June 2010

The weather has finally turned to summer!  I had my doubts but yes “It’s Beautiful Here!!”

Mike and Brandon with their friend Brad completed the Blue Lakes Triathlon in early June.  All of them did fantastic.  Mike wasn’t completely comfortable with the swim portion and so he is taking swim lessons to improve his swim mechanics.

While in the Portland area, we were able to see a baseball game for our grandson, Ben. 
It was so much fun watching the little guys. 

The next day, Anna had her 5^th birthday party.  Our little princess is really growing up so fast.  It was pouring down rain and the people bringing the outdoor activities for the party, called 90 minutes before the party cancelling !!  Karen was as cool as a cucumber and she organized games and prizes in no time.  All of the kids had a blast.

Next stop we got to watch Colby’s baseball game.  Watching him really brought back memories…of all the games we watched when the boys were young.

Back in Sunriver, we went up to the Lava Cast Forest.  It was really interesting.  Thousands of years ago, a nearby volcano erupted and covered the area. 

After the trees that survived the lava flow died off, they left casts in the hardened lava.

Our summer home !!

The sun that has now appeared has brought out our flowers.

And now that summer is here, babies are showing up. 
Momma and her baby show up most every day.

May 2010

We started out May in Moab Utah at a 4-Wheelin’ Rally.  The weather was sunny and the rally was a great bunch of folks. (over 200 people)

Yes there is beauty in the desert.  I’m not sure how these cactus get enough water to produce these gorgeous blooms………..but the blooms are everywhere.

In Arches National Park just a few miles from downtown Moab, there are amazing rock formations.

Just a couple of old retired folks!

Off roading takes us to parts unknown……..beautiful parts unknown!

This is my favorite trail……..Long Canyon.  The views are breath takingly beautiful.

Next Stop……..our lot in Sunriver, Oregon.  It feels good to be back – but BOY o’ BOY is it COLD!!

It even snowed one day!

We ended the month with a short trip up to the La Grande, Oregon area.  Before our brother-in-law, Ron, passed away last summer, he requested that his ashes be spread at his favorite hunting spot just outside of La Grande.  About 30 of us met and spent a day hiking through the mountainous countryside until we found the spot. 
Ron was right……it was beautiful.

April 2010

April is one of my favorite months in Indio.  The crowds are leaving, things quiet down and the weather is wonderful!

The flowers are still beautiful and the grass is still green.  I love it!  But……..we all must leave.  Toward the end of the month, we (like everyone else) began to pack up and ready the lot for the summer.

We headed to Moab Utah for a 4-Wheelin’ Jeep rally.  It is so incredibly beautiful here.  This picture looks like it was painted…….but it’s just one of a host of beautiful views.

Stoli is getting old and is really slowing down (he’s 14 ½ now) but he still loves to go
off-roading.  He gets so excited when I put on his scarf.

This was a view from “Poison Spider” (a jeep run)  If you look way down in the middle of the arch……..yes, that’s a road way down there. 
We were way, way, way up on a ridge.

Utah is an absolutely gorgeous state.  There are so many incredible National and State parks.  I am overwhelmed at the beauty here.  We plan to stay two weeks.

March 2010

March is over!  This glorious month is already over.  I don’t like seeing these days speeding by so fast.

Our resort had a fund raiser for the American Cancer Society with the money going to research.  We raised $18,000 dollars in just one day.  We had luminaries and mine for my brother, David, was among them.

In March, we had a great Italian dinner and yours truly was one of
the servers……..a lot of fun!

Kathy Ross hosted a lovely luncheon for our dear friend Sharon Leonard.  We all had a great time together….a wonderful afternoon.

Mike continues to love his off-roading.  On this trip, they found a lost mine.  The sign says “Keep Out”…..makes it all the more interesting.

The flowers were beautiful when the desert came into bloom.  The blooms don’t last too long but they are gorgeous for a few days.  The desert was alive with purple, white and bright yellow.

Another quilt this month, not exactly my favorite but I was able to practice my machine quilting and I was very proud of the way my machine handled.  It was lots of fun!

February 2010

We’ve had a great month…..great weather and lots of fun!

We had a “Golf Cart Tailgate Party” to celebrate the Super Bowl. Mike was rooting for the New Orleans Saints and I was rooting for the Colts – so we decorated out golf cart half and half! After the tailgate party, we went into the clubhouse and had a really fun Super Bowl Party!

Mike and his buddies road the 55 mile Tour de Palm Springs. The white signs on their water bags said

“In Memory of our Friend Ron Hoffman”

They stopped just long enough for me to snap this picture.

Stoli is really slowing down and he is sweeter than ever. He is almost 14 ½ now.
He loves this warm desert weather – and he loves golf cart rides more than ever!

(He loves his Aunt Patty too!)

We had a Mardi Gras Golf Cart Parade…Lots of fun, candy and beads thrown!

Afterward we had a Mardi Gras Dinner Dance.

I made a quilt for Pat and I was pleased at how it turned out.

She is so happy and that makes it all worthwhile!

I was lucky enough to take a bus trip to Hollywood and spent the day at several tapings

of the Dr. Phil show. The girls had such a fun day and really enjoyed the show.

February has been a great month – the resort is full and we have such
a wonderful Activities Director who keeps us busy.

January 2010

We had an exciting January…hope yours was great too!  We went on a cruise aboard Carnival’s Spirit ship. What a blast!  Mike sister, Pat and his brother and his wife, Chuck and Eva and also great friends from Bend, Tom and Vanessa were all on the ship.  We left San Diego and headed south.

First stop 3 days later was Acapulco. A massive town of over 2 million people.

We couldn’t miss the cliff divers. Amazing. They dive from 185 feet into a very narrow channel of ocean water.

The Acapulco harbor is beautiful.

Next stop was Zihautanejo and Ixtapa.   Zihautanejo is a beautiful small town (about 120,000 people) with a wonderful charm. Ixtapa (only 7 miles away) is a resort town…..beautiful beaches.

We did some shopping in an area with clean streets and friendly people.

Our final port was Manzanillo..(my favorite!)    A beautiful clean town where life seemed to be simple.

We went on a tour out into the banana plantations….a tremendous amount of work. I think of those workers every time I buy a banana! Our cruise was 8 days….the remainder of the cruise we spent on the ship. We had a wonderful time!

I was lucky to be able to go to the “Road to California” Quilt show over in Ontario, California. It was fantastic. I’m still quilting but I don’t have the talent to make the amazing quilts displayed. Wow!

December 2009

Can you believe it? December and 2009 are over already?
We started out the month at the Indio Tamale Festival. We had a great time and ate enough tamales to last for a year.

We set out December 18th for a road trip to the Portland area for Christmas. Pat went with us and we dropped her off in Sacramento at her son’s for Christmas then picked her up on our return trip. Stoli went with us too - I was glad that we didn’t have to leave him at the kennel.

While in Portland we got to see Santa. I’m quite sure that he was pretty busy talking to kids and checking out their lists. Camryn and Colby got to sit on his lap.

We also got to spend time with Ben and Anna….The kids are growing so much!

Ben is really in to Lego’s and he is quite amazing how well he can put them together.

The time with the grandkids was fantastic. They always have so much fun together.
We all went to a Portland Trailblazer Basketball game on Christmas day. They won! What a fun evening.

The Fox girls at Christmas!

We love our sons and we love our daughters-in-law. We are so proud of all of them and the wonderful lives they have created. What a great Christmas!

We end December back in our home on wheels in Indio. We love it here! A New Years Eve Party will help us send off 2009 and usher in 2010. Our best wishes to you all in the coming year….
HAPPY NEW YEAR!