Oceanside...again

 
We had such a fun family vacation last year, so we decided to return and play it again.  It worked out even better than before because we knew exactly what was provided in the beach house we rented, and we knew what to take and what not to take.  Here's a little recap (even if it happened almost two months ago.)

Rick, Andy and I headed down to AZ, staying at the Tuscany in Las Vegas for the night.  I must say that we have found a jewel in the city of sin (thanks to Claire.)  It's a newer, clean hotel for a killer price.  We headed to AZ the next day and Rick and Andy finally got to meet Charlie.  We went over to visit David E. and then we got ready for Charlie's baby blessing (mentioned earlier.)  The next day was Dave's graduation from ASU.  We all met for Mexican food afterwards with Courtney's family who were in town.  The following day we headed out for sunny southern California.  Andy and I took turns driving my Mom and her car and we finally caught sight of the blue Pacific about 2:00 that afternoon.  Jord and Jake and the girls and Dave and Courtney drove their cars and we all meet up at the beach house.  Claire, Lizzie and Rich flew in to San Diego and Rick went to pick them up.  We all enjoyed a good meal and feel into bed. We were there Saturday afternoon until Saturday morning of the next week and we enjoyed every minute of it.
Here are a few things we did this year:

~My Mother dear was able to go with us this year.  We LOVED having her with us.  She was so easy going and so fun to be with us.  We created some great memories over the four generations that were in attendance
~we went to the beach every day and got it in (except for Sunday.)  The little girls played by the hour in the sand.  Boggie boarding and just watching the ocean was a favorite activity.  Saw some dolphins and some beautiful sunsets
~had some family pictures taken
~went to church and had a lovely ham dinner afterwards
~listened to Mom tell her life story and more about Dad and their life together, sharing many stories our kids didn't know.  It was one of the best highlights of the trip
~sang "I run the old mill" that was mentioned earlier
~went to the Mormom Batallion site in San Diego and learned more about that part of Mormon history
~toured the aircraft carrier Midway that is now docked and is a museum in San Diego
~went to a San Diego Padres game against Rockies
~went to the San Diego temple
~the guys went to a Dodger game in LA and the girls made crafts and watched movies
~played the game of THINGS too many times and some other games with the little girls
~visited with our friend Jesse who came by for a visit
~rode bikes along the seashore
~had a special "mother's day tribute" with kind words and gifts!
~laughed and had such a good week!

Random pictures

When I tended Lizzie for two days while Claire was in the hospital, we spent HOURS on top of the bunk bed playing made up games with her dolls and stuffies.  She has a great imagination.

Skippy loved playing in the sprinklers and we had great fun.

This girl is a fire cracker!

She never tired of playing with Grandma!

I made her this dress, a size 3 that turned out to be rather small. She chose the fabric.

These YW live in our ward and are sisters.  The one of the left is wearing Claire's old Prom dress.  She needed a modest dress and I told her I had some that were our daughters from 10 years ago that she could try.  She loved the dress and added the gold ribbon to give it an extra flare.

This is darling Sophia.  She is the daughter of one of my missionary companions.  She came over one Sunday and made us Argentine empanadas.  They were wonderful!

This is Miss Lauren headed to Nerd day at school.  I think she won the prize.  She's too cute to look nerdy.

The little man liked his new surroundings.

Since the pink dress was kind of small, I made another one in a size 4, which of course turned out to be too big.  Oh well, at least she'll grown into it.  I was happy when she chose purple fabric, my favorite color!

These two cousins look more like brothers than cousins.  Cousin Rom graduated from BYU after being in town for two years.  We loved having him around.  He had a key to our house and came over a lot. Many nights he would just crawl into a bed and we'd find him there in the morning.  We love him!

We really enjoyed getting to know our nephew better.  He will be sorely missed.  We spent many, many happy times together and food was almost always involved.

The young couples with their darling baby boys.

Andy and his girlfriend Chelsea off to the rodeo in PG.  Don't you think he looks like Woody from Toy Story?  Cute couple.

Father and son.  Dave is so darling with his little man.

Charlie was so sad to leave us.  We are so sad that they are moving far away, but we wish them all the best and we 'll come visit!

 

Right on T*A*R*G*E*T

Big news!  Our local Target is having a grand reopening!  It's been open while it has been under renovation for the past five or six months and on Monday they are having their grand reopening! I'm a big fan of Target.  I like their merchandise and the fact that they don't carry a lot of other brand names in clothing & shoes, etc.  Here are some of the things that have changed:
All new painted exterior
All new shopping carts
All new floors
All new displays
Relocated merchandize
New changing rooms
New grocery store arrangement
New food court (and a Starbucks for some reason.  Not going to be a big seller in this area.  Some marketing researcher dropped the RED ball on this move big time. I know they sell other things besides gourmet coffee, but still.  Seriously?)
All new pharmacy

Check out the new store HERE. http://fresh.target.com/store/1754  Take the 3-D tour or be sure to click on the links to see the store. Try hard not to be jealous!
Oh, and the best news of all...we now have 8 large RED Target balls in front of the store.  Nice!