Darryl and I at Fat's Dim Sum Restaurant in Roseville
The gang with Darryl in our backyard (Darla took pic)
One of Darla's promotional pictures for Touchstone
Another of same. Samson is a cute prop.
Jennifer and Samantha at Ramen House with the kids.
Daniel and Jen in some kind of noodle competition.
Jennifer, Samantha and McKenny at Ramen House
Dan, Becky, Miya, David, McKenny, Jennifer and Samantha
at Ramen House with Darla and I.
Samantha on the swings at the park in Grass Valley, CA
Sam discovering boxed water.
Jennifer and Sam in a skiff used to lower miners at Empire Gold Mine
in Grass Valley, CA
Ken, Jennifer and Sam posing by the pool outside the Bourn Mansion at Empire Gold Mine.
Jennifer at the Bourn Mansion.
Sam at one of the fountain pools at the Bourn Mansion.
Dinner with the family and Jordan and Olivia.
Sam playing with Jordan and Olivia.
Samantha and Samson.
Samantha and Jordan playing in the cold pool.
Samson waking Sam by jumping on her bed.
Jennifer and McKenny with Kimo and Arthur at Jason's wedding.
Goofy shot.
Darla, Jennifer and McKenny at our table at the wedding.
All of us with the bride and groom.
Goofy shot.
Ken giving the blessing before dinner.
Sam and Jordan at the park today.
Samson hanging in the shade with me as the girls play in the background.
It has been a busy couple of weeks with Darryl in town and then Jen and the Corbin family visiting for the wedding of our friend Jason Ramos to Jennifer Cantu. We dropped the kids off at the airport about 5:30 for their 7 PM flight. Jen sent a note to say they had been delayed until 7:30 and hopefully they are in the air by now.
I will add more to this later as the pictures took me almost an hour to upload and caption.
Tuesday October 2 6:55PM
I thought I would jump back on this and fill in some of the blanks. Jennifer and family arrived Thursday night and we picked them up (the flight was a half hour late, Frontier is consistent) and then met the boys, Becky and Miya in Sacramento at the Ramen House. Everyone seemed to enjoy the food and we all certainly enjoyed the fellowship as we laughed our way through dinner. Sam loved seeing both of her uncles and Darla and I bought dinner for the gang. We hung out for about an hour and a half and had a nice visit.
Friday, Darla had a couple of errands to run and McKenny had a couple of business calls scheduled, so we let Sam sleep in until we had Samson jump on her bed. You can see the picture of him practically sitting on her head. We drove up to Grass Valley and the Empire Gold Mine. It was a struggling mine in the late 1800's until it was bought by a wealthy industrialist from San Francisco, William Bourn. Bourn grew the mine and increased the output of gold by 50 times in his first five years. He also opened a bank in Grass Valley and although maintaining his residence in San Francisco, he also built a magnificent mansion on the Mine Grounds and held extravagant parties. He was the mastermind of the electricity and gas companies in San Francisco that would become PG&E. During that time he also took the interim Presidnt position with the Fireman's Fund Insurance Company. He bought controlling interest in Greystone Vineyards in Napa in the late 1800s. He took all of the railroad tracks that were ruined in the 1906 earthquake and used the remnants as bracing for his mine shafts. He suffered a stroke in 1922 and was confined to a wheelchair and his wife became the only CEO of a gold mine in the US. She continued to run it until they sold the mine to the Newmont Mining Corporation.
We stopped in Grass Valley and had lunch at a park and then visited the mine and had a great afternoon. We had a bbq on Friday night and Sam invited her friend Jordan from next door, but also Olivia who had just moved into the house behind us. Olivia is 8 and Jordan is 9. The girls had a blast before and after dinner by alternating between the spa and the pool. We had a great night and relaxed and watched The Greatest Showman which we had on the DVR.
Saturday, we relaxed. I cleaned the pool and mowed the lawn. McKenny borrowed my car and went to the Flea Market in Roseville, which is one of the largest in California. He came back with 10 records and a mask for Jennifer (she collects them and displays them in her home). He paid $17 for the whole lot and said that one of the records that he found was worth over $200. McKenny, if you don't know, is a huge dealer of LP records. We relaxed Saturday afternoon and headed out to Jason Ramos' 5 PM wedding. He had called me earlier in the week and asked me to give the blessing at the wedding. It was an outdoor wedding at the Catta Verdara Golf Course in Lincoln, the next city north of Roseville. We had a great time and were thrilled to see Jason find and marry a lovely girl, who also happened to be named Jennifer.
Sunday, the kids went to the High Hand Nursery in Loomis and met Jen's ex Step Dad, Bill, for lunch. I watched the Cowboys finally do an impression of an NFL team and win their second game of the year. The kids got back about 2:30 and I took Sam and Jordan to the park with Samson and we took some pictures.
It was a great visit and we had a great time with Miss Samantha and her parents. I will be back at this in a couple of weeks, likely after our visit to Monterey for golf. Next weekend, Darla and I will go with Ron and his wife to a cocktail party under the lights at Raley Field. They will have wine and beer, appetizers, Hors De Oeuvres, live music and casino games from 6-9. This is one of the perks of being a season ticket holder. We just renewed our plan for the fifth straight year. Be good. Ciao.
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