Bon Voyage

Bon Voyage

translation: safe trip

meaning: Used to express farewell and good wishes to a departing traveler.

Mark, Kimmy, Lulu, Levi and Ila May

left to visit family in Oregon.
They will be gone for awhile.

(check out Kimmy's Family blog)

It was a perfect time to make a memory!

Colorful Party!

Lulu had her special plate that she painted.

We each had a different colored

 bandannas as our napkins.

 What is a party without gifts?

Levi present was.....

Hard boiled eggs!!

 Lulu received a small, pink, photo album,

with pictures of her with

Papa and Grammie Goo (me).

 What is a party without balloons?

Letting them go... 

Lulu always sets her shoes by the door.

In them, are the things she wants

to remember to take home.

Psalm 100:1-2 ESV 

A Psalm for giving thanks. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!

Green Egg and a Ham

 Our son, Todd, has chickens and occasionally gives us eggs.
We even had an egg with two yolks.

Todd knows how much Levi
 loves hard boiled eggs.

So he gave Levi a Green egg!

 Green egg and a Ham

One happy boy!

It's Not All Work

The floor coverings have arrived!

Actually, these carpets are for the first building,

down the road.

That building is about two months ahead of the

apartment building across from us.

8/15/2012

It was fun to watch the fork lift driver 

 do his job,

 lifting the carpet through the open windows.

When the construction company has

100 days, accident free,

they put on a luncheon.

Well, I'm sure they don't call it a luncheon.

Maybe picnic or just plain lunch.

Anyway, it was a BBQ!

8/24/12

 

This is me trying to take a "candid shot"

They all know who I am.

Who am I kidding here?

8/31/2012

This is my favorite part of each day!
At 10:00 AM
this food van pulls up,
honks it's cute musical horn and is open for business.

 
9/18/21


This gentleman was so happy to show me all
the food he sells to the workers
(or anyone walking by).
He is from Vietnam.
If you look carefully,
you can see his wife working in the background.

 I like this picture because you can see some of the "guys"
 and the vender is still posing!

Oh look what just arrived!

9/18/2012
The decks!


If you haven't been following
the building process,
you can click here and here to catch up.

Here We Go/ Grow Again : part ll

 The fire alarm went off in 

an apartment building close by.

Kimmy and I took the kids

to see all the excitement.

Actually, there wasn't a fire.

Someone was sanding and it set the alarm off.



"Hey, Mr. Fireman, can I have one more hat, please?

My mommy is having a baby and if it's a boy,

I want to give him a fire hat."

 "Thank You!"

Kimmy and Mark will be adding

one more little cute face

to this picture.

Sometime in April!





 

Here We Go/Grow Again!

This is the house right next door to us.

It has been abandoned for several years.

We just learned that it is coming down!

Yup, it came down, alright.

They are planning on building a three story,

Fourplex, in it's place.

 These next pictures are views
 from our front yard.

Going...

Going...

 GONE!

These pictures were taken from the back of the house.

Looks like I will be documenting
 another building going up.

Remember the movie UP or the book
 The Little House?

That's us, alright!

Safe and Sound

How do I say this...  I am blessed to be alive, not hurt and home.

Monday, Sept.10th, I spent the day holding our newest grandson, baby Trey.
It was Todd's first day back to work since having Trey.
Stephanie was going to be home, alone, for the first time.
I remember when Tom went back to work. I was scared. So, I offered to stay with Stephanie for the day. She was delighted, so was Todd.
Great day! Hugged and kissed Trey all day. I think he now has a bald spot on his head. Stayed until after dinner.

I remember looking at the clock in my car and saying to myself, I should be home by 8:30 PM. I took the freeway into Seattle. I was looking at the absolutely beautiful skyline, with all the lights. THEN... I looked up and saw red lights ahead of me! The whole freeway was stopping. That's four, maybe five lanes of traffic.
I never tailgate and had plenty of time to stop. Tom taught me to pump my brake lights to warn the cars behind me I was stopping, which I did. The car behind me must of seen my lights because he slowed down and was a safe distance. Looking forward, I was OK. Then I looked in the rear view mirror.
It was like a movie!

The car behind me had stopped. The white van behind him didn't! It crashed into him.
The van went up the back of the car, into the wall-divide (I thought it was going to go into the on coming traffic) and was coming down in front of the hit car, towards me. I had room to move forward a bit but if I got any closer to the car in front of me, I was afraid I'd hit him. So I stayed and prayed.

I remember the awful sound, seeing the van go up and over the car. I remember getting ready for an impact of some sort (debris or even the van).
I also remember the feeling of an soft impact, a sort of air pressure or force. I don't know how to describe it.
I truly believe God and His Angels, were there for me. The pressure was like a cushion between me and the on coming van. The van stopped before it could hit or even bump me! Smoke was coming from the other car's impact. I sat there and THANKED GOD! He had saved me from any harm.

After a long five minutes, all four or five lanes of traffic started to move, except the ones behind me. As I drove, I couldn't see why we all stopped. There wasn't an accident ahead of us to cause the traffic to stop.

I was shaking all the way home.
I got home around 8:45 PM, safe and sound.



Date Night For Mom and Dad

 We had Lulu and Levi over for

an Ice Cream Social.

 It was a make your own Sunday.

Love how little ones think.

Twelve cherries was a bit much.

Of course, testing the
 condiments was permitted.

 Ahhh.. the cherry!

 We were also taking care of

Todd and Stephanie's two big dogs.

Lulu's fear of  Cooper vanished!

 It was so hot. Even at 6:30 in the evening.

The squirt guns came out.

We even ran through the sprinkler.

Big sister showing Levi how

 special it was to touch a big dog.

As Close As a Sister

Didi celebrating her 60th birthday

This is my friend Didi.

We have known each other for years,

57 years!

She flew up from California for her surprise birthday party.

She was very surpised.

Inseparable at age 9 & 10

Didi was three and I was four when we met.

We went to kindergarten together.

What do you say about someone who knows you so well?

We could fill a book with our tales.

Click here to read a little more about our special relationship.

Helpful Hint

 While cleaning our old home and

 getting it ready to rent,

I came across a cleaning product

 that was so helpful.

When we bought this glass top stove,
 it came with a small bottle of specialized cleaner.

I also bought another glass top stove cleaner.

I scrubbed and scrubbed using both products.
Still didn't clean all the burnt-on food.

Then I remembered the salesman

 telling us to just get some old fashion Bon Ami.

With just a few circles of rubbing,

 the burnt food was gone.

All that was left was a beautiful glass top.
It's just like new again!

Helpful Hint:

Use Bon Ami to clean your glass top stoves!

Blue Moon - Neil Armstrong 8/31/12

 This picture was taken at

The Blue Hour of the Blue Moon

Did you wink?

In tribute to Neil Armstrong,

 his family asked that we remember

 his accomplishments by winking at the moon.

 I was busy winking and 

playing with the shutter speed.

Love it!

This is another picture of the Blue Moon.

Only it's the next day, early in the morning.

Look at the fog that sits in the valley.



;  )