Fall Fun

October flew by with trips to San Francisco for shopping, walking and exploring, visits from Angie, and enjoying the beautiful colors of fall.

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Look who they found in the Pumpkin Patch!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Warm thoughts for Fall

Make a Smilebox postcard

Fall is in the Air

I love the feeling when seasons are changing and fall has to be one of my favorite seasons. The cool crisp air in the morning and the warm sun in the afternoon. The changing colors of the trees as they begin to turn their rich colors of yellow, orange and red. I always know it truly is fall when Starbucks starts making pumpkin spice latte's ! I have to admit I am addicted. I enjoy just about anything with pumpkin in it. This morning we woke up with overcast skies and that cool crisp fall air and headed to Apple Hill to meet up with Megan, Josh, Isabelle and Josh's brother John, his wife Marsha and their two adorable children for a little apple cider, apple fritters, apple muffins, carmel apples oh and we couldn't forget to bring home a couple of fresh apple pies for later. Yum! It was perfectly clear blue skies and we leisurely perused the crafts tents and took in the fresh air. The kids enjoyed watching people catch and release fish from the pond, feed the ducks in the pond crawling on the grass and Lily and Adam even got to ride the little ponies.

Isabelle Emily turns 1

A year of Love, A year of Joy and A year of watching our little granddaughter grow, explore, discover and melt every ones hearts. Isabelle's proud mom and dad along with grandparents, friends, cousins, aunts and uncles gathered at our house in celebration of Isabelle's first birthday for a sunny afternoon party. Isabelle seemed to love all the attention and playing with everyone.
She is truly our little gift from God.

Savoring the Last of Summer

Summer time is definitely a wonderful time to visit with friends and family and enjoy traveling. Even with Larry's consulting schedule and working in the desert the past few months we have squeezed in time with the family and taken some well need time out for rest. We went to Tahoe for a week in July and were able to escape the smoke filled valley from all the fires that were going on in the state. Tahoe is always good for relaxing, walking, wine tasting, kayaking and of course once again this year we took in spectacular fireworks on the 4th of July from the roof of the rental condo.
In August I took a whirlwind trip to Chicago, Michigan, Canada and San Antonio. I was able to connect with my siblings and their families and see my mother in San Antonio. Chicago was fantastic and my sister and I have decided we have to make that an annual meeting place to shop, dine, take in theater, etc. What a great city. I visited my 88 year old Aunt Margaret in Canada. She is an amazing woman with lots of energy and such a positive attitude. San Antonio was a blast being with my brother and sister in law and taking a 12 mile bike ride on the historic San Antonio Mission trail with them and my niece Sarah, her husband Joe and their five children who have just returned state side from several years in Germany. The kids are adorable and what troopers. We had seven kids with us all under the age of 9 and three of them riding their own bikes. You can see by the pictures it was a beautiful day in Texas and that is unusual in the month of August to have such great weather

Trip to North Carolina

Without Emily the RAGE group is just RAG so in celebration of Emily's 50th B-Day - Amy and I flew to Charlotte, North Carolina on April 24th to meet up with our dear friend Emily. Before we spent time with Emily we had a couple of days to drive to Asheville, North Carolina. With our trusty GPS guiding us we arrived in the lovely city of Asheville. Amy and I checked in to our motel about 8pm and then headed downtown to find a place to eat. After a great meal and drinks we started walking outside and noticed commotion up the street. As we headed that way we became aware that Hillary Clinton was speaking and there was quite the buzz. We quickly got swooped up in the Hillary frenzy. We heard a bit of her speech and got caught up in all the Hillary madness. Whether you are a supporter or not this was history and fun to be in the mix. The next morning we headed to the Biltmore Estate. It was beautiful and more than we expected. We spent nearly the entire day doing a walking tour through the expansive house and the gardens. The tulips, azaleas and other flowers were in bloom and the colors were fabulous! After all our walking we drove to the Biltmore winery and sampled various wines and champagnes . The next day we meet my dear friend Peggy who drove up from Tennessee. We decided to explore a state park called Chimney Rock. It was quite an adventure. We hiked up through the eye of the needle and to the top of Chimney Rock - incredible views. In the middle of the walk we encountered a tremendous rain storm. We got absolutely soaked but was such fun and added to the adventure. We definitely were not prepared for what we experienced. We then traveled back to Charlotte through torrential downpours and lightening storms. It is very scary driving when you can't see anything in front of you. We arrived in the lush green city of Charlotte where Emily and Spence have made their new home. Their community is absolutely perfect for them. We had a blast riding the mini Nascars and then actually getting on the Nascar race track, and seeing Emily's new life. Love it!