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.