The OC Fair

Last weekend, Mike had to go into work late on Sunday afternoon.  Thinking I'd be able to get more sunset shots again, I grabbed the camera.  After he worked for a couple of hours, I went outside to talk to Justin on the phone.  Mike came out a bit later and said he was done, but rather than going to the beach, did I want to go to the Orange County Fair?  Shoot, yea!  I haven't been to a fair in years!  So off we went.

When we got to Costa Mesa's Fair grounds, Mike asked if I wanted to take my camera along.  Seriously, I was imagining rides with the camera and decided to put it in the trunk.  So off we went.  After paying to get in, all of the sudden it hit me...  the smells, the sights, the heart pumping music and the carnival barkers trying to get your attention!  It was amazing! Bigger than any fair I've been to (other than the Texas State Fair), it brought back memories of the local county fair I grew up attending.

It wasn't until we saw our first food vendors sign and after I took a photo with my cell phone that I decided that I really did want to have my camera afterall.  Mike, sweetheart that he is, walked back to the car to retrieve it for me!  As I waited for his return, I snapped a couple of photos to send to my sister via the cell phone. First picture I sent her... funnel cake booth!  An all time favorite of mine, I was practically drooling by the time Mike made it back with my camera. 

The neon lights are bewitching and this ride was no exception.  It took me a couple of tries to get all the neon lit up, but it was worth the effort to get it!  I love the colors and the lighting!  Here are a few more from the fair and I'm looking forward to going to another one soon.

If We Knew Then What We Know Now...

While I was in TN a couple of weeks ago, I was given a photo of me and my six siblings along with my Mom in the photo.  It was taken in our front yard, and judging from the way we're dressed, it had to have been taken after we got home from church on Easter Sunday. The year?  Probably around 1971. Of course Dad isn't in the photo... he took the photo!  Rare photo it is from our childhood to have Dad in it!

                   In front: Chris and Mary. Middle: Kevin, Scot, Mom, Roberta, Sharon; Larry in back.

Anyway, as I was looking at this photo, it occurred to me that we were all still in school, my brothers all still had hair, me and my sisters all had long hair, and all of us were smiling. We were all care free back then.  No worries other than not failing in a class at school! 

So looking at this photo and another photo taken 30 years later at my parents' 50th Anniversary party in 2001, I wondered... if we knew then what we know now... what would we have changed? 

Dad and Mom in front.  Mary, Chris, Sharon, Scot, Kevin, Roberta and Larry

Now, I can't speak for my siblings, but as for me... I'm not sure I would change much of anything knowing what I know now.  Things happen for a reason.  I haven't had the easiest of roads to follow. Bumps and detours along the way, but I've had Mike there with me for these past 30 years to help me along the way, steer me when I couldn't see the road, and let me go on alone when I needed the space and time. 

I've stumbled; fell; lost parts of me that won't be found again (thank goodness!); and I've climbed up from troubles to find the sweet happiness of knowing I've made it thru them all!  Although the path continues on, the path looks much smoother ahead since I have someone to walk it with me. Someone who will be with me until the end.

As I look at the photo of my parents' 50th Anniversary, I see my parents and siblings... arms around each other, my brothers with much less hair and more forehead, my sisters and I with shorter hair, all of us a bit heavier, and we are all still smiling.  Maybe like me, they wouldn't change much of anything either.

Balboa Beach Sunset

Mike had to go to work on Saturday to do some things. As it was later in the afternoon, we decided to go to Balboa Beach to watch the sunset.  As we don't get to see too many sunsets living on the east side of the mountains, I was having a great time taking photos of this one!

Will We Stay or Will We Go?

Will we stay or will we go?  I dunno.  This is being asked in more than one area of our lives right now! 

First, will we stay or will we go to Tennessee at the end of the week?  I dunno.  It depends on whether or not Mike gets a problem at work solved.  We're supposed to be taking a load of our possessions to our house in TN so that we can downsize our living quarters to another closer to Mike's work.

But then, will we stay or will we go ahead and move?  After looking at what's available, it looks to be mostly townhouses and Mike's not that hyped about living in a townhouse. He doesn't think he'll be able to work on Michael's car even with a two car garage attached to the townhouse.  So in looking at single family homes, the rent on those are above what we're wanting to spend.  So it looks like we may decide to stay where we're at for another 6 months to a year.

Will we stay or will we go to Texas in September when our first grandchild is born?  Again, I dunno.  I want to (very, very badly) but at this point I'm not sure that it will happen.  I suppose we'll just wait and see what happens with going to TN and moving or staying. 

Living life in limbo sucks!

Baby Jackson

Michael called me last Wednesday to let me know that Melissa was going to have a 3D ultrasound over the weekend.  What?  3D?!  How cool is that?!  OK, so I waited.  Impatiently for the weekend to arrive so I could hear about the 3D ultrasound.  Melissa's sister-in-law, who is also pregnant, was having one done, so they got a discounted price by getting two of them done on the same day. 

Melissa sent me the first photo via my cell phone. I almost cried! From what I could see in my cell phone photo was the cutest baby face!  When she got home, she sent me (via email this time) more photos of Jackson.  How precious is this?!

September 21st can't get here soon enough, but I'm sure Melissa already knows that!  LOL!

Some Days are Diamonds; Some Days are Gold

I'm not quite sure what I've done to my left knee, but I've managed to hurt it pretty good.  I've been wearing my knee brace for the past three days and haven't been able to go on my daily walks either!  The best I've been able to do is to walk some mail to the neighbors house that the mailman left in our mailbox.

Despite my need (or feeling of need) to get around better than I am now and to get things done around the house, I've definately had to slow it down.  Amazingly, it's been Mike that has made me slow things down much more than I probably would do on my own.

Going to the grocery store?  My job.  Did I get to go?  No.  Who did? Mike!  He HATES to go to the grocery store... mainly because he has absolutely no patience with the LONG lines.  Let me define LONG lines in Mike-ez... more than one person in front of you with 10 items or more! 

Going to Tom's Farm?  Not just my job because Mike does like to go there because he loves to pick out the fresh veggies and fruit he now eats.  (He's now a vegan, even though he doesn't want to be.  Prostrate cancer scare can pretty much make you do things you don't want to do! )  So, did I get to go?  No.

Going to Lowe's for ant traps.  Did I get to go?  No.

Mike has been making me stay on the couch and relax.  I know he's taking care of me, but it's driving me a bit nuts anyway!

Gotta love him. 

There and Back again... to see how far it is

Well, we're back from Tennessee again. It was a great 10 days, but seems like it was so short, but then again, so long! 

The first thing we did was surprise the hell out of everyone since we were supposed to be driving a rental truck up there with out stuff we want to store at our house in Manchester.  Well... time ran out on us and we flew up there instead!  The drive will be in August now... only 10 degrees hotter than it was in July!  Not to mention the humidity! 

We celebrated our family reunion with water balloon fights, water balloon toss, sunflower seed spitting contests and street grafitti at Larry's house down in Normandy, where he's been the mayor for several years now.  The last time he ran for mayor, he was unopposed.  It was great to have all seven of us siblings together again. It doesn't happen that often and when it does, it's loads of fun!  We celebrated Mom & Dad's 59th wedding anniversary and Mom's 77th birthday.  It was also Roberta's birthday on July 3rd (the day we had our family reunion) and Roberta and Randy's 1st anniversary.  They got married at the last family reunion.  You should see some of the looks I get when I tell them my brother married my sister.  (As the mayor of Normandy, he can marry couples within the city limits!)

My aunt and cousin from Smyrna showed up with my cousins family and it was great to see them again, too.  Kevin Gray and his family didn't make it Amy was due any day with their 4th child.  Eli James put in his appearance on July 11th, weighing in at 8 lbs. and 20 3/4" long!  Big  Boy!  Josh had just finished a band tour of western U.S. the day before the reunion and I suppose getting into a vehicle and driving from Baton Rouge, LA to TN just didn't appeal to him!  Jessica and Daniel had just signed on a house in LA, so they were spending their time off unpacking and setting up house!  We missed them all and hope to see them all next year!

We spent most of the following week working on our house over in Manchester doing lots of odd jobs that "needed to be done, but never seemed to have the time to do".  Despite the heat and humidity (it was horrible after living out here in CA for over a year and the humidity hovers around 40%), we managed to catch (and release elsewhere) a groundhog, built shelves for the garden shed, got the 3 acres out front mowed, got rails for the "fence" down the length of the driveway, burned most of the stuff in the burn pile, burned the log that has been in the field for six years (thanks to Eugene for pulling it to the burn pile!), and sat on the front porch swing and watched as a summer thunderstorm rolled across the field behind Jack's house and across the road to our house, and then watch the sun come back out again!

We'll be going back again soon.  I can't wait until we go home for good.