Oh pooh... we didn't get upgraded to First Class this time..

Our trip home was another wonderful journey in a sardine can we call a plane.... BUT, I'm not complaining... It sure as heck beats driving!

Good to be back at home!

Griffin.... One of our youngest Foundation Members... Exploring he found....

A snail..... Maybe a Marine Biologist in his future!

Our Family Foto Op !

Well... here we are.... all of us... we tried to go for each family wearng it's own color.... didn't quite work out... Green seem to be the most popular.... Another good day. Jer and I even got out to do a bridge picture... will post later....

Site Visit Review Time and then a softball game...

Weather was very beautiful again today. This morning at our meeting we spent most of the time reviewing our site visits completed for this year. It's so great to see everyone engaged in the process. You can see I'm doing my best to convey how cool some of the sites were. It was announced two board members are officailly retiring and we have two new ones joining the board. New Blood... That's a good thing.

After lunch we had an impromptu softball game... all ages... all skill levels. Some of us sat on the bleachers and cheered them on (ahhh, that would be me included...). Came back to the hotel to a very crowded pool area, but managed to find chairs to relax in the sun and shade for a while before dinner. Another good day.

Restoring the native habitat at the San Diego River Mouth

We spent the morning in our first 'meeting'; then we were off to Ocean Beach, Dog Beach.... to work on the vegetation around the San Diego River mouth. Wow... it was great to see as many of our 53 members out there working. The 'littles' and some of their mom's didn't get to totally join in, but they were there to cheer folks on. Emily's son Cameron wasn't too pleased she was holding his Cousin Austin.

It was very warm... 80+... there was an ocean breeze, but we were doing manual labor, so it didn't really feel like you were cooled down at all. After all the invasive plants were pulled up, the trail rocks put in place to clearly mark the trail, well, it was then time to plant 50 new plants. Every member got to help with that... well, if they chose to. By the end of our time there, we were all anxious to get in the pool back at the hotel.

A little trip across the bay!

So, Jerry went golfing with the JJFF board today.. meeting over the golf ball I guess.. Jilli and I met Halley and Dan for lunch around the pool... H and D went for massages, so Jilli and I took the water taxi over to Seaport Village. We had to find 5 matching shirts for our large group picture (Each family is suppose to wear the same color) Very nice ride and a respite from the 83 degree weather. Walked around the village.... you know, no matter what city/town you go to, they all have the same touristi stuff. The Families have been arriving today. Some of the younger ones have really changed in the last two years. The Dinner pic is just of a few of us... What a lucky waiter!

Tomorrow is an all member meeting and then in the afternoon, we all go to a site visit where we will be cleaning a beach here in the SanDiego area. We've never done anything like that before; usually we arrange folks to come to us and tell us about their organizations. This I think will be pretty neat.

California Here We Come....

Left this morning for sunny San Diego, and it hasn't let us down. Crowded flight (so what's new) but a smooth one. Met up with Halley and Dan and then got our mini-van and headed to Coronado Island where our Foundation is meeting. Our room looks out at the water and the city; it really is quite pretty. Some very large navy boats/ships have passed by. Not much else happening yet... took a BUNCH of silly pictures of me... we were noting that there are never any pictures of me.... now they have some... I'll post later... I found the two viagra chairs on the grounds of the hotel... for you viewing enjoyment....

Independence Day.... July 4th

Fireworks galore here in Minneapolis. We can see about 8 different cities shows from our hotel room. What is really nice is we don't have to fight traffic to get home. Today we picked up Phil and all of us went to Cowboy Slims for lunch and then cruised around the Minnehaha Park and Minnehaha Falls.... They really do their green spaces here great.... Later some PuttPutt at Mall of America...(WoooWhoooo).

Where is Stillwater, Minnesota...? right next to Wisconsin!

We took our trip to Stillwater... What a great little town, right on the St Croix River. It only took about an hour to get there... and feels like a totally different place. Of course, Halley and Dan snoozed on the way... (well, they snoozed on the way home too, but I didn't take a picture of that since it looked the same...lol).
The town is a typical tourist place, but there is a whole lot of history there. The homes were truly a slice of Americana. The flags were out... everyone getting ready for tomorrow, the 4th. The Paddle Boat was about a two hour trip.... the coastal views from the river were splendid. Temperature was absolutely perfect.
After the ride, we spent just a bit of time walking on Main street. Halley had her walker, so we didn't do anything too taxing. Halley found a great candy store and she and Dan emptied some of their wallets there.
Tomorrow, not sure what we'll do... we all decided we don't want to be in the crowds. We do want to play some puttputt golf... we will see. We'll prolly watch a lot of fireworks shows from our hotel. Since it's all flat here, we'll be able to see many of the shows.

It's Halley's Birthday!!!!

Halley turned the big 32....Jer and I flew out here yesterday and for the next four days we will be having a staycation of sorts while we're here. We always stay at the Embassy's Suites when we visit... this time, Halley and Dan also have a room. We had a dinner celebration with 10 of her friends at the "Outback". Fun time.... Jerry was 'on'.... every little wit-ism out his mouth brought tons of laughter from the kids. He and I started laughin' at how easy it was to get the kids going and then he lost control and couldn't stop laughing. You know, it's one of those, you had to be there to really appreciate the whole scene.
Halley had a massage and mani today for a treat... Dan had a massage... He's been really weird today... really, really spaced out. It gets frustrating cuz you just want to shake him... it's not totally his fault... in this case those, he got up late and took the morning and noon pills at the same time... He was a true space cadet.
Tomorrow we go to Stillwater, MN.... gonna have lunch on a PaddleBoat crusing on the St. Croix river. They also have lots of little shops. Should be fun...