Look Who Is Walking

It's Eli--toddling from piano bench to chair across the room.

Father's Day Fun

Here is a father who is still (and I mean still, because this has been going on for months and months and months...) anxiously counting down the days until his youngest son comes home from his mission.

He waits to include a grandchild in the ripping off of a chain if one of them is coming for a visit.

Caroline got the privilege of doing the chain tearing on Father's Day and enjoyed it so much that she carried that strip of paper with her all the way up to my parents' home and held onto it all through dinner.

Let's see who the birthday people are this month.

Brooke,

Eli,

Caroline,

and Andy,
who was born on Father's Day,
way back when,
and we always have to have the birthday party on Father's Day
in honor of that special occasion.

Anyone out there thinking he's getting special treatment?

And a big shout out went to Bryce and Caleb.

Is there any better way to celebrate Father's Day than eating Mom's delicious roast beef dinner and singing the birthday song multiple times?

What We Find

It's very interesting to see what Brooke likes to play with at our house.

She usually runs upstairs to our closet and gets in my Primary box and pulls out my old pictures and props to aid her in her play for the day.

Another favorite of hers is to find the large, orange gerbera flower of Sarah's and drag it all around with her--sometimes even using it to sweep the kitchen floor.

She really enjoys getting all the blankets and pillows she can find in the basement and putting them in a big pile somewhere close to the television so she can "nest" there while watching her favorite movie.

The last time she came to visit, she hooked up all the cables from the Bowflex that she could find to loop the exercise equipment all together.

Today I walked into Ben's room and saw that she had been at work in there as well. She had put his pottery bowl directly under the desk spotlight and placed all the coins that were in the bowl in very strategic places--one in front of every one of his trophies.

Ever since last spring when we went next door to Roger's home and she saw a guy there with a chainsaw cutting down the trees, she loves to turn Ben's name plaque and that clip thing (don't really even know what it is) into a little, mini chainsaw.

We just never know what we will find after that little girl comes to play.

The Fun Outside San Fran Continues

Our morning in Monterey started with breakfast at the Duck Club in our hotel. We were seated right next to a window and could look out over the water while eating.

I loved how a beautiful, purple flower was placed on each of our plates to make our food look so picturesque.

We had to be back at the Carmel Valley Ranch at noon when Abe and Klarissa needed to check out. But we were able to use all the facilities as long as we wanted.

There were swings all around the place.

Basketball was fun to play while waiting for a bocce ball court to free up.

In case some are as ignorant as I was about what in the world bocce ball even is, let me explain...

You throw out the small white ball, called the pallino, and then everyone tries to throw their bigger ball as close to the pallino as possible. Both players on both teams are always trying to get closest to the pallino. It's a very fun game.

Abe and Klarissa have done a great job getting close to the pallino. Good luck, Glen!

Sometimes it gets very competitive--right down to 1/8th of an inch. Glen was always whipping out that tape measure to eliminate any doubt of which ball was closest.

This was the moment Klarissa and I enjoyed the most--Abe lying flat on his stomach to get the best shot.

Since it was the Sabbath, it was a good time to visit the Carmel Mission.

We walked around Carmel-by-the-Sea, visited an outdoor mall, and ate at a Mediterranean restaurant--complete with live entertainment.

On Memorial Day, we hit an early IMAX movie--3D "Pirates of the Caribbean". We made it a daily double by seeing Kung Fu Panda 2 later in the day.

On this day, our field trip was driving to Napa Valley. Since we were in wine country, it only seemed fitting that we stopped by a winery--but we skipped the wine tasting.

Abe insisted we stop by the Boon Fly Cafe for a little snack of doughnuts. The porch swing made a great place to sit and eat our treat.

Our dinner that evening was at Bottega. The surrounding grounds were so beautiful.

Abe, this last picture is for you...

After all was said and done, I'd say we had a high-jumping, phone-dropping, heel-clicking, big-grinning excellent time on our vacation!

Thanks for showing us a great time, Abe and Klarissa!