Good Bye

Well, Dave and his family should be in the air right now on their way to China via LA and then Seoul, South Korea. It's going to be a very long flight with two small children. They've worked furiously over the last two months to get most of their belongings sold or (at the end) given away. They got the rest of their possessions in 9 bags and some carry-on luggage.

They spent last night with us and then went this morning to finish up a few things this afternoon. This is a picture at breakfast this morning.


Papa got to watch Savvy and Ty while Mom and Dad were busy:



Shannon was worried that the bags might not hold up and might also be too heavy, so we spent a bit of the afternoon wrapping the bags in duct tape and weighing them out front.


Farewells:


This one really got me. These two little boys, born two days apart, have been such great friends. It's sad that after over five years they'll be separated by so many miles.


Dave, Shannon, and Ed pushing the carts with their luggage.


Checking in at the airport. I've never been with anyone traveling with this much stuff before--but it's everything they own.


Ty and Savvy waiting for all the red tape to get done.


Ready to go through security:


Bye you guys. You'll be missed. *hugs*


*sob*

Grandkids

It's hard to believe that this time next Sunday Dave and his little family will be flying to China. We had everyone over for a final family dinner. The grandkids had a lot of fun playing and eating. I try not to think about it too closely because I start getting misty.

Spencer is counting his last days in his old job and is looking forward to his new job in Hawaii. They had a garage sale Saturday and did really well. Erin's feverishly getting rid of stuff, because it's expensive to ship stuff over there. Who knows how much time we'll have with them . . . *sob*.

Here are some pictures from today.

Tyson and Aidan


Adam sneaking in for a picture with Savanna and Sienna.


Madelyn (aka "Lizzie")

And playing Rock Band:

Camping with the Cousins

Wow, this has become quite a walk down memory lane. When we lived in California we were only three hours from Ed's brother Richard and his family. Their three daughters were close to the Erin and Shanna's ages, and their two boys were close in age to our three boys. Poor Dave was just the oldest boy, but he got on well with the girls. We loved to go camping together. It's one of the saddest things we lost when it was necessary to move for Ed's health.

One of the things we loved to do was go rafting down the American River. The area in Sacramento isn't the part that has those incredible rapids. There's just one between the bridge in the south and Goethe Park--the San Juan. Every time we went down it, it was different, depending upon what the water levels were. The American River is wide and fairly shallow. We would drop Ed's motorcycle at Goethe Park and drive up to the bridge (cannot remember it's name now) where we'd haul the food and life vests and rafts to the water. It was a leisurely float down the river and would take about 3 hours. There was a sand barge in the middle of the river at one point that we would always stop at. The kids would run to the top of the barge and quickly float (in deep water) to the end. They'd grab the land, run back, and float again. When we got to Geothe Park at the end, we'd play on the beach while Ed took his motorcycle up to get the van, come pick us up, and we'd go back up to get the motorcycle. We always ended the day by stopping at A&W for a gallon of root beer.

(Click on the photos to see a larger version)


This is Me, David, Shanna, and Erin (from back then left to right) by one of the rafts.


This is the sand dune with David and Shanna on it.


This picture is Erin just as she's about to land on the sand dune after floating down.

When Ed's brother Richard and his family would come we were sometimes able to take them rafting with us.

This above picture includes our god daughter, Dessa (front). That's Carole in the back with Robert on the right.


Above is Richard on the left, his daughters Sharon and Christine (can't tell for sure), and Erin on the right. Erin complains that I always get goofy pictures of her, but she's the one who's always making goofy faces. ;)


This is a picture of my sister-in-law Carolynn and our babies at the time, Evan and Paul. That year the San Juan was really high and rough. It was always an adventure to go over it because of the drop, even if it was really a small rapid, relatively speaking. I remember as we went over it Carolynn's back was to it and my eyes got huge when I saw how big it was. We both screamed really well and the four of us were doused with water, but we kept the boys in the raft and didn't flip over. Phew.


This picture is from sand dune with Dessa, Christine, and Shanna sailing past us. Carolynn and I are on the dune and it looks like Robert is getting ready to get into the water again.

The kids were always very tired at the end of the day:


We were excited at first when we moved to Utah and thought we could raft down the Provo river. Our one and only rafting trip lasted 5 minutes. The river is too narrow and full of debris. A hidden stick poked a huge hole in the raft. *sigh*

The following pictures are from a trip we made to Yosemite with the cousins. Ed's sister, Sis, was able to join us for a few days. It was so much fun!





We also went camping at Calaveras Big Tree. Love that place! Ed and I actually went there on our honeymoon and stayed in a little rustic motel in the town of Arnold.



This dance floor is the base of a tree that was 1300 years old. Those Sequoia Redwoods are amazing.

Random Pictures

Halloween (1996?)


Halloween 1997


Halloween 1998



Trip to Zions




Erin and David (son, not brother) in 1980. You can still see hints of the blond streaks Dave had in his hair in front.


Another picture some time later:

Now we really know how much Madelyn looks like her mom!

Dave a bit older


Five silly kids:

Robert (L), Erin, Dave (back), Paul (middle), Shanna (right)

David and Robert at the airport as Dave prepares to go on his mission to Russia:


Erin and Spencer--high school dance--look how young they look!

Junior High & High School Pictures

Early 9th Grade--aren't those glasses awful? I lost the pair I'd had before when they fell overboard on the trip back from the Philippines. I was holding my little sister Darcy up so she could see Bird Island about a day outside of Hawaii. Her hair caught on my glasses and when she pulled forward, my glasses went flying. I remember running down to the lounge where my parents were to tell them what had happened. Darcy was a little way behind me, and I gasped out that I'd dropped overboard. Not being able to see my little sister, they leaped to their feet thinking it was her I'd dropped overboard. When she came into the room at that point, the loss of my glasses seemed rather unimportant. But I had to wear my subscription sunglasses until I could get new glasses. Not good during a movie. My mom had a friend in the Philippines get two new pairs of glasses from our eye doctor and mail them to us. Not that the ones I dropped overboard were especially fashionable (in my opinion), but I liked the new ones even less.

This picture was taken the school year after my mother died. We'd moved suddenly from Sacramento, so my dad could get my mom into the Oaknoll Naval Hospital in Oakland, California. Treasure Island has just finished some new housing, and my father was first on the list. I was far enough done with 8th grade that I was not required to do the last two weeks of school in on TI, so I didn't have the opportunity to meet any kids. It was a hard summer--dealing with the loss of my mom, getting used to living with my dad's mother who moved in to help raise us, no old friends close, and no new friends.

I finally begged my father to let me go to summer school, thinking I'd be able to meet some of the kids I'd be going to school with. It wasn't until later I found out the new housing kids would be going to a different school. *sigh* I took a bus from the base to San Francisco, and took two other buses to the school--and then back home again. So I was riding six buses a day. I remember some sailor tried to pick me up once, not believing that I wasn't 15 yet. I finally had to show him my ID card, and he backed off really fast.

I pleaded with my dad to let me drop out of school, but he was adamant that he didn't want me to become a quitter. He'd joined the Navy at 17 and was only in the 10th grade. It was very wise counsel, and I really appreciate that he made me stick to it. The lesson I learned that summer has held me in good stead ever since.

When I finally did get to go to school in the fall (that picture above was taken in my English class) I met three friends who were some of the closest I've ever had:

I'm on the left, then there's Rhonda, then Kim, and Rose is on the right. We were a really interesting combination of Navy brats. Rhonda was the only one in the proper grade. I was a dreadful little girl and refused to cooperate with my 2nd grade teacher and would do all kinds of things to sabotage her class. Since we were leaving Korea before my 2nd grade year was done, and she was guaranteed not to get me the following year, she failed me, and I got to do 2nd grade twice. Rose had some health issues and ended up having to repeat 1st and 2nd grades, so she was the oldest of our group. But then there was Kim who was close to genius level and had done first and second grades in one year, so she was a year younger than Rhonda.

The four of us had MORE fun together. We were great Star Trek fans and would write our own little stories--something I now know to be fanfic. The hours and hours we would spend together. *sigh* Some of my fondest memories before I had my own family are from times spent with these girls.

I met Rose first. It was October before her family moved on base, and she had two younger brothers. She'd wasn't one to get mad easily, but she also didn't put up with any crap. Something happened on the school bus, and I remember she just turned around and back handed the boy. He never bothered her again, I was way impressed, but my father wasn't sure what to think of this girl.

Only three of us are still alive. Rose died last year of breast cancer. A sweeter, more sensible person I've never known. I've lost contact with Rhonda. She graduated from Berkeley, married, and had a son. Kim teaches at one of the colleges in Arkansas.

The following is a picture taken just before a girl's choice dance called Turnabout:

This was my first formal dance, and I've never been so nervous in my life. The kid I asked (Mark Johnson) was nice, but we were never really very chummy. Makes me wonder why I ever asked him, since we had so little in common. Guess I thought he was cute. I couldn't believe it when he said he'd go with me. I think I must have caught him by surprise. ROFL