California Cruisin'

First of all, let's just start by saying I love San Diego! It's beautiful. The people are friendly, it's easy to find your way around and a great place to visit. I would love to go back there for a week and see lots more and do lots more.


This monument was down by the harbour and was fabulous.





Another memorial sight I was impressed by was the Bob Hope memorial.







We went for a dinner cruise on the Hornblower and really enjoyed it. We've been on several in the Vancouver area and this one was the best one. The food was wonderful as well as the service.




We had an awesome suite to stay in, having booked a regular hotel room and being upgraded by the Company. Gotta love that.





We boarded our ship on Saturday and immediately hit the Lido deck for some serious dining. Wow those cruise ship people know how to feed you. The staff are great and eager to please.

We met a lot of nice people and enjoyed hearing their impressions of cruising. Some people had cruised more than 20x and others were newbies like ourselves.




We're happy to be home again. Good to be back. There's nothing like your own bed, no matter how nice it is to be away. Our 'kids' are happy we're back.

And We're Off!

See this little ole boat? That's where I'll be on Saturday night. Pray for me. I get lost easily.

We're flying to San Diego and spending a couple of days hanging out, sightseeing and eating out, should be fun.

THEN we're cruising! Us! We have no formal cruising clothes so we're scrubbing our ears as best as we can and combing our hair and stunning them with our charming personalities. It's all we can do really. Think it will work?

See you all next week. With pictures.

Brother John

April 22 would have been John's 55th birthday. I saw a card yesterday that made me think of him. It was a little boy standing up in the driver's seat of an old convertible and inside the card it said 'born to cruise'. Very fitting.


John is cruising with Jesus now. I still miss him very much and when it's his birthday I think back on times we spent together.


These photos are from 1999 when we went to Hawaii. We stayed at my friend's house for 2 weeks and what a great time John had. Nobody loved the ocean and the beach more than John. He was born to live in a warm tropical climate.


One morning when I was living close by John he called me up bright and early and said, "wanna go for breakfast?" I said, "sure". John said, "come pick me up and we'll go to McD's". Sure. Sounded good to me.

I picked him up and he was kinda sheepish looking. He asked, "Can we go by way of Lynden?" Lynden is in Washington State. In the U.S. of A. The other side of the border. Not far but still...so we went to Lynden. Turns out he bought a VW (what else) in Lynden and needed a ride down there so he could pick it up and bring it across the border. That was my brother.

But he did buy me breakfast.

Happy Birthday Becky Boo!!!

Becky's the 'little princess' of the family. She lives with her Mommy D and Auntie S but she used to live with Mommy C but never Auntie J. It's all very complicating sounding for a little princess but it works. She loves to be the princess and is the most girly girl of all girly girls.

She's now 7 years old so we went to celebrate. She loves little squeaky toys. Even though she already has a cuzillion of them or so she always likes to get new ones.

She also loves cupcakes. But she shares with her big sister Maggie.


Becky loves presents but then who doesn't? She also loves to read.
OK, not really but she is smart and she probably could read if someone just took the time to teach her.

Becky's a really sweet little girl and we like it when she comes and has a sleep-over at our house.

Happy Birthday Becky!

More Retreat Pics

Just like little kids on a school bus. Ok we were on a school bus and there wasn't nearly enough leg room!

The lake was absolutely beautiful. We were able to walk all the way around it before it started to rain.


I'm not sure what happened here but it looks like it hurt. A lot. That ole noggin sure takes a beating sometimes.

I'm Not Sayin' Nothin'

This past weekend Chris and I went to a Retreat Centre on Vancouver Island. It was a beautiful place to go and spend a couple of days. It's on a lake with a walking trail all the way around, 5km, which we did on Saturday. Awesome. The Centre is run by nuns who quietly come in and out just making sure that things are set up or served, etc. Each person gets their own room and share the bathrooms on each floor.

The retreat was with ladies from the church we've been attending and it really was a good spiritually refreshing time. While I wouldn't say we agree with all of their doctrine or interpretations of Scripture I wouldn't hesitate to say they're all really nice women and made us feel very welcome. We hardly knew any of them at all when we boarded the bus on Friday but by Sunday afternoon we came home feeling like we had made a lot of new friends.

Camp is a great place to connect with people. Connecting with God and sisters in Christ is always a good thing and I enjoyed doing both.

My New Car!!!

For the first time in my life I went out and bought myself a brand spankin' new car! I'm not one to change cars very often, in 30+ years of driving I have only owned 4 cars. My brother used to say he went through more cars than that in a month.

I was able to sell my Toyota and traded in the 'bird (with BB's approval) and here I am.......it's pretty exciting.
2008 Pontiac G5

Turning 50 and a new car to celebrate. Life's good in the hood!