Matty at Eighteen Months

After missing Matty for almost a year, I finally went to Florida for a visit. Lori was the perfect hostess and gave me unlimited time with Matty and Abby!!! How will I ever thank her?




Lori and I took Abby and Matty to the park as an excursion for all of us and Matty had a ball exploring all the equipment. He was particularly interested in the Fire Engine with its steering wheel and windows but enjoyed the slides also as mommy first went down with him and then let him brave them on his own - he is all boy!















Grandpa stays close.





















There's nothing like a good swing with your son to create a special moment.










After all that exercise mother and son enjoy a quiet moment. For me there is something very special about walking hand-in-hand with your child.








Matty likes the new rocker in the living room. It isn't the easiest thing for him to crawl into but he always seems to manage.

BELOW:

Matty's whole world changed when Abby was born but he is quickly adapting to being a big brother (he doesn't yet know this will be a lifetime role for him!!!). He is very good with her and here he has a few quiet moments with his sister.
























Mom and baby enjoy a short nap. I was reminded of how much work an 18 month old and a newborn can be. Hopefully I was able to give Lori extra rest for the few days I was there. Thankfully Bonnie and Glenn are close enough to be a sustaining help.









I decided it was time for me to build something for my grandson and finally settled on a wooden airplane. James assisted by providing some of the material and Becky did her part with the paint. Here is the finished product. Hopefully I succeeded in making it pretty much 'boy-proof'.









One of the projects Dave and I wanted to complete was to prepare their house for the upcoming hurricane season. Here we have completed installing the 'hangers' for the storm shutters so Dave can put them up without assistance in a fairly short time. Now we will just pray they do not need them!!!




Below Matty and mom go down the slide and Matty kicks the tires.

Abigail Anne Crawford

Time to revisit the newest Crawford (and one of only 3 living female Crawfords in my family tree)!!!! This is a small selection of the photos of our little girl. For more photos see the Dave and Lori's Blog link under 'Our Favorite People's Link' on the left side of the page.



Really no commentary required for these photos. She is too precious.

Welcome to Oregon

After our long wait to visit Oregon we were not disappointed with the great views and weather. This blog entry is viewed from top to bottom in order of date taken (first photo below is oldest and last photo is newest - as in today!)

The photos of the Rocky Point Resort area include the Canoe Trail, restaurant and views from same, boat docks, etc. Later in the entries I have captured the Wood River Valley including the headwaters of the Wood River, Ft. Klamath in its present day condition and some photos of 'the old days' and the local Methodist Church.

Questions may be sent to our email address for more details.

From Texas to Oregon

Enough for today. This is a 'teaser' of our Oregon destination. Will post more another day.

I am trying to catch up on my postings. These photos attempt to capture our trip from Texas to Oregon (except the one below, of course). The sequence is the oldest are at the bottom of this post and the newer at the top (scroll down to the bottom of the posting to start and move upward to view in 'taken' sequence).

I may add more captions as time permits so if there is something you do not recognize, check back later.
NOTE: Cleaned it up some and added comments/captions on 20 May).


























Due to the lack of RV parks in and around Silicon Valley we stayed in a park in Morgan Hill (a bedroom community for Silicon Valley). The good news was it was a beauty and in perfect settings. Every site had flowers in the 'media' between each site. Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.











This was originally a 'wine barn' when the property was a vineyard/winery and has been converted to the owner's house.
























The second reason for our stop in Silicon Valley was to revisit San Francisco. If you know San Francisco, you can see from these photos that much is unchanged in the past 30 or so years (my first visit to the City by the Bay was in 1978 I think).













Years ago James and I toured Alcatraz and had a very special experience - we received a personal tour of areas not normally open to visitors plus visited with an ex-inmate who was there at the time.

No message is intended by including Becky in a photo with 'The Rock'.












I believe this is the restaurant where James and I had lunch during our visit to San Francisco. He still talks about this day we shared.


As to the panhandler below - don't know if his honesty paid off but we didn't notice his nestegg growing any while we were watching.

























One reason for stopping in Silicon Valley was to touch base with some old friends. Jack Anspach and the Ray Fenning family became special people in our lives during our work in England and we have managed to stay in touch over the years. Ray and Liz graciously hosted us and we were able to catch up with each others lives over the past 10 years (could not believe it had been so long). Ray and Liz's daughter Staci came by with her son to complete the party. I first knew her as a teen and she just turned 40!!!!! Where did the time go. Thanks to all for a super visit.
































Leaving Morro Bay we drove through another version of Napa Valley Wine country. Some of the vineyards stretched FOREVER it seemed. Some of the vines were new but others had huge trunks coming out of the ground indicating they had been there for a long time.









This one intriqued us as it had wildflowers planted between the rows of grapes.

























One of our criteria as we travel is to not drive long distances each day. While as a young man I drove from LA to San Francisco without a lot of thought, it is now a two day trip (at least). We chose to spend some time at Morro Bay on the California coast on our way north. These are shots taken as I walked around the State Park at Morro Bay.














I am always on the lookout for interesting golf courses (especially those with great views) and this one that was in the State Park certainly qualified.














One of the advantages of an RV is being able to pick a scenic spot for lunch. Here we are stopped along Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) for a great lunch Becky prepared on the spot.

















We are on our way to Oregon from Belton, Texas. These are a few of the scenes along the way. The 'road shots' demonstrate a typical Texas non-freeway road and I took one shot looking West and the other looking East.
The River is the Colorado near Blythe, CA.
The Wind Generators are just west of Palm Springs, CA.