December 2008

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from Mike & Janet

This month, we flew up to Portland to spend an early Christmas with our kids & grandkids. The Portland area was experiencing it’s worst winter storm in 25 years. School was cancelled and Camryn, Anna, Colby & Ben played outside and enjoyed every minute!

The sleds, the snowballs, eating the snow………what fun!

Grandma and Papa loved every minute of our family holiday!

We have a new member in the Fox family……His name is “Jake” and he is a 9 week old Chocolate Lab. He is in to everything and has the cutest little innocent face.

Back in Palm Springs, we enjoyed a beautiful sunny Christmas day at our clubhouse. We sang Christmas carols, enjoyed a great ham dinner and spent the day with wonderful friends.

We wish a Happy New Year for our family and special friends.

November 2008

November has been a great month getting settled in for the winter and renewing our “Winter Desert Friendships” The weather has been in the high 80’s the majority of the month and we have had some beautiful sunsets!

We got quite a scare this month when Mike’s brother-in-law John Soukup had a heart attack. I’m glad to say John is doing very well and is already back to work.

Mike and some of his buddies went up to Las Vegas for the SEMA Show (Specialty Equipment Manufactures) The guys had a great time checking out the latest and greatest gadgets that are coming to the market. Mike also saw some celebrities - he shot this picture of Ron (his brother-in-law) with Clint Boyer (NASCAR driver)

Stoli had an infected cyst removed from his back but is now totally healed and is back to off-roading in the desert – He is as good as new!

Mike went on an off-roading trip out into the desert east of here and they found the remains of a cabin that General Patton used when he was training his troops during WWII.

We went to Mimi’s Café for Thanksgiving with great friends….it’s not the same as a big family gathering but we had a good time none the less.

We ended the month with a Palm Springs Tailgate party for the Oregon State Beavers / U of O Ducks Civil War Football game…………Bad news – the Beavers were over run by the Ducks and lost their bid for the Rose Bowl. Oh well – maybe next year!

October 2008

The first part of this month found us in Sacramento to celebrate our nephew’s wedding. Rob and Serena were married October 4th in a beautiful outdoor wedding.



After the wedding, we (along with Pat and Ron) headed down the Southern California coast. Our first stop was near Pebble Beach. What a beautiful setting near Monterey and Carmel, California.

TheThe Pebble Beach country club area is very upscale. Golf is a mere $495 for 18 holes with another $35 per person for the cart. Needless to say, none of us played golf there.

Further down the coast, just west of Paso Robles, we spent a day touring the Hearst Castle. Amazing! Incredible!

It’s hard to imagine that Mr. Hearst had so much money and such an architectural imagination.

Further down the coast, we visited Solvang (near Santa Barbara) and a brief stop in Ventura.

We arrived at our winter home in Indio California on October 15th. It’s great to see so many of our friends and catch up on everyone’s summer.

Our first fall off roading trip took us up in the mountains to 7000 feet. It was beautiful! In the mountains the temperatures are in the 70’s and down in the valley it is in the mid 90’s most every day.

I had a great birthday this year. A special “surprise” BBQ, a great lunch with some girl friends and a wonderful dinner with my sister Jeri, her husband Brian and their very close friends David and Bonnie.

September 2008

We have closed up everything at our summer Sunriver Oregon location and we are heading out on the road. First destination, Breckenridge Colorado.

Mike and several of his “jeepin” buddies are setting out on a 5 day, guys only, high altitude, off-roading adventure!

Mike found these mountain goats at about 12,000 feet elevation.

This is just some of the motley crew………..

After the off-roading adventure was over……several of us went to the October-Fest in Breckenridge. It snowed up in the hills while were in Breckenridge....so beautiful!

We went for an incredible ride from Breckenridge to Aspen Colorado over Independence Pass. When you hear people talk about how beautiful Colorado is………they have got to be referring to Independence Pass. The Rockies are incredibly breathtaking. Those of you who have known me for any amount of time know that I have always been (and always will be) a great John Denver fan. In Aspen, we went to the John Denver Sanctuary…..a part of the Aspen Art Museum. It is a beautiful tribute to his talent.

Next stop – Sante Fe, New Mexico. We were able to meet up with Dave and Roberta Mc Cleary. Dave and Roberta are great tour guides. They showed us the home they are building near Abique……we saw many of the historic sites in the area. The mission above is in Taos. We saw some beautiful sites.

Sedona Arizona is set in the most gorgeous red rock countryside.


South of Sedona is “Montezuma’s Castle” This was home to an Indian community hundreds of years ago.

After a few days in Las Vegas, we headed north on highway 395. The east side of the Sierra Nevada mountain range is breathtaking. We spent two days at Mc Gee creek with friends Tom & Pat Sims and Gary and Pat Wallstrom. Fresh trout caught by Tom and Gary was a great treat for dinner.

We have finished out September in Reno. We were able to meet up with Palm Springs friends (Bud and Patti) and a great visit with my sister-in-law, Cathie and my two nephews Scott and Brett.

August 2008

We started August with a trip to the Oregon coast. It was clear and sunny and we had a great time. We met Mike’s sisters and brother and spouses in Lincoln City for a “reunion scouting expedition.” We Foxes are hosting a “Coontz Family Reunion” (Mike’s mom’s family) in 2009 and the planning is already underway.

Mid-August brought our annual “Fox Family Reunion” at Champoeg Park just outside of Newberg Oregon. We had three days of super hot weather (over 102 degrees with very high humidity), we played games, had great meals, homemade ice cream and s’mores!

Eva entertained all of us with face painting. Camryn became a beautiful butterfly.

Colby magically turned into a pirate.

Ben and Anna hamming it up………you can tell by the pics that Grandma was enjoying every minute!

Anna is three now and our little princess has started ballet. Grandma and Papa got quite a treat when we took her to her lessons. It was very special and we loved it!

July 2008

Brandon, Karen, Ben and Anna came to Sunriver for a visit over the 4th of July holiday. We enjoyed swimming, bike riding, golf and a trip to the High Desert Museum all in fantastic weather.

July 8th, we celebrated our 41st wedding anniversary with a wonderful dinner in Bend. We watched out the window and saw rafters floating down the Deschutes River.

This month, we have enjoyed having some visitors on our lot. Ed and Earlene Reynolds (friends from Southern California) and Lee and Leroy Davidson (friends from Battleground, WA) came for a short stay and we really enjoyed getting to know them both a little better.

The Sisters Quilt Show was fantastic. I was exhausted walking around town……so much to take in!

We went to a great surprise birthday party in Bend and we also enjoyed a super potluck dinner with Wally & Linda and Dave & Leanne (friends from southern California)

Mike and Leroy went on a guided fly fishing trip and I think Mike is hooked. He had a great time and decided that fly fishing would be a great new hobby for him.

Our Sunriver neighbors took us on a canoe trip down the Deschutes River. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the relaxing trip.

After the canoe trip, Cliff and Marciel hosted a delicious Fried turkey potluck dinner. YUM!

Stoli loves it here in Sunriver………I have to keep a close eye on him or he will sneak off in the tall grass – I think he hears the call of the wild!

June 2008

We started out the month getting settled in on our Sunriver RV lot. Everything seems to have survived the winter and we are happy to be here.

We drove up to Vancouver, Washington for a few days to celebrate our youngest grandaughter’s third birthday and Fathers Day. The weather was beautiful and we had a fun with the kids!

While Marc and Maria took a vacation to Cabo San Lucas, we spent a week in the motorhome with Camryn & Colby. We started the week by meeting Brandon and Karen, Ben and Anna at Silver Falls State Park near Salem, OR. We enjoyed fabulous Chamber of Commerce type weather.
At Silver Falls Park, we hiked with the kids on three different days. We were able to see ten different waterfalls ranging from 30ft to 180 feet tall. Each one was different and all of them were spectacular.
The month ended with some near 100 degree days in Sunriver. We spent a day up in the mountains having a picnic and doing our best to keep cool.

May 2008

We started off the month of May in Moab, Utah. I can’t say enough about how much beautiful scenery there is in Utah. We spent two weeks in Moab at an “Off-Roading” rally. About 25 of our friends from southern California also attended the rally. The weather was wonderful and a good time was had by all.

Stoli loves the off-roading. He knows when I put on his scarf that it’s a Jeepin’ day!

After Moab, we headed back to the Portland area. We spent a week with the kids and really enjoyed the time with the grandkids. Some hot days brought out the slip n’ slide and the pool and lots of giggles and fun!

Our motorhome remodel is complete! We had our old tile and carpet removed and new tile installed throughout. We are so pleased how everything turned out. It feels like we moved into a new home!

We end the month back on our Central Oregon property, happy to be here and looking forward to spending some time with our Sunriver friends.

April 2008

What a fun month! Brandon, Karen, Ben and Anna spent a week with us and a great time was had by all. The weather was perfect and we were on the go everyday! We spent a day at Legoland in Carlsbad (near San Diego) The kids had a blast (and so did the adults)

We spent a great day at the Living Desert (the Palm Springs area zoo) We packed a lunch and had a really fun day. Great animals, great weather!

We spent every spare minute in the pool! What a great visit! I hope the kids had as much fun as we had.

We continue to spend our Wednesday’s “Jeepin” out in the desert. This trail led us into a stream (quite unusual for a desert trail)

Our motorhome remodel is going well. We are very happy with our new cabinets and couch, drivers chair and passenger chair reupholstering jobs.

Our weather is fantastic… Clear blue skies….in the high 80’s and low 90’s each day. April is a fantastic month in the desert.

Sadly we have lost two extended family members this month. Mike's very dear uncle - Uncle Bob (from the Bay area) - passed away after a lengthy illness and his special aunt - Aunt Arlene - (from Denver) passed away very suddenly. Both will be greatly missed.