Women's Retreat in Lincoln City OR

For several years before Frank and I hit the road to full-time, I attended a retreat with long-time friend, Linda Murphy and the women from her church. It was one of the highlights of my year. I love this retreat--the women, the beach and the message are all always an anchor to my spirit. This year I was so thrilled to be able to attend the retreat in Lincoln City and it was again a wonderful experience. Seventeen woman, ranging in age from their 20's to 80's, were in attendance and they all know how to enjoy the beach and each other. We shopped, we worshiped, we played games, we sang, we fellowshiped, we explored, we walked the beach, we ate in, we ate out, we laughed, we cried, we played games, we shared our joys & our concerns, and we had more fun than one can imagine.
The weather was beautiful, the view from our beach house was terrific and the house itself was perfect. It was huge, 6 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms on 3 floors, sleeps 22-26 people, and is top quality throughout. It was a winner.

Our good friend Joyce has always wanted to have an opportunity to blow a piece of glass, and in Lincoln City you can do that. So on Saturday, she fulfilled her long held dream and was able to blow her own glass float, while Linda and I got to watch! We not only enjoyed watching her complete her "bucket list" item, but we received an education to boot on glass blowing. The 3 musketeers Joyce, Dianne & Linda--we know how to have fun!!!

The Easter Bunny makes an appearance

In Easter days past we often attended Easter Egg hunts and other kid type events with our kids who are now grown. Those times were long ago and the memories of those times had long dimmed. But today we were ready to recreate those memories with our grandkids. First there was a cookie decorating activity-Priveen thought that was lots of fun. The Easter Bunny also made an appearance. Now Soonita age 5, thought that was great, but Priveen, age 3, made the statement just before going into the store, "just how BIG is that bunny???" apparently having second thoughts about this "fun" event. He wasn't quite as thrilled to see a larger than life "bunny"and thought mom, Melissa, should stand between him and that thing called a "bunny". Oh so cute.
Next we were off to the Alpenrose Dairy Easter Egg Hunt. This event has been going on for over 40 years, and is grouped by age. The kids make a run for chocolate eggs, and some even have a small note attached denoting a price to the recipient. Seems Priveen & Soonita found lots of chocolate eggs and several prize eggs to boot. They were elated with their booty and mom, grandmom & aunt were able to return home exhausted but happy to see these two little ones content. It was a great day for all of us.

Swinging in Silverton

We no sooner got back to Oregon and we found ourselves off to our local Classic RV club's 1st camping outing of the season. This is such a great group of RV'ers and we always enjoy our time with this group. We were all invited to Silverton, OR to have a "Swinging Good Time" and that we did. The weekend was filled with seeing old friends, informative guided tours, delicious food, great dancing, competitive games and lots of fun! Our tours included the towns of Mt. Angel and Silverton, which are both rich in history. Mt. Angel's St. Mary's Church stands as a testament to those artists who wanted to depict the story of Christ within the beautiful stained glass windows. The man guiding our tour had been doing so for 20 years and therefore was able to not only give us historical facts, but also several side stories that proved very interesting to us. Then he expanded his tour to included the Glockenspiel complex and even more stories about the German heritage of Mt. Angel. Each year in September Mt. Angel is host to one of the largest Oktoberfest in the Northwest and a must attend for those in the area during this time.

We did another guided tour on Saturday of the locally painted murals of downtown Silverton. Each mural has been painted by a local artist and reveals a fascinating story that relates to the town's history. One of the murals depicts a hometown astronaut, Don Pettit. We found this to be an interesting coincidence, because his last ascent into space was on November 14, 2008 and we just happened to be there in FL to view that launch and now we were in Silverton to view the tribute to him via a descriptive mural. Kinda cool don't you think?

Our next guided tour was of the Oregon Gardens, again history, stories and a chance to view creative artists who happen to "paint" their creations with flowers, plants and innovative landscaping.
Saturday night was "Swing Night". It was a 50's atmosphere, with 45's records & LP's everywhere, a coney island & root beer float dinner, swing dancing demonstrations and the much anticipated "Unique Sock Contest"!

What an array of socks were on display by members. There was a prize for the gals--and one for the guys. Guess who won--yep, Frank with his more than cute Doggie Socks.
After the judging was completed it was on to the dancing. We had a ball, rock'n'rollin, swinging and sometimes even dancing. These guys really gave the rest of us a truly great time!!!

Our Grandson's 3rd Birthday Party

We were so happy to be able to celebrate our youngest grandson Priveen's birthday this year and boy did he have a good time. He turned 3 and he was all smiles, perhaps some of those great presents made the day a good day.

An added blessing for us was all of our family came to celebrate this with him. This photo is of his sister Soonita age 5, his mom Melissa and auntie Gina---some of his most favorite people!! They tend to spoil him a bit too much:)
The birthday was held at our son Frankie & wife Sheri's home.
Son Jaemes and Brandi were there to wish favorite nephew, Priveen a happy birthday.
And of course Auntie Gina with boyfriend Quinn were there to give birthday wishes & special gifts to birthday boy Priveen.

My mom Nadine, who was visiting from Missouri, and Grand Aunt Doreen & Uncle Vern were able to attend this year also, making it more special. Frank and I really enjoyed see our family all celebrating together. It is good to be here and we are thankful for such a close family.