This little squirrel seemed to be the sentinel of Glass beach in Fort Bragg, California. My sister recommended that we visit Glass beach and stay in Fort Bragg on our way back from seeing he redwoods. I am glad we did, we had a fantastic time exploring the beach and enjoying the views.
(click on the photos to enlarge)
Back in the 40's the folks in Fort Bragg used this area as a dump. In the 60's they started prohibiting the dumping of toxic items and then in the 70's they moved the dump inland and the state took over this stretch of beach. We were amazed by all of the tide pools, we found lots of little hermit crabs and critters in the little pools of water.
Paige and Megan enjoyed climbing around on the rocks. They also enjoyed standing on the rocks as the waves crashed in.







There were quite a few seals relaxing on the rocks just off the shore.




Paige and Megan met a boy from Michigan while we were on the beach. He was in California visiting his mom. They had this little 7 week old Jack Russel pup named Maisey. Paige made quick friends with the pup.

I only have a bazillion pictures from California and I could not figure out what subject to blog about today...so I have just picked out some of my favorite fun shots. Above we have Paige, Chelsea and Megan getting ready for a girls night out to go watch the Monarch's play basketball. I think it is cool that my niece is 20 and she was thrilled to get to take her little cousins out on the town. Paige and Megan had a super time, cheering the Monarchs to victory, they also loved the frozen yogurt that Chelsea bought them on the way home.


Here is one of the zillion photo's that we have of Nugget. He's a camera magnet...like the super model of fish!
This one just makes me laugh...Mike is looking so thoughtful in the background and Paige is making some silly fish face and it's frozen in time for us to ponder...just what were they thinking?
Dad and Mike having some computer bonding time.
Just what shade of pink goes best with basil? No Mimi was not adding nail polish to her pesto I just caught her marking her measuring cup with it so she could read it better.
Hey Sis, I love your peeps!
I'm glad Carole made us stop and pose for a picture on our way out to eat. We don't all get in the same shot often enough.
Toothless 7 year old's just make me smile:) I took this about a minute after she yanked out her snaggletooth. She had offered to let me yank it but it did not feel quite ready. Then she went over to the mirror and pretty soon she says "gueth what?". My guess from the lisp was that she yanked her tooth out...sure enough the tooth fairy had to make a visit to California.
This just cracks me up....Mimi and Pop-pop are smiling all nice while their young grand daughters are yucking it up in the background. Fortunately I have a nice shot of the the four of them...but this one is the "keeping it real" shot!
Oh and speaking of yucking it up in the background....I love you Cody, hug-hug Auntie

Hey, I am going to sound like a big goof but here are some vacation pictures that were still on one of the memory cards of Paige's camera.
These were taken last Thursday (7/24). Mimi (a.k.a. Carole) and dad have some very nice neighbors, Pat and Tom and they invited the girls over for a swim in their pool. So Paige and Megan went over for a swim with Mimi and Jenny. That is Jenny with Megan in the photo above. The last time we were out to CA in 2005 we had brought along those blue and yellow blow up rings. They cost a whole two bucks and we left them with our host and hostess as a little thanks for letting us use your pool gift. Well here they are 3 years later and still floating, I was impressed.


This crazy crocodile was giving the kids fits. They had mastered the whale but that crocky was a challenge, and they would not give up.

Paige and Megan had a whale of a time swimming in the California sunshine.

Okay everyone....I am back from my vacation...from blogging and from our trip to California. We actually returned home last Friday night. Since then it has been trying to get back to Ohio time, getting things unpacked, stocking the kitchen with fresh food, buying school supplies (school starts on Aug. 20) and spending time with the pups.

We still haven't even put our vacation pictures on our home computer. We have some on the laptop that my dad gave us and they are also on a quick drive, but I don't even know where Mike put it. I will ask him to put them on this computer tonight while I am at work (my first night back to work in 3 weeks...should be a fun-interesting night cashiering).

So here are some photos that I did not get a chance to post before flying off to California on July 11.
A few days before our trip I was out back mowing and this tiny little cottontail bunny just about gave me a heart attack as it jumped up in front of the mower. I have a huge fear of chopping up little critters...bunnies, toads, snakes. That would freak me out and probably keep me from ever mowing again.

After the bunny jumped up in front of me I turned the mower off so we could both regain our composure and catch our breath. I also went and grabbed the camera. The kids were very curious about the bunny but I told them to stay back, because I was sure his little heart was racing.

When I was done mowing I talked to Mike and told him of my near miss with the little bunny. The girls and I were out on errands when Mike got home from work. When we came in he told us that he had gone out and petted the bunny. I could not believe him so we all went out and he let the girls take turns holding the little bun bun. The bunny seemed fine with it, I think he enjoyed their soft touch and their cozy laps.

This is how are Wednesday began...(Please excuse my scatterbrained post...I know all these post about Wed. 7-02-08 are out of order. )
If they were in order...this is how are Wednesday went, did I mention it was busy? We headed over to Bud and Debs at noon to take Joe for a walk, but first we had to take sunflower pictures. This one is a volunteer, meaning it just grew up all by itself, a self seeder so to speak. Sunflowers are Deb's favorite flowers so it couldn't have picked a better place to sprout.
Joe was thrilled to see us, he always is. He must know how much we love him. We took him for a walk to the park, it was a warm and windy.
I parked Joe under the shade of a tree while the girls played and did some swinging.

Watch out she's going to J U M P!
She jumped again but I only got the landing, and her visor flew off.

Joe tried to give me a kiss while I was taking our picture.
He's such a sweet and handsome guy.....
and the girls are crazy for him.