My Birthday Party

On June 17th, Heidi and I went back to Beso del Sol at Sunset Beach in California for a week. It was our second time. We went last November and had so much fun we wanted to do it again. This time it was during my birthday so we thought it would be a good time. Christian joined us for the weekend and he and Heidi really made me feel special. They did something every day for a week. I always thought birthdays were fun but try having one for 7 days in a row. That is really a lot of fun. We took mom and dropped her off at her sister's house so she could visit during that week since she lives pretty close to where we were staying.

We spent Saturday looking at guitars at Guitar Center. Christian showed us all around. Before we left from home Heidi told me she was giving me her mandolin. I thought it would be fun to learn how to play it. I had one lesson before I left from Gaye Nelson, a friend of mine, and I bought a book and took it with me. I thought it would be a good time to practice.

That night, Christian barbequed steak for us and we brought a vegetable tray from home to barbeque veggies on the grill. The dinner was so good. He ended up cooking almost every night.

Then they surprised me with this cake and Christian and Heidi bought me some accessories to go with the mandolin. I got a strap and a tuner and also a case to put it in to protect it.

Christian had to work during the week, but we met up with him every night and he either came down there or we went to his house or out to dinner or a movie.

Every morning, I walked on the beach. It was so cool and refreshing. We relaxed and slept and read and had a grand ol' time.

The last night before we came home, Heidi bought tickets to take us to an Alison Krauss and the Union Station Band concert. It was a fabulous concert. Her band, but especially her dobro player were so talented. I was enthralled with it all. It was a very fun week. Thanks to everyone who called me to wish me a happy birthday or who sent me messages. Whatever way you did, thank you. I felt loved.

More Favorites!

I'm almost finished but I just had a few more cute shots to share! This is Gavin having a grand old time being a kid on the grass.

Tyler getting some cat food out for bait.

Grandpa giving instructions to Zach and Ty on fishing.

Grandpa and his side kick, Lexi:)

This is my all time favorite picture of the trip. I love it.

Favorite Pictures

Even though I did several posts on our vacation, Christian sent me his pictures from his camera and I thought there were so many cute pics that I just had to post a few more pictures. Sorry, but grandmas need to have memories to last their lifetime and this is happy memories for me.

Family Vacation - Part 7

After Garry and Heidi picked up the kids, we turned in our keys and left for home. We made one stop in Vail, CO which was about 30 minutes from Frisco. We parked the car and decided to tour the town.

We were shocked how much like Switzerland it was. They even had a clock with a Swiss girl like the cuckoo clocks and bells in Switzerland.

It was like a modern day Switzerland.

The flowers were gorgeous!

It even had the shutters and window boxes like every house in Switzerland has.

The streets were made of pavers,

and the architecture was so similar.

The drive home was so beautiful.

We so enjoyed the whole experience.

Family Vacation - Part 6

One thing families love to do when we get together is eat. Christian bar-be-qued for us a couple of nights. He made hamburgers and hotdogs one night, ending with smores. Another night he cooked chicken. He's an excellent bar-be-quer. Another night after we ate the kids just speared giant marshmellows and roasted them over the bar-be-que.

For dessert, we had root beer floats, homemade ice cream, and then Heidi and Christian bought more ice cream with toppings so we had ice cream sundaes. As you can see, Tyler loved it. He even spilled toppings all over his foot so we had to watch his leg and foot in the kitchen sink.

One day Grandma Great, the boys and myself went to go on a nature walk at the Willow Preserve, but once we started out, it was so muddy from a heavy rain we'd had the night before that we had to turn back.

This river and pond was literally at the end of the block where we stayed. The boys had fun fishing there one day and just throwing rocks.

Christian is a music producer so he brought some equipment with him and he recorded the kids. He had the older boys help him set up the equipment and explained to them a little bit of how things worked. They were very interested in this.

They each took a turn talking and also running the program on the computer.

One day we all went to the marina except Grandpa and Lexi.

It was literally about a couple of blocks from our condo. This lake was where they set the fireworks show off.

Christian told the boys that it was VERY IMPORTANT for boys to learn how to properly skip rocks. First of all he explained to them what size and shape of rocks to pick up.

Then he gave them some demonstrations. I counted one time where he skipped a rock 10 times in one throw. The boys were very interested in this activity.

They practiced and practiced. They had some pretty successful skipping.

Gavin loved this activity too.

All in all it was a beautiful, fun, happy week for us all. We made some special bonds and memories.

We hated to leave beautiful, cool, Frisco but we'll always hold some dear memories of this week.