Red Rover, Red Rover, the Noah's are comin over

Just found out that are dear friends are coming to visit us from New York over Labor Day Weekend ;) Haven't posted in a few days, for we are trying to beat the heat and get our guest room ready for our guest!!!!!! We can't wait!!!

It's sooooooooooooooo HOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Our part of WA during the summer usually tops off in the high 80's for a couple of weeks at most. It reached 103 here today and we along with the majority of the state have NO AIR CONDITIONING!!!!!!!!!!! I'm laying here miserable with ice on my knees, under my knees, on my forehead, and behind my neck. The news just said that tomorrow we are suppose to reach the highest temperatures EVER in this area!!!! So, let me just break it down for ya, we have no ceiling fans, and no air conditioning, and NO BREEZE IN SIGHT!!! Our house feels like it's 1000 degrees!
Seannie seeking some relief too!!! We truly are miserable! Say a prayer for all our soldiers who deal with even higher temperatures in Iraq and Afghanistan. As I complained today, sweet Jonathan reminded me that his Daddy is experiencing 115 degree weather right now. Bless you all!

HAPPY 70TH BIRTHDAY CAPTAIN RON

Tonight Sean's Father Ron (AKA Captain Ron) is celebrating his 70th Birthday at the Ocean Springs Yacht Club. Ron is not too over joyed by turning 70, but when you look this good at that age, I'd say nonsense.......... Ron is now retired after flying for Continental Airlines for 35 plus years and enjoys his days now in a small town in Mississippi where his family settled after immigrating from Croatia.

What a smile.......
Don't I look bummed about this cheek kiss????? ;) At least that time he delivered on my cheek rather than on my mouth. First time I met Ron in Mississippi he kissed me right on the mouth, I was instantly impressed.......my kind of man. I'm allowed to say that, he is practically Sean, just older!!! ;) Ron's real name is John, he goes by his middle name Ron. My Dad's name is John, and I named my son Jonathan after my Dad. Sean is John in Irish, Sean's Mom wanted to name Sean something other than John as Ron wanted, so she comprised with the Irish version. I just love all these John's!!
Jonathan took quickly to Ron and his friend Linda. Ron insisted many times that I send Jonathan out to Mississippi for the summers. Ha, thank you for the generous offer Ron, but we would like to keep you looking so youthful.
We wish you a very Happy Birthday and hope that you are enjoying your surprise party as we speak that Linda threw for you!!!!

Take me out to the ball game.....................

We prepared ourselves all day to get ready for the DODGER GAME IN LA......... Jonathan and Sean started off by playing an early morning scrimmage of Cubs verses Dodgers in the backyard. Jonathan was on the Cubs and won 16 to 1. He is a quite the slugger. Jonathan is left handed, but he can put the heat behind his throwing right or left handed.

Up to bat. He line drived the ball numerous times over my dads fence.
Being the right handed pitcher here.
After many hours of baseball, he decided that Mom should play football with him in the pool.
And you can't be in the pool without cannon balls.
Finally, it's time to head off to the game. Sean, myself, Jonathan, Dad, and Sue all decked out in our Dodger BLUE gear!!! Sean had to borrow a shirt from my Dad, he HASSSSSSSSSSS to be a Dodger Fan if he wants to be a part of this family. It was in our vows, did you hear them????? Well, they should have been ;)
On our way in.

Joe Torre coming out do dispute the play.
Huttle, Huttle, most be trouble..................

It was Elvis Night tonight at Dodger Stadium. A whole lot of shakin was goin on........

And fireworks lit up the sky after the game. Although the Dodgers lost ;( ;( booooooo hoooooooo
Jonathan got a lift to the car. 97lbs wrapped around Sean's neck there and must be slightly more after all that his Papa got him at the game!!! My Dad says that when I was Jonathan's age, I thought the game was just an Amazing place to eat and that I thought I was there to be catered to and raised my hand up every time someone came by to offer me food. Of course my Dad shares these stories with Jonathan. Jonathan asked the whole ride there, "Mom, can I have cotton candy", I of course said "NO" . And what did Papa do.........deliberately ignored me and bought him cotton candy and then just looked at me and said "I never heard you tell him No and snickered"!!!! ;) I shared countless games with my Dad as a child and Jonathan has shared a few too, nothing better than a game with my Dad. Thank you for taking all of us!!

Off to Legoland

Legoland California


Jonathan started off by getting a Pirate Tattoo around his arm......off to hunt the loot....

Arghhhhhhhhhh, Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Jonathan take your picture with me, "okay, just don't get too close to my tattoo Mom" ;)
Do we smell a challenge????? Mom and Child VERSES the public! Jonathan and I broke the Legoland record for how many times we could pull ourselves up on this rope during one ride, and were Humble too ;)
What goes up, must come down..........

Test round for the Lego built car

Jonathan's looking back to see how close his competitor is

Potato Sack slide
Could it actually be possible that we wore this boy out enough to fall asleep on the drive home????? Sure did!!! He slept almost the entire duration of the ride home, and Praise God too. If not, we would of had to listen to him complain about the terrible CA traffic. Sean, I'm sorry I didn't fall asleep too, I'm sure I complained enough for the both of us. ;)
After Legoland, we picked up Dad and Sue and had dinner at good old Lampost Pizza in Corona. Best Pizza on the Planet!! After wards, we went to the old Thrifty's off Border to enjoy scooped ice cream. And, fancy meeting Kirt and Amy there. They were there to take advantage of the 2 for $5 buck half gallon sale to celebrate her Dad's 60th Birthday......Happy Birthday Dave!! Then we took Sean on a tour of Corona, showing him my old Highschool, Jr. High, and our house on Merrywood Lane. Yet another great day here in CA.

Zoom, Zoom, Zoom

Jonathan got to start his day Zoom, Zoom, Zooming with his Papa. I saw Jonathan run out the door with Papa to check out the Porsche and I quickly ran up the stairs to get my camera, and I quickly heard vroommmmmmmmm, vroommmmmmmmm and I thought "oh dear"!!
This smile on Jonathan's face is the look of "look at me Mom, you can't do anything, because my Papa is your Dad and the overall ruler" :) When J man got out of the car he said "that car is so WICKED AWESOME" ;)
We had lunch today with my Beautiful Nana and Aunt Diane at my Aunt's new Spectacular place on the Lake. Jonathan pretended to be the Skipper for most of the afternoon out on Aunt Diane's Boat. Nana decided she needed to get out there and show Jonathan how it's done.
Me and My Amazing Grandmother. My Nana will be 95 yrs old in just two weeks and I think she is still sharp as a Tack. Sean had some time alone with her out on the boat and last night before we went to sleep he shared all kinds of heartwarming stories that she told Sean about my Dad as a child, the great depression, and her trips back and forth between Texas and California. She truly is an Amazing Soul and we are all so blessed to have her in our lives. I love you Nana!! When we took her back to her place after our visit (a nice assisted living community) we were walking her down her hall to her room and she says "it's quiet here, too quiet, sometimes I just want to yell FIREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, and see what all these people would do"!!! ;) Now, I don't know for sure, but I would guess that my Nana must be one of the oldest people there, but she certainly does not think so!!! Age truly is a state of mind!!!!!

Nana, myself, and my Aunt Diane. For those that don't know Nana is my Dad's Mom and Aunt Diane is my Dad's older sister. I hold my Aunt Diane as near to my heart as my Nana. She is truly the best Aunt one could have. I could go on and on about wonderful stories of her and how lucky my sisters and I have been to have her through the years. My heart goes out to her as she is recovering from a very bad ankle, knee, and shoulder injury and spending her summer cooped up in the house! My Aunt is always on the go, go, go, so this is very difficult for her. It was so wonderful to have lunch with her and have time to visit, I wish that they were not so few and far between! I pray that she has a speedy recovery!!!!! Thank you Aunt Diane for having us over today, we had a wonderful visit!!!!

And the day just keeps getting better. Last night my Dad had a small bbq at his house with Sue's daughters and families and my Most Dearest life long friend Amy and Kirt. Amy and I met as soon as I moved the last time from WA to CA in the 6th grade and has been my dear friend since. I spent most of my free time thru Jr. High and High School with her at her parents home in Corona. She has been there for me thru all good and bad in my life and I just miss her dearly. There are some friends that you will have your entire life, and Amy is that friend of mine!!

Sean is holding Andi and Dusty's baby boy Brody. He is now 3 1/2 months old and such a good, good baby. Andi is Sue's oldest daughter and they have a great little family. It was so nice to finally meet him during our trip, we wish them all well........

Happy 40th Birthday Renee

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Reneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, Happy Birthday to you!!!!!!!! Happiest of Happy wishes coming your way today! I hope that you have a Fabulous day planned out with lots and lots of Cake and Ice Cream. May you be blessed to enjoy many more to come.

Paradise ?????

We woke up this morning and things seemed to start off pretty okay considering some of the happenings so far on our trip to Paradise. But, don't be fooled to quickly. We started off our morning by grabbing a bite to eat at the B&B and sat out by the pool to enjoy the view as we ate, doesn't Sean look so happy??????


And, then WAAAAAAA BAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOO a Wasp flew inside his shirt from his sleeve and stung him right on his chest!!!!!! Or at least that's what he is saying. I immediately thought "my dear God, I married a man with a third nipple" ;) ha, ha.
Seriously, I couldn't believe it welted him like that and even now it's pretty swollen. So after I dr. him up by taking the stinker out we quickly got ready to set out on our day, Sean had quite a bit packed in that he wanted to do.
So, Sean had mentioned many times before we came to Maui that he really wanted to go up and see the Volcano. I had felt so bad that I've "felt so bad" on our trip that I have tried to not take the "hard core" pain killers during the day and be the "tough" girl that I am and tough it out so that I could enjoy the sites....YEAH RIGHT ;) Any how, Sean continued to thank me many times for agreeing to take the 2 hour drive up to the Volcano. Now as were making this monsterous drive (and yes, 2 hours is Monsterous when your in pain and on switch back roads) Sean begins to tell me that he doesn't remember much of this scenery. I say "what do you mean you don't remember it"??? Sean says "I must have fallen asleep the last time I was a here on the way up"! I say "you've been here before"????????? Sean "yes, I came on a trip here many yrs ago with my Mom"!!!!!! What??????? "I'm in excruciating pain and your making me drive up this stupid mountain so that you can see the same exact thing you saw many yrs ago with your Mom, NOTHING!!!! The reason you don't remember it, is because there is nothing to see"!!!!!!! I obvisouly had a case of what I like to call "pissy pants". I knew Sean had been to Hawaii before, he seems to have been every where on the face of the planet at some point with his Mom, what I didn't know was that I had to ride in an uncomfortable convertible, up switch back roads to 10,000 ft elevation in pain.

Haleakala Volcano! This is what you see when you get up to the top, the clouds!!! Your so high that your above the darn clouds!!!! I told Sean "since you've got me this high, you better knock on Jesus Door and ask for a favor to let me in" ;)

I'm giving Sean fish lips as I wait for my lunch, obviously hungry, ancy, and irritable....She's in a mood, better Run Seannie Run!!! ;)
Sean is such a smart man and knows that food is really my true love. He feed me lunch and of course ice cream and gave me a pain pill and off to Snorkel he went. He saw 4 giant Sea Turtles today at Napali Bay and said that one of them must have been at least 200 pounds!!! It was his first time seeing Sea Turtles so he was pretty impressed. After snorkeling we had a fancy smancy dinner at Pacifico's on the water with a beautiful view.

Amazing Sunset tonight after dinner and our last that we will see here on Maui.......
or at least this time. Sean said he is taking me back again for a 2nd honeymoon, since I got sick on this one!! He's a keeper, even if he did trick me into riding up that mountain today!

Mama's Fish House in Maui

Today we first started our day by Sean driving me to Haiku to get a 90 minute deep tissue massage from a lovely young German lady by the name of Pria who came recommended from a local at yesterday's lunch. Now, I would come back to Maui solely to get another massage from this God Sent Gift!!!! She was absolutely Awesome, and she relieved a bit of my pain in my back!!! I kept her # for any of you that might be going to Maui soon! Along the way to my apt. we passed Mama's Fish House that my Aunt Diane told us we must eat at while we are here. Your wish is our command Aunt Diane. Must have been by far the most expensive lunch my lips have ever touched, but the food was divine, and the view was Spectacular!!!!! This is Sean in front of the Restaurant.
Mama's from the front, I'm standing just feet from the waves crashing in on the sandy beach right in front of the Restuarant

I haven't had a chance to Outrigger Canoe yet, so I'm pretending after lunch...

Sean and I enjoying our Lobster Guacamole Appetizer, so darn good!!!! I can only imagine what the view must look like at dinner!!! I want Jonathan to go to College, so we opted for the lunch menu instead ;) What a neat place!!! If we ever come back, this is the first place I will want to eat!!!! Thank you Aunt Diane for recommending it to us!I loved how the waves were crashing in on the rocks. One of the locals told us that today was the end of the swell and they were not anticipating another until the middle of next week.
After lunch, WE both went snorkeling at Airport Beach. I snorkeled for all of about 20 minutes or so before I decided that I was pressing my luck! All I can envision while I'm swimming above the reef is a HUGEEEEEEEEEEEE SHARK COMING RIGHT TOWARD ME to enjoy a tasty treat!!!! Or one of those slimey jelly fish biting me! Soooooooo, since I was such a good sport and did my snorkeling deed, I was handsomely rewarded with my favorite treat on earth, ICE CREAM!!! yum, yum, yum!!! Life is too bitter to not enjoy sweet things!!!