Disneyland with the whole Family

Brian surprised Elisa for her 30th birthday with a trip to Disneyland with the whole family. She was surprised for sure and we all had a chance to be with Collin and his first time to Disneyland.









Collin's favorite ride was the Tea Cups. He liked Dumbo, too, especially making him fly up and down.

Brian's parents, Tom and Debbie were there as well as his two sisters, and then our family with Mel and Will and Dan, too.









The Castle and the entire park was all decorated in Christmas lights. It was beautiful.

You can see all the pictures by clicking on the link to the right to our Picasa Photo Album Web site.

Things We did this Fall

Joan has a helper in the kitchen with the dishes. I think he has more fun with the water than washing the dishes. Bedstemor and Bedstefar were here in August.

Collin has fun talking to Bedstefar. I am this big you know.









Joan's Cousin Helle and her family were here for a visit. We went for a walk in the National Park near by. Can you see our home from here.

Rain is such a surprise to us in California and when it comes, we go out and enjoy it.
Jumping in puddles and getting wet. Can't get any better.

Collin learns the fine art of baking... at least what us men can do best.





At our favorite Pumpkin Patch. We have been going to this same pumpkin patch for more than 20 years. Started there when Dan was Collin' s age.







We had our first Halloween away from our home at Brian and Elisa's this year. Collin was a little chicken.
At 18 months, Collin quickly learned how to take his basket up to a door, knock on the door, and hold out the basket for candy.
And then run to the next door with Mormor and Grandpa.








Then Collin helped celebrate Elisa's birthday.

Yummy yummy cake.


You can see all our pictures this fall by clicking on the link on the right to our Picasa or Costco Photo Album web sites.

What we did this Summer

We really had nothing big planned for this Summer 2009, but we were sure busy enough.
As you saw in our previous blog, we had a great time in Mallorca off the coast of Spain in the lovely Mediterranean Sea. The water was warm and the beaches were full of tourists. But with Joan's brother John and Karen, we had the best tour of the Island. It was fun every day until late in the night.




We spent a week in our time share condo in San Clemente and the kids were able to join us on and off. It was fun having Collin there too. Our grand son sure made it special this year.











But best of all, we pulled out the old tent trailer for yet another summer of camping. First we went local to a near by camp on the beach where we had the entire family including Collin for the first time. Just one night only but it was so much fun to actually have everyone there, the entire family at one time doing our favorite thing, camping. Campfire and smores.

Then the next day we took the trailer all the way up to South Lake Tahoe and camped there for the 6 days together with Cindy & Andy, Melanie & Will and Dan. And then our other two girls, the twins Brandi and Lacey and their men and baby, too, came up for one night. That is 11 of us in one camp with the trailer and two tents. One big happy family we are. Well so much for our quiet Summer with no wedding to host.
Remember to visit our two photo album sites, Picasa or Costco, by clicking on the links to the right of this blog and you can see all the pictures for our Summer 2009.

Hello to all from Mallorca, Spain.

Joan and I arrived on Friday and we have been visiting with Joan's brother and sister-in-law Karen. They live in Palma for now, which is a beach resort town on this beautiful Spanish Island in the blue Mediterainian Sea.


I thought I would send a few pictures. We will be here for another week so maybe I will get a chance to update again later.


We also celebrated Joan's birthday. I wont say how many years, though.


Love to all from Joan and Dave.

Picking Blueberries at the Farm

We went with Brian, Elisa and Collin to a farm nearby to pick our own blueberries.

Collin has fun wherever we go.

And loves all the new experiences and tastes, too.

And Collin loves strawberries, too.

See all our recent photos by clicking on the Picasa or Costco photo album websites on the right.

Memorial Day 2009 & other Events

We were invited to Elisa's and Brian's for a Memorial Day Barbecue. What better way to spend the day with family and of course with Collin. Melanie, Will and Dan was there as well.

But we missed Cindy and Andy.

We played games, had good food and then went for a walk at the beach.




You can visit our Picasa Photo Album site by clicking on the link on the right and see all our home photos.

Family Trip to Chicago

When family is spread out all over the country, it is wonderful when we can all get together for a weekend. We have been lucky this year so far and we were able to all get together again.

This time we traveled together to Chicago to visit Cindy and Andy. That is all except Brian and Will. We missed having them along this time.

We had Collin with us and of course he had to push his own suitcase. Collin had the best seat in the plan... Mommies lap of course. Then we invaded Cindy and Andy's Condo and all stayed there together and slept on sofas and an air mattress. All in the fun.

We brought the first warm weather of the year to Chicago for a day at the Zoo. And of course it rained after that and chilled down again. We took Collin to a children's museum where he was able to run around and touch and play with everything. Great place for kids.

Cindy and Andy cooked all the meals for us except for Sunday breakfast. We had barbecues on their deck and fine meals, too, together with Andy's parents, Mike and Pat.

Parker, their dog, was wonderful with Collin and he put up with all of us quite fine. Walks always make him happy.



You can see all the photos from our trip by clicking on our Picasa Photo Album link on the right.