Camping pics

We took the boys camping and they had a blast. So did I. I had a lot of peaceful quiet moments by the lake, stream and in the trailer. It was heaven and have now become my "happy place" that I go to when the kids are driving me bonkers. In the last photo of Michael by Mack lake it looks just like one in the previous post. Must be a popular place to stop and take a photo.

Emmy did very well with her grandma. In fact she was so well behaved that my MIL says she doesn't believe any of my monster stories. She thinks I am nuts. I told her she was so well behaved because she was getting everything she wanted but my MIL doesn't buy it. Oh well.

We are scheduled to go back at the end of August and take Emmy with us. Maybe grandma will want her again. We'll see.

Gone Campin!

This is where I will be for the next 4 days. The Eastern Sierra Nevada, specifically Rock Creek Lake. I have my book, Elephants for Water, and I am going to sit by the lake while the boys fish. I also have a nice bottle of petite sirah in the trailer along with a bottle of Tequila. Oh and baileys to go with the hot chocolate. Emmy is staying behind and I am sad cuz I know I will miss her. But it will be better for the boys and me. She is a lot to handle and we really want to get in some good hikes. So so long for now and hopefully I get some nice pics.

Fathers day.

The kids had a blast at my brothers. I'll let the pics speak for themselves.

Bitter sweet.

Well the boys graduated this week and are now first graders. It was bitter sweet. Kindergarten had become so familiar and it was really hard, especially for Michael, to leave. At their school the kindergarten is kind of separate from the rest of the school, with its own playground and lunch tables. Michael is quite sad that he won't be able to play there next year. He is also going to miss his teacher but is comforted by the fact that we will walk by her class every morning and he can say hi. Poor Anthony doesn't have that luxury because his teacher is moving to Loveland, Colorado. So he is sad too but not as emotional as Michael. We were very fortunate to have such great and caring teachers. So I am gonna miss them too and hopefully we are as lucky for first grade.

Michael

Anthony

Michael and his teacher

Anthony and his teacher

Book Club

I was invited into a book club about 5 months ago by my old neighbor Jill. I have really enjoyed it because it has made me start reading again. I love the way a good book can take you to far away places and introduce you to new cultures and people. Anyway this last book was my choice. I chose Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. It was terrific. I loved it.

























Since I chose the book I hosted the meeting. I did a chinese theme. Here is how my dining room looked. I even found a paper lantern.























Here are the place settings. I gave
each member a chinese book mark, chop sticks and a chinese wine charm.



















The evening went really well. Everyone brought a chinese appetizer or dish. We drank this wonderful petite sirah by Oak Grove and also some cranberry lemondade and vodka. A very relaxing and enjoyable evening.

Hilarious

glumbert.com - The Apple iRack

Politics

Rosie
I get what you are saying. I really do. But the show is called "the View". So you give yours and others give theirs and you say things like "Interesting, oh Really" and then move on. I really don't like how the show became all about you. That wasn't the original concept and more people would have been more receptive to your "view" if you hadn't tried to cram it down peoples throats.

Elizabeth
I get what you are saying. You are not responsible for defending Rosie. If she makes a comment she needs to clarify it. But you need to open your eyes and speak your truth, not just the party line. You need to stop playing victim. You get paid to be the only Republican there. So just suck it up. What else would you be doing.


I usually tend to vote Republican. But I really hate labels. They pigeon hole people who decide to follow what everyone else is doing and not make decisions case by case, person by person, bill by bill. I don't know what I am. Sometimes I vote republican but there are things I support that are clearly democratic. I guess within each party there are shades. You can be at the light end of the republican color or the dark end. And the same for Democrats. I am probably on the border between a light democrat and light republican.

I know that this war has gone too far and too long. The Iraqis need to help themselves now. We need to stop killing innocent people. We need to find Bin Laden. Bush has lost sight of this and is like a dog with a bone. I would respect Bush more if he would just say that. But he never will and instead will go down in history as a horrible president when he could have been great. Sad. I voted for him and had high hopes for him after 9/11. He really was a great leader in that moment and very comforting and uplifting. But then something changed. And his hatred for Sadam and terrorists clouded is overall judgement and his vision of the future. I get what he wants. It is what we all would like. Peace. For Iraq to be a free and happy place. For the people that terrorists recruit to never want to join in because they would be so happy with their country and other countries. But we can't do that for Iraq, they have to do it for themselves. And us being there is only breading more hatred, contempt, and terrorists.

(I reserve the right to edit this later because I am being interrupted by a little girl)