to San Francisco Friday morning to meet with their tutor that is helping study for the bar, and they wouldn't see us again until Easter evening.  So out to dinner again we went!  With spring break in full session a couple of the places were really busy and we finally went to Take Five, the restaurant where Craig proposed to Claire.  Ted and I had small salads for dinner and the kids shared a salmon dinner.  We really enjoyed our evening with them.

Today we had lunch with Craig.  We sat outside and enjoyed the pretty day!  Again, thinking we were done eating for the day, Chip texted me and said he was available for dinner!  We met him over at an Italian Restaurant and had a great dinner and caught up with what's going on in his life.  He teaches High School math and also is the assistant wrestling coach.  One of the kids he coaches made it to number one in the State and so the High School is sending Chip and the wrestler to Virginia to the Nationals on Tuesday!  Chip is pretty excited about the kid and the good news is that he is only a junior this year!

So with a big fat, full belly I submit this blog!..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Las Vegas!

We are still in Las Vegas and enjoying beautiful weather and friends.  On Saturday night we had another dinner with Kathe and Steve Dunn.  This time they came out our way and we had dinner at Sunset Station out by us.  

Last night we had dinner at the Yard House with David and Debbie Hawkins.  It was David's birthday so we had a glass of wine at their home and then went to dinner.  After dinner we went back to their house.  Debbie had baked an angel food cake with chocolate frosting for David for his birthday.  The cake was yummy and it was a very enjoyable evening.

Today we went over to Arizona Charlies, a small casino.  I was having all the luck at first and then Ted was playing the last $5.00 of his gambling money on a Chrystal Forest machine and got the bonus.  He cashed out $92.00 ($32.00 more than he started with)!  I ended up with $67.75 (I also started with $60) so it was a good day.  We had lunch, ran some errands and brought our winnings home!

We will leave Las Vegas on Sunday stop in Bakersfield for the night and arrive in Fresno on Monday for a visit with the kids!   They will be on spring break so we should get to see more of them in the evening!  Stephen is in the process of buying a house (with a little help from his Aunt and Uncle and his girlfriend's mother) and it is just about finished.  I will post some pictures when we get them!  Very exciting!

I do have a picture of the kids:  Stephen, Marissa, Chip, Claire & Craig!  They are a good looking group!  The picture is taken at Craig and Claire's home!

"WINNING"..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Eating, gambling and movies!

Thursday afternoon we went to see Life of Pi at the movies!  I really didn't know what to expect but thought it was more of a kids movie.  I really enjoyed the movie but there were parts that I had to cover my eyes which surprised me and of course parts where I had a few tears!  It was definitely worth seeing on a large screen! 

On Friday morning we got up early and moved from the Sam's Town campground to our Thousand Trails campground a little after 9:00 a.m.  The campground is really full and the spaces are pretty tight so we wanted to get here early to try and get a space both the RV and the truck will fit in.  Our space is long enough to park the truck and we are right on the lines side to side!  Whew!

We had not had breakfast so we went over to Boulder casino for breakfast and gambled a little while.  We both had better luck at Boulder!  In the evening we met Steve and Kathi Dunn, friends visiting Las Vegas from San Diego for dinner.  Ted went to school with Steve.  They are meeting some of Steve's family visiting Las Vegas from Hawaii and they were not arriving until today.  We met them at their hotel, the Golden Nugget.  It is downtown on the street that is closed off to autos for people.  I think it is "The Las Vegas Experience"!  It is crazy there especially on Friday nights!  There is live music (I sort of hesitate calling it music), crazy dressed up people and tourists, lots and lots of tourists!  If you are our age you need to wear ear plugs!  Lol!  We went over to the Fremont Hotel for the buffet and had a good visit and a good dinner, eating too much of course!

We are going down to Camping World to get some things for the RV so will write more later!

Having unique experiences..."Ain't Life Grand!" 

Death Valley March 7 - 12, 2013

We made it to Death Valley again without incident!  We were there for six days and had a great time!  We had four RV's and 7 people stayed in the Furnace Creek Ranch motel.  It was a fun group and we had lots of laughs!

We got there Thursday afternoon and we all gathered at Mike and Sandy's (former workmates of Della's) new RV.  After our tour of the new beautiful motor home, a fire was built and we sat outside catching up on the past year with appetizers and wine!  From there we went to the Forty-Niner Cafe at the Furnace Creek Ranch for dinner with Jim and Della (classmates of Ted) and Lynn and Bob (Lynn was Della's former workmate).  We took a look in the gift shop after dinner.

On Friday it was cold and rainy, a very good day to stay inside!  In the afternoon the rain cleared and we gathered at Mike and Sandy's and then headed to Jim and Della's for beef stroganoff, Ted's favorite!  We were joined by Kelli (former classmate of Ted and Jim and Della) who spent two nights with Jim and Della before heading to the motel.  Dinner was wonderful and it was fun getting together with them.

On Saturday the sun was out and it was a beautiful day!  Jim and Ted and I walked over to Furnace Creek Ranch to the art sale that was being held on the grounds.  There were jewelry artists, pottery artists, tie-dye artist, artists showing their paintings and a wood inlay artist.  His artwork was stunning.  He actually had a list of every type of wood and quanitity of wood used in each piece that you received when purchasing a piece.  His artwork was large and amazing.  After we walked around we decided we needed some lunch before heading back!  We gathered Friday evening with the group and then we had dinner at Jim and Della's; their famous spaghetti and meatball's.  Kelli was there as well.  Kelli had made home made applie pie that was delicious!  We were so full we could hardly waddle back to the RV!

An early morning view at our campground!

Jim & Ted stop to rest on the walk to the Ranch!

Walkway to Furnace Creek Ranch

Sunday was another beautiful day and we drove up to Aguereberry Point with Jim and Kelli.  Della is recovering from the flu and decided to relax at the campground.  The point is at 6,433 feet and there was a little bit of snow still up there!  It is a beautiful view of the valley!

Snow on Aguereberry Point!

The view of Death Valley from Aguereberry Point

Ted looking at the view (from a distance)!

Jim, Ted & Kelli at Aguereberry Point

Susan on the west side of the Point

Wish Kelli could learn to relax!

Jim at the point of the Point!

As we were leaving Aguereberry Point, we stopped to look at an abandoned mine and Jim's Escape let him know he had a low tire.  When we got to Stovepipe Wells we put air in and found a puncture.  We made it back to Furnace Creek and Jim tried to get the tire fixed at the gas station and ended up calling AAA to come and take care of it.  They had to come over from Pahrump but got it changed to the spare. 

Sunday afternoon we gathered at (yes, you guessed it) Mike and Sandy's!  Mike is sort of our Wagonmaster, reminding us every year that it is time to make our reservation for Death Valley!  I prepared dinner for Jim, Della and Kelli on Sunday night and for dessert we had strawberries with chocolate sauce!

Early on Monday morning Jim and Ted took off to Pahrump so that Jim could get a new tire for his car.  That done, we went to lunch with Jim, Della and Kelli at the Furnace Creek Inn.  For the four of us it is an annual tradition to have a lovely lunch with a view of Death Valley.  Kelli had not joined us before and I believe she enjoyed it as well.  They have a lovely gift shop that is always fun to look at and then we walked around the beautiful grounds, an oasis in the middle of Death Valley!

The driveway up to Furnace Creek Inn

Pictures after lunch

Ready to tour the grounds!

The view from the top floor at the Inn

Lilly pads in the pond

Monday evening we gathered for our last time around the campground fire!  We had appetizers and wine and a lovely evening topped off with a nice glass of Grand Marnier!  We had a great fire and a very enjoyable evening!

On Tuesday morning we were headed out.  There were three of us that were going to Valley of Fire in Nevada.  Kelli was going to join us and stay in our RV.  We got to Pahrump and I finally got through to them and the campground was full.  They only book on a first come, first served basis and we were pretty surprised.  Every one decided to head home so we came on in to Las Vegas.  Our Thousand Trails campground was full (we have a reservation starting Friday) so we came to Sam's Town Campground.  It's a nice campground and the weather here is lovely!

We had dinner at the casino and did a little gambling.  Yesterday we met Howard, a former co-worker of Ted's for lunch.  Today is catch up day!  Catch up on laundry, blog and get some groceries.  I think we are going to see Pi this afternoon!

A beautiful visit at Death Valley..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Moving on!

I forgot to tell you that Trent's team did win that exciting baseball game on Saturday.

Tomorrow we will be heading to Death Valley.  We are meeting a group of RVers there.  We have been joining this group for the last few years.  Jim and Della Crownover, from Ted's High School invited us to join them and their group of friends.

Some of them have jeeps and like to go four wheeling and there are a lot of places to do that.  We have joined in and seen a lot of the valley.  Not sure how much or little sightseeing we will do but we will have fun!  There's always good eating and some wine drinking to be done, nice toasty fires to warm us, some cards to be played and lots of laughs!

Heading to Death Valley..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Great baseball!

Yesterday we drove down to San Diego to watch Trent play baseball!  So far we are north when games are south and we are south when games are north!  Trent was playing on his North City team and not his travel team.   His first two times at bat he struck out.  Stach, his grandfather told him to wait for the ball to get to him.  On his travel team they pitch faster and he was too quick with his bat.  His last two at bats he hit two doubles!  Trent pitched the last two innings and that was when we could really tell the difference in the pitching speed.  The pitchers on both teams did well but Trent's pitches were so fast the kids were at best able to foul them off.  In two innings he struck out 4, had one that was like a bunt back to Trent that he threw to first for the out and one that was hit to first that the first baseman got out.  It was an exciting two innings and the crowd was hushed when Trent was pitching!  It was really nice when several people came up after the game and congratulated Trent on his pitching!  That was really cool!

Unfortunately my cold is back!  My head feels the size of a basketball so today we are hanging out at the RV.  I will make a shopping list for Death Valley after I pour through some cookbooks and will get some laundry done!  I took some allergy medicine which did nothing so may need to go get something for a cold yuck!  I'm not a good patient!

Watching Trent play baseball..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Road trip!

We finished up a fun week in San Diego and have started a short road trip!  From here we will be going over  to Death Valley.  We will spend five days there with a group of friends.  We will hang out, have a few happy hours, see a few sites and have fun!  We leave here on Thursday for Death Valley.

From there we plan to go into Nevada.  We are planning to visit the Valley of Fire with a couple of people  It is a beautiful State park full of beautiful red rocks.

Our  truck mirror got  fixed yesterday!  They just replaced the whole thing!

Today we plan to enjoy the sunshine here at the campground.  It is a beautiful day!

 Sunny days..."Ain't Life Grand!"