Monthly Archive: July 2006
We capped off our weeks vacation with a nice weekend around home. Since we got home from Tahoe on Thursday, we still had the whole weekend in front of us. A Friday night trip to Palo Alto and the Cheescake Factory with 
Mando and Claudia was great! Saturday morning bike ride out to Coyote Hills was beautiful. We got invited to go to the A’s game on Saturday night with Team Eacret. Randy and Lisa got some great seats behind home plate to watch the A’s lose to the LA Angels. It was a fun time and I even got to wear my “BEAT LA” hat. Sunday morning it was Mexican brunch and world cup soccer (VIVA ITALIA!) across the street at Lopezwerks, then we talked our way into a pool party over at Ronnie and Norms house. Now thats the way to end a vacation!
Out for a beautiful summers evening walk last night. We try to go for walk when Barb gets home from work but with the record heat the last few days we decided to wait til it cooled off a bit before hitting the trail. It was beautiful as the sun was setting. Casting long shadows and providing some great photographic lighting. Took a semi-pro “phone-cam” shot of Barb on Sequoia Bridge, over looking Alameda Creek.
Every once in a lifetime you see something that you have never seen before. Big foot? Unicorn? UFOs? Elvis sighting? Its these types of things that make you stand up , take notice and tell the person next to you; “did you just see that?!”I had one of these experiences while on our Tahoe vacation. No. I didn’t see Tahoe Tessie. I saw something much more rare, and I even got a picture! In this rare shot, Barb pushes a shopping cart full of groceries out of Raileys in South Lake Tahoe. WOW. This is better than a bigfoot sighting! I think the last time I saw Barb pushing a shopping cart was at food for less in Newark circa 1987. Kelly was an infant and in a “front pack” as Barb and I shopped for family staples. Barb went to retrieve a bottle of apple juice off of a high shelf. Somehow the bottle hit poor baby Kelly right on top of the head. I remember that Kelly was crying so hard that we left the half full shopping cart of groceries in the middle of the juice isle and headed home to call the advice nurse. Kelly turned out to be fine but it was Barb who was scarred for life and may have developed a phobia that kept her out of grocery stores for the next 18+ years. Until this fateful day on our most recent Tahoe vacation where Barb mustered the courage to again grab the cart and drive it. YOU GO BARBIE!
Kate, Barb and I are back from two days of freshman orientation at Sacramento State University. A beautiful campus, excellent programs and fantastic all around atmosphere. We are now all officially exited about Kate attending this year. Kate will be living at Auntie Anne Marie and Uncle Joe’s house less than 2 miles from campus. We all had a full day of presentations, tours and information on Wednesday. Kate participated in the overnight program while we went to dinner with Joe and Anne Marie.
Kate had more orientation activities on Thursday til noon. We picked her up then went to back to her “new house” to have lunch. Kate is one lucky gal. She has (will have) a great little corner room (with corner windows!) all her own in a cute little house blocks from campus. I think living with her Godparents is going to work out just fine. We will be moving Kate up to Sac over the next month in preperation of first day of school on September 5th.
The summer of milestones continues. Kelly, who is now working almost full time, shows off her first paycheck.
CHA-CHING!!!
Just back last night after 6 days at Lake Tahoe. What a great vacation. Barb and I stayed at Embassy Suites, right next to Heavenly Village and Harrah’s Casino. We were on the top (9th) floor in a “deluxe suite” while the girls (Kelly, Kate and Kate’s bud Rebecca) were across the street at our timeshare unit at the Stardust. Worked out perfectly! 
Gave us some privacy (in upscale digs) and the girls some room to stretch out a bit without the parents hanging around all the time. The plan for this vacation was to take it easy, have some serious downtime, read, relax and rejuvenate. We did all this! When we checked into our room we found that the Champagne Crew had sent up a bottle of wine and fruit and cheese tray for Barb’s birthday! What a great surprise. We toasted to Barb and our vacation. Sipped wine and ate some cheese and crackers and great melon and berries. That was our dinner the first night in town. 
The day after we arrived was Barb’s birthday. I had scheduled a two hour “head to toe” massage for the birthday girl at a day spa right next door at Heavenly Village. She must have liked it cuz she looked pretty relaxed and said she felt like a wet noodle afterwards. 
After a brief post massage nap, we were up, dressed and off to dinner at Cierra, the upscale eatery at the new MONT BLEU (old Ceasar’s). Although our food was good, it was very pricey and not as advertised on their website. The reason I picked this place was because they advertised a wide variety of vegetarian cuisine and even some vegan dishes. This was not true. Kate ended up having Mac and Cheese. Either way, it was all good. Happy Birthday Barbie!!
A BEAUTIFUL HAPPY BABY!
A GREAT LITTLE KID
WONDERFUL LITTLE GIRL
WHO HAS GROWN UP
TO BE A BEAUTIFUL YOUNG LADY
READY TO TAKE ON THE WORLD!!
Have a HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY! WE LOVE YOU.
Mom Dad and Kelly
We finally put old man Luke down a couple of days ago. After a long struggle with diabetes and dementia, Luke’s quality of life had gone downhill. We put in a lot of work this last year to keep Luke comfortable and happy. Luke was 15 years old and had been the link between all of our pets. 
Auntie Sarah gave Luke to Kate when she was just 3 years old. At first Luke was Lucy because we thought he was a she. Luke turned out to be all boy. Biting the girls in the face as they slept, bringing both dead and half dead gophers, mice, birds and snakes. In his older years he stopped with the trophies and settled into old age, becoming a grumpy old man. In the end we thought it was better that he go and join Kira and Jasmine at the Rainbow Bridge. We will miss you old man Luke!
Kate invited a few of her friends to Chevy’s last night to celebrate her Birthday. Good time was had by all.
Nice relaxing weekend after our busy mid-week freshman orientation. Got in a couple of 17 mile bike rides out to the end of Alameda Creek Trail on both Saturday and Sunday mornings. The weather was FANTASTIC. Sure beats the heat wave of last weekend. Also got to check out a Steeley Dan cover band named Aja Vu. Every summer the city of Newark 
hosts a handful of free “concerts in the grove” in a little grove of eucalyptus trees next to Newpark Mall. We happenned to catch Aja Vu last year at the Fremont Festival of the Arts and really liked them. I think they sound more like Steely Dan than Steely Dan. Yesterday’s concert was great. Barb and I packed a little picnic lunch and had a great shady spot to kick back and watch the show. Nice way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon.
