Category Archives: Family

Disneyland Anaheim

 

On Wednesday I drove out to Anahiem to meet up with my daughter Katie, her boyfriend Ben, and some of my family. It’s been 10 years since I had been to Disneyland and boy was I in for a surprise.

My sister Kathy and I spent a lot of time sitting in the shade and watching people. I enjoy people watching at Disneyland…

Katie and Ben ~ Debbee, Kathy, and Melissa ~ Katie resting her poor aching feet (this was her and Ben’s 2nd full day at the Park), Melissa and Katie in their traditional Disney photo.

Some of the fun noisy rides we went on using the Fast Track Passes.

The music and entertainment at Disneyland really sets a great mood in the Park. Sometimes it even drowns out the poor exhausted babies and toddlers who are crying…

The colors in the lagoon where the Submarine Ride is were calling to me. I guess it’s called the Finding Nemo Ride now.

You gotta smile when you see the great colors on the tea-cups and lanterns. I so enjoy this Fantasyland setting!

Disneyland always has beautiful fresh flowers that match the seasons in all their planters. I loved these beautiful pinks and purples. They were already beginning to add pumpkins in Frontierland getting ready for Fall.

Don’t you just love this little guy? There are so many things to see at Disneyland.

We left the Park and headed to Downtown Disney to meet up with my sister Lana for Dinner at Naples. Our newlywed nephew and niece met us, too. Again Lana treated us all to dinner. They all went back to the park after dinner but my sister Kathy and I headed home. I made it back home at 9:45 and I was exhausted. I’m still dragging today. After I fed them a hearty breakfast, Ben and Katie headed to Magic Mountain today to tackle the roller coasters. Ahh, youth. This old gal on the other hand is just sitting around watching the Olympic Soccer games today hoping for a second wind soon.

Fun with Friends and Family

We have had some fun and fulfilling days this week with family and friends. Yesterday we headed to Dave and Jody’s house in Edmonds overlooking the Sound for swimming and food.

 

I had a little stroll about Jody’s garden and watched the bees enjoying it.

Finn charmed us with his cuteness. At one point in the evening, when no one was watching, Finn went into the bathroom and had fun with lots of toilet paper and grandmother’s lipstick!

We met and held sweet little Josee (pronounced JoeZay). She is 2 weeks old.

We also met for the first time, sweet Juliet, who is 4 weeks old and Josee’s cousin.

As if with all this sweetness we needed the desserts I brought (Recipes to follow soon)

Creamy Cheesecake

and

Fruit Pizza (thanks Bernideen for the recipe) The recipe will make 2 round medium size pizza’s. I chose to do 1 large rectangular one.

Dave and Jody served Soft Fish Tacos made with barbecued Tilapia (Yummy) and Jan brought fruit. We always eat well when we get together.

The Sun going down beyond the Olympic Mountains on the Olympic Penninsula. Thank you Dave and Jody for another wonderful time in your company!

Besides all this fun the guys have been busy, busy, working on our continuing basement project. I love it when my 3 guys are together working, laughing and just hanging out…

Dear and Dan assembling the new wheelbarrow they needed for mixing cement.

Josh mixing up the cement…

Dear and Dan pouring the cement down into cinder blocks with limited access.

Time flies when you’re having fun.

5 More Days in Washington

My six weeks in Washington State are winding down. I’m here for 5 more days and then Dear and I hit the long road home to Southern California. My hydrangeas in Washington have reached their full bloom. My hydrangea plant in California is dead by now because Dear forgot to ask our neighbors to water our plants while we’ve been gone. Oops!

One thing that keeps us awake and makes the trip seem shorter from here to there are books on CD. I was so excited to find this at Goodwill and look forward to listening to hours of one of our all time favorites…

This week we’ll be getting in some last minute visits with friends and family here in the Seattle area. Maybe I’ll fit in one more trip to Goodwill. I hope all of you have a great week.

Jamie & Sarly’s Wedding

Our Son Dan’s best friend Jamie got married yesterday.

They’ve been friends a long time. This is the two of them on the way to and at Lakeside Bible Camp the summer of 1990.

Here they are 18 years later still the best of friends celebrating this wonderful event. Over the years that these two have been friends our families have grown close, too. There will always be a special place in our hearts for the Dickinson Family.

The wedding was held at Jardin Del Sol in the town of Snohomish, Washington. It was a beautiful outdoor setting. Dear arrived in Washington the night before and it was wonderful to have him here to enjoy this great celebration with us.

Sarly was a stunning bride. Jamie and Sarly composed their own vows. They had a sand ceremony instead of a candle ceremony symbolizing two becoming one. Sarly’s brother read a poem he wrote for the couple.

Sarly and her mother as she walked down the aisle.

The happy “Just Married” Mr. and Mrs. Jamie Dickinson!

 

The wedding party. Our son Dan is in the three middle shots. Oops, I kinda concentrated on the guys. Sorry girls!

 

Dave and Beth have 3 sons, Matt, Aaron, and Jamie. These are some photos of the Dickinson Family.

Dan during the ceremony

Here’s Dan toasting Jamie and Sarly and entertaining us with stories of how he first became friends with Jamie back in grade school. All of the groomsmen and bridesmaids gave toasts.

After dinner it was time for the cake. Then on to more dancing.

 

I think these are such sweet mother and son shots!

Sarly enjoying the tenderness of this moment, too.

This is Dave and Beth’s newest little granddaughter. She is so cute and what a little trooper, she managed to stay awake through all the festivities without a fuss! Beth is so excited to finally have some girls in the family.

Laura, Josh, Jamie and Sarly.

Katie and Laura

Dear and Dan sharing a Cuban Cigar. This is a very rare moment… “The smoking the cigar part”

It’s so nice for Dear and I to be together finally for the next two weeks in Seattle. After that we drive back to our condo in Southern California.

Congratulations Jamie and Sarly. We had a wonderful time at your wedding. We will always hope for the best and God’s richest blessings for the two of you in your life together.

Bowling ~ Project Black

So just when I thought I had exhausted all my creativity for Project Black my daughter asked me to go with her for her pre-bowl. She’s on a bowling team with a bunch of guys in a Tuesday night “9 Pin” league. She has other plans this Tuesday and needed to get her games in for the team.

Her best score today was 151. Her bowling ball was a gift from us for her 22nd birthday. Her brother Dan bought her the cool star bowling shoes for her birthday. The Brunswick bag was a thrift store purchase I made for her.

All of these photos are going into my Project Black File here

 

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone…

Canoeing ~ Herons and Lily pads

While Katie and I were canoeing around Lake Washington we saw many Herons, Ducks, and Lily pads. We also saw some turtles, a woodpecker, and a raccoon in the water.

 

We’re headed back to the Canoe barn. We have to canoe all the way back to Husky Stadium. Can you see it in the distance. Now we’re getting closer. When we reach these lily pads and colorful boats we only have a short distance to go. I did put my camera down now and again to help Katie paddle back. Going across this part of Lake Washington was the roughest part of our canoeing but still very doable for us gals…

If you missed it my first post on our canoeing trip is here.

Canoeing on Lake Washington

There is nothing, absolutely nothing
Half so much worth doing
As simply messing about in boats

~From The Wind in the Willows

Katie and I continue on our quest to re-visit places we love in the Greater Puget Sound Area on her days off. On Thursday we headed over to the University of Washington Water Front Activities Center to use her Student card to rent a canoe and paddle about Lake Washington. Once we were in the water, her doing most of the paddling, me taking the photos, we looked at each other and said “why have we waited so long to do this?” It’s been about 17 years!

We headed over to the 520 (Evergreen Floating Bridge) to go under it and on to quieter and more peaceful waterways.

See that little wooden foot bridge? We’ll duck and go under it. “Keep paddling Katie, I’m getting some great photos!”

So quiet and peaceful. The water is so calm and is a mirror reflecting the trees and sky. It was just about here that we started singing

“Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Amen”

I have so many beautiful photos to share from our canoeing adventure, the herons, ducks, lily pads and our journey back to Husky stadium. I’ll be sharing more later along with our trip to the Husky campus to take in the beautiful Suzzalo Library reading room. Blessings!

What Dear Did On His Summer Vacation ~

Dear’s company shuts down the week of July 4th so this was a free week off for him. While in Washington he was very busy cleaning out our garage. He and our son Dan took 700 lbs. of junk stuff to the dump. They cleared out and reorganized the garage.  For the first time since we’ve lived in this house we can park 3 cars in our upper garage.

Beautiful! Now this next collage shows you our Toyota Car Museum.

When my car goes back to California in August our son’s truck will take over my spot and our garage will become more diversified since his truck is a Ford.

Below this Garage is a shop where 3 vehicles that are being worked on are stored and a few motorcycles. Makes me feel a little better about all the dishes I own. Not that it’s a competition or anything…

The Wedding ~ Tim and Jessica

What a wonderful ceremony and reception to celebrate the marriage of my nephew Tim to his beautiful bride Jessica.

My Grand Nephew Jackson was the Ring Bearer and he was perfect!

He walked carefully and looked oh so like a little prince.

Jessica was a stunning Bride.

The Groom, my nephew Tim, with his brothers and family. Tim is the one on the left in the upper photo. That’s his brother Levi with him. My brother Steve’s family is excited to finally have another woman in the group. The boys are happy to have a sister.

So much fun to see all the cousins together having a good time.

The Sisters, Vera, Lana, Ellen, and Kathy

The happy newlyweds. My nephew Tim…if he thinks he needs a drink now, just wait! No worries that’s only Martinelli’s and he really didn’t seemed stressed with all the excitement around him.

My married kids! Hard to believe they’ve almost been married 7 years!

My parents, Tim’s paternal grandparents at the rehearsal dinner and the wedding. See that last photo of my dad hugging Tim and Jessica, he decided it was time to take my mom home because she was tired so he walked right up to Tim and Jessica while they were having their first dance to give them a kiss and hug goodbye. He doesn’t really understand the concept of the first dance, since none of his children danced at their weddings. It was a kodak moment and all of us kids were belly laughing. Such a Moisi moment!!

Here’s my extended family minus 10 who were not at the wedding.

At the end of such a long eventful day we were all ready to go to sleep just like our Princess Hope.