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!"