We will leave at about 2:30 this afternoon and will be traveling in a 42' Fleetwood motor home. There are seven of us heading to Bandon, Oregon for three days of golf. This is one of the golf venues on my Bucket List and I'm thrilled to be able to make the trip. The weather looks like Oregon. Nice Monday, showers Tuesday and a chance of rain on Wednesday. Temperatures in the low sixties, some early morning fog and overcast.
Our weekend here in Roseville was mid nineties and Indian Summer conditions. I played golf yesterday and had a horrible start with bogeys and double bogeys. I was 8 over after eight holes before birdieing the 9th hole for 44. I went par-double-par-double on the back for 12 over before pulling off four straight pars and finishing with an unexpected birdie on the 467 yard par four 18th. I shot 83.
The boys are doing well in San Luis Obispo with the start of the Cal Poly school year. David is loving finally being at his only college choice and he is in one Architecture class that meets three days a week and is a five hour long class. The professor gives each of his students a key to the classroom so they can come and go as they please as they work on projects. David jokes that if he'd known that, he wouldn't have needed an apartment.
Work has been a bit of a struggle lately. I just completed the 2009 budgets for both offices that report to me, but we have problems in Modesto that are going to require more of my time down there. I am committing to being in that office one day a week for the foreseeable future. It affects my production and my oversight of the Sacramento Branch, but it is needed at this time. I need to have a closer hand in the day to day operations of the Modesto satellite office.
Our trip this afternoon will be about nine hours, so we will get in to Bandon about midnight tonight after stopping for dinner. Our tee time tomorrow is 11 AM, so we are in no hurry. It should be a great trip and I will take plenty of pictures and come back with some stories from our adventure. I hope you are all well. Ciao.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Country Club Living
I have to admit that I could get used to living like I did this week during the Invitational at Serrano Country Club in El Dorado Hills. My partner was very gracious in inviting me, but a bit frustrating in his execution. Whereas my enjoyment was in the competition and in the golf, he was more enamored with the party. Gary is a salesman first middle and last. He enjoys people and enjoys being the life of the party.
Wednesday afternoon was check-in and the horse race qualifier. Each 2-man team that enters is assigned to a hole with five other teams and they play a three hole qualifier. On each hole, two teams are eliminated and if there is a tie for last, there is a chip-off. It is alternate shot. Our third shot was hit a little firm (by me) and I hit the green and it bounced over into the hazard. Gary approached me as I was ready to chip and said, "the rough is nasty here, give it a little extra". The ball was playable, but Gary lost his head and took two practice swings in the hazard and then almost chipped in for a four. We were penalized two shots and that was added to our 5 for a seven. There were two teams that were worse than five, one with a 7 and one with a 6. We were eliminated on his penalty after I'd paid $50 to get us into the qualifier.
Thursday was a morning round and it was alternate shot. Gary put me in some positions I'd never been in before and we shot 10 shots over our quota as a team. Gary did Patron' shots at 8:30 in the morning at one of the bars on the course and was a basket case after that. They took 50% of that overage and reduced our team quota from 52 to 47 on Friday. Friday was an afternoon round and individual play where both balls count. We shot 1-over our quota at 48 and were back in the tournament at 9 over. I deftly steered Gary away from the bars and wouldn't let him do shots with one of the bartenders. I shot 79 and Gary shot 84. Saturday was a morning round and Gary again was back to Patron' shots and Bloody Marys and a flask of Crown Royal in the cart. I shot 88 and Gary had a 92 and we shot 15 shots under our quota to finish in dead last in our flight and Gary lost about $200 in bets to his cronies. He likes to party and I couldn't get him to focus.
The tee gifts were incredible as was the food served at the event. The gifts were a dozen Titleist Pro V1s, a wind jacket, a golf shirt, a pair of designer sunglasses, a beautiful flask, a golf repair kit with the tournament logo, a golf hat with the logo and a golf towel. Awesome. The food was Prime Rib Wednesday night, Filet Mignon Thursday, oysters-crab-abalone-lobster and shrimp Friday, and pan seared ahi tuna-lamb chops-rib eye Saturday night.
It is halftime of the Dallas game, so I'll finish this up later.
8:45PM
Darla and Gary's wife, Kelly, joined us on Saturday night. I showed up expecting to collect $150 for closest to the pin as a friend had played the hole in the next to last group and my 8'4" was still leading, but alas, someone aced me out in the last group. We ended up winning $40 for worst score in our flight on Saturday.
I will be in the office early tomorrow to do payroll and then I'm off to Serrano again to play in a fundraiser for the local high school that Gail in my office bought a $1000 foursome and invited two of our agents to join us. It starts with breakfast, we play mid-day , have cocktails during a silent auction, then finish with dinner and prizes.
I say I COULD get used to playing at a country club, but with dues of about $450 a month I would be married to the course. I'm still looking to play the field and there are too many golf courses out there on my Bucket List of courses to play before I die or get too old to be competitive. Speaking of which I leave for Bandon, Oregon and three days of golf at the world famous Bandon Dunes Resort. Here is a website page of Bandon: http://www.bandondunesgolf.com/this_is.cfm
Here also is a picture of one of the holes on Pacific Dunes, one of the three courses that we will play. Hopefully the weather is good. The trip is expensive, with golf rates at $210 and the resort at $320 a night (luckily I will have a roommate and he'd be advised to bring earplugs). Boyd Robertson is going with me to Bandon and we will enjoy that dream together. Boyd joined me at Pebble Beach and Torrey Pines, so we have been making some golfing memories together.
Darla has said she'd like to take a walk. I watched Dallas beat Green Bay and then tried calling Jennifer, but she gets up so early, she was probably already in bed. I will try to write in the blog next Saturday, knowing that I will be traveling to Bandon on Sunday.
Darla and I really enjoyed church today. We had Josh McDowell as a guest speaker. He is a world renowned Christian author, who became a Christian after being a wild agnostic in College and finally seeing the light. We bought his book, "The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict". He wrote it in the first eleven years of his life as a Christian and researched the validity of the Bible and the claims of the Christian faith. I'm looking forward to reading it. Josh works with teenagers and is a huge proponent of a strong father relationship in a child's life. He says that children will not follow our lead as parents unless we model our values and have a good relationship with them. Jen and John, if you want Samantha to grow up and go in the right direction: find a church, get her involved as she gets older in youth activities and be involved parents in her spiritual growth as well as her physical growth. Enough preaching. I hope you are all well and I'll write more next weekend. Ciao.
Wednesday afternoon was check-in and the horse race qualifier. Each 2-man team that enters is assigned to a hole with five other teams and they play a three hole qualifier. On each hole, two teams are eliminated and if there is a tie for last, there is a chip-off. It is alternate shot. Our third shot was hit a little firm (by me) and I hit the green and it bounced over into the hazard. Gary approached me as I was ready to chip and said, "the rough is nasty here, give it a little extra". The ball was playable, but Gary lost his head and took two practice swings in the hazard and then almost chipped in for a four. We were penalized two shots and that was added to our 5 for a seven. There were two teams that were worse than five, one with a 7 and one with a 6. We were eliminated on his penalty after I'd paid $50 to get us into the qualifier.
Thursday was a morning round and it was alternate shot. Gary put me in some positions I'd never been in before and we shot 10 shots over our quota as a team. Gary did Patron' shots at 8:30 in the morning at one of the bars on the course and was a basket case after that. They took 50% of that overage and reduced our team quota from 52 to 47 on Friday. Friday was an afternoon round and individual play where both balls count. We shot 1-over our quota at 48 and were back in the tournament at 9 over. I deftly steered Gary away from the bars and wouldn't let him do shots with one of the bartenders. I shot 79 and Gary shot 84. Saturday was a morning round and Gary again was back to Patron' shots and Bloody Marys and a flask of Crown Royal in the cart. I shot 88 and Gary had a 92 and we shot 15 shots under our quota to finish in dead last in our flight and Gary lost about $200 in bets to his cronies. He likes to party and I couldn't get him to focus.
The tee gifts were incredible as was the food served at the event. The gifts were a dozen Titleist Pro V1s, a wind jacket, a golf shirt, a pair of designer sunglasses, a beautiful flask, a golf repair kit with the tournament logo, a golf hat with the logo and a golf towel. Awesome. The food was Prime Rib Wednesday night, Filet Mignon Thursday, oysters-crab-abalone-lobster and shrimp Friday, and pan seared ahi tuna-lamb chops-rib eye Saturday night.
It is halftime of the Dallas game, so I'll finish this up later.
8:45PM
Darla and Gary's wife, Kelly, joined us on Saturday night. I showed up expecting to collect $150 for closest to the pin as a friend had played the hole in the next to last group and my 8'4" was still leading, but alas, someone aced me out in the last group. We ended up winning $40 for worst score in our flight on Saturday.
I will be in the office early tomorrow to do payroll and then I'm off to Serrano again to play in a fundraiser for the local high school that Gail in my office bought a $1000 foursome and invited two of our agents to join us. It starts with breakfast, we play mid-day , have cocktails during a silent auction, then finish with dinner and prizes.
I say I COULD get used to playing at a country club, but with dues of about $450 a month I would be married to the course. I'm still looking to play the field and there are too many golf courses out there on my Bucket List of courses to play before I die or get too old to be competitive. Speaking of which I leave for Bandon, Oregon and three days of golf at the world famous Bandon Dunes Resort. Here is a website page of Bandon: http://www.bandondunesgolf.com/this_is.cfm
Here also is a picture of one of the holes on Pacific Dunes, one of the three courses that we will play. Hopefully the weather is good. The trip is expensive, with golf rates at $210 and the resort at $320 a night (luckily I will have a roommate and he'd be advised to bring earplugs). Boyd Robertson is going with me to Bandon and we will enjoy that dream together. Boyd joined me at Pebble Beach and Torrey Pines, so we have been making some golfing memories together.Darla has said she'd like to take a walk. I watched Dallas beat Green Bay and then tried calling Jennifer, but she gets up so early, she was probably already in bed. I will try to write in the blog next Saturday, knowing that I will be traveling to Bandon on Sunday.
Darla and I really enjoyed church today. We had Josh McDowell as a guest speaker. He is a world renowned Christian author, who became a Christian after being a wild agnostic in College and finally seeing the light. We bought his book, "The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict". He wrote it in the first eleven years of his life as a Christian and researched the validity of the Bible and the claims of the Christian faith. I'm looking forward to reading it. Josh works with teenagers and is a huge proponent of a strong father relationship in a child's life. He says that children will not follow our lead as parents unless we model our values and have a good relationship with them. Jen and John, if you want Samantha to grow up and go in the right direction: find a church, get her involved as she gets older in youth activities and be involved parents in her spiritual growth as well as her physical growth. Enough preaching. I hope you are all well and I'll write more next weekend. Ciao.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Bachelor Weelend
Yep. The wife was out of town. Darla went down to San Luis Obispo to get both of the boys set up in their apartments. It is RUSH week this week on campus and classes will start on Monday September 22nd. I was in SF on Tuesday and the boys were staying in the city with their Dad at the Fairmont in Nob Hill. My lunch was cancelled as the VP from one of my carriers had to fly out to LA and left me high and dry. I met the boys and Daniel's girlfriend, Becky, in Chinatown and we had a nice lunch at the R&G Lounge.
David had a weird experience as they were walking to the restaurant from Nob Hill. They passed the corner of Kearney and Clay about a block from the restaurant and one of the "street people" jumped up from the corner and shoved a lighter into David's side. David thought it was a knife and shoved the guy back away from him. One of the shop owner's came out and talked to David and asked him to call the police. Apparently this mental moron had been doing this all morning. He'd done it to a Mexican guy and that guy clocked him and dropped him on the sidewalk. The guy was deranged as he was muttering to himself and walking around barefoot. David said his adrenaline was flying as he thought he was in a fight.
We ate well, family style, and enjoyed visiting. I said goodbye to Daniel who was catching a ride with Becky back to the college. David came back home and left on Friday with Darla and Alicia. David has an off campus apartment that has three bedrooms and he is supposed to have roommates, but so far, it is just him. The college added more on campus housing this year and right now there is a glut. So, David has a 1100 square foot apartment by himself. The drawback is he has to pay the cable, food, etc. by himself right now.
I played golf on Wednesday with Gary Anderson at Serrano Country Club where we will play in the Claim Jumper Invitational on Thursday-Friday and Saturday of this next week. I shot 83 there and followed that up with an 83 Saturday at Diamond Oaks and then an 84 today at Diamond. Same game, different days.
I was supposed to play poker on Friday night, but Steve ended up having to go to the hospital with chest pains brought on by stress. He has had a heart attack before and it took three nitroglycerin tablets and some other pills to settle his system down. They let him out Thursday, but poker was cancelled. I made up for the loss of the poker night by going to the Thunder Valley Casino on Saturday night. I took $60 and playing nickles ended up leaving with $225 after being up over $300 at one point. It was a good "time spender" and I made $165. Not too shabby.
Work is going well. One of my employees did not return from her maternity leave, so I am filling a position now and we really need typing help. my typing unit went from two typists to one in the cutback and my service has dropped from 20 days on policies to almost 50 days. It is horrible and I've got the San Francisco office helping out with their typing pool right now. I'm looking at adding someone in my Modesto office and having their onsite employee go to work for Sacramento. She can type.
Darla is on her way home and called me from Lodi. I have some meat on the grill, some dinner rolls ready to brown, the baked potatoes cleaned and poked with a fork in preparation for the microwave, and some corn also ready to be heated in the micro. Dinner is a little late tonight, but I offered to cook if she could get home early enough. She managed to do it.
I may add more later, but the Sunday night game is coming out of halftime and I should really cook from nearer the barbecue. Ciao.
Sunday Night 9:05 PM
Obviously, Darla made it home and told me to add these pictures to the blog (Whose Blog is this, anyway?) She had a great time with the boys and her sister. They went to Pismo Beach today before driving home. David got moved in and they locked the other two bedrooms, so his space doesn't seem so big. David also, in his haste to leave town forgot his television here in his room. It is a flat screen TV with a DVD player and he packed up and left without it. His Dad is going down in the next couple of weeks, so he can take it then. That's it. I'll blog next week. Ciao.
David had a weird experience as they were walking to the restaurant from Nob Hill. They passed the corner of Kearney and Clay about a block from the restaurant and one of the "street people" jumped up from the corner and shoved a lighter into David's side. David thought it was a knife and shoved the guy back away from him. One of the shop owner's came out and talked to David and asked him to call the police. Apparently this mental moron had been doing this all morning. He'd done it to a Mexican guy and that guy clocked him and dropped him on the sidewalk. The guy was deranged as he was muttering to himself and walking around barefoot. David said his adrenaline was flying as he thought he was in a fight.
We ate well, family style, and enjoyed visiting. I said goodbye to Daniel who was catching a ride with Becky back to the college. David came back home and left on Friday with Darla and Alicia. David has an off campus apartment that has three bedrooms and he is supposed to have roommates, but so far, it is just him. The college added more on campus housing this year and right now there is a glut. So, David has a 1100 square foot apartment by himself. The drawback is he has to pay the cable, food, etc. by himself right now.
I played golf on Wednesday with Gary Anderson at Serrano Country Club where we will play in the Claim Jumper Invitational on Thursday-Friday and Saturday of this next week. I shot 83 there and followed that up with an 83 Saturday at Diamond Oaks and then an 84 today at Diamond. Same game, different days.
I was supposed to play poker on Friday night, but Steve ended up having to go to the hospital with chest pains brought on by stress. He has had a heart attack before and it took three nitroglycerin tablets and some other pills to settle his system down. They let him out Thursday, but poker was cancelled. I made up for the loss of the poker night by going to the Thunder Valley Casino on Saturday night. I took $60 and playing nickles ended up leaving with $225 after being up over $300 at one point. It was a good "time spender" and I made $165. Not too shabby.
Work is going well. One of my employees did not return from her maternity leave, so I am filling a position now and we really need typing help. my typing unit went from two typists to one in the cutback and my service has dropped from 20 days on policies to almost 50 days. It is horrible and I've got the San Francisco office helping out with their typing pool right now. I'm looking at adding someone in my Modesto office and having their onsite employee go to work for Sacramento. She can type.
Darla is on her way home and called me from Lodi. I have some meat on the grill, some dinner rolls ready to brown, the baked potatoes cleaned and poked with a fork in preparation for the microwave, and some corn also ready to be heated in the micro. Dinner is a little late tonight, but I offered to cook if she could get home early enough. She managed to do it.
I may add more later, but the Sunday night game is coming out of halftime and I should really cook from nearer the barbecue. Ciao.
Sunday Night 9:05 PM
Obviously, Darla made it home and told me to add these pictures to the blog (Whose Blog is this, anyway?) She had a great time with the boys and her sister. They went to Pismo Beach today before driving home. David got moved in and they locked the other two bedrooms, so his space doesn't seem so big. David also, in his haste to leave town forgot his television here in his room. It is a flat screen TV with a DVD player and he packed up and left without it. His Dad is going down in the next couple of weeks, so he can take it then. That's it. I'll blog next week. Ciao.
Sunday, September 07, 2008
UH...More Pictures of Samantha
This will be a relatively quick entry as time has slid away from me this evening and I promised Darla I would meet her on the couch to watch some TV and relax tonight at nine.
I played golf this morning in our Club Championship, got home at 2:30 PM and sat on the pool with a book for about two hours and then came in and watched the Dallas Cowboy game on TIVO. Jennifer called in the middle of my pool time and wanted to talk about the Cowboy game and Darla wouldn't let her talk to me. I just got off the phone with her a few minutes ago. Things are going well for them in Vegas. Darla taught Samantha to clap while we were there and now she claps during her TV shows and when one of her favorite songs comes on. The kids go to bed early as Jen is up at 4:15 and out the door after 4:30. John leaves at a little after 5:00, so Samantha is usually up at 4:30 and gets her breakfast and is off to daycare. Jenn picks her up by 3:00 PM and then they start the whole process over again. Sam is in bed by 8:00 PM and Jen and John go to bed at 9:00 PM. Jennifer's Mom, Diane, will be in Vegas this coming weekend and will see Jenn and Samantha.
My golf today was just as normal as ever. The match was very good, close and exciting and I lost on the 18th hole when my opponent sunk a twisting thirty foot downhill putt and I missed my 15 footer to tie. I shot 84 and he shot 82. My practice round on Saturday was an 83 and I'm kind of stuck in a rut. My handicap is 11, I missed the Rose Cup team and I didn't even win one match in the Club Championship, so my golf year is a bogey as my goals were not met. I'm going to slow down a bit on golf soon, but play Wednesday, next Saturday in the consolation matches, and then three days the following week in the Sarrono Invitational with one of my agents here in town. Then, I'm off to Bandon Dunes, Oregon for three days at the end of September and will return to play the new Troon course, Yocha-Dee-Hee on October 11th. I'm getting tired just writing it.
I will be in SF on Tuesday as our CEO is coming in to town and asked me and the VP who works out of my office to come in. They are all having lunch with one of the brokerage markets that I do not represent, so I've been allowed to skip the lunch. David and Daniel will be in town staying with their Dad at the Fairmont while he is at a seminar. They are free for lunch, so I will take them to one of the SF restaurants (The Tadich grill or Bob's Steakhouse). I should take them to Clown Alley, the hamburger restaurant that Dad took us kids to 40 years ago. It's still there across from the red light district on Broadway. We'll see.
Well, Darla awaits. The boys are off to Cal Poly next weekend to start school and Darla is going down to see them off. I'll be batching it over the weekend. Sounds like a good time for Poker and Golf. (It always sounds like a good time for poker and Golf, though). Ciao.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
More pictures of Samantha
On our last day, Darla lost her cell phone. It is her lifeline with her three jobs, especially with her Silpada Designs Jewelry business. She realized it on the plane and asked me to call her phone. I called the number and it came up with a recording and I remembered that I had to dial our area code. The phone rang and a distinctly African American female voice answered. Darla said that she had her phone. The woman immediately had an attitude with her and as Darla said, "the only reason to cop an attitude is if you are in the wrong". They argued for a minute and the woman said she's had that phone number for three years and Darla was "craaazy". She hung up on us and when we called her back it would go to Darla's voice mail. Darla called Verizon and had them turn off the phone. She was stressing over it when we got home. When I was in using the computer the night we got home, she was checking on other phone carriers and trying to figure out what to do. After a half hour she walked in and sheepishly showed me her phone. It had been packed in our luggage that was checked. How we got someone else's phone number is a mystery, but I guess the other reason to cop an attitude is that some "craaazy lady" is claiming you stole her phone. Funny stuff. Here are more pictures and I will add more still next
week. I love you all. Ciao.
week. I love you all. Ciao.
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Back From Vegas..OH MY GOD, Samantha is a doll!!!
We are just home from Vegas and came home with 788 pictures of young Samantha. Now Darla is a photographer, but about 600 of those came from Jennifer and John's computer. These three pictures are from my IPhone. The first is of her playing with her Fisher Price drum set, the second is of her in a new walker we bought for her while we were there and she is on the new area rug we bought for Jennifer's birthday, and the third is from today at the Tommy Bahama Tropical Cafe at the Las Vegas Town Square shopping center.
I only have about a half hour to work on this. I have a golf meeting tomorrow night, but plan to add more to this Thursday night with many more pictures. This is to wet your appetite. We had a full on blast in Vegas. Jennifer and John have a beautiful house and have made a great home for themselves and our precious Samantha. Samantha, like Jennifer, is wearing size 3-6 months clothes at the age of 8 months. She is so strong and is pulling herself up on everything and on the verge of holding her own bottle. She is too short to get both feet on the ground when using the new walker, but is motoring around on one foot. She sleeps from 8 PM to about midnight, wakes up for a bottle and a changing and then sleeps until about 6 AM. She takes a nap about 10 AM for forty five minutes and then takes a final nap about 3 PM. She is such a happy baby, but at the same time she knows how to turn on the tears to get her way. If she is being held and wants to crawl, she'll give you a little cry and as soon as she is put down, she is back to happy-go-lucky. We only had one night in five when she was fussy and it was a night we were out to dinner at Chili's. It was also the night John chose to take the long way home to show us the spot where the new elementary is going in near their house. Jennifer was also a little pouty over that maneuver. Jennifer and John are both great parents, very protective and patient with Samantha. John is probably a little more over protective, but I'm happy to see him take a strong stand on making sure Samantha is safe at all times. He is definitely wrapped around her little finger and she is Daddy's little girl. He made a remark at dinner the second night at Joe's Crab Shack that had Darla in hysterics. He said that, " the ladies at the day care don't want to come right out and say it, but Samantha is their favorite." Darla played that theme with John for the rest of the weekend.
We got to know John much better this trip, there's nothing like living with someone to get to know them. He is a great guy with a good sense of humor and very serious when it comes to his work and to his family. We had a good laugh with him one night when he was talking about their new dog and how he needed to train him the right way from the start. The dog was jumping up and John said, "We'll just have to nip that in the butt." I looked at him and said, "Did you say, 'Nip that in the "butt"'? He said, "yeah, you know the saying you stop a problem by nipping in in the butt?" I explained the derivation of the saying with regard to a flower and "nipping it in the bud". We continued to have a good laugh at his expense and he got to know the Lyon family perhaps better than he really wanted to.
Their home is in far North Las Vegas about thirty minutes from the strip. John was offered a new job on Friday with a firm that he had interviewed with previously. It is a company that specializes in home security systems, alarms, etc. They will also do full entertainment systems and video surveillance, etc. and are looking for someone with John's expertise beyond the normal scope of just alarm installations. He is thrilled to have been offered the position and went in this morning to take care of all his paperwork. He starts on a new project tomorrow.
Jennifer's job is going great. I totally misunderstood her when she explained her job. She is working on a new project in Las Vegas called "City Center". It is the new casino complex next to the Bellagio and sandwiched in the middle of it is the Jockey Club. We saw the project from it's beginning as back on Dad's 70th birthday we saw what the boys described as "ground zero" outside the Jockey on what used to be their parking lot. Jennifer is working now on the mezzanine level of one of the buildings on the project pulling wiring and handling all of the low voltage work. She has a crew of apprentices that report to her and she handles some of the project management on her portion of the job. She absolutely loves her job and works 6 AM to 2:30 PM daily. Actually, she is Union, so they begin packing up at 2 PM and have what is known as a "15 minute walkoff" starting at 2:15 PM. She just got a great raise effective September 1st. John is non-union and the advantage to him is vacation and sick time. Jennifer does not get paid if she doesn't work, but her per hour is significantly higher. She also has excellent health, dental and vision benefits for her and Samantha. John will make the going rate if he works on union jobs. The kids are doing really well and I'm ready to plan a wedding in Vegas come Spring, eh Jennifer..John? They are talking about it and I'm thrilled.
We had a really good intense visit with the kids and Samantha. Jennifer wanted to get her mother-in-law to watch Samantha and go out on the town one night. Maybe next time, this time was Samantha Time. We went to the park near their house for a barbecue, we went to the YMCA swimming pool on Saturday and watched Sam swim, we went out to dinner and lunch a couple of times, visited the Town Center complex today with it's park in the center and kid's play area. It was tough to say goodbye today, but we left with full hearts and some tremendous memories and look forward to going back soon. I'll add more pictures Thursday. These were from today:
