Happy Birthday Toby!

We celebrated early in the week by going out to dinner with Uncle Bruce and Aunt Romaine! I had the most amazing piece of salmon at the place--"Jimmy's" in Long Beach. It was from the Copper River in Alaska. Yum. Yum. Toby graciously shared his birthday cake with Kevin.

Birthday boy!

We had the birthday party at my sister Glenda's house. Her son Marcus had spent the morning decorating for the occasion and did a great job!!

"Thank you for my gift, Grammie!"

The kids sang with the X-box and Acacia serenaded my sister's dog. That dog is a total kick! It doesn't know it's a big dog and tries to give everyone "up-close love"

Some tender slobbers for Geoff

Marcus and Toby

Marcus presents THE CAKE with candles that re-lit themselves after Toby blew them out!

In the morning while Marcus was decorating for the party we traveled farther out with my mom and sister to visit and put flowers on my Father's grave. The kids have talked a lot about wanting to see Grandpa's burial site and it was a big event for them. My sister's in-laws are buried very close to my Father so we spent a bit of time at the cemetery. The cemetery is a national military cemetery and it is moving to recognize the years of service represented by those buried there.

After leaving the cemetary we ate one of the best burgers we've ever had at a place called "Farmer Boys"--if you've never been and you get a chance--eat one up! Sorry, no pictures.

Earlier in the week we went to Disneyland in honor of Toby's birthday AND JUST TO HAVE FUN-- Grammie's and Aunt Romaine's treat. THANKS Grammie and Aunt Romie!!

Grammie and Aunt Romie put on water slickers to avoid getting soaked on the water rafting ride. Guess I should have too, cause I got drenched!!

Two things I'll never do . . .

Geoff and I went to Malibu and Pepperdine today to meet with Greg Porter of the Waves of Service office and with Heidi Bernard in the Crest Associates office. They are both alums of Pepperdine, having graduated near the year that I did. Greg's office focuses on the activities of alumni who are involved in service/non-profit organizations--connecting them and assisting them in a variety of ways. Heidi interacts with the Malibu community quite a bit in the course of her job and has been a great supporter of our work in Uganda at New Hope. It was great to revisit my ole stomping grounds and see some familiar faces.

On the way home I saw a billboard advertising "sweet tea" at McDonald's for only a dollar. My first thought--"can McD's really pull off GEN-U-INE sweet tea????" My next thought--for $1-probably not. I think I'll stay with sweet tea made by the experts--Texans and the like.

McD's "sweet tea" is #1 of the two things I won't do.

What's #2? Well, first let me remind all of us (as IF we need more reminders) that we are all getting older. It was great seeing former classmates today--we all look the same for the most part, but a few more wrinkles were present . . . alas, which leads me to the next thing I'll never do . . . I will NEVER wear the clothing label SAG HARBOR!!!!!!! I can't believe that someone actually decided that it was a good idea to name a clothing line--targeted at middle-aged women no less--SAG HARBOR! WHAT were they thinking?? WERE they thinking??? What was the discussion around the corporate table??? Was there someone in the room silently laughing to themselves and keeping quiet while the rest of them chose such a ridiculous name???

This poor choice of words reminds me of something else from my past. When I worked at Pepperdine University all those years ago and we put out a quarterly magazine highlighting the activites of the churches of Christ, there was a submission for the news section regarding a retreat. Part of the posting read, "Big Women's Retreat". So . . . is that a BIG retreat for women or a retreat for BIG women????? :0

Those are all my random thoughts for today . . . enjoy.

CATALINA!!!!

We have been so blessed since we've arrived!! Two churches here in Long Beach have taken such good care of us! Both have provided for us in the basics and extras!!!! Because of their generosity we were able to visit with the Herbsts in Catalina Island (not a cheap trip!!!) for the weekend. Wayne, Carol and Katie took us all over Catalina and gave us a "local insider tour". They treated us to home-cooked meals and a cook-out on the beach!!! (Katie worked at New Hope for awhile and is a great friend!!) It was an amazing weekend and we are grateful to the Herbst crew!!!!! Carol is an awesome cook and they are all great hosts!!

Carol, Wayne and Katie just before we boarded the boat at the end of a wonderful two days!

Sunset at Shark beach--one of Katie's favorite things to do.

What is a cook-out at the beach without s'mores!

Hiking the rocks above the beach.

Showing off a shell he found--sorry, Kevin, the camera operator cut the shell out of the picture.

The Herbst family is well stocked with Legos!!! The kids spent every moment back at the house working on Lego creations.

The kids and Katie in the golf cart--the major form of transportation on Catalina.

A family photo taken above Avalon Harbor.

The golf cart was a favorite of the kids (and us!)

Acacia lovin on her Daddy as we walked around Avalon.

The kids and me on the other side of the harbor.

Back on the mainland--a few pictures of the days before our Catalina trip. Here is nephew Santiago splashing around in the pool at a family gathering.

Santi was happy with his little pool, but the BIG kids whooped it up on the BIG slide. Acacia grabs some air as she goes from top to bottom!

Entertaining Santi in the car is a favorite activity.

We visited the Reagan library with Mom and one of my sisters and her family. It was a great reminder of the good Reagan did in office--the destruction of the Berlin wall and the ending of the Cold War to name some of his great accomplishments.

Karate kids playing outside Uncle Bruce and Aunt Romaine's house--a favorite place to go. They have a swimming pool and jacuzzi which we've been frequenting!!! In fact, we met "Uncle Nique" there (another former missionary with New Hope who is now current again! She left last Saturday to spend until the end of the school year teaching at New Hope Academy--our secondary school.)



Geoff's favorite part of Uncle Bruce and Aunt Romaine's place is MAYBE not the pool, but the corvette that Uncle Bruce owns! He surprised Geoff at our last visit when he let him take it for a spin!!!!

Planting tulips for Grammie! We bought them in Amsterdam when we passed through on KLM and they are already sprouting!

A change of culture

We've now been here a little more than two weeks. The last of our extended family flew away to Boston today. The house is quiet---relatively speaking. When Mom and I arrived home after taking my sister and her family to LAX (Los Angeles Int'l Airport), Geoff's family had arrived for an over night visit! Still, it is quieter than when we had 17+ people in this small 3 bedroom house!!!!! My youngest sister, her husband and 1 yr-old son left last night for Honduras :( They will be working this next year on establishing a home for street children in the mountains of Honduras.

I'm finding that of all the things we are experiencing here in the U.S.---the noise; fast traffic; overwhelming amount of choices in the grocery stores, department stores and home improvement stores; the abundance of conveniences (washers, dryers, hot hot showers, cold cold refrigerators)---the most amazing thing to me is that I can be in a public place and understand ALL of the conversations that are going on around me!!!!!! And they are all being spoken in AMERICAN English!!! There is no English accent, German accent, Dutch accent, Irish accent--just plain ole American! Still, after two weeks I literally find myself surprised as I HEAR what other people are saying!

For the kids--they love the machines!!! One day last week they listened all morning for the street sweeper and ran out as soon as they heard it. After it went by they chased it down the street yelling and laughing about how amazing it was to have seen it sooooo up close!!