Back to the same old grind...

Well, that's it. Summer's over. All my vacations for the year are done, I'm back at work, and school starts Monday. Well, it was nice while it lasted. :-)

The trip to Humboldt County was great! My visit with Dad, Sheree, Kevin, & Bobby was nice. Dad, Sheree, and I sat around and played a board game & card games. The board game -- Elvisopoly, what a blast that was! It was cool, it put a cute little twist to Monopoly, which I was never a big fan of before. But having everything Elvis-related made it fun and interesting. And of course getting to visit is nice. But the visit was too short. Due to some packing issues, we didn't head out on the road until late Saturday morning, so I didn't get into town until late Saturday night. I just went straight to Janis', ate dinner, and went to bed, so I didn't go visit Dad & everyone that day. Then Janis and I went to Willow Creek on Sunday, so I only visited my family for a few hours that night.

Janis and I had a great time, though, at her company's annual party in Willow Creek -- horseshoes, badminton, frisbee toss, water volleyball, it was all so much fun & awesome! My first team lost at water volleyball because - well first of all, my team sucked - and second, the other team cheated and didn't rotate players the way they are supposed to and nobody called them on it. But, what could I do, I was a guest there so I certainly wasn't going to be a butt about it. Then in the championship between the two finalist teams, one of the people was busy at horseshoes, so they asked me to take his place. It was a close game, but we won! Then me & my badminton teammate - Janis' boyfriend Lee - won our badminton round & then won the finals round as well. I love winning... :-) But I also love just playing, so it was a blast all day. I'm so glad Janis brought me along.

But, anyway, it ended up that I really only got in one full day of visiting with Dad & everyone on Monday, then half the day on Tuesday until it was time for me to leave at 2:00.

And off I went to camping at Hidden Springs Campground in Myers Flat with Dave, the boys, and Alex's girlfriend Lindsay. We had a good time. But again, not a lot of time for me. I was only there the last half of Tuesday & all day Wednesday. We had great dinners - Alex & Lindsay cooked Tuesday night & Wednesday night and both were absolutely yummy meals! We played a game Tuesday night, went swimming all day Wednesday, roasted marshmallows & made s'mores after dinner, but didn't play any games that night because I wanted to get to bed early so we could head out early enough on Thursday. Well, when I say "went swimming all day", I mean the kids & Dave swam & cruised the river in the raft-boat thing while I stayed on the beach and got a little sun. But then when the water warmed up around 3:30, I finally hopped in. I finally swam some, but by that time everyone else was tired from swimming all day and I was the only one left in the water. :-( Oh, well, it was still a lot of fun! Since I didn't have a lot of time, we didn't go explore at all, but the campground is right along the Avenue of the Giants which is a beautiful drive through the Redwoods. I highly recommend that!

This was by far our favorite camping spot that we've tried in the last three summers, so I think we've decided to keep going to this place whenever we go camping. Plus, being only an hour & 20 minutes away from McKinleyville, it makes visiting my Dad & everyone more convenient. While Dave & the boys are camping, I can go visit Dad for three or four days, and then meet up with Dave & the boys to finish out the last three or four days camping with them. That way Dave & the boys get their long camping trip in that they like, and I get to visit the family but also get in the few days of camping that I prefer. It will allow me to have two of my summer vacation trips packed into one - perfect! :-)

Getting ready for another vacation...

As we are getting ready for our last trip this summer (sigh), let me revisit my summer vacations... Our trip to Washington state was a joy -- I'm so happy I was able to make the trip and start getting to know my beautiful three-month-old baby great nephew Dominic. If you ask me, he takes after his mommy (my niece Valerie) with his adorable chubby face. He is such a good baby, content and alert. He is great with people he doesn't know, too. I just met him, but he was letting me hold him all the time and didn't fuss, whine, or cry. He just laughed, cooed, gurgled -- and farted, oh what a cutie. I can hardly wait to see him again -- I wish it was soon, but probably not until next year.

Mom's visit here was nice as well. Although she didn't feel well much, when she was feeling up we had a great time. We enjoyed the beach at Half Moon Bay, took a trip to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, went shopping at the Gilroy Outlet Mall, went out to dinner a few nights, and made a few outings to our shopping malls here. It was fun, but too short of a visit -- as always.

I got to spend some time with my sister Kerry & niece Stephanie, too. Steph has grown up to be a funny & witty person -- she cracked me up so much, it seemed like my cheeks hurt all the time. I wish I could have spent more time visiting with Valerie, too, but I didn't spend that many days up north and so we just didn't get much of a chance. Maybe - hopefully - we'll get the opportunity on our next visit.

Now we are getting ready for our final trip this summer -- our drive to Humboldt County. I'll be visiting my Dad, brothers Kevin & Bobby, sister Sheree, and my friend Janis, while Dave will be camping with the boys. Then I'll meet up with them for the last two nights of camping and then - bam! - the new school year starts the week after we get back. Geez what a busy busy summer! Hope everyone is enjoying theirs... take care! I will let everyone know when I have pictures posted.