Happy Anniversary to my parents!

Tomorrow, August 31st, will be my parents 52nd wedding anniversary. Wow!

After a week of temperatures over 100, we are grateful for air conditioning! It's supposed to be a little cooler this coming week which will help the power bill.

Thursday night Ryan (#66) had his first football game, a scrimmage, and did really well. It was a chance for the coaches to see how the players did and what changes they might need to make. He is one of the biggest kids on the team at over 6' and 240 lbs. so he's playing right guard on offense again this year. One of the quarterbacks is a new kid who just moved here from Texas and is VERY good. Ryan really likes him and talks about him often. It's great to see the comradery among the kids who all played together last year. Friday night Connor had to go to the Varsity's away game as he's ball boy for the team. He found that you have to pay attention to what's going on - just a little different than doing it for the Frosh team! Of course he's very annoyed that it's not cool weather as he has a new RB Football sweatshirt to wear!

Tuesday Mark's students begin so he's been working on his classroom as he has more students than seats! His school isn't air conditioned so he was one of many at Home Depot buying a fan to keep the kids from baking!

On Wednesday my father will have surgery to replace his second defective pacemaker. After two open heart surgeries, beating the odds and surviving a ruptured aneurism, and multiple heart attacks, you'd think he would have paid his dues! Please keep him in your prayers for a smooth procedure.

Thursday my sister arrives so I need to shoo the dust elephants out so she can get in the door. The fun never ends ...

We're going to have a visitor!

I am excited that my sister will be coming for a short visit over the Labor Day weekend! Although I saw her in November, the rest of the gang haven't seen her in a while. I'm sure the time will go fast as it always does.

It was a very warm day here (90's) and is supposed to be even more so tomorrow. I let the kids do a little homework and then they swam for a while as the water was so warm.

I was amazed to find a post from Sears on my blog regarding my dishwasher situation. To their credit, they responded to my return note and will be sending me a refund of $128 for the first repairman's visit. I now have a direct phone number should I have any problems in the future.

The kids seem to be adjusting to the school routine although I miss sleeping in very much! Mark officially returns full-time on Thursday and his students start the following Tuesday. He spent today setting up his room as he's in a building rather than a portable this year.

Off to get the football clothes out of the washer ...

First Day of School

As you can tell from the picture, two out of three were excited about today. Of course at 6:20 in the morning I couldn't blame Ryan for being unenthused! I am pleased with their teacher assignments and we made what I hope will be our last trip to Staples for supplies. It's still a little hard for me to believe that I no longer have children in elementary school!

Dishwasher saga

The guy came, told me we had hard water, run two cycles of "Dishwasher Magic" through an empty dishwasher on the longest, hottest cycle, and I'll be set. Oh, and that will be $151. I asked him why the last two guys couldn't have told me the same thing. Apparently because we have hard water, it builds up to the point there is a film inside the dishwasher, the spray arms get clogged, and it continues to get worse and worse in the drain, etc.; hence the reason the dishes were worse coming out than going in. He claims if you run a container of this stuff through every month that it will never build up and dishes will be great. And, most interesting to me, was never to use more than a teaspoon of dishwasher detergent in the dispenser. (This was the only comment all three guys had in common.) So, $22 later for two bottles, I had better have the most immaculate dishwasher in San Diego. You can be sure Sears repair will be getting a letter from me requesting my money back from the first two clowns who came out...and maybe this one too if it's not a success!

Tuesday

I've spent the last two days working at school helping get registration paperwork processed. It's been fun to see everyone again as the start of a new year is always exciting at an elementary school. I am so incredibly happy to be assigned to a class with a teacher/friend I adore - going to work will be such a pleasure every day.

I am still waiting for the dishwasher repairman who was to have been here between 1 and 5 today - geez, it's only 5:20 - love when they have no issue with YOU waiting on THEM. He'd better be able to find a solution or I'm going to paper plates! Stay tuned for the outcome ...

Sunday night

Mark was kind enough to take the kids to the beach for a couple hours yesterday and I enjoyed some alone time which I really needed. They had a great time boogie boarding and looking for shells.

Once again the dishwasher is not working. I've had it serviced three times in the last year which is pathetic given it was rated #1 by Consumer Report (it's a Bosch). I will call the repairmen tomorrow and tell them it's still not right, give them one more chance to fix it, and if they can't will be on my way to Home Depot to buy a new one. Of course I could have had a new one by now! Washing dishes by hand (and we go through a LOT of dishes) is second worst to having the washing machine out of commission ... but at least they are clean.

Tomorrow I work at school for a little bit, pay a visit to the credit union to transfer signature rights to the new Foundation Board, and hopefully do something relaxing since school starts on Thursday. I did see one of the darling little guys from my class last year in the grocery store today so I'm a little more excited about going back and seeing all their cute faces!

Kelleigh's Room

Finally - pictures of Kelleigh's room! I waited too late in the day to do it justice but you'll get the idea. It's far cuter in real life than the pictures show. The trillions of animals you see on the bed and shelf all lead very involved and complicated lives and you'd better keep it straight! (Can you tell that she arranged the shelf ... I much preferred the beautiful Madam Alexander dolls myself!) She is very proud of the fact she painted the bulletin board (next to the picture) and the flower mirror by her bed. It is indeed colorful and fresh ... and, most of all, she loves it!

One week to go!

Today was the final registration so everyone has their classes, books, locks, dayplanners, and supplies. They won't get their teacher assignments until the first day so all of them will need to be there early.

It was a very productive day for me as I did the school work I had procrastinated on, some flier updates for a friend, entered all the school and sports info into my calendar, reserved a facility for the karate promotion, stopped in and talked with the high school counselor, and cleaned off my desk which was no small undertaking! You can see the top of it now! Yesterday I resized a window cornice for a friend and we hung it. Now I won't feel guilty doing something crafty tomorrow!

Tomorrow Kelleigh and I will make our last trip to the Library for this summer as she wants to find another series to read. She is reading Twilight for the 8th time (some personal record she set - go figure!) but has read 7 other long books this summer too. I just finished Killing Floor by Lee Child. Was the first book by him I've read and it was very suspenseful so I'll look for the next one in the series while we're there. Also ordered a few books recommended by Diane when we were at the lake which should be coming soon.

Off to deal with the nightly laundry of my football player!

Our trip to Shaver Lake

Again this summer we had the opportunity to spend a few days at our friends' cabin at Shaver Lake (outside of Fresno). It is always so beautiful up there and brings back fond memories of childhood trips spent camping.

I only took my small camera with me but ended up taking lots of pictures. Rather than have them run on for miles, I grouped them and saved as one picture by category. I've put captions under them so you can truly appreciate each group! (You can double click on each picture and it will be larger if you want to see it in more detail; then back arrow to keep going.)

Thank you Steve and Diane for a wonderful time!


One of Steve's hobbies is biking so he and Mark set off a couple mornings for long rides. Connor was a great helper collecting the huge pine cones for the nightly fires.


The lake and surrounding area is beautiful. At one of the coves we stopped in, Kelleigh climbed to the top of this rock. She and Connor wait patiently for their turn on the jetski and the picture of all three was taken at one of the little shops in town.

Kelleigh didn't hesitate to jump off of this rock but Connor was definitely not following her!

Steve and Diane rented a pontoon boat and we went out Friday afternoon on the lake. It was very, very cool and Steve was incredibly patient teaching the children how to throw out their lines. He would barely get one of them back in action before another one got their line tangled up! The picture at the bottom right is Kelleigh with her goggles on trying to see if fish really exist in the lake as they didn't get a nibble all day!

The highlight of the trip for Ryan was renting a jetski. He was so excited when the guy told him he looked big enough for 16 so he could ride it alone! I drove to a little area where we could be on a beach-like area and they could switch off drivers. Kelleigh was a true maniac on it and had it flying as fast as it could go! All I could see was her hair flying behind her. Mark said it was hard as she was too light to hold on to as he was letting her drive! Connor, like his mom, prefers the leisurely stroll at 8-10mph so wouldn't go with those dare devils!

Each night there had to be s'mores!

Before driving home we went to the Logger's Jamboree where there were ax throwing contests, log tying races, etc. (picture below). Connor was enthralled with a guy who carves bears out of tree stumps. He was amazing!

Golfing with a legend of the game

Last Sunday Mark was thrilled to play golf with PGA Legend Lee Elder. Lee is a patient of Mark's golf buddy, Dr. Paul Tornambe. Lee was the first black golfer to play in the Master's Tournament, on the US Ryder Cup Team, and in professional golf tournaments in South Africa (through the efforts of his good friend Gary Player). Lee won four times on the PGA Tour, once beating Lee Trevino in a playoff. He also lost a five hole playoff to Jack Nicklaus. He won another eight times on the Senior Tour. Wow!

Lee is a wonderful gentleman who regaled them with unbelievable stories of his time on tour and the racism he faced even in the mid-seventies. He shared stories about his first Master's (he played in seven), the Ryder Cup, Jack, Arnie, Gary, Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, Tiger, President Gerald Ford, who is a very close friend, and playing the Bob Hope Desert Classic with Mr. Hope, President Ford, and Jackie Gleason. He also shared conversations he had with Jackie Robinson, who felt Lee had a much tougher time breaking the color barrier in golf than Jackie did in baseball because he had a team to blend into and to protect him somewhat. It was truly an honor and a privilege to play with this legend.

Mark with Lee and Al Dean.

Child labor

Yesterday the kids were a huge help (especially Ryan) moving two yards of river rock that Mark had delivered to put around the flower beds. We still have a large pile in the driveway but that will have to wait until tomorrow to get moved! Mark is at a meeting in Los Angeles this morning and should be home later so we may tackle it then.

I forced myself to go on-line and see when school registration is for the kids - I am in serious denial about school starting in two weeks. Monday we register Ryan, Wednesday Kelleigh, and Thursday Connor. Later this week we are going on a short family vacation to Shaver Lake and staying with friends at their cabin. The kids are excited to jet ski, play in the lake, and even fish. Grandma is caring for her granddogs!

p.s. I got all the ironing done - 45 pieces - when will I learn to not let it pile up?!

A fun summer card!

Since I'm doing everything possible to avoid ironing, I decided to make a fun summer card! I thought it would be cute to have the envelope coordinate ... after all, who wouldn't love to be on vacation under the palm trees?

Grandma's final birthday celebration drew to a close yesterday as we enjoyed the day with our Colorado relatives. It was a day filled with many laughs and lots of reminiscing. She was very pleased and flattered that her weeklong celebration was filled with visits from those dearest to her. Thank you all for making it a special time.

The big celebration

It's finally here ... Grandma's "official" 90th birthday celebration! The Denver relatives should be here shortly and I think we're ready. It is a beautiful day and we are looking forward to a fun time. Later I will post some pictures. Today is also Shadow's 10th birthday! I am, however, very sad that it is August 1st already...