New Bowling Shirts

This is my bowling team on Wednesday nights. Scott and Cinda are my team mates (and of course, my Patrick).Scotty bought us all bowling shirts with our names on them! Aren't we cute? We even look like real bowlers! And to top it off, we even won 4 games last night. (You actually bowl 3 games, then the 4th "game" is taken by total pins). You see some of the staples of our every week activies in the foreground. Scotty usually brings a cooking magazine to share really cool recipes (notice the page it is currently turned to for my Patrick's benefit - see the large bling?). He also brought in brownies with nuts (Cinda and I love chocolate). There is my ice tea cup and then there is something there that is not usually there. A shot glass ~ Pat bought me a Russian Qualude. It was ok. Then during the past couple of weeks, I have been teasing that I wanted a shot of Tequila. 2 or 3 of them even. So he comes back with a double shot of Patron Silver, the salt and the lime. It took me 3 drinks to get the whole thing down. This was with one frame left in the night. I felt a little tipsy by the time we left for the night but I did sleep all night long.

Thank you Scotty for the new shirts, maybe we will start bowling like a professional team now. Last night was a great start! And thank you to my Patrick for helping me sleep ;).

Southern California Wildfires

If you have heard the news lately, Southern California was burning with 3 wild fires. The 1st one started on Thursday and by Saturday morning 2 other major fires had started. One of them not to far from me. Not close enough that I was worried about my house by any stretch, but it surly impacted our air quality. Saturday was extreamly windy and hot, we were in the 90's. I meet up with some friends for lunch at Downtown Disney and this was the view. There was so much ash falling all around.

To give you a different view, this is the smoke spreading into the blue skys we usually have.

One of the fires burned through a mobile home estate and 500 of the 600 units were destroyed. It just broke your heart to watch the news.

God bless the people effected by these fires.

Happy Veteran's Day

Thank you to all who have served and all who currently serve.

Happy Birthday

To the United States Marines - Sempre Fi - and thank you for your service.
(my handsome son is on the far left - this picture was taken at the Marine Corp ball in Uzbekistan 2008)

A Swingin' Good Time

This is a layout I created using the November Kit, Calgon Take Me Away at Urban Anthology http://urban-anthology.com/ . Pictures were of my granddaughter and my son's girlfriend taken at Disney's California Adventure this past Saturday.

Photo Expo West

I attended the Photo Expo West Expo this weekend. What an experience that was. The event was held in Del Mar, which is about an hour from home. What a lovely drive down south it was. The expo was something else and really let me know there is so much to learn. I sat in a couple of seminars which blew my mind. I listened to Hanson Fong speak. I really enjoyed that seminar. He spoke on how to pose people. I also sat in on portion of Eddie Tapp's seminar on post processing in Photoshop. These men have such a passion for photography. I was also able to talk to the people at the Sony booth about my camera. I need to continue to practice, practice, practice. There will always be soo much to learn. My niece has asked me to photography her wedding. I am really nervous about that as it is such a special day. I guess that means alot of practice between now and the end of the year. Does anyone have any suggestions or tips for me? Any books or dvds on photography that you would suggest?

Don't Be Scared Christina

Arianna is with you!! Well they made it though the ride, but when we went to look at the pictures, this is what we saw. I don't know, but usually, when they don't show your picture, it is because there is something unacceptable there that Disney dosen't want the world to see. It is a family park you know. (Like when someone flashes the camera) I'm not saying that is what happened here, but . . . we didn't get to see their picture at the end of the ride. I am sure that there must have been some other kind of snafuu.


While the big kids rode California Screamin' , the two little kids rode King Triton's Carousel
Marty and Lisa joined us for the day as well.
One of Marty's favorite rides is Grizzly River Run . Arianna really likes this ride as well but neither Jillian Patrick or myself care to get wet. Marty, Arianna and Christina rode it while we watched them.

Amazingly, they didn't get all that wet.

Then we were off to the Rain Forest Cafe for a late lunch/early dinner.
After dinner we went back to Disneyland to ride a few more rides. What a fun day and we get to do it all over again next weekend with Darleen, Rylee and Ryan as they were unable to join us on Saturday.

Thankful

November is a time of the year when we express our thanks. There is a layout challenge over at Urban Anthology (http://urban-anthology.com/forum/index.php?topic=1209.0) to make a layout for something you are thankful for. This is my submission.

Don't Forget to Vote

Make your voice heard!

Cutest Grandkids

I have to share pictures of my grandchildren (I do have the cuties grandkids in the world you know). Rylee went to have pictures taken at the studio prior to halloween. Isn't she cute as Snow White!
Jillian brought the kids to my work for a little halloween celebration. Hanna Montana was there
As was Princess BelleMickey Mouse was there, but he didn't want to been photographed outside of Disneyland so I didn't get a good shot.While the kids were at the office, Ammara, I mean Princess Belle, helped me with some of that pesky work.

What a pleasant afternoon!