Ken's Random and Trivial Thoughts and Recollections: The week of Samantha

So far, so fun. We picked Sam up Friday night and her plane was delayed due to bad weather in Dallas (imagine that). She was due in at 6:16 and arrived at 6:49 PM. We saw Diane and Ella and Ella's parents and then packed up Sam and headed back to Roseville. We asked her where she wanted to go to dinner and she said, "That burger place we went last time with the chalkboard." THAT place is Mooyah and it has overpriced hamburgers ($10) and we went there last time with a coupon and were not impressed. We ended up at In and Out burger and had hamburgers and shakes (Darla stayed with a diet coke). From there we went to Krispy Kreme, not because we were hungry for donuts, but because Sam had never seen the donut conveyor belt with automated donut frying and icing. I got a picture of her in front of the work area with the glass front. We came home and swam and then took Samson to the park for a walk.

Saturday we let Sam sleep in and Darla went to orientation for the leaders at Breakaway, the Summer camp at church that Sam will be attending. She is going with Jordan next door who is in the pictures with Sam above. She is committed to Monday and Friday, but we feel that once she gets to the camp and sees all of the fun and excitement that she'll be in all week. We'll see. Darla was home about 11:30 and she and Sam ended up meeting Diane as she forgot to give us a letter signed by Jennifer that gives us power of attorney for medical care for Sam while she is here. From there they went to Michaels and bought a bunch of Jungle themed plastic plants and tiki torches and other things to decorate her booth where the kids will check in every morning. They came home and we swam. Jordan came over for awhile but had a birthday party at the skating rink. We had barbecued steak and shakes for dinner. Daniel and Becky came over and spent time with Sam and I over at the park with Samson. Darla was home signing up a new rep. We played "monkey in the middle" with Samson and then he retrieved the ball as we threw it several times. We sat and watched some of Sam's shows on TV and had her headed to bed by 10 PM. Her bedtime for camp will be 9:30 and Jordan is spending the night tonight and then heading to camp with Darla and Sam in the morning.

We were up early this morning and off to church and then we were supposed to decorate her tent booth. The problem was they hadn't put signs on the tents by the time service was over. We talked to the head of Breakaway and he said they were going to set up the tents after the second service. We headed to breakfast at Black Bear diner, took Darla's SUV thru the car wash and then picked up some things for a late lunch. We headed back to church, but they still hadn't started setting up the tents. We needed to get home because Jordan's parents, Jeremy and Michelle and their son Gavin and his friend, Kenny, were coming over at about 2 for a 3:30 Linner. We had invited them for lunch, but Michelle works at the CVS and didn't get off until 2:30. We had wanted to have them for dinner, but Darla had a Jewelry event at 5 PM. I fixed hamburgers and hot dogs and Michelle brought her own chicken dogs as she doesn't eat red meat.

Darla is due back about 8 PM tonight and we will take Samson to the park for his exercise. I got a call at work Wednesday and the caller told me that I had won the raffle from the golf tournament on Friday. I wasn't sure what raffle and asked what the prize was. She said, "You won two tickets to the Harry Styles concert at Golden 1 Arena on Monday night". Oh, I had no idea who Harry Styles was although the name sounded familiar. It turns out he was the lead singer of the Boy Band, One Direction. My next call was to Jennifer to find out if Sam knew him. She does and really likes him, so Darla and Sam are going to the concert tomorrow night. They delivered the tickets on Friday and it turns out the tickets are in a luxury suite at Golden 1 and includes parking and priority entrance to the event. It should be fun and I will add pictures on the next blog, which will probably be Monday next week. As it is, I'm going to wait for some pictures from the camp tomorrow to finish this up. The girls are in the pool now and I will sign off until tomorrow when they are at the concert.

Back at it on a Monday night. The SF Giant game is playing in the background. The lawn has been mowed, the dog had his run in the park, Darla and Sam are safely at the concert and the blog entry continues. I got off at 4 today to come home and watch Sam as Darla had a nail appointment at 4:30. I got home, Sam and Jordan were bundled up on the couch watching the Disney channel shows for tweens. Sam was really tired. Michelle came over and picked up Jordan and Darla left for the nail salon and I quizzed Sam about her day and camp and she was yawning I finally gave up and she was fast asleep within minutes. Darla was gone for an hour and Sam slept the whole time. Darla and Sam went to David's house in Sacramento and picked him up and they met Miya at the restaurant. Sam got to see David's house and meet his roommates and I think David really loved it.

I worked on the pool and picked up toys and balls from the girls. There were a couple of drink glasses up in the flower bed above the pool and I still have some of the stubborn algae on the walls. I brushed that and added chlorine and ran the variable speed pump on high for an hour. I mowed the lawn, edged, put out all the trashes, gave Samson a run in the park, and finally came in to work on the computer.

Tomorrow I'm working a half day and then Sam and I have a Papa/Sam date to the movies. I figured she would want to see Incredibles or one of the other kid's movies that are out, but she surprised me and asked to go see Jurassic World. I got us tickets for the 3:40 show tomorrow and then we will go to dinner. Darla has a team meeting tomorrow and after her event tonight, Sam and I will get some special time together tomorrow.

Thursday I have tickets for the AAA RiverCats game and Sam and I will go with Jeremy and Jordan to the game. We'll get some dinner, look at the game from our seats behind home plate and then let the girls go play at the children's park with bounce houses, mazes, games, etc. I'm sure well be headed home before the 7th inning and get Sam to bed. Friday will be a big day as it is the last day of camp and we will be heading down to Southern California to meet Jennifer and McKenny for a weekend mini vacation in Venice Beach.

I will be back at the keyboard next Monday night to bring you tales of our visit to So Cal. The weather here was 100 today, 100 tomorrow and upper nineties the rest of the week. Here is the weather for Venice: