Birthday Party

We celebrated birthdays all weekend! Dan's was Saturday and Morgan & Gracey had their party today at the park. Such fun! Gracey has always wanted to play the violin and today her dream got a start. Mom & Dad provided the violin (rented) and Aunt Crystal will give her free lessons! What a lucky girl! Morgan was just as happy with his Star Wars toys though!

Backyard Camping

Ah, the great outdoors! Even if it's just in your backyard, there's an excitement for kids (and the adult "kids") when you are in a tent! It was a good time to check out everything for the fall hunting season as well as provide good memories for the grandkids! Gracey won the prize for sleeping the longest! The boys were all up early to enjoy the campfire (in the fire pit)! Randy and Pa were up early to cook breakfast. I think they were enjoying the camping as much as kids!

Old friends and new

I reconnected with some old (I mean old in the sense of previous) college friends today and met a couple of new friends too. Even though we live in different states, every July during this time when our church denominations have their annual conferences, we try to get together. It's wonderful to catch up and hear how God is working in everyone's lives. One friend just came through brain surgery this summer, another will be going to central Asia soon! Of course, we also got a chance to see pictures of kids and grandkids!

It's not so bad getting older....(and I mean older knowing these friendships were begun in the the early 70's)!

Home again!

It's good to be home. We want to thank Ben & Cindy for picking us and all this luggage up at the airport. Next time we're packing lighter! Thanks also to Gina and Randy who filled the kitchen with balloons and a Welcome Home sign, our fantastic neighbor, Shelly who watered & took care of the yard, and wonderful friend Karla who tended the roses and managed this blog. We owe you all! As much fun as it was to vacation, it's always nice to come home.
Hugs,
Dan & Shirley

PS. A taste of the chocolate party

French Riviera

1st day of summer and a perfect day on the French Riviera! We anchored out in the harbor and took small boats called tenders into port. From an ancient fortress in Villefranche we boarded our coach and headed off to visit Nice. After a bus tour, we stopped at the flower market near the beach. No wonder the "rich and famous" come here. It's stunning! After strolling around soaking up the local atmosphere (including watching a wedding party in a courtyard), we got back on the bus and were off to the mountain top to a small medieval village of Eze. Only 20 people still live there but there are lots of shops with local artisan's wares. You have to park at the bottom and hike up winding ancient cobblestone paths and stairways about 1/4 mile to reach the village. No wonder only 20 people live there. Can you imagine carrying groceries? Anyway, again, a very charming place! Today was probably the most relaxed tour we've been on since all was within a short distance from port and not as crowded as the Italian tours.

We can't believe this is the last night of the cruise. Tomorrow we disembark at 9:15 am and will be in Barcelona for another day, leaving the hotel at 3 AM! We've enjoyed everything this week! The food is delicious---last night for example, the chocolate party was mouth-watering! We have picture of the chocolate sculptures as well as some samples of what we ate. Next week will be a diet, I fear! We've heard some great music, met some lovely people from all over, and enjoyed spending time with each other! Who would have thought that a construction guy and a teacher would have this opportunity! Thank-you again to our wonderful son, Randy for this gift!
Anyway, no more postings unless we have a couple of minutes in the morning. We look forward to boring you with the over 1200 pictures we have! Ciao! :>)

Firenze/Florence

The city of Michelangelo's David as well as his tomb. Many masters are from here. At the church we saw the tomb of Dante, and Galileo along with Michelangelo's. It was hot today (34 C) and the air conditioning on the bus didn't work but Dan's sweat glands did! Never enough time but after lunch, on we went to Pisa. It's still standing....we didn't have time to climb to the top (as if we would have) but saw others who did.
Tonight there's a chocoholic's dessert party at 10:30. We'll do our best to defend our reputation and eat enough for all of you!