Vacation Photos

We had a simply lovely time in Virginia Beach and at Busch Gardens & Water Country USA last week! The weather was fantastic (80s, dry). And we spent some active time at the theme parks (3 days) and playing tennis, and some relaxing time at the beach (2 days)... A nice combination.
In England as we entered Busch Gardens.
I think we were resting in Germany here.
Here I am in Italy ~ one of my favorites. I didn't get any photos of me in Ireland because I didn't have my camera with me the day we were there :( but it was fun and I felt right at home! Jeff & I watched an Irish dancing show ~ they were actually really good!
On the airtram or whatever it's called... taking us from one country to another.
I know I look pregnant here, but I'm really not! (Hopefully soon, but not yet...) My shirt just looks all weird because it got wet on one of the rides and lost its shape. :(

I think this is Germany... ?

That yellow one is called "Loch Ness Monster." Jeff and I didn't try it.

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N

Hey Decker girls ~~ You remember that song Daddy used to sing when we were on vacation? "V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N in the summer time.... we're on vacation... having lots of fun..."

That song just popped into my head as I sat down to write this blog entry... :)

Jeff and I and the kids and Sarah Beamer too (yay!) are leaving for Virginia Beach tomorrow for our yearly family vaca! We'll spend a good amount of our time in Williamsburg, actually, at Busch Gardens and their water park; but we also plan to spend some time on the beach. Looking forward to some fun times!

Goings-on

Hi All!

So let's see... what's been going on lately?

Well, on Monday I pulled a muscle in my lower back, which seems to be a weak spot for me. I had been doing yard work and I guess I just did too much. :( So all week I've been walking carefully, sitting carefully, getting up carefully, groaning, moaning.... Am I garnering any sympathy here?!? :)

Jeff is in California this week on business, so it's just Phil and me until tomorrow, as Kiff is hardly ever home. She spends all her time either at work or with friends. Phil's been doing odd jobs for us around the house. Right now he's working on refinishing the back two-level deck -- a big job -- so we're glad he's around to do it.

And I don't think I've mentioned this here yet... Phil got accepted to George Mason University for the fall! He'll be studying engineering, and we are so proud of him! He's following in Jeff's footsteps, which of course Jeff is thrilled about.
We celebrated Kiff's 19th birthday about a week after Phil's...
In my free time one project I'm working on is transferring Grandma Enlow's old slides and photos to digital format. It's a big project!! But it's lots of fun because I get to see all kinds of fun memories of Grandma when she was a little girl, when she was in college, when she met Grandpa, early years in their marriage, when they had little Philip & Janice & Carol... and on and on. It's so neat! Here's my set-up in our dining room:
I can only do up to 5x7 shots using the scanner, but Uncle Phil can do the larger ones at his print shop. At this point I'm finished with the slides, but doing the photos will take quite a bit of time. Here's one of my favorites: a shot of Grandma when she was just a wee thing... Anyone see any resemblance to a certain family's children???
I think the Schneider girls look like they could be her sisters!! It's uncanny! Going through these pictures is an amazing experience. I mean, it's a very real reminder of the reality of our ancestors. They had real lives, desires and dreams, passions, accomplishments, fears, failures and successes... They were real people who just lived their lives day by day and had no idea who would follow after them. Here I am, years later, one of their descendents. And even though I carry in myself some of my Great Grandfather Truesdale's genes, for example, I never knew him. So close, and yet so far.

Ah, life as we know it on earth.

So remember how I said I was going to plant a garden this summer?? Yeah... Um... It has proven to be a much bigger task than I anticipated. Just getting rid of the grass is a monster in itself. We have successfully killed the grass, but getting it up so we can actually till the soil is another thing altogether. Here is the status:
Phil is going to work on getting the grass up later this week - at least that's the plan right now - but at that point we don't plan to actually plant anything this year since it's so late. We are thinking it will be best at this point to fertilize it over the winter and get it all ready to plant for next year. In the meantime, we'll be able to get a fence up too... with Phil's help, of course. Good old Phil.

And last but not least, our shelving project!! It's really coming together and looking good! It's not finished yet, as Jeff just hasn't had the time he would have liked to pour into it. But he is faithfully chipping away at it, and here it is at its current stage:
Nice, right? There's still the mantle to go in, and all sorts of finishing touches like molding and such. But Jeff is doing a fantastic job and I'm so proud of the way he can do things like this. :) It going to look so fabulous when it's completed.

This afternoon I'm off to Morningside to visit my dear elderly friends there...

Hope you're doing wonderfully today! God bless you all. :)

Phil Turns 22!

This frisbee around his neck was a fun little side-gift from Jeff and me

Phil testing out his new frisbee. (What's that in the background, you say?? That's our attempt at killing the grass for our new garden. It's plastic sheeting, and it's taking longer than I would like...)
Kiff helping Phil test out the frisbee

Mary's Baby Shower

Last Saturday, I and Mary's two sisters-in-law, Sarah and Jane, threw her a shower for Baby Gray, their new adopted baby-to-be!! I am THRILLED for my little sister. She has wanted to be a mommy for so long and it's finally happening!!! Gray will be born and come home next month! Mary & Rob will be fanTASTic parents and I'm just so happy for them. :)

Lotsa Cali Pics

Here's a photo overview of our two-week trip to California! It was a very relaxing trip which began and ended with Jeff's work obligations. Sandwiched between them was five days or so of traveling and visiting and sight-seeing...

Our first vaca spot was Palm Springs, which is in the California desert east of LA. Indian Canyons is outside Palm Springs and was stunningly beautiful.
The desert conditions of the canyon were cut through by a stream and palm trees, creating a uniquely exotic scene.









We left Indian Canyons for a bit to visit Moorten Botanical Garden, which boasted a beautiful collection of different types of cactuses (yes, that is a correct spelling...) :)


Back in Indian Canyons... Here you can see the way the palm trees are clustered around the stream winding its way through the canyon.
The many diagonal rock formations kind of looked to me like God threw them out there like frisbees...
Yes, I'm that strong. :)
Back to LA. Hollywood!

The valley over which the Hollywood sign looks.
Uncle Dave & Aunt Gaby drove halfway down from Sunnyvale to meet us for lunch! We met in Paso Robles, a beautiful and quaint little town. I hadn't seen Aunt Gaby since I was 8 years old!! So it was just lovely to visit and enjoy a meal together. Wish it could have been longer!

That afternoon, heading back to Burbank, we drove out to the coast and down the PCH... and of course we stopped for pics along the way.
This is where all those happy California cows live!


My, but was it breezy and chilly!

Rodeo Drive!! So beautiful. And very high class. They say this is the most expensive shopping street in the world... And no, we didn't see any stars. :(



Then we flew home... back to rainy Virginia. :/ That's okay! Spring is in full swing and I am loving all the new green growth everywhere! I am also eager to begin our garden soon. (After an unsuccessful first attempt at tilling the soil this past weekend, we discovered that it's pretty difficult to get rid of grass..... The garden plot is now covered with plastic to kill the grass which we guess will take a couple weeks. Then we'll till again...) I'm so excited to have my first vegetable garden. Summer, here we come!!