SanDiego!

Months ago, John junior decided he was going to run in a marathon in San Diego and that he would take the family along for a vacation at the same time.  Since Dennis and Abby live close-by they decided to join them.  Well, one thing led to another and the rest of us decided we would all join them! In the meantime, John became injured and decided not to run the marathon, but the 5K(3mile) instead and he signed up Rachel and Emily and Joshua.  Ariel decided he would run the 5K with them.

Friday night they all went to pick up their running numbers and one of their favorite runners, Meb Kerflezighi, was there to sign his book.  It is titled 'Run To Overcome".  Meb won the Olympic Silver in the marathon for the United States in 2004 and was 4th in the London Olympics in 2012.  John knew he would be there and already had his book, so he brought it along with them to have it signed. He also signed the official Olympic hat that John bought in London last summer.  They were there early and first in line, so Joshua  had a private chat with Meb and was pretty inspired.Gabe was so excited about the trip and spending time with his cousins.  The last time we went to LA was for Gabe's birthday, so somehow he put us coming down in the category of party hats and favors, so he asked if he could bring the party things when they met up with us.

It was so fun hanging out by the pool with everyone.    I still find it amazing that I am a Grandma.  It seems that these little people have always been a part of my life.  I find myself in awe at times like these.

Jessi brought Dennis a belated birthday present.  He is known for his dislike of cats, so she knew this would become a favorite shirt for him.

It was fun watching these two little guys get to know each other.

Saturday, we went to the San Diego Zoo.  Dennis and Abby and John and Rachel stayed back at the hotel, but we got to spend the day with Emly and Joshua and Gabe anyway. Gabe and Josiah seem to be having a bit of a nose problem from the sun in this photo.

I love flamingos.  I have never seen one sit like that in the top right corner.  Surprising to see that the babies are plain gray. (photo just below sitting one.)
Giraffes might be my favorite zoo animal, and I was so excited to discover that there was a baby one!

 

 

Poor Gabe, he didn't even get his lunch finished before he fell asleep at our table. I moved him to his stroller and he didn't even wake up.  Notice he still had an apple slice in each hand.  so cute.

We had a seagull that loved to spend time at the pool, just hanging out and taking a sip now and then.

We ordered pizza delivered when we got home from the zoo.  Josiah was showing everyone how strong he was after he ate his.  There is always One piece left that nobody will eat, so we decided that we All would eat it...so everyone but Arianna helped to finish the last piece.  

Just hanging out.

I love this family of mine!!!

OK, so they get a little tired of my camera...

After pizza, we all went for a walk along the water.

Sunday morning was the race.  The runners left the hotel at 5:30 and were back about the time everyone else was getting up!  We spent the day hanging around the pool, playing croquet (or mowing if you are Josiah), a few rode bikes, some went to Old Town and Emily and I got in a little photo shoot (photos of the photo shoot are the next collage).

Emily is a freshman this year! 

She has grown up so fast and is as pretty on the inside as she is on the outside!

Monday was Sea World.  

 I stole this photo from Jessi.

These guys just cracked me up.  It was the end of the day and they were all falling asleep.  See the one on the rock? he had fallen over.  Funny how they fall asleep standing up.  The one with his beak open was snoring!!!  really!  every time he took a breath, he would open his beak and out came a tiny tweet sound.  Almost as cute as Gabe falling asleep at the lunch table.

There is a statue called 'Unconditional Surrender'  on the other side of the harbor from where we stayed.  It was made after the famous photo that was taken in Times Square on V-J Day in 1945.  It is huge and I was pretty happy that I was able to see and take photos of it.

Check out what this little boy is doing!!!  hahaRight near the statue is a Bob Hope memorial.  It has a staute of him in front of a group of soldiers.  Also the USS Midway is there and you can take tours of it.  The top was covered with airplanes and helicopters.  We didn't do the ship tour, just walked around and took photos outside.

  It is all at Tuna Harbor Park.

The summer has been flying by!  I am still really enjoying the new location.  I spend so much time at the lake, either for my workout or just walking around taking pictures.  It is so nice to have that mountain of mine still around for a shot now and then.

I could not let summer get past without making sure that Emily and Joshua spent a  week with us.  Especially since they have not been able to spend much time at the new place yet.  Their first day here, we rented a paddle boat at the lake.  It was way more work than they thought it would be!  Kind of like being on a workout bike, except it was way more  fun.  Josh decided it would be easier to stand up and paddle...check out his technique.Josiah and Arianna came over and spent time with us too.  

And once again, we made a trip up to the Alpine Slide.  Josiah has not done it before, so Jessi took him up.  He loved it as much as Emily and Joshua.It was a gorgeous sunny day, Emily got sunburned, Great Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Cyndi drove up and joined us for lunch.

There is so much to do up there, canoes, ponies, rock wall, trampoline, tubes slides...it goes on and on.

 

Second favorite to the slides are the race-cars.  This was the first year that Joshua was allowed to drive his own.  It was hilarious watching Emily race around ahead of him.  For a while he was ahead of her, but she kind of accidentally crashed her car into his and made him hit the edge as she zoomed on past him.  She is a natural at it...look out world, she gets her permit in 6 more months!!!

We have never done the Jet Boats in Portland, so we made a trip downtown to the Willamette and took a ride.  Wow!  it was so fun!  We had seats in the second row and got drenched!  Every time he stopped the boat, water rushed over the front onto us.  We saw so much along the way, even eagles and osprey in their nests, and we got a river view of Willamette Falls.  The best part of all was the 360° spins that the boat did as much as possible. As you can see from the blurry spots in the photos, my camera got a little wet too. Luckily it was a hot day and we dried off just fine before we stopped off for lunch afterwards.

Our last day we went to Lloyd Center and ice skated.  It was something that my Grandma Harman always loved to take my sisters and me to do when she was alive.  I still like skating and it is fun to now be the Grandma taking her grandkids skating.  I wish she was here to go with us still.  

This is just a random shot that I love.  It was taken at my friend Irene's garden.  Her husband Wally was busy picking me a whole bouquet of these and this one caught my eye with its pretty hat on.  It is a garlic flower.  They are so pretty and don't smell of garlic at all.