Class of '007


Well, child number 4 has now officially graduated high school, yay!!! Only one more to go.

All the kids came to the ceremony. The seating was very crowded, as usual. I got there early to save enough seats. Then this one lone woman decided to grab one seat at the end of my reserved area. She quicly became about 4 people and we all had to turn sideways to fit. Oh well, it was just an hour or so. The little boys were so good.

The Auburn congregation had a grad party for both Dane and Chad Morrison. They had cake, food , music and a few gifts. But it seemed more like Chad's party than Dane's. The Bushnells actually came and talked to me.

After graduation I decided to throw together a last minute party for Dane. It turned out very nice. About 4 families from Covington came and the older kids crashed the party. Dane got tons of gifts and cash. We had a fire, ping pong, a trampoline, a game from back east called "cornhole". It was a great success.

I hope Keith can have as nice a party when he graduates.

Family Day 2007


I'm trying to establish a new tradition. I want to have a "Family Day" in the summer so June 9 was our day this year. Last year the weather was great so we were outside. I bought some nice steaks and we all dressed nice and I took photos, they came out very good. I also bought everyone gifts. The idea wasn't to get gifts but to stimulate a gift exchange. The kids are catching on, they all got me something. Rach and I were plant shopping in the spring and I saw a concrete bench made with large maple leaves as a pattern that I fell in love with. She got that for me. Kevin and Denny got me other backyard gifts, Kevin got me solar powered tiki torches that actually flicker and Denny got me a portable firepit. The weather was cold and rainy so we were inside mostly but when the weather cleared for a while the kids all took over and started doing all kinds of stuff outside. Tony dragged out the ping pong table, Kevin started setting up the tiki torches and Denny started a fire in the firepit he gave me. We cooked up our steaks and had a nice dinner. But since we were mostly stuck inside I didn't take pictures. So, maybe I'll do photos every 2 years instead of annually. And because it was so grey and cloudy we all had the sleepies so the party didn't last too late, everyone went home to nap. But I think everyone enjoyed their gifts and time together.

Since we all enjoyed the kite festival so much and we all want to do that every June I'm gonna see about combining the 2 and make the kite festival wknd our Family wknd as well. The beach is always a great place to take pictures, even if it is grey and cloudy.

Dane gets Baptized



OK, so yesterday we were at the Ocean. Today we went to our special assembly day. The family were all gonna come but they couldn't get up and out of the house by 8:30, too much work getting the house cleaned up and emptied out. They still had to take Joe out to fly the kite his Grampa Phil gave him too.

We had a great speaker from Bethel who was originally from South Africa who gave great talks with some wonderful illustrations, his dutch-like accent was fun to listen to too. Dane, Daniel Garcia and his wife Cassandra (8 months pregnant) all got baptized from our congregation. Bill Tallent and Rick Bailey did the baptisms, as usual. 14 got baptized all together and there was about 1200 in attendance. I ran into Laurel, Sue Zolezzi's daughter there, she and Travis came to see someone else get baptized.

The Garcias had no plans for dinner and we did so we included them in our group. We went to a little Italian place in Puyallup, Casa Mia. The server was great, the food was good too. They messed up and forgot 2 of my meals, mine and Keith's so the server said my forgotten meals would be on the house. My bill came to only $11 so the server got a nice big tip. The Garcias, Daniel's mom Leticia and her husband Adam and sister Finesse came. All the Parrs, Sarah Garner, the Haydens, the Holmans, a couple other young friends of Dane's, all together 25 of us.

Kite Festival


We had a great time at Ocean Shores for the kite festival. It was Dane and I, Denny, Heather, her little brother TJ, Kevin, Shirley, Joe, Shayne, Mindy, her dog Sheba, Rach and Tony. Unfortunately, Dane and I had to leave early, Saturday evening, but we crammed so much into that 24 hours that it felt like a whole wknd. On the way in we stopped and got pizza. When Mindy and Kevin and the babies got in we had dinner and hung around the house we rented. We attempted to start a fire in the firepit, then in the fireplace, not enough kindling. Later in the evening we went in the hot tub. About midnight Kevin got the bright idea to walk to the ocean. I jumped at that, I wanted to do that since we got there but no one else showed any interest in going. So it ended up me and all my kids and Heather's little brother, TJ hiking out there. There was a nice bright moon and I tried to get a picture of the kids' silhouettes in front of it, then I just gave up and turned on the flash. We're the only ones silly enough to walk to the ocean at midnight. Dane, TJ and I slept in the living room, the hide-a-bed that Dane and I shared was AWFUL. Shirley got in about 2 AM and Mindy's dog did her share of waking people up. I got very little sleep but had a great time nonetheless. Saturday morning Rach and I made a big breakfast and Mindy, Shirley and Joe cleaned up. Then I ended up taking a walk toward the loudspeakers I heard on the beach, I figured there must be some kites where they were coming from. Joe followed me and so we went on a hike together. We walked quite a way so I could see the big kitty and Joe wanted to see the big ball (like a soccer ball). They were big windsocks, there was a huge fish and a teddy bear too. Dane had to come rescue me since Joe was tired of walking and I was tired of carrying him. We all went to the dune buggy/quad track and all the young crazies rode the dune buggies. Shirley's kept breaking down. We went to the kite store and Kevin chose to buy the same kite that I've wanted to buy so I got the sample kite, they were $50. We got them back to the house and it turned out mine was much bigger than Kevin's so he took his back and they gave him a $100 kite in exchange. I found my price tag and it was actually a $80 kite. So we both got a deal. We took our new stunt kites to the beach to try them out, they were real fun and easy to fly. They're both kites without sticks, kinda like paragliders. Later in the evening when we tried to fly them the wind was too hard and the strings kept breaking. But it was fun before the wind got that hard, when we'd bring the kites down to circle around they'd pull us across the beach and we had to run to keep up with them. That's just about the whole day but, like I said, it was so much that it felt like a whole wknd. I was sure glad to get home and sleep in my own bed.

About Me

My photo
After 2 unsuccessful marriages I spent 12 years as a divorcee, only to fall prey to another man's wiles. We had a fun 5 years together and then he decided he wanted more freedom so once again I'm single.

So I'm freshly divorced at 57 and have 5 great kids and now 7 grandkids. My kids are still a major part of my life but I'm busy helping my aging parents on Kauai.

I've lived in California, Hawaii and Oklahoma before finally settling here in Washington. I love Washington and come back to visit family, friends and take care of my garden often but will be temporarily a resident of Kauai.

I've moved 30 times in my life (no, my parents weren't in the service, at least not since I was about 2) and finally planted roots when I got my little house that I've owned since '91.

My family are Jehovah's Witnesses, I've been one since '72.