#12-20–Micaela’s birthday and Thanksgiving in Lancaster, CA 9-16 thru 24, 2012

Happy Birthday, Micaela Martin.  We love you!
 
Birthday dinner at Las Casuela’s La Quinta with Dad, Ray, sister Aubrey and brother AJ with Gramma Dixie and Papa Frank.
We had a nice dinner with Micaela after she got off work and we got to see her new car.  A very nice evening!
The next evening we were invited to a birthday party for a friend of a friend.  So, of course we went.  Phyllis is not going to have here traditional Christmas party, so instead she hosted a 60th birthday dinner for her friend Mary.

One of the cakes for Mary’s birthday.

Mary with her daughter having a birthday drink.
On Tuesday we head off to Lancaster.  We are taking the car and leaving the MH in Indio.  “I’ll drive,” I think Frank is still tired of all the driving he did last week!  Laurie flew in from NJ on Friday, so she has been home for a couple of days.  She can work from either coast and did have to go into the Lancaster office while there. 

The first day were there we went to where Rachel and family are staying and cooked dinner. We made Prime Rib dinner—always a tradition when we were living in the house. Just used to be the day after Thanksgiving instead of the day before. But it tasted just as good!
THANKSGIVING DAY AT DOUG’S HOME IN LANCASTER, CA

		Cooking and carving for dinner VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

This year our dinner was at Doug Price’s home in Lancaster.  Laurie had flown in for the holiday, Doug’s parents came over.  Son, Ray and family all came over, as well as  Rachel and family.  Laurie and Doug had set up one room as a buffet, we had two turkeys, one deep fried and one cooked on the Weber.  All the fixings to go with it.

Black olives on Aubrey’s fingers with Aunt Laurie watching!

The Buffet room, with Diane and Skip Price filling their plates.  Rachel holding Adele is also going to get something to eat!

Dig in, everything tastes really good and there is so much to eat and so much to be thankful for.  Family, health, friends and homes.  We  are all very blessed.

Frank and Nicole doing clean up.  I think we kept Frank at the sink for almost an hour while we cleared up the food.  Lots of leftovers!  We had four different kinds of pies for desert as well as ice cream and whipped cream. 
Little Eldon was sick all during dinner and slept through the eating.  After a bath and some medicine the whole Ivison family left for home.  He missed playing with his cousins AJ and Aubrey. 
The next day he was feeling better but still had a cough so he stayed at home with his Daddy.
Laurie, Nicole and I did a short trip to the Mall to Victoria Secret for a short buying trip.  We all got the 2012 pink tote.  I gave mine to Rachel because she couldn’t come with us.  We took it over to her that afternoon and checked in on our sick boy.  He is feeling much better.  He really loves his Grannie!

This is our last day here and we are all tired of turkey and cooking so out to dinner we go.  Doug, Laurie, Doug’s Mom and Dad, Frank and I and Doug’s son Tyler all met at Claim Jumper.  Allie stayed home with Eldon and Rachel and little Adele joined us.  Sort of a good by dinner.

Good bye little ruffle bum!  We will miss you.

#12-19 Stamford playground and Mall 11-12 and 13, 2012

We were lazy on Monday.  Laurie had to go into the office and work so Rachel, the kids and I just stayed in the apt until afternoon.  Each one of the kids had a nap, at different times of the day.  So we watched the workmen that are building the park below the apartments. 

Hey Gramma, I’ve got this rolling over from my back to my tummy down, now how do I get back over?
By the time we got dressed and both the kids up at the same time it was almost 3 pm.  So we decided to take the stroller and walk to the playground on the other side of the park.  Adele would only stay in the double stroller for about 10 minutes!  Then she wanted in her Mommie’s front pack.
Eldon had a great time at the playground as you can see below.

		Stamford playground VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

By the time we left it was almost dark, so we cooked dinner and watched TV for the evening.  I’m sure Laurie liked having her dinner ready when she arrived home from work.
Laurie took the next day off.  She worked on the computer from the apt in the morning and then we walked the three blocks to the mall where they have a really neat inside play area for the kids.  They slept for a while so we did get to do some shopping.  The play area is right near the food court, so it was lunch at the mall for all of us.

		The Mall play area VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

All the structures in the play area were large plastic flowers and vegetables.  Eldon love the corn where he could crawl through and climb on top of.  And sliding down the watermelon slice was fun. He also liked to climb on the big carrot with help from his Mom.  Our little Adele is in the big flowers.

Tomorrow we leave for Los Angeles.  At least we don’t have to leave at 6 am like we did coming to NJ.  But all is not going to be easy!
United Air Lines has a computer glitch and our flight out of White Plains has been cancelled!  Thank goodness for Laurie and her travel experience.  She has a driver delivering us to the airport and calls as we are on the way, telling us that she has us booked on a flight out of Newark, NJ instead of White Plains. This is about an hours drive from Stamford instead of 30 minutes and we have to go right through part of NYC.  So off we go again not having our seats together, but at least on the same flight.

The scenery on the trip to Newark was spectacular.  All these pictures were taken from the back seat of the SUV that was taking us to the airport.  It’s a good thing our driver knew the back way to get across the George Washington Bridge so we didn’t get all tied up in traffic.  Here it is, The GW bridge!

Once we are over the bridge, we are home free it’s a quick trip to the airport.  We get there in plenty of time to check our bags, and even get a bite to eat.  This is a non stop flight and we are able to trade seats with Rachel’s seat mate so we all could sit together.  Yeah!  It ended up being a long flight and we arrive at 4:30 pm (rush hour).  Frank was there to pick me up, and Rachel got her shuttle back to the van.  She did get home before Frank and I made it to the desert.  Of course, we stopped in Downey, CA and had BBQ ribs at Chris and Pitts.  Yummmm.  It was a long day, a long flight, and a long drive home!  With the time zone change I think I was up about 18 hours or more!
Frank kept busy while I was away.  He drove me to LAX, then drove to Carlsbad to visit Diane (daughter) and family for the weekend.  Then drove back to the desert on Monday, then to Loma Linda on Tuesday for a Dr appt, back to the desert and the next day drove to LAX to pick me up.  He said in the 5 days I was gone he put 850 miles on the Suzuki!  He was tired of driving!  We both rested the next day.

#12-18 Stamford Museum and farm Preserve 11-11-2012

On Sunday Rachel found a farm and museum preserve right in Stamford, so Laurie called a Taxi company to come and pick us up and take us to the preserve.  This was a real gem for us and for the little kids.  The day was sunny and warm.  We didn’t even need our jackets.

Adele is all dressed up in her warm knit sweater and cap, and a loaner stroller is just right for Eldon until he wakes up from his nap.

		The farm part of the preserve VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

As you can see, there are still a lot of fall colors on the trees.  The sun makes them really stand out.  Of course, Eldon could only see the animals.  This is a real working farm, and there are teens that work there cleaning the pens and I assume growing the plants in the gardens during the summer.  It was all set up so nice for little kids to run around and see all the different animals.  It was not crowded and we could just stroll around and take our time.

Heading into the playground at the preserve.  Almost the entire playground is wooden.

		In the playground VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

The museum was closed for redecorating. They are getting ready to do the Christmas theme.  The mansion that is the museum belonged to a business man in NYC and is preserved as this museum. 
Eldon found a train.  This was build by hand by the owner of the house and is a working model.  It was beautiful.











Our Taxi driver took us home and dropped us off right at the door.  He even had a car seat for Eldon.  Nice!
Sunset out the window from the 9th story.  A beautiful day again!

Adele and Eldon get a bath and all cleaned up for a walk to downtown Samford for dinner at a 50’s diner where we were able to pay a nickel in the table side juke box and select a record to play.  Eldon liked pushing the buttons.

A chocolate sundae for desert.  Eldon got the first bite, but we all had a taste.