Summer Quilting

Well, now that I am back from all my trips, I'm planning on getting lots of quilting done down in my cool basement. This is a quilt I'm working on for our "downstairs guest room", although it will revert back to Doug when he gets home in September. It was the "Block of the Month" from last year at Quik Quilts and I love it, but it wasn't big enough, so I'm making 13 more blocks, then it will fit the queen size bed down there.

Going to the Movies

Well, today I took Austin to the movies to see "Kung Fu Panda". It looked cute and I was looking for an excuse to see it. We went over to the Scera Theater and bought our tickets. Then we bought popcorn and rootbeer and got a mini pack of skittles too - they have a great kid deal - the treats are only $2. I love to go to the Scera because it's a big theater like I used to go to when I was a kid, they even have a balcony! (When my sisters and I used to go to the movies when we were kids, we weren't allowed to sit in the balcony unless we had an adult with us, I guess they didn't want kids to be throwing popcorn or maybe they didn't want us to see what was going on up there?) Austin was having a hard time sitting in her chair, she couldn't quite hold the seat down with her weight, so we moved to one of those cool big chairs, like a mini couch, where we could sit together. She quite enjoyed her popcorn, the rootbeer and the skittles and was enjoying the movie, but fell asleep on my lap about 1/2 hour into Kung Fu Panda. I just snuggled her up and enjoyed the rest of the movie with my perfect excuse, snoozing in my lap.

Planting Strawberries

Austin and Grandpa had a good time planting strawberries next to the driveway. Austin really enjoys her little pink shovel and flinging dirt around and we really enjoy Austin. We've run out of room for our garden in our backyard since we're putting in another patio (for a jacuzzi). So, we've moved to the little strip of dirt between our house and the Carter's. Nathan did the sprinklers and Stacy (and Austin) did the planting. We'll share the spoils.

Practicing adding pics to the post. Testing.

Tears!

Left - Scotty Rae and Me. Heidi (on bed) Belinda (in chair)

When it was time to go, Dianna and Mamal just started crying their eyes out, which of course, made me cry! We all vowed not to let so many years go by before we saw each other again! It was so wonderful to see Dianna's 4 girls, I had never met them and they range from 7 to 17! They are all beautiful, just like her and she is such a wonderful mom!

Mini Family Reunion

Mom (Janet), Scotty Rae, Dianna and Aunt Dottie

Hope and Madison (Above) Richard and Debi (Below) Tammy and Cassidy(top) Kelsey and Mamal (below)

I just got back from North Carolina for a "mini family reunion". It was so wonderful to see my family (on my mom's side). I went with my mom and both of my sisters. We visited my mamal (grandmother for you non-southerners), my Uncle Richard, and my Aunt Dottie came up from Florida, and of course, their great kids and grandkids. It was so nice to see my cousin, Dianna, who I haven't seen for over 28 years! We had such a great time recalling the hilarious times of our youth together. Even though Dianna lived in upstate New York, we spent time at her house and when we were teenagers, my mom flew Dianna, Aunt Dottie and lots of other Aunts out to California for a month, to go to Disneyland, Universal Studios, the beach and just hang out and have a blast. We all laughed so hard we cried.
A classic "Dianna" story: We were down at the boat my parents had in Marina Del Rey. Debi, Heidi, our cousin Mark, and Dianna were paddling around the marina in the rubber dingey that usually hung off the back of the boat. Somehow, they got to laughing so hard, Dianna wet her pants. All the other kids squeezed over to the other side of the dingey, to get away from it, but their combined weight, made it lower on their side, so the pee came rolling toward them on the bottom of the boat. They promptly abandoned ship and jumped over the side, into the questionable waters of the marina!

The Practical Joke

So, the funniest thing happened while we were gone! Our grass had gotten quite long (9 days is a long time to skip mowing). Someone mowed "OBAMA" into the lawn in huge letters!!! Since we are pretty much as republican as they come, and Stacy is quite into politics, he was appalled! He got out the mower immediately and mowed it. Amanda and I had gone to the store, and when we got back, Stacy was gone. I wondered aloud where he could have gone and Amanda quipped "Probably to get some McCain signs for the front lawn"! Hee Hee Hee.
Stacy mowed it, but you can certainly still see it, since it was mown lower than our mower is set on. People were quite chatty about it at church and we could see people stopping by to read it on their way to and from church all morning.
We heard a rumor that it might have been Mitch Macfarlane!!!!

More on Alaska

Okay, so I realize that in the rush to add the pics, I forgot to mention a few other details. We went with my parents, they loved it! My mom hung out in her giant room with the balcony door tied open, so as to experience as much of the Alaskan cold as possible. My dad brought his heating blanket. They were in a suite, so they got to go into the "Neptune Lounge" with their own concierge, special treats and desserts, etc. Our friends, Ken and Julie Thompson went too. They are lots of fun to cruise with and it is great to see them, since they still live in CA.
Stacy kept falling asleep in the afternoons, and we all ate plenty. He said he's like "a lion", just eating and sleeping all the time! Kayaking was a little scary, we figured if we fell in, we wouldn't have to worry about drowning, we'd die of hypothermia pretty quickly! Ziplining was kind of fun/scary. We were up at a ski resort in Juneau, so it was pretty chilly!!! I wore my brown velour pants, which flapped in the wind when I zipped, so Julie said I looked like a flying squirrel.
It rained the whole time in Ketchikan (my mom's favorite), but we were tooling around in a van and walking (with umbrellas) checking out the totems, so it was the best day to have rain.
It is nice to be home, we missed our family.

Alaskan Cruise

We're back from our fab Alaskan Cruise. We had a great time and ate a LOT. We went Ziplining, Kayaking and checked out some totems. We were supposed to stop in Victoria, Canada, but it was too windy, so we cruised by, but couldn't get off the boat.