What I Did On My Summer Vacation.

One of the wonderful things about my job is that it's only for 10 months a year. That gives me time to enjoy our spread-out family and get other things done at home. Before I head back I'll report here on what we've been up to during summer so far!

I took a week of vacation time in June and David & I went to Denver for a week to see Erin and Jim, Garrett, Wyatt and the newest model, Wade.

We tried to get some good family pictures in the front of the house but were only mildly successful. But it was still fun!

Garrett and Wyatt are good listeners and I enjoyed reading to them.

Jim and David were looking forward to some time together in the mountains...

They took advantage of the one weekend a year in Colorado when you don't need a license to fish and went up there for some great fishing! 

Later in the week David and Jim took the boys to a cabin for their first camping experience. They had a ball and the boys were full of stories when they got back! Erin and I and Wade did just fine... we went shopping, relaxed and talked. 

It's always hard to leave, be we did anyway. When we got back to LAX we headed over to the In and Out where you can watch the planes land just beyond where you're standing. I still had three more weeks before the "non-job" part of my summer started, so I worked fast and furiously to get everything done at work so I could leave things in good order and ready for the fall semester.

One morning as I was leaving for work I heard a loud noise outside, but didn't think enough of it to go investigate. Then when I went out to back down the driveway, there was a big tree and a truck blocking it! Oh my! The driver had pulled over to ask our neighbor for directions, then upon pulling away he nicked the parkway tree... except instead of breaking off a branch he pulled the whole thing down! I called the office and said I'd be late, the city came out and cut it up, giving us the firewood, and now a new one is going to be planted tomorrow and the parkway improved while they're at it.

During my last week of work Heidi and William, Madeline, Abigail and Sam arrived by car, kicking off Camp Grandma #1! It was wonderful to have them here in the house with us for a few days. Madeline brought her violin, both girls sang for us and we generally had a great time!

They had some busy days seeing everyone, going to the beach and just being here. Sam is getting so tall!

Mom and Dad came over for a visit... and then it was time for all of us to leave for Yosemite! We all pulled away by 9:15 on that Saturday morning and caravanned up there, with Gretchen and Chris close behind us, coming from North Hollywood.

It's always kind of exciting to enter the tunnel that leads to Yosemite Valley and come out to the awesome view you can see in the background below.

It feels good to get out of the car for a few minutes here and take a look.

The sun was right in the De Harts' eyes, but Grandma just had to get this picture. :-)

The Jensens arrived about a half hour after we did... here they are at the Awahnee Hotel.

Look at little Lars-y! Isn't he just a love?

And Anders had a great time with all the cousins! Here he is at Glacier Point, looking at all the sights way down below in the valley. David and Chris took Sam and Anders up there for a little thrill.

We were joined by my sister and brother-in-law, Gretchen and Kirk, which was so nice.

Also David's brother, Tom and their daughter Amy and her 3 boys. This is her son Nic. Going to Yosemite is a Cox tradition! Every August of David's childhood there was a trip to Yosemite, and now as they're older they've become homing pigeons and go back as often as they can!

My sister-in-law Mary, Tom's wife, had health issues this year so she wasn't climbing Half Dome, but I'm so glad we could be together at Yosemite and just enjoy the beauty and the family time! They had lots of fun with their daughter and grandkids and the whole gang.

Yep, David had a great time, too!

We got a neighbor at the next camp to take a group picture. Nice, huh?

After Yosemite we headed across the agricultural center of the state to the coast, where we really enjoyed three nights in Carmel. It was going from hot summer to winter, where it was misty and cool and a fun change! We enjoyed walking around, trying out a few interesting places to eat and checking out the beautiful homes and views.

The 17 Mile Drive is always a treat! This iconic tree is very old and they have cables and other systems in place to try to protect it, but one day it will no longer be here. I wonder if they'll plant a new one or just leave it plain. Hmmmmm. On Sunday, before we left to drive south, we visited the Presbyterian church in town. It was so good! We were glad we went and the sermon was thought provoking. They're growing and adding on to the sanctuary.

Since we've never done much in Ventura, more than driving right on through, we decided to find a hotel and stay there for a few nights and see what's going on in that city. Well... it's a beautiful setting with mountains in the background and the ocean, and lots of agriculture in the area, which I loved! We found a fun funky restaurant and enjoyed the weather.

Green beans growing...

Beautiful sunsets... David made sure I got to eat fish whenever I wanted it and we had a few meals at the harbor. This sunset was what we saw when we came out of a Greek restaurant. Isn't it gorgeous? We found a beautiful municipal golf course in Oxnard so David played and I rode along. It was a wonderful day! The one bummer in Ventura was that our bikes, which were locked up in a bike rack in front of the hotel, were stolen! Boo hoo... The hotel people felt bad and gave us some money back, enough to almost buy one, so now we're looking for new bikes. But I liked my cute old Schwinn!

 

When we got home David still had some vacation time left so we headed to the beach and made the most of our time.

I did more cooking for NoMoreCrohns and just enjoyed being home. This is pork loin with a berry sauce. Yum.

This is asparagus with bacon and almonds. Yum again.

Oh, and one quiet afternoon I heard a short screech, a crunch, another crunch and then a little later another crunch. No honking or other noise. Yikes! I ran out the front door in time to see a black car still moving in front of our house and coming to rest around the corner on Bright. Well, it turned out that a girl hit a car somewhere down Bright, fled the scene really fast straight up Bright and came pouring out onto Beverly without stopping, hitting a car hard (first crunch) which knocked it over on it's side (second crunch) causing it to skid around. As soon as the girl hit that car she opened her car door and jumped out, running down the street. The car was still running and moving, so it continued down Beverly with no driver and came to rest on a telephone pole (third crunch). The air bags were deployed in the car that was hit and the people in the car went off in ambulances, but didn't have any visible injuries. It was so crazy! Never a dull moment in Whittier! I assume they caught the crazy driver and I hope the lady and girl in the car will recover from the effects of having that happen to them.

Camp Grandma #2 officially kicked off again when the Barneses arrived after driving straight through from Denver. They normally come out for Christmas so it wasn't surprising when Garrett stood in the empty spot and said, "and where is your Christmas tree?" It was a much different kind of visit this time, with very few planned events, warm weather and time to kick back. Very nice.

 

I got to spend time holding Wade-y... he's a sweet baby! He's growing so fast!

The boys investigated all around and found things to do. They're very willing to make fun out of anything and Garrett was enchanted by the old antique typewriter and the stapler. He made lots and lots of messages and documents with passwords with them.

Wyatt is so cute and is an adventurous eater. He'll give almost anything a try!

On Tuesday night we had Mom and Dad over, along with all the local family and Erin and Jim for a dessert honoring their 64th wedding anniversary. My sister planned the whole thing and made the dessert but it was fun to have it at our house. David interviewed the couple, asking about how they met and other interesting questions relating to their courtship and early years. Very nice!

This summer I celebrated my big six 0, and we did that by having a fancy brunch with our kids (when and where we could be with them) and my parents. That's what I wanted to do this time. Here's David and I at the Huntington Beach Hilton for one of the brunches... the one with the Barneses and my folks.

The Group, at the Hilton.

The time we were together with the other half of the family was at Yosemite, so we went to the Awahnee Hotel for a very nice brunch with the DeHarts and the Jensens.

Erin and I had time to work on the website and write pages about spiritual health. We also asked my sister to come take pictures of us for the website and got some nice ones! Thanks Gretchen!

Gretchen and Chris, Anders and Lars came over on Saturday, the day Erin and Jim were leaving, and we all had a nice time together followed by going out to the new Whittier restaurant, The Habit.

At The Habit.

Oh... and one more thing... Erin got a haircut right before they hit the road! Nice job, Gretchen!

It's been a great summer! And it's not over yet...

I hope you're having an interesting summer! Stay cool!

Thank you Lord for family and friends and for the beauty of your earth.