Back to our Routine

With the Christmas break from his school Gavin is off on Tues, Thur, and Fri. So we are back to our routine of taking Revel for a walk and a cookie. I have to say I miss this when the little guy is school. I think Revel misses him as well.

Edwards First Day Volunteering

Edward did his first day volunteering in the pharmacy on Wednesday. It was a struggle to get him there and in uniform. Yes those are pants! He was there from 5pm to 10pm doing a labeling project we need done. We had the labels ready and in the bins Edward spent the evening attaching them to the bins. We have of course many more to go but he complete two sections and they look great. Here he is working with Yvonne and Larry was also there. By the end of the shift, he had settled a lot and was mixing working on the shelf and playing a game on the computer. He also found the vending machine with a large selection of potato chips. He will work every Wednesday for the next month and try and get into a routine.

Long overdue update

Well many things have happened over the month of November. I was total caught up in the SF Giants winning the world series just days before my birthday. As most of you know I got involved in a wager with a bed company over the internet. Guess the final game and score of the final game of the World Series and they will provide the winner with a custom made twin bed. The final game was extremely exciting as the score got closer and closer to my guess and ultimately I won. The bed was delivered a few weeks ago and its really amazing. The headboard is a reproduction of the score board at Rangers Stadium for the final game score. I credit this to listening to 170+ Giants game this year on the radio mostly. Knowing the pitching staffs abilities and the teams history. Oh yes and just a little bit of dumb luck.

Amber moved out of the house this month. No real drama to this, really a mutual agreement. We spent a lot of time cleaning up Teddy's room and rearranging it so that he and Gavin can treat it

like an apartment. I completed Teddy's queen size bed headboard and footboard and then added a new mattress. Still a lot of work to do but its a good start. I worked for three years off and on to get that bed made home it lasts much longer than that.

Speaking of working on things for a long time. I completed Mom's entertainment center last week. Was really lucky if it was just 1 inch

bigger it would not have fit in the spot it had to go into. Really glad after all that work that it worked and turned out as beautiful as it did. Hope to make another one in the next year or so out of teak for my house. Right now I am cleaning up the shop, sharpening tools, making a few needed jigs then will make a few small projects to learn some new skills and then I should be ready about spring to start something big.

Dorothy is doing very well, she is only got two more weeks of school and then she is off for winter break. We are working on a vacation in Hawaii over that winter break and I can speak for both of us the warm weather will really be welcome change. I know we do not get snow, and really cold weather but 40 degrees and rain is not what I want when I go out for my daily walk with Revel.

Edward is doing well, he is complaining about this daily routine and home life bitterly but I think this will always be the case with him unfortunately. I cannot see him finding a job he likes or housing that he is happy with. I regret that I cannot provide him with the things that he has picked out for himself but I a learning to live with that as well as his complaining and fussing. Edward has completed most of the hurdles to become a volunteer at Watsonville Community Hospital. We are anxiously awaiting him completing this so that he can volunteer in the pharmacy to do some database updating and labeling we really need done.

I had some nice visits with Nathan and Jonny this month. Both boys seem to be doing very well. Gavin and Nathan got together at Oma house in the beginning of November. Would really like to do that more.

Gavin has started a new preschool, at Duncan Holbert school in Watsonville, He goes there on Tues, Thur and Fridays. Its a special preparatory school for preschool for children with developmental delays. Some of you may be shocked by this since Gavin is such a smart boy but his communication skills are not up to par and we are working on that. He will continue to attend Secret Garden Preschool on Monday and Wednesday since they have done such a good job with him and he is very comfortable there. All of this work, plus me doing what I can with him at home, he is progressing rapidly in my humble opinion. Not sure if its enough, or if he will be ready at five for school but it won't be for lack of Teddy, Dorothy and I doing everything we can to get him there.

Well enough for now, as you can see its been a busy month.

October 10th 2010

Today we had brunch with Teddy. It was the only time he had for us this weekend. I guess twenty is all about friends and we parents are old news. So I spend the entire weekend taking care of Gavin which is really fun so not a complete wash.

I did get Teddy's bed completed. Minus the

mattress, that's as big an expense as the

wood was. But the bed turned out really nice and we are looking forward to getting it set up with a mattress and nice bedspread then we will post some serious pictures. For now I am just glad to

have this very big project off the workbench.

On Saturday played my first Senior 4.0

tennis match. Doubles match in Monterey. Went well nice guys and the weather was spectacular one of those really rare days in Monterey. The bad news was they were very good players as well as nice so I lost. But got 2 hours of good tennis out of it which is really all I ask for when I walk on the court.

After the match got Gavin and Nathan together for some fun. We

walked from Oma's to McDonalds for lunch with Revel and Libby of

course. The food was really bad but we had a good walk both boys walked about 75% of the trip. When we got home the boys spend a good amount of time playing together and the dogs slept. Elda and I enjoyed the afternoon, funny that when we would move to the patio, or back to the sun room in about 5-10 minutes the dogs would move then the boys would come in and

play.

Sunday was spent watching the Giants win the second of a best of 5 playoff series. These guys are going to give me an ulcer for sure. Up 1 to 0 until the bottom of the 8th then

they give up a 2 run homer to go down 2-1 then in the top of the ninth when I am sure they a going to repeat the nightmare of Fridays loss they come back and score two more runs to win 3-2. I think I am getting two old for this kind of excitement. GO GIANTS!

Warm Weather at Last

This weekend we finally have come on a stretch of warm weather. Temperatures on Saturday were in the high 90s here and Teddy and I took Gavin to the pool for some fun. Gavin is not exactly a water rat but he is much better this year than last. We will keep going as long as this nice weather holds out. See if we can get him in up to his waist without looking like he things the world is ending.

Edward Update

Edward had a really fun time at the Monterey County Fair. Its an annual date that he has with Aunt Sue. She is really wonderful to work her very busy calendar around this event for him. Dorothy and I drove down and joined her and Edward. We did the usual fair thing had a Corn dog and Nachos for lunch. Then walked down through the rabbits, sheep and cows. (very smelly, despite all those 4H'ers work). Then to the carnival where Edward enjoyed the two things he likes most of all. Loud pop music and machines that make you spin around. Nothing that goes up and down only around and around. As you can see the ride that functions like a giant swing is really a favorite. He even talked Sue and I into a ride on the Farris wheel (the only up and down thing he was willing to do.

No trip to the fair would be right

without walking through the Arts and Crafts area. Spend a lot of time in the room where 10 lady's were spinning wool from big bags of raw wool. Talked to one of the lady's for quite a while finding out how its done and how long it takes. Like any good hobby the answer was hours of joy.

Since I haven't posted anything for quite a while I thought I should put a current picture of Gavin who is growing like a weed. He is getting bigger and bolder every day. This is our favorite cookie stop. The little red wall is a well established fence that he understands he most never cross. The street, Soquel drive, its very busy and full of buses, cars, trucks and even the occational police and ambulance.

Backpacking in Los Padres

Well after literally years of procrastination, I finally got Revel out in the Ventana Wilderness for an overnight trip. It was only that an overnight trip but it worked out wonderfully. Given that it was summer and hot (98 degrees at the dam) we stuck to the river valley starting in at Los Padres Dam and going in only to Bluff camp. The bugs were tolerable but the Cortizone roll on (thank you Barb) was a huge help for the times that I did get bit.

Sorry that most of the pictures are of Revel but there was nobody else with us and his photographic abilities are severely limited. Would I go again? Yes in a heartbeat, and further if I had more time. Revel is still sleeping it off and moving a little on the slow side but I think he enjoyed it as well.

To see all the photos of the trip look here.

Happy Fourth of July

Hope everyone had a great holiday. We went to the parade in Aptos as we do every year. It was the same as it has always been every year. So Edward loved it.

Tried out two new recipes yesterday got a Chicken Enchilada recipe from Tyler Florence and tried it, bit spicy so my final version on the recipe blog is turned down a bit on the number of chili's. Enchilada's take a bit more time to prepare but cook up very fast. I seem to make a total mess of the kitchen when I do this but the family really loves them. Its a break from pasta which we eat a lot of.

I brought back from Alaska a book called The Joy of Blueberries, Natures Little Blue Powerhouse so we tried out a recipe from the book. I made layered blueberry crisp. I think there was a touch to many blueberries and not enough crisp so on the blog I reduced the blueberries from 4 cups to 3. Great tasting stuff. Over ice cream this would be heavenly, when warm. We really enjoyed it and boy did it disappear.

Took Revel for a run with the refurbished E-Bike. I have been working on fixing it, getting the batteries replaced, fixing the brakes. Edward really wants to be able to go for rides. I was really surprised at how well Revel does. Only two blocks out and he was attacked by a loose dog. I was able to stop put the bike down and resolve the problem. After a scolding to the owner for letting him loose. Her dog came after Revel and Rev pinned him in a second. I think that scared her a bit. No damage done and I learned we can deal with emergencies even on the bike. We did about a mile and he was starting to feel it. Need to watch the speed, he's not fast, just keep him to a trot and we should be great for a couple of miles. Good alternative when I want him to get out but don't have more than 30-40 minutes to spend.

Victoria

Spent the morning sailing to Victoria to arrive at 6pm and stay till midnight. During the sail Gavin enjoyed running around the deck in the wind. He has started doing something I haven’t seen him do since he was very little. Taking a nap. When we got into town Gavin in the backpack was out cold for about 30 minutes the last four to five days of the trip he has been like this. Can’t say I wouldn’t have liked to join him but there was just so much fun stuff to do Victoria proved to offer an unexpected pleasure for Teddy. After an hour of shopping we stopped at a pub (there’s millions of them in Victoria) for dinner and found that the drinking age was 19. Teddy decided to make up for lost time. By my count he finished three pints of Guinness and made it back to the ship on time. He was also never asked for ID the whole time. Did not get sick and was up on time in the morning. I think he has put Victoria high on his list of places to return to. We set sail and were back in Seattle this morning at 6am. Sue departed at noon from the airport and we were home by 9pm. Gavin crashed again the minute we got onto the plane. Made for a very quite plane trip.

I have to say that the little man really distinguished himself for 10 days we had only one major tantrum followed by an eating spell that was amazing to watch (tired and hungry, shame on us!). There are at least 15 waitresses who would have taken him home on the spot, not to mention a number of people at the airport today, where he was particularly cute and funny.

Ketchican, Alaska

Well in typical Dad fashion I signed us all up for a 8am Duck tour of Ketchican. Only 5 of us made it as Sue was not feeling up to it. We boarded the duck and toured through the city learning about the prostitution in Creek street, the fun of sharing the Island with bears and eagles. I thought I had problems with Revel and the raccoons imagine if it was bears in the garbage. The duck true to its name left the streets and headed out into the water for a water side view of the city and the cruise ships. The boys enjoyed this a great deal. When we returned we were joined by Sue on the dock feeling somewhat better to embark on some shopping in the small town. Gavin and I headed out on some of the trails we saw from the duck to take some pictures of the town and the flowers, berries and Totems

We were only here until noon so everybody split up. I met up with Dorothy at about 11 for some Halibut and Chips on the dock. The Fish and Chips up here is really wonderful. The rest of the day was spent sailing to our next destination. Everyone relaxed read, Edward and I were in the hot tub for a little while, Teddy, Ed and I did a little bowling. From time to time everyone gets a chance to read or watch one of the movies shown in our room. Gavin likes watching videos on his laptop in Opa’s room, playing with his cars and taking occasional runs around the decks.

Glacier Bay National Park

Well none of us were up for whales but the beauty of the shores is breath taking. There are rangers on board today from Glacier Bay National Park who are telling us over the PA system all about the geology and wildlife in the park. We took a three hour tour up into the Bay and reached the Margerie Glacier and the Grand Pacific Glacier. The Grand Pacific is not so grand it moves a lot of soft dirt and broken up rock so the Glacier face is almost completely black. Margerie on the other hand is an active Glacier moving 7 feet toward the sea each day. While we were there you can see small pieces break off and drop into the sea. The noise is incredible as the ice moves the Tlingit Indians referred to it as “white thunder” and its very easy to understand why. On the way out we swung by the Johns Hopkins Glacier and Lamplugh Glacier almost all of the Glaciers are receding in fact the entrance to Glacier bay was the original site of the Glacier in 1780.

The rest of the day was spent sailing to Ketchican where we arrived at 6am. Everyone was really looking forward to that.

Skagway, Alaska

We arrived at Skagway early in the morning got everybody up and into town by about 9am. Edward was very anxious to get to the train store and do some serious shopping. We had a couple of hours to spend before we loaded on to the train. After a very ugly experience with Gavin getting overly hungry just before lunch everyone is much more careful to watch what he eats and that he gets a little rest before every major activity.

We boarded the train at noon and headed up the mountain to White Pass, as train rides go it was relatively short and full of lots of information about the miners of 98 who searched for gold in the Klondike. I think we my have had more questions about the process of climbing the Chilcoot trail after the ride then we had before.

Back in Skagway we are all amazed again that Gavin spent 4 hours on the train with little or no fuss, falling asleep only for the last 10-15 minutes of the ride. We walked him to the far end of town (4 blocks) to the Skagway Brew Pub. Dorothy and I enjoyed dinner there on our last trip and decided that a nice dinner there would be great. The food was wonderful, the beer was fantastic and the atmosphere great. Yet another waitress was making plans to adapt Gavin because he was just to darn cute in his train engineers hat and bandana.

Got back to the ship around 7:30pm and watched the ship leave Skagway while it continued to pour down rain as it has done for the past three days. Around 9pm everyone decided to turn in early since we get to Glacier Bay at 6am and everyone is talking about seeing whales if we are up when we enter the bay.

Juneau first stop.

Juneau Bound

We boarded the cruise ship at 2pm on Sunday and headed off to Juneau, Alaska. There was the usual confusion when you first board the cruise ship where is my room, when will my luggage make it to the room, does my key work or am I just doing it wrong, Which way is forward and which way is aft. These things are big and heard to get a handle on the directions at first. You are forever turning a corner and finding that you are going forward when you wanted to go back. Part of the fun of cruising.

We had a full day of cruising yesterday to get our bearings and relax and enjoy the amenities of the ship. Gavin spend some time in the daycare center, which went really well and he enjoyed all the toys they had there. Edward and I did two games of bowling on the four lane bowling alley. If you look at the scores please remember the ship was moving in addition to the lane being a little short of regular. Edward was the only person brave enough to use the pool although in truth he was in the hot tub most of the time. We took Edward to the theater performance last night a cover of Franky Valli and the Four Seasons. Edward and I enjoyed it.

Teddy and I spent some time the first night in the sports bar getting caught up on the sports scores he is very interested in the World Cup results.

We are about to get off the boat in Juneau, will spend the afternoon at the Mendenhall Glacier and the trying to contact Sharon Baker for dinner. Hope that works out we have been exchanging emails for the past 4 days trying to figure a meeting time and place. We off to lunch prior to disembarking will fire this off before we leave Juneau.

Internet is not good enough to post the pictures. So just text until Victoria.

Day Three - Sue Joins Us

Sue came to Seattle to join us this morning making Edward very happy. We took the whole crew to Top Pot Doughnuts for breakfast then headed over the Pike street market for some shopping. We split into groups so that everyone could get what they wanted (Gavin and I headed to the art museum) where there was a huge display of cars hanging from the ceiling. In typical fashion if you stay in Seattle for more than just a few days you will eventually see rain and we got a little bit today.

We got back together in the early afternoon and everyone wanted to do the same thing downtown so again we split, by this time the rain had stopped to Gavin and I just walked to a section of the city that we had not been to finding a very nice little Korean deli and picking up a sandwich and chips from the owner who that Gavin was so cute she could have kept him. Tired and hungry we headed back to the room for lunch. Dorothy and I got away a while to the Library that is across the street from our hotel. It’s a very interesting building and I spent an hour looking at furniture design books from 20-30 years ago. Now I know why we all use the internet instead. There was some good information in some of those old books.

Teddy and I headed over the Safeco field at 6pm for the Mariners - Reds ball game. We had great tickets and when it started to rain in the second inning they just closed the roof, that was interesting to watch. The game ended Mariners 5 and Reds 1 so everyone was very happy, great pitching performance from the Mariners pitcher.

Tomorrow we will have breakfast, pack and then board the boat for Alaska.

Day two - First full day in Seattle

We visited the Space Needle Park in the morning taking the Monorail from Westlake transit center to the Needle and back. Dorothy and Teddy went to the top of the Needle and I took Gavin and Edward wondering and we found this very cool fountain that Gavin and many other kids played in. Nobody got very wet but we had a great time and fountain was really a fun place. The next thing we tried at the park was the Children’s museum which was really at Gavin’s speed and he had a great time there.

After lunch we headed back to the transit center and then took the underground to the Pioneer District. Did a little shopping down there spent an hour picking out a car at the toy store. Gavin this time not Edward. Edward, Gavin and I \then marched up the hill to the hotel. In this city everything is either up the hill or down the hill.

Had dinner on the water front after a nice 2 hour rest at the hotel for everyone to settle and get refreshed. I am amazed we finished dinner at 9pm and not only is it still very light but Gavin is still going full speed with no nap. That boy is better than the energizer bunny. Teddy says he is easy to get to sleep at night and sleeps well. Both he and Edward have been great and had a wonderful time a the fountain today.

Day one - Aptos to Seattle

Well a couple of firsts today Gavin’s first airplane ride, a big success. In large part to great planning, no connecting flights, good videos loaded on his laptop, and only a 2 hour flight. Worked out great. The first time that Gavin has been out of state, for that matter Teddy has not been to Seattle before himself. Edward was here but so long ago that I am sure he does not remember. He was possibly Gavin’s age or younger. We drove up to visit with Barbara and Gary.

We had a good time in Seattle yesterday got here about lunch time and went down to the waterfront for lunch. Nothing remarkable but remember we are feeding two with very picky diets. After lunch we walked up to Pike Street market and enjoyed the crowd and the foods, flowers and even a small shop or two. Found a shop that sales nothing but matchbox cars and 1:18 scale cars, the boys spent some time in there. I left the boys and Dorothy to enjoy the market and Gavin and I went to the park on the corner next to the market it was great G ran and ran and then watched the boats and the cars, then ran and ran.

Got back to the hotel for some rest about 4pm and headed downtown for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Dinner was very good but its odd they seem to think they are feeding two people for each plate they serve. How do they sell and Cheesecake if they are going to feed you that much dinner? I have to say that I am amazed at how tolerant Edward has been of being in closed quarters with Gavin and Teddy. I am also happy to say that he has done a great deal less complaining here. Edward and I got some time to check out the Monorail system last night. We are going for a ride today to the space needle area.

Trust all is well back home. Call or text if anything comes up. I am posting the pictures with minimal editing on my Picasa web albums so you can see how things are going.

Trip to San Francisco

Took Edward to the City on Friday April 9th. On the way up we visited a woodworkers gallery in Half Moon Bay that I have been trying to get to for some time. Its called Gallery M and they have some really amazing stuff.

Edward wanted to go to the City to revisit a train display at the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. It was interesting reading about the history of the Conservatory, it is one of the oldest buildings in San Francisco having originally been build in about 1878. They always run some exhibit in the one side of the Conservatory and in this case they have created a garden railway with many of the familiar buildings in the City.

After we spend some time at the Conservatory we walked over to the Academy of Sciences and spent the afternoon learning about animals and visiting the Stienhart aquarium inside the Academy. We really enjoyed visiting the living roof, which is really wonderful and very interesting from an ecological stand point. Sorry but I must have been so overwhelmed that I forgot to take pictures. The weather was really wonderful one of those really rare San Francisco days. We took our time driving home via Highway One and listened to the Giants win a ball game in 14 innings, it was really exciting and a great end to a very nice day.

Octagon Box

I have completed another project in the shop. Seems a bit anti-climatic as the whole family is really waiting for me to complete the bed for Teddy. I am done with the headboard on that and working on the foot. This box was really created out of a thought that I should be able to do it but do I have the skills. I am very pleased with it, I would change a few things if I redid it but I really like it. So this puts me on to the next project. I keep three going at any one time due to the need for supplies and times that I have to wait for stuff to dry. We currently have The Bed (as always), a new speaker system with clock, and a toy box for the living room. I took he week off for spring break and due to scheduling problems we are not traveling so I am making a lot more progress then normal in the shop. If the Van would stay together long enough (engine like keeps coming on) I could pick up the wood to complete the toy box. Speaker system is waiting on the clock parts. So you guessed it I am spending most of my time on the bed.

Guinness Cake

Be sure to check out the newest recipe I added to the blog last month. This cake was on the NPR website for St. Patrick's day. It is a very unusual cake to make since the batter is all made on the stove in a pot. Then poured into a cake pan and baked. I haven't made a lot of scratch cakes but I have never made the batter for any on the stove. Try it, we like it a lot.

March is birthday month for two of my favorite people. My mother Lydia and my Grandson Gavin. We had Mom over for dinner at Bittersweet in Aptos. I think she enjoyed it a great deal. Gavin had a wonderful birthday and got many presents which he is still in the process of deciding which are his favorites.


It is a little hard to believe the he is now 3 years old. He is a wonderful companion on our walks and can travel at least as far as his buddy Revel for a cookie. I look forward to a few more years of having the little guy wake me each morning and hit the trail, although not sure how much longer we can do it with the backpack.

It Was Such an Honorable Profession

When I got into Pharmacy 32 years ago we were considered the most trusted profession. Today I filled two prescriptions that make me wonder if I would recommend this job to anyone. First case, a hospital discharge patient needed a very powerful antibiotic 28 tablets one every 12 hours for 14 days. The total bill was 2500$, the patient paid a copay of $50.00 and was happy, the pharmacy made about 22$. Something is really wrong with this picture. On top of that it took me almost half a day to get authorization from the insurance. We need reform of the drug industry big time.

The second case was a call today for an ophthalmic solution Latisse. Not really familiar with a lot of non-urgent drugs I looked it up and found that it is being used to provide this patient with lush thick eyelashes? The patient will be paying about $110.00 for this bottle of solution 3ml (less than a teaspoonful) in size. This is just all around sad.

Well enough for my soap box lecture. Next time I promise to be more optimistic.

Rainy Days are OK

So what do you do with a three year old when its cold and rainy outside. Well if your Gavin, Revel and I you cannot miss your walk so up goes the umbrella and out we go. When we got back to the house it had stopped raining and I asked Gavin what do you get if you have a street and it rains. Answer PUDDLES! For a boy who screams like he's being murdered when you take him in the shower, he sure can have a lot of fun with a puddle. Its amazing how wet he can get in 4 inches of water.

So after a change of clothes and a quick wash up its time for COOKIES. Yes our favorite Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies. Yes the recipe is on the recipe blog if you want to make your house smell wonderful we highly recommend them.

Johnathan Chase English

Spent the day with the new baby yesterday. He is very cute, and big brother Nathan is only mildly jealous of all the attention. Edward who loves most babies thought he was really wonderful and smells very nice. Seems the dogs think so to, nothing like the smell of baby powder.

Since Johnathan sleeps about 90% of the day so we spent the time working on Elda's laptop (needed a little loving care) and playing Wii on Oma's new Television. I should say watching Edward play since he did most of the playing very willingly. Guess we are going to have to get him on of those for his birthday in April. Its a very busy day with all the children in the house. Theres always something that needs to be picked up, somebody's nose or butt that needs to be cleaned. I think its keeping Mom young and wearing out Elda. All told it was a fun day and glad I got to see the little one while he is still little.

Lake Tahoe 2010

Dorothy and I took Edward to the Zephr Cove Lodge for our annual snow mobiling trip this weekend. The trip started out a bit rocky with Ron not being able to find his glasses (which were of course in my car). Then we get a call from Teddy that Revel got out and in his enthusiasm to greet a neighbor scratched her. We made many phone calls and apologies on the route up. In addition the snow was falling from about 30 minutes outside of South Lake Tahoe to the resort and we needed the chains for the last 1 mile. I would have tried to make the resort but for a near miss with another car that slide into our lane.

On Sunday we all decided it was going to be a much better day. It had snowed about 4 inches during the night and it was really beautiful. We had a hearty breakfast at the Lodge and then headed out for our Snowmobiling tour. Edward did an unbelievable job with his snowmobile. I am always amazed that he can do that, two of the snow mobiles went off course and got stuck, but Edward was right on course the whole time. He is wonderfully relaxed and happy while doing this.

When we got back to the Lodge we had only 15 minutes before out boat the MS Dixie II set sail for Emerald Bay across the lake. We made it and it was a really wonderful ride. We ordered lunch on the boat and Edward spent quite a bit of the time on the top deck enjoying the view. It was so pretty with all the new snow in the trees. The cruise is about two hours long and they provide you with a lot of the interesting history of the lake. Did you know that the water in Lake Tahoe if spread evenly across California would cover the entire state to a depth of 14 inches.

When we got back and rested for a short while we headed into town for a few games of bowling at the Tahoe Bowl. Thanks to Goggle maps we found it with only one or two wrong turns. It was a cute little 16 lane place and Edward let his Mom know if she ever challenged him it was going to be tough he stepped right up and bowled a 143 and 115. She was quite surprised at how good he has gotten.

After bowling we did a little bit of shopping and then it being Super Bowl Sunday and fourth quarter we headed to a bar on the way back to the lodge, no not to watch the game but for a take out a cheese pizza for dinner. We were only mildly Saints fans since that was the prevailing attitude in every bar we passed on Sunday. After dropping Ed back at the lodge with his pizza Dorothy and I headed out to a nice dinner at Nepheles one of our favorite spots in SLT. We were as you can imagine very tired but had a great day with Ed.

On Monday the roads were now clear and we took our time getting home. Stopping in El Dorado at a huge big box store location to check out REI and DS Shoes. Dorothy was in heaven it was the biggest shoe store she had ever seen. We also had lunch at Island Burger and really enjoyed the meal. In Sacramento we stopped at the Railroad Museum where Ed is a member to check on the current exhibits and stretch our legs.

Despite the rough start we had a great weekend and you can hopefully tell from the pictures it was absolutely gorgeous in Tahoe.

Weekend to recover from storms

I spent this morning playing tennis, have another match Sunday afternoon. My tennis was very rusty and my conditioning shows that I don't walk as far or play tennis in the rain.

Revel and I spent the afternoon working in the shed doing repair work. As you can see he likes spending time creating sawdust, or sawing logs, depending on which of us you are talking about.

We fixed one gate that had swollen shot (from rainwater) and another that needed a lock because some 2 year old has grown to the ability to reach the latch and now understands how to open the gate. Did some more work on my octagonal keepsake box, and tomorrow we will do the final sanding and a little repair job on Teddy's headboard to get ready for finishing the head end.

Finally a Break

Today we finally got a break in the rain storms that have just been coming in one right after the other. So I put on my rain gear (not trusting the current weather at all) and took Revel down to the beach to see how crazy it was.

We had an amazing trip the water was about 10-15 feet from the homes and parking area for the state park. To those of you who do not know the area we usually have about 50 yards of beach between them. The poor home owners must be worried sick.

I guess nobody else thought that the weather break would hold so we had the entire beach to our selfs so I let the big guy go. After a few seconds of looking at me like I was crazy he finally got it and took off for the water. He loves to run in the surf, not swim, never over the head, but running in the surf is great.

He was really good about returning after about a half an hour so we could go. It is really wonderful to see him run, despite his size he can really get going.

Tonight I have slightly damp, very tired puppy at my feet. To see all the pictures from this morning check out this Picasa album