July 2014

                                  What a busy month…….and so much fun!

July started with a visit from Brandon, Karen, Ben and Anna.  While Brandon was working, Karen, the kids and I visited the Lava Cast Forest.

We all took in a Bend Elks Baseball game…Anna and I with Vanessa sitting behind us.

The fish hatchery at Fall River was beautiful.

We had a picnic lunch at La Pine State Park.  Brandon, Karen, Ben,
Anna, Linda (Karen’s mom) and of course Lucky.

We went to the Fourth of July “Pet Parade” in Bend.  So many different kinds of pets……  and of course hundreds of dogs!    We had a wonderful fourth BBQ at the house rented by Brandon, Karen and Karen’s family.

Rob and Serena (Pat’s son and daughter-in-law) came up for the Fourth of July.  While they were here, we took a tour of several of the Bend breweries.

Mike removed the mirrors in the kitchen of our motorhome and replaced them with a faux tile.  I love the tile!!  Mike is an incredible handyman!

Kayaking on Sparks Lake with Pat, Rollie, John and Sheri, Mike and I….
on a fantastic day.

We spent one beautiful day visiting lakes along the Cascade Lakes Highway. 
This is my favorite lake…….Cultus Lake.  

We stopped at the Mount Bachelor ski area and rode a chair lift up
to the top.  The view was incredible!

Kayaking again….. This time, we floated down the Deschutes.
Pat, Rollie, John, Sheri, Chuck and Eva with Mike and I……

The whole family!

Cycle Pub!  We rented one of the large “bicycles”

and pedaled through downtown Bend…..drinking beer the entire way. 
So much fun.  It was a hot day and we worked hard!

Pat, Rollie, John, Sheri, Chuck, Eva, Tom, Vanessa with Mike and I…..
and of course our sober driver, Russ!

In our spare time, Sheri and I took some time to catch up on our quilting – outside!

The Cascade Cycling Classic spent one of their days in downtown Bend riding a criterium.  The riders were amazing. Such strength……..Oh to be young again  J

One last day kayaking…… John, Sheri, Mike and I paddled all over
Hosmer Lake.  Had a great day!

Mike’s good buddy, Neil Peterson, came to Bend on his way south. 
Unfortunately it rained the entire time Neil was here, but we survived.

This was at Elk Lake.  We also went to a wonderful dinner party at
Bill and Jan Lee’s home.

We end this month on our way to Cabo San Lucas for a week of pure enjoyment.
Stay tuned for August pic’s.

June 2014

June is a month of our grandkids!  We have had a great month
spending time with all of our grandkids. 
They lead such busy lives….we are happy to spend time with them.

When we arrived in the Portland area, we put our motorhome
in storage and spent a week with Marc and Maria. 
Colby is busy with baseball season and finishing
up 5^th grade.  He will move to middle school in the fall!

Camryn (in the center with the black dress on) is graduating
from Middle School and will enter High school in the fall. 
Camryn and some of her friends rented a stretch limo
(behind the kids) and celebrated with a night on the town.

We had a fun time at our brother-in-laws retirement party.
Time to enjoy yourself Uncle John!

Next we spent a week with Brandon and Karen. 
Anna celebrated her 9^th birthday.  Anna is very busy with her gymnastics…….year round!

Ben just finished 5^th grade and will be going to middle
school in the fall. Wow! These kids are growing up so fast.

The middle of the month, we headed up to our mountain retreat.  

The deer were waiting for us. 

The boys (Mike, Marc, Colby, Brandon and Ben) spent a weekend
camping and fishing up by Mount Hood…….  Everyone caught fish!

Sounds like a good time was had by all.

Brandon and Karen came over to Sunriver for the 4^th
of July week.  Brandon and Ben took the kayaks
out for a spin and Ben fell in love with kayaking!

Great month with the kids and grandkids!!!!!

May 2014

We start the month of May in Moab Utah.  We are in Moab for the 2014 FMCA 4-Wheelers Jeep Rally which we are hosting with John and Sharon O’Connor.  We have done our homework and are waiting for the start of the rally………  Hope all goes well!

We didn’t do too much off roading during the rally as we needed to be readily available for last minute updates to the schedule…but….Mike fell in love with this Jeep.  It belongs to a company that makes Jeep parts for off-roading and they brought it to our rally for advertising.  The highlight of the rally for Mike was when he was invited to ride in this monster
on the most difficult trail in Moab!

The flowers in the desert were blooming – They were beautiful. 
We had a wonderful Mother's Day with a brunch at a ranch on the Colorado River.

Our rally was a definite success.  We had over 240 people attend and I’m hoping
everyone had as much fun as we did.

With the rally over…..we headed south to St. George Utah to spend time with friends.  After 3 beautiful weeks in Moab……. We ran into snow!  Nothing on the highways but lots of snow near the roads.  It was gorgeous!

We spent 3 days in St. George with Denny and Kay Struss and as we have in the
past…. We had a great time.  Denny and Kay are loving their home
and their town as well.  Fun times!

This is a picture of the red rocks all over the Moab and St. George areas.  

While in St. George, Mike got new tires on the Jeep.  It may not be
the monster Jeep he rode in while we were in Moab……
but he is very proud and happy with all it can do.

3 Days in Las Vegas then back to Indio.  It’s hot in Indio…. 108.

The resort is very empty……..  We had a “Green Box” party in the Owners Lounge.  (a Green Box Party is when folks who moor their boats at a marina….. all get together for an impromptu party near the green box located on the dock)  The fella who organized the party is definitely a boater.  Only about 18 people showed up at the party…….. not many people – but we had fun!

After a doctor's appointment (with very good news) we took off to head north. It’s getting pretty hot in Palm Springs!  When we reached Canyonville Oregon, it was cool, green and we had a very nice surprise.  Our friends from ORI, John and Bonnie, were staying at the same park.  We had a nice evening with them…..then headed north the next morning.

We arrived at Marc and Maria’s Friday May 29^th and put our motorhome in storage.  We will stay with the kids for the next two weeks.  It’s great seeing Marc, Maria, Camryn, Colby as well as Brandon, Karen, Ben and Anna.  I have missed them!

April 2014

April brings us visitors from home…….  Brandon, Karen, Ben and Anna came to spend some of their Spring Vacation with us.  Unfortunately, Brandon had to work several of the days but we had a great time with Karen and the kids.

Brandon, Mike and Ben went to the Patton Museum while Karen, Anna and
I took a short hike at the Coachella Valley Preserve.  Whew it was HOT!

One day while Brandon was working, Karen, Ben, Anna, Mike and I went
“Letter Boxing”  Sort of like Geo-Cashing….Lots of fun.  But guess
what we found in the desert – a Rattle Snake. 
We were very close but fortunately, no one was hurt.

In Joshua Tree National Park, we had a picnic lunch and the
“kids” had fun playing on the rocks.

April brings blooms on the beautiful Jacaranda Tree.

Dinner with Mike’s Buddy Neil was at the most amazing restaurant.
The waiters and waitresses sang and they were amazing!

Did you see the “Blood Moon?”

I happened to wake up around midnight and went outside
to see the eclipse.  It was gorgeous!

After closing up our lot in Indio…….. we took off for Moab Utah.
This year, Mike and I are co-hosting the FMCA Moab rally with
John and Sharon O’Connor.  It’s a big rally – 250 registered.
Should be fun!

The rally doesn’t begin until May 4^th but we arrived in Moab 2 weeks early
just  to get the last minute things organized. 
Moab is so beautiful with the red rocks everywhere.

Arches National Park has so many amazing rock formations.

Balancing Rock with the snow capped La Salle mountains in the distance-
also in Arches National Park.

Stay tuned for more Jeep Rally.  Should be a fun month coming up!

March 2014

We started off March with a great evening with Bernie and Red……

a fabulous comedy team.  They are so funny.  What a hoot!

Outdoor Resort has an annual charity event called the “Sunshine Invitational”
We put on different events to raise money for cancer research.  This year we
donated a record amount of money……. $60,000.
Absolutely unbelievable!  We have many  generous people here.

Paula, Bob (our ORI neighbors and friends) and I hosted free
Bloody Mary’s for the Sunshine Golf Tournament.
We had a great time with the golfers.

The Palm Springs Quilt Show held every other year was fun and this
quilt really took my eye.  Incredible hand work!

After the quilt show – us girls had lunch at Sherman’s Deli……
my favorite lunch spot!  I always expect to see a celebrity at
Sherman’s…….. but so far…..nothing!

A “Topless (convertible) Cruise” to Julian – a cute little town known for it’s
apple pies - located in the mountains toward San Diego……. Yum – a great day!

We had a really fun St. Patrick’s day.   An outstanding Corned Beef dinner
with great entertainment.  Another great ORI event.

The Indio Desert Rats (our local Jeeping group) was privileged to take
some local disabled folks on a Jeep trip.  An amputee fella from La Quinta
rode with us.  We had a great day and we hope “Doc” did too.

The final “Topless Cruise” of the season took us down to the
Salton Sea….. along the way, we stopped at the “International Banana Museum”

This place is really cute……. Everything imaginable having to do with bananas.

We had a BBQ at the Salton Sea with a talk by one of the park rangers.
The Salton Sea….. is 35 miles long by 15 miles wide and is located in the desert.
It is a very interesting location.

I made a purse from my left over material from a recent quilt.
Turned out not too bad…… I like it.

We took a Jeep trip up the back roads to Julian – had a great lunch….complete with
the best pie…… then we took a tour or the California Wolf Center.

The wolves were gorgeous and the presentation was very interesting.
We learned so much about wolves – They are beautiful animals and important
in our eco-system.

Our "End of the Season" party was a huge success.  The employees cooked an outstanding Mexican dinner for close to 400 of us  Great evening!

Another incredible month here in the desert.  The weather is in the high 80’s
every day ….. we are so lucky to be able to spend time here.