Pumpkin Party 08

This past Sunday we celebrated
Michael's 45th Birthday and
Sammy's 15th Birthday.

Unfortunately I did not get
pictures of all attendees, but I
did finally get my camera out
about half way through pumpkin
carving. The rest of my time was
spent feeding a rather large bunch
and I was about three chicken pot
pies short of having enough.... thank goodness for a big huge cake!


Enjoy!

Bridget & Logan did some pumpkin painting
instead of carving (much, much safer)

Tom, the "master carver" as Sammy dubbed him.
Tom didn't even get started carving his pumpkin
at the party, but Sammy was amazed that he
was able to draw his intricate design--free hand!Sammy

Nessa

Grammy Judy & Dana

Grandma Karen & BridgetSammy & AustinMei Mei & LilyBridget
(Joey in the background)
Grampy Geo & LilyBridget & Byron
(this is the special kitty tail shot)AustinAndrew & JoeyThe Cake... funny those RIP headstones
actually say "Over the Hill" on them and we didn't
even tell them it was Michael's 45th (hee, hee)Sammy "the windbag" Lubitz gets his wish

No, you cannot get Bridget the faded Kitty

to smile--even if you bribe her with cake....

I cannot believe I did not get a picture of
Logan in his "oh so adorable" doggy costume.
Betsy...

San Diego: Day Four

On Day Four we really ended
up with most of another day
to enjoy. And the weather
was beautiful...again.
Sunny and 85.




Even though we lived in San Diego for 3 years, I do not remember
spending much time in Balboa Park.

Funny thing, the first 2 years we lived in San Diego we lived in
Hillcrest, which borders Balboa Park. Anyway, I remember going
to the world famous zoo and all that, but we apparently missed
out on all the great museums on El Prado. I need to check around
and see if this stuff was actually there when we lived in SD... I can't
believe we missed it. Every visit to San Diego should include a visit
to Museum Row and Prado Restaurant.

I spent a good deal of time in the Museum of Photographic
Arts (MOPA) while Michael was on a conference call.
There were so many museums we did not have time for--we
will have to return.

There was this great walkway lined with

Palm Trees so Michael and I decided to snap
pictures of each other.

I really wanted a picture of the two of us together,
but my camera is heavy and difficult to operate
so I didn't want to ask a stranger to take our
picture. My arms are so short, so I had Michael
hold the camera... I really wanted to get that
beautiful Playhouse in the background on the left,
but we ended up with the white car. It is really
hard to take a picture like this, but we both
managed a smile and the focus isn't bad....

I took this last one out the window of our
airplane on the way back to Portland. I
think it is amazing how you cannot see
how amazingly dirty the window was.
Anyway, a lovely ending to a wonderful week!

San Diego: Day Three

So we spent our last full day
in San Diego, Michael's Birthday,
driving to a quaint little town
in the Cuyamaca Mountains
named Julian. It is a historic
gold mining town that is now
famous for apples, apples
and more apples....

The really weird thing, though, was that, really, when you are
in the little town, there are no apple trees in sight. It was
kind of "twilight zone-ish". Kind of like you stepped out of
reality and into a TV set from "Murder She Wrote" (with no
apple trees).

On our way to Julian, we finally satisfied
Michael's craving for In-n-Out Burger. It
was his birthday after all. Honestly though,
Michael goes to California about every other
week, and he gets his fix every other week, so I
did not feel the need to rush to every In-n-Out
in San Diego. And no, we did not each eat
two double doubles... this is a stock photo
I grabbed from somewhere.

So, once we finally arrived in Julian
(and it is quite a drive) we quickly noticed
the town is full of two things:
bakeries (selling mostly pies) and
antique shops. The antique shops weren't
that great, but the pies looked absolutely
delicious!

We were still very full from our
burger lunch, but we did pick up a piece
of Dutch Apple Pie with Caramel Sauce
to go.

We drove out of town a bit to a winery
(where there was not a vineyard in sight),
but ironically we did see a small apple orchard.
This teepee decorated for Halloween was
actually pretty cool. This was a small
U-Pick Apple Orchard. I have no idea
where all the apples for all the pies in
town actually come from... a mystery!

Later that night we had a very
romantic birthday dinner for Michael
at a local La Jolla Italian Restaurant
named Sante. By the time we finally got to
dinner, we had the whole place
to ourselves. Nice!