Oscar & Paige's Summer 2009

Oh My.... a few days ago someone I sent an email to said they were going to check out my blog because they saw the link in my signature. It dawned on me moments ago that it's been MONTHS since I updated my blog.... Crazy

So I thought I would sum up the summer before making the attempt once again to keep my blog updated at least every few days.... laughing quietly at myself......

Camping was the travel fun choice of the summer. We started June with a Jarquin Family camp at Winter CA Putah Creek campsite in a friends RV. Oscar's brothers with families, Mimi & Papi and special family visit from nephew Andrew was really fun. The creek is frigging cold so swimming was off my list but the less wimpy relatives went for a dip! I definitely love RV camping.

I know this because July brought camping with the Ewers family near Fort Bragg, CA and it was COLD! In July...COLD. This also happened to be Winter's first camp adventure as she and Justin joined us for the 5 day trip. The first night Justin's mattress deflated so the next 4 nights we all huddled in our tent. Winter got her first shiner on this trip when she fell down a short incline and bonked her head. Scraped up nose and a decent goose egg on the forehead to show for it! The food on this trip was great.... I had my first experience with baking in the great outdoors, I used left over eggs from Kristen & Charlies french toast breakfast and some goodies I found around the campsite. A little to brown on the bottom but tasted really good. We took our bikes on this trip and that was fun.

In August we made 3 trips. One to Sand Diego to see Jonathan's ship come back from it's tour and a camping trip with church friends in Winters again and a very fun houseboat on Lake Oroville. The trip to SD was a fun drive our first stop was Redondo Beach to see my dad for lunch and a quick visit. Then we stopped in Long Beach to stay the night with Oscar's brother who took us out to dinner for my birthday. Then next stop was SD where we spent the next few days at my brother Butch's house. We got to meet Elise, Jonathan's new girlfriend and of course greet Jonathans ship. That is a story in itself... maybe in a few days.... the ship not the girlfriend! Winters camp trip was a very relaxing time... it was nice to do nothing except spend time with friends. Going on the houseboat with the Mansell/Alexander family was an excellent time. Friends that know how to eat great food & wine and have a good time are always high on my list.

In between the travels there were picnics, volley ball challenges (which we lost badly but we are good sports), birthdays, a visit from Peg - Suzy's mom, a visit from my mom, my niece had her 3rd baby.... another boy!

The not so fun parts of life... I'm still unemployed and really wishing I had a job already. Oscar didn't get the opportunity to go on the Tiger Cruise with Jonathan because of a flu outbreak on the ship. However these things seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things!

The Winter update....

Walking, talking, dancing and wrecking general havoc in our lives.... But all done with the cutest smile, a devilish grin really! She is mostly talking gibberish but you can tell she has something to say! We spend lots of time in the back yard in her little wading pool, going down her slide and playing in the ball pit. The very cutest thing she is doing this past week is grabbing the car keys, waving and saying bye-bye and heading for the door. She holds the key exactly correct in her hand and try's it on every door to "open" it like we do on the car....

I'm sure I've left many things out but that's the gist of it. In a few days I'll post about Jonathan's visit home, Jason our former exchange student that has come back for a visit and the labor day weekend in general.....

Hugs to everyone