Little Getaways

Sarah mentioned that I hadn't blogged for a long time and I asked her how many pictures of Steve and I around the house do you guys want to see? Our life is full and tiring, always with lots going on, but not very "post-worthy."



We did make a great weekend getaway to Palm Springs last month. It was shocking to me, as it will be to some of you, to hear Steve say, "I can't wait to just get the Palm Springs, lay by the pool and hang out at the resort. " He really has learned to kick back. The truth is, if we're home, even when we're tired from working, we always feel pulled by things we should or could be doing. Going away solves that.



Next month will be our annual trek to Spring Training. It will be a quick weekend trip, with just a couple games. The schedule is interrupted by the World Baseball Classic, which we'll have here in mid-march, so there really aren't good weekend series at Peoria. It is always relaxing, though, to hear the sounds of cleats on the concrete which is typical only at Spring Training, and to feel the desert air in March. For us, it's a symbol of another cycle (season) in our life and a New Year celebration all its own. There may be only one more year for us that will be marked by Spring Training in the same way. After 2010, we may just be Mr. and Mrs. Joe Fan outside the complex fence. I'll plan to post when we get back.

Going Home...

I suppose many of us think we grew up someplace pretty special. The older I get, the more I believe that I grew up in a place that was near perfection. I just spent three wonderful days in San Luis Obispo, and if it had a real airport that could get our large family in and out easily, it would be a prime choice for retirement in my book. I had a wonderful time with old friends, and the mothers of old friends, who won't always be there to visit, as they now range from 80 to 90 years, plus.

In the photos are the two mountains that framed my neighborhood; both were within a mile of my home. Exactly 10 miles south off the 101 is Avila Beach, which is in secluded San Luis Bay, and 12 miles west is Morro Bay with it's famous Morro Rock.

I told Steve, "The good thing about a motor home is that we can retire everywhere!"

2008 -- Oh the Places We've Been!

Well, I've completed the blog of blogs for me, and in my inexperience, it runs backwards. It is not exactly as I wanted, but it will have to do now. Next year I will try to do much better. I hope you enjoy traveling through 2008 with us, as we have enjoyed this year and look forward to the new one.

December has arrived with all it's activity and in addition to the preparations for Christmas, we celebrated four birthdays last Sunday. My mom turned 82 and although she would say that she's seen better days, she has dodged several health issues and is generally doing well. Dawn turned 34, and she'll tell me that's the last time I can post her age. We loved giving Kendall an American Girl doll that looks like her, and Mike helped Michael master his new pogo stick.

November was a huge month. Sean brought his family down and we introduced Nicole and the kids to San Diego and to Mickey Mouse. We celebrated Chase's birthday while they were here.

Thanksgiving was a long planned and very enjoyed holiday. We camped at San Elijo State Beach Wednesday through Sunday with a real Boydrow group. We had Andersons, Wilsons, Holcombs, Tedrows and Boyds and enjoyed our Thanksgiving feast right at sunset. The next days were filled with beach activities like tide pool visits, wave jumping and much more eating. We missed several who had other commitments. Starr had planned to join us, but stayed in Washington. Tracy had just deployed to Iraq and she had things she needed to handle there. Maybe next time. I can't believe I said that!

In October I headed back to Montana to help with Sarah and the kids and welcome Baby Reina.

In September Steve went "back to school" for the 39th time, and I received my 15 year service award with the Padres.

August also took Harrison and Kim to Wyoming where they lead a youth group on the Martin Handcart Trek.

In August Michael, Jackson and Triston were little chicks in a ballgame along with the Famous San Diego Chicken. We headed north and visited Snowbird with Sean and Family and Natalie and Family, and stayed a couple days with Monika, Dusty and kids in the "Tedrow Suite" at their home, then drove further north to see the beautiful area of Bozeman, MT where Sarah and her family are currently living. From there, we drove through Yellowstone and over to Powell, WY to see Briana and her group. Oh....Steve caught up with me and turned 60, too.

In July we visited Mark, Christy and Piper in DC, then road tripped on through several states to visit Palmyra, NY and Kirtland, OH. While in New York we attended the Hill Cummorah Pageant. Brad and Maren joined us back in DC and we did the National Mall at night.

Here's Steve touring Gettysburg via bus in the rain.

The Hill Cummorah Pageant was amazing. Here I am on Main street in Kirtland, Ohio. The Newell K. Whitney Store is in the background.

Our oldest grandchild Kendall was baptized in June. We were lucky to have Sarah and kids visiting then, so all four of my kids were together for the event. The Padres took the Front Office to New York for the series of games against the Yankees. It was a fabulous trip and nice for me to have Harrison as a co-worker and travel with him and Kim since Steve couldn't get away from school to go.

Dayle turned 60 in May. Kind of a stand-alone

event!

April is Baseball time.

March to Beijing, China...Spring Training and California Adventure with Mark, Christy, Piper and Harrison and Kim (otherwise known as Mickey and Minnie).

In February I was able to visit Sarah and family in their home in South Dakota, and Steve took a trip over President's Day to see Briana and her boys in Powell, WY.

January brought Dawn, Mike and kids back to San Diego and we celebrated the twins 3rd birthdays along with Harrison's 31st.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! It's been years since I've sent Christmas cards, and I've never managed one of those nice Christmas Letters, but this year, I'm attempting this Christmas Blog! I hope you enjoy it and can make sense out of our wonderful and crazy year.

Those of you who have spent time in our home know we recapture our years by watching the photos pass by on our computer. This has been a remarkable year and when the photos go by, I'm a little amazed by all the things that have transpired during 2008. It's hard to believe we've both worked full-time all year.

We hope you will enjoy looking at some of these photos while we remember 2008 and give thanks for so many blessings at this time in our lives.

If you are receiving this blog, we count you among the blessings of our life. May 2009 find us focused on the things in life that really matter.

Merry Christmas!

It's Almost Time

It's been about a year ago that we planned to get as many of our kids together as possible to camp at San Elijo for Thanksgiving. Although we don't have everyone coming, we have a good group of our kids and expect a lot of fun. We will miss those of you who couldn't make it and hope the "northerners" will plan something in a couple years in another location, not necessarily for Thanksgiving, but maybe the summer.

We've been watching the weather closely, and I told Dad/Steve that he has become very spoiled here in California. He's very worried about the rain. In checking it out, it looks like there are a couple days with 30% chance of "showers". Further investigation shows the "showers" are expected between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m., so they should just add to the camping ambiance.

Those of you who always picture San Diego as a place where you wear shorts and T-shirts should know that temperatures in the day-time are expected to be in the low 60s, and the night temps will drop to the low 50s. Being on the coast means some fog which adds to the chill, so you'll want to be able to layer up.

We are really excited. Dawn and I are going to CostCo tomorrow, Harrison has been waterproofing tents (we'll bring some waterproofing spray) and we've been going through gear and double checking our lists.

We can't wait to see everyone as you check in on Wednesday!

Thanksgiving, San Elijo, Here We Come!

I can't believe it is almost time for us to go camping for the Thanksgiving weekend. Here is some information we hope will be helpful. Steve and I will pay for all three camping sites. As the numbers dwindled, that raised the price for each of those still camping, so we'll take care of it for you. I'm going to do a major CostCo trip and get lots of kid and adult snacks, hot chocolate, paper products, and basics for lunch and dinner meals. Dawn is going to bring lots of cereal and bread for everyone. There is shopping close by, so whatever you specifically need for your kids that you don't have will be easy to get. We will ask you to contribute to Steve whatever you think is reasonable for your meals. Monika and Dusty...since you don't get the "camping discount" and are paying a hotel after traveling from Utah, we won't ask a food contribution from you. Below are my schedule/dinner menu thoughts. Please write back with your thoughts and any meal or idea you would like to take responsibility for planning or fixing:

Wednesday, November 26
Camp Check-in 1 p.m. Everyone set up their camps and on our own for dinner. There is fast food across the street.

Thursday, November 27 Thanksgiving
Roast Turkey
Campfire Baked Ham and Sweet Potatoes
Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
Foil Roasted Fall Vegetables
Dutch Oven Stuffing
Cranberry Sauce
Rolls
Pies

Friday, November 28
Hamburgers and Hot Dogs

Saturday, November 29
Foil Dinners

Sunday, November 30 Happy Birthday to Dawn
Break Camp and Check Out at 11 a.m.

We will have extra chairs, but you should bring them if you have them along with your other camping/cooking gear.

Let me know your ideas and questions, and we'll get this all together. We can't wait!

Family and Disneyland

It is so much fun to be grandparents at Disneyland. Steve and I have had some wonderful times since his first time to Disneyland on our honeymoon almost 10 years ago. No digital cameras then, so who knows where our pictures are. In retirement sometime I will find all the missing photos and scan them in. We had a great time with Sean, Nicole and kids this week. Hope you enjoy some photos of Disneyland and kids!

Updates

Good Morning! It looks like more and more of you are creating blogs and letting this be our blog, although we're happy to have everyone post some things here, too. Sarah is going to teach me how to link your blogs to this one, which should make it easy to keep up with everyone.

This baseball season has flown by, thankfully, and we've made great trips, covering 10 states. Between May '07 and August '08, we saw all of our children and grandchildren. Of course, having three kids and four grandchildren in town makes it a little easier. :)

Next week I'm off to Montana to meet Sarah and Aaron's new Baby Reina, due on the 15th. Love you all! Mom/Dayle

P.S. The big event I forgot to mention was that we both turned 60!

Hope you enjoy a couple of the photos!

Amazing Beijing

We had what to us was an unbelievable time in China. Remember, we were raised in a time where you not only were not allowed to go there, but it was also where parents threatened to ship naughty children. "If you don't straighten up, I'm going to ship you off to China," they would say.

When we arrived following our 15 hour charter flight from Phoenix, we were assisted through customs efficiently by Chinese airport agents who appeared to be practicing for the 2008 Olympics. After presenting our passports, collecting our luggage, and clearing customs, we boarded buses to the Beijing Grand Hyatt at about 5:30 p.m. while it was still light. The light, however was obstructed by the worst smog I have ever seen. Remember, my grandparents were from LA, and I have seen smog. It was reminiscent of some of the worst firestorms we've had here when the sky was dark and brown.

The following days, the weather was hovering around 60 degrees and the skies were relatively blue. Since the games against the Dodgers were Saturday and Sunday, we had Thursday and Friday for sightseeing, mixed in the MLB briefings, etc. for me. Of course, I was more than happy to work some since being needed was what enabled me to be included on this trip in addition to the Padres officers. Being able to take your dad, too, was unbelievable.

Thursday was an organized excursion to the Great Wall of China. It's continuance wherever you look on the mountains is unbelievable. It simply goes and goes. It is extremely steep and it is hard to believe that vendors haul their goods up it each day to hound the visitors. They are very tenacious in their attempts to sell things. We took lots of Padres caps to give away on the wall and the vendors would come after us chanting "For me...for me..." We broke down and gave a couple of them to the sellers and found them trying to sell them as we came back down. We made it to a respectible height. We could have made it further, but I was afraid my legs wouldn't work the next day and I needed them. Surprisingly, there were no muscle aches for either of us.

The Forbidden City is far larger than it initially appears and the entry is just opposite Tian' Anmen Square, with Mao overlooking it. The photos with the Lions are the male and female lion standing watch. The female has a cub under her paw, and the male has the world under hi. We were on our own this day and walked through many different neighborhoods. That is our favorite when we travel, getting out among the real people. We also made an effort to eat the real food (me more than Steve :)), but not quite the exotic offerings the players ate. They told us of eating silk worms, scorpions, pidgeon with the head still on, etc. The Chinese don't waste anything, and Steve had a great dish with prawns. At first glance, they were the biggest prawns we'd ever seen. Then we realized they were complete with heads, eyes, etc. He managed to eat them after neatly removing and hiding the heads where he wouldn't see them.

I couldn't resist asking for a photo with a commie guard at the mall. They were everywhere, and the street lights had speakers so leaders could broadcast instructions and propaganda to the people.

The two baseball games were great fun, and meaningful to me in that my boss has worked for years to take Major League Baseball to China. We hope to develop a baseball academy there in the near future. It was fun to watch the enthusiasm of the Chinese people, most of whom had no clue what was going on. It wasn't until game two that they thought to warn them that balls would fly into the stands. We were detained by the military police trying to enter the ballpark, had to dispose of about 200 items that were illegal to take into the park, and definitely learned the difference of living in freedom vs. under Communism. God bless the USA.

Our return charter had us land and clear customs in Seattle. It was beautiful looking down on the Sound as we came in. I realized as I stepped off the plane the tension that was a part of moving about in China was gone. We relaxed, took deep breaths and went through the process with no anxiety.

Mark -- You said you'd like to see your dad in a foreign country. Well, you would have been proud of him. By day two, he'd go outside the hotel by himself to find McDonalds, while I had breakfast meetings. He studied the maps and became our navigator for our excursions during free time.

We had a trip which we'll remember for ever, and take additional interest in what goes on there. The younger people are definitely working at becoming more western, and the more access to information they have, the more they will likely eventually want freedom.

Hope you enjoy these photos! Love -- Dayle/Mom and Steve/Dad

Jazz Game

Ok first of all: Get off your lazy bootay's and post!

Now that I have that out of the way :) Tonight Jer took Drew and I to a Utah Jazz game. We had a pretty good time and Drew LOVED cheering on the players. Thought I'd share a few of the pictures and a little video - enjoy!

Radios and Software for All

I thought I'd throw up a photo of Dad/Steve's completed vacation project. We work hard to make sure and keep your radio and software collections in tact. The Tedrows will be happy to know that the Commodore is up and running. Now...this weekend's frustration (project) will be trying to get it to run through a 2007 flat screen TV. Thanks to EBay, the connector (we hope) arrived yesterday!

Drew playing mechanic

Ok, so this is kinda a test too. I discovered we CAN post video to the blog and I just HAPPEN to have a cute little clip and story. The video doesn't show this particular event but Drew loves to stand on this garage and today he was sitting on it when he looked down at the car ramp and decided it was a perfect little SLIDE! Needless to say his little rump didn't "slide" too well. But it sure was fun to watch!

Hope that this idea catches on with all our kin folk. Many thanks to Dayle for the idea and Natalie for setting it up. I had a real special time visiting Utah this week. Got to hold and admire two of the latest additions to the Clan, Halle Joy and Dane. What special little spirits they both are!!! Great to see Carmen, Jack and Drew also and to hold and play with them. I really appreciate all the time Sean, Nicole, Monika and Dusty set aside to spend with us. I also had a great time with Scott helping him to make the purchase of a 2002 Taurus. Saved him a few bucks, although Sean would probably have done better. Still got a good deal. Glad to hear that Natalie and Drew were not hurt when she slid off the road on the way home Saturday night. Great to see her also. Got great news from Starr. She and Tracy are planning to visit Disneyland and Sea World Jan. 13-18. Dawn, Mike and their 4 children will be staying with us while they wait for Navy housing to be assigned them, so we will have a house full of grandchildren and family throughout January. God Bless you all and I hope each and everyone of you have a great New Year.

Love,

Dad