The Barlett Pair

2010

2010-01-03T18:22:00.000-08:00

Wow it is really 10 yrs past 2000, WOW. We were all looking forward/Worried about that and look how far we have come.

We enjoyed spending Christmas with all of you!
Here's to a great New Year.

Fall is finally gonna be FALL

2009-10-28T06:23:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was 80 degrees and today is gonna be 56 degrees, yeah for some good fall weather. Ok so which long sleeve can I pull out to wear???
I'm tempted to count the 70 degree days this year. That is my favorite tempurature, but it doesn't last very long.

New Cell Phone

2009-10-19T06:55:00.001-07:00

So we are walking into Costco with no intent to look for a new phone.
Some how they catch our eye and the suave sales man lures us in. Oh we are near our 2 yr upgrade date and qualify for a new phone.
Costco had this great deal for a phone that has a qwerty keyboard and is offered for an amazing discount of $9.99 until Nov 1. Ok we ask a few questions , the answers are all favorable. Ok lets do it.
we leave our phones come back to get the new ones and ask them to show us a few features.
Where is the camera button? Ok -and how do we use video....... WHAT there is no video, that was one of the questions we asked about. (Laura sends video of Alana and we like to view it)
Ut Oh the sales guy made a big mistake, so now instead of an upgrade we will be getting a down grade. Nope , let's back it all out and not feel pressured to make a quick decision on another phone. Backing it all out takes no less than about an 1 hour ....ugh.

So we go home and later find out my phone (that I had borrowed from laura ) the charger recepticle breaks. Great Now what??? Oh I can reactivate my old phone on line...cool.

Then after some talk and discussion and research we go back to Costco the next day to get an upgraded phone.

So we both ended up with a LG enV3. They are reallly sweet. Large numbers ,large screen , easy texting (which I have become very fond of ).

I never knew the deal Costco gives. They include a car charger, earbud, and carry case. The price of the phone came with $100 rebate so it was much cheaper than at the Verizon store and they throw in all those extras. It was more than the $9.99 but that is ok. The sales guy and the sales manager at Costco gave us a huge apology. So that was appreciated too!
OK we are happy in cell phone land again!

Now it's Fall

2009-10-01T07:07:00.000-07:00

Fall is my favorite time of year. Probably because it begins to cool down. So now that it is October 1st I think Im gonna get out my pumpkins and fall foliage. This was taken a few years ago near Boston and is one of my favorites. Covered bridges and Fall leaves - Ahhhhh

Smokey Mountains -Tennessee

2009-09-09T11:17:00.001-07:00

Wow I wish you could see the beautiful scenary we are seeing in Tennessee. We are in Gatlinburg , right at the foot of the Smokey Mountains. Lots of green trees, cool weather, wildlife. We found a wonderful arts and crafts community, were at several shops they had bluegrass music playing out side. Inside local crafts, wood work, pottery, and the such. Today we went along side the North area of the National Park to Cades Cove. Lots of old but maintained cabins nestled right in the woods. We saw a bear in the tree, several deer and a spotted fawn.
Even our time share place is tucked right into the mountain trees and stream. Denny had a great fishing trip yesterday with a guide, who with his heavy twang guided them to a fun and successful day.
As we enjoy this idiolic lifestyle, it makes us want to come back for more. But for sure it helps us realize how important vacations are!!!!
Pictures later.

This Summer

2009-08-23T19:52:00.000-07:00

This Summer has been too hot! We did get away for a couple of nice adventures. This last weekend we went to Woods Canyon Lake. I'm so glad Dad has found a lake to fish closer to home. Only two hours, which is better than the white mountains drive.

I loved the pine trees there, such a nice change of scenary. We even saw a group camping site. Wouldn't that be a fun family outing???

On the way home our tent trailer had a blow out, which was NO fun, especially changing a tire in 103 degree heat. Wasn't it only suppose to be 98 today?>?? The tires had been replaced we thought just 2-3 yrs ago, could of been 4yrs. Anyway the outside tread looked like new, but on the inside it was quite bare...Oh My Gosh we really needed new tires, and we didn't even see it. Those will be replaced in the next week or so.
We relaxed and totally forgot to take pictures! :(

The Garden

2009-03-15T10:47:00.000-07:00

The Garden is looking great. All the plants and veggies are at the small stage, but so , so cute. Leaves are budding on the grapevine, cilantro is ready to pick. Corn is about 3 inches tall( the whole plant is that size, no corn until its 6 ft tall. The tomato plants have flowers, the mint is thriving. The oregano likes it's new location in the garden and looks very healthy.

We love looking at it!

Birthday's Are Great!

2009-03-12T19:21:00.000-07:00

Wow I had lots of fun . Starting last Sat with lunch with all my kids at Calif Pizza Kitchen. Then today Calls from lots of important people in my life. Gina took me to In & Out. More family fun at Joe's BBQ for a free Birthday girl dinner!

Denny bought me a Cold stone Ice Cream cake. It's a good thing I had people to share it with.
THEN on Facebook all sorts of fun birthday wishes from so many neat people.
Enough fun to last the whole year....

Sweet Valentine

2009-02-22T05:55:00.000-08:00

Alana and Laura got very creative this Valentine's Day. They made these cute iPod's complete with head set! The main box was candy hearts and the earphones are Reeses peanut butter cups. All decorated to look just like an iPod. Aren't they cute???

Grape Arbor

2009-02-06T19:10:00.000-08:00

Denny wanted to make an Arbor for our grapevine to grow and hang on. It came out wonderful. Now to plant the rest of the garden. OK I don't post often , so tonight I did 2. So keep reading down!

thanks

Four Peaks -Tempe

2009-02-06T18:40:00.000-08:00

Tonight we went over to Four Peaks Brewery. It was an awesome place. Last summer we had gone to the Scottsdale area one, since we were near there...oh my NO comparision, Tempe was worlds better, nicer and and everything else you can think of.

I had a glass of wine which was 2x the cost of a beer, little did I know. Dad says I HAVE to learn to drink beer. (No Way).

So we had a nice dinner. The artichoke spinach dip was awesome and best I ever had. We picked up a Kiltlifter pint glass too! Well we did pay for it!

Although when we got there Dad ordered a beer took a swig and found a glass chip in his mouth!!!!!! The manager was very apologetic... and about the time I walked up and heard the story I looked at the manager and said , wow I thing you might need to comp him his beer. He said oh yeah maybe more than that. So when the bill came and all was as we ordered I saw the manager and reminded him. He quickly took the bill and took off Dad's beers , which were only two, but still better than nothing. I had hoped he would do our 1st round seeing as my wine was so much. It was still a fun night and no blood was shed!

So Glad it's Friday

2009-01-30T05:23:00.000-08:00

Yep the work week is over. Our work load is increasing this week, so it will be a good break.
We are entering our busy time at work this month and for the next 3 months.

Can you believe the Cardinals are going to the Super Bowl. wow wie. We will wear our red this weekend.

Also today is Jan 30th. It has been 1 year since we closed escrow on our house. Man time flys.
We have lived here almost a year. We have loved being up here in the area. Visiting with family more often and enjoying the surounding neighborhood.

So much to write about

2009-01-24T13:43:00.001-08:00

I'm so behind on posting, but lucky for me , you can check out most of the holiday details on Marc, Pam, Randy and Paula's blog!

Today I had a GREAT relaxing morning. I woke up early like usual. But stayed in bed and read. I don't usually do that, but I put on the fireplace and just stayed still. Denny was gracious to let me have a small light on while he slept. Then after an hour or so I crawled back under the covers and sleep til 7:30. It was wonderful.
Then mid morning we went out to the veggie garden to get it ready for planting. It's looking nice and neat and weed free now.
Denny is going to build an arbor for our grapevine. So off to Home depot for supplies.

Cruising

2008-12-04T14:20:00.000-08:00

Cruising is the best! After a busy two weeks at work, then a wonderful Thanskgiving, we headed for the ocean blue. Everything has been wonderful.

Richard won 500 internet mintues so here I am. Ship internet is always slow.
The food is wonderful, we have lots of pictures to upload later. The weather has been wonderful. and the best part ---we arent at work. In fact we were on board 3 days before a work day even rolled around. No Christmas decorations up. They do that next week.

We are heading back now with 2 sea days. And of course more food. Hope you all are doing great!

It's almost cold

2008-11-13T05:56:00.000-08:00

The mornings are nice. I was so tired of the heat. But the temp dives so fast at this time of year. During the day I have windows open, but some mornings I've had to wait a few hours since it was just too chilly. Where are the mid 70's?????? You know that comfortable weather.
And what long pants and jackets did I use to wear ??

Things are busy here as I try to get ready for Thanksgiving. Both my tables are fully opened and ready to set. I hope to do that this weekend. I love walking by and seeing them in holiday mode.

Work is insane. Busier than busy. To break the stress I went out to lunch with Randy yesterday, ah yes it did the trick , much stress released, nice change of pace. Then when I get back my fellow co-worker says oh by the way we just found out mrs Jones has an appt tommorrow that some how fell off the calendar. Ack... firedrill mode again. Fit her in, get her reports lined up, and then get back to the already too busy schedule. It's a good thing vacation is coming up. Oh wait when I go on vacation I have to work harder the 2 weeks before :/

Halloween Fun

2008-11-01T07:51:00.000-07:00

Our 1st Halloween in our Chandler house. In our past homes we have had 6-15 trick or treaters, so we found out that in this neighborhood we might have close to 100. Wow need more candy!!!. But we are finally in a neighborhood with lots of kids coming. We love it!

We were both off Friday and had fun getting the front porch ready. Then we camped out in the front living room with the TV and waited for the door bell to ring, and it did at a very steady rate from 6-8pm. Lots of cute kids and costumes. We went thru 1 1/2 big bowls of candy. But before it was gone we scooted off to Randy and Paula's Halloween party.

It was awesome, Lots of great props and decor.

Everyone dressed up and Marc and Pam as Spy Vs Spy won the best original costume. Notice the Dynamite and bomb in their hand. All the food was halloween/Spooky themed and let me tell you although it was quality food, and freshly made the titles and scary presentation made you think twice before indulging.

Everyone had a good time.

Time Flys By

2008-10-31T07:26:00.001-07:00

Wow we are seriously into Fall, yet it is still 90 degrees. That kind of robs the full joy of Fall. But Fall for some reason is one of my favorite times of year. I love the crisp air...well that is harder to find in Arizona, the fall colors, pumpkins, Thanksgiving and family time.

Working so many hours makes the days and weeks fly by. I have to really think about getting other things done too.
Then-Can you believe it :

Last year at this time we sold our house and started packing.
This coming month Alana will be 5 yrs old
My sister Mimi now lives close by (instead of Calif.)
I can work for a company in Tucson right out of my home!

Ok enough eye opening things. Hope you enjoy this time of year too. Now if we could just find a pile of leaves to go kick our way thru!

Free Tickets

2008-10-04T12:58:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we got to do alot of free things. I had 2 free tickets to the Home show which we roamed around for a short while. We went to a free wine tasting there, and then part way thru our journey, Laura called and offered us some awesome Diamondback tickets.

Some guy came in their station and handed them off at 3pm and the game was at 5pm. We were lucky to get those, excellent seats and since we were already at the home show , we really didnt need to drive more than 5 miles to Laura's station to pick them up.

It was team photo night so we got a slew of the team's pictures (another freebie) .

Another offer they had going was free Diamondback T-Shirts with a new subscription to the Arizona Newspaper. Since I have been wanting to subscribe we went for that too!

Now and then it is nice to get great offers!
Tonight is OctoberFest, we have been looking forward to this - it should be lots of fun!

Happy Anniversary Don & Stella

2008-09-21T18:06:00.001-07:00

We enjoyed a nice dinner at Rigatony's for Don & Stella's 6th anniversary. Ralph and Mimi, Denny and I all went Sunday afternoon. They used gift certificates from Christmas that they had been saving for a special occasion.(Thanks Randy and Paula for that they loved it) It was our 1st time there. The food was great.

Hectic

2008-09-10T20:42:00.000-07:00

So much happening, last weekend was busy, a wedding in Tucson..that was nice.

When we came home Lady was gone. oh no! flyers made and a few calls, scan the neighborhood. OK the pound was called. So Randy was nice to retrieve her on Monday, thanks Randy.

Then the internet and phone went out. Ok plan B go to Paradise Bakery to work on free wi/fi. Not too bad ,but I picked the hard chair.
Tuesday morning a quick trip to Mimi's for Secure wi/fi. Made a few trades then came home. The Qwest truck was near our street, ahhh there is the problem. Ok they promise to fix it fast. Good cause I cant work with out it!
Today went much better, but looking forward to the weekend .

Oh and how is it that 95 degrees feels so much better? Wow I can really tell a difference, but 95 is still hot. I'm hoping all the 100's - 115's are gone now. I love Fall and so glad that we can almost see it! Can't wait to put my pumpkins out!!!

Sept 1 and labor day weekend

2008-09-01T06:37:00.000-07:00

I love 4 day weekends. Just the though of it made me happy.

So with both of us having 4 days off we decided to paint one the of the bedrooms that still needed painting. The guest room is now a hot chocolate color, mmmm... with a splash of darker chocolate. I love the main color and how it will accent the red, white and blue decor. We've BBQ'ed and went to the church Fireworks - Sat night , quite a nice display. so today is more on the relaxing side.. although Denny , Marc and Randy went hunting this morning, so we were up pretty early. They look pretty good for 4:30 am.

This week is my ING convention, which I always enjoy, well I've only been to one other , but it was still a great time.

August Post I 'm Late! - Peach Picking

2008-08-31T07:12:00.000-07:00

We had fun peach picking. Alana came and really enjoyed it. Marc and Pam, Randy and Paula, and 2 other friends were also having fun. Here we are being that Farmer couple that look very serious standing next to their pitch fork...OK it was hard to be serious!!!

New In N Out

2008-07-16T19:32:00.000-07:00

So therer is a new In N Out 2 miles from where we live. That is great... or maybe not.
I went today for lunch, it is so close and since there are other In N Out's around , it wasn't very crowded.
Wow in Tucson the 1st one , and only one until we left, was a 1 1/2 hr wait for two weeks!!!! Any time of day. Ok well Im sure it was better as time went on. It was good today and fun to see all the new employess with not much to do. They have many extra workers I think so they can learn.

Also tonight , right across the parking is a Chic- Fil -A, that was offering free chicken sandwiches 5- 8 pm , if you brought in your smart shopper card from TV 15. Ok we skipped that one. But it was tempting.
This weekend Im going to Tucson for a Bridal shower and my sweetie is going camping and fishing in the white Mtns with our old Trout group.

Beach vacation and weddings

2008-07-07T20:43:00.000-07:00

June 27 , we began our vacation, right on Marc and Randy's birthday. We drove to San Diego , then explored a little, flew to Sacramento the next morning for John Collins wedding. On the way we visited the State Capital, the Railroad museum and a very lovely green park with a little pond in the middle.

The wedding was very nice. I can hardly believe those Collins boys are so grown up. Becky had a ball dancing the night away.

Here is a happy moment for the bride and groom.

Next we flew back to San Diego for our timeshare week. It was cool but that is ok. We relaxed and decompressed very nicely. July 4th was a bit foggy all day, but we went between the green and the sand all day long.

We couldn't see fireworks this year, because the fog was too thick. Oh well , they will be even more special next year.

Garden Veggies are great

2008-06-22T06:15:00.000-07:00

We inherited the neatest garden bed, so of course we had to use it!
These carrots came up on their own. They are a little pudgy, but were really sweet. Lately we have pulled out green onions, that Stella was so kind to plant in our 1st weeks here. I planted several other things. We have a cherry tomato plant that is going wild. Which has worked out nice since the tomato scare. We have picked 1 cucumber, I got 2 1/2 okra, which I picked , sauted with some of our onions and tomato. It was yummy. I know none of you like okra, but I do and fresh was really good.
I just picked a quart container of Basil, which I hope to make pesto out of. A green chili plant popped up and it has 2 chili's. The squashes are lagging, they are quite small. The Rosemary and oregano that Marc and Pam gave me for Mother's Day are doing pretty well even in this hot , hot weather.
Oh and by the way when the grapes are ripe everyone gets some! we have tons and ton of them.
By the way in Az when do grapes ripen????? They are very green right now and still small.

Things coming up for us.....the Beach !! The most looked forward to week in the year.

Craig's List Is wonderful

2008-05-26T14:07:00.000-07:00

We have had a very successful Memorial Day weekend. We listed our extra bed on Craig's list and Bam...2 hours later it was out of the garage. Then we got things in order , unpacked many, many boxes, and also brought some boxes in the house to get our cars in the garage.

By Monday we had lots of boxes and thought let's try Craig's List again. Bam 10 calls in a hour. Of course the boxes were free so that helped.

BUT the best news is we got 1 car in the garage yesterday and today we had both cars in the garage. That is wonderful, it is getting to hot to let those new cars stay out every day.

More work and more work

2008-05-16T21:19:00.001-07:00

Now that the kitchen is done you would think life is easy. Well we are still at work every day (but that is a good thing!!!) And the boxes are still getting unpacked. We have put a good sized dent in un packing them -the garage looks hopeful to park two cars by the end of the month.
We have ordered a spa which needs pretty special electrical...which is taking up more of our time.
I am settling into a good daily routine working from home. But Denny still has very little work at his place of employment... At least they keep paying him, the work load should increase soon.
I had a very , very nice mom's day. I loved the flowers and herbs , and gift card I got. Then we went to see Iron Man , oh I was surprised...it was really good. It also was the 1st time we had been to the movies in many months, so that was good too! We have a nice Harkins theater right in our little corner... Gilbert and the 202 , we call it our little corner cause so many great stores are there and we are so close to them!

Time Flys

2008-04-14T20:54:00.000-07:00

Wow , I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted a blog. Life is a crazy pace right now. So what has happened in the last month.?
We have picked cabinets and granite and they have been installed...well the granite comes in two days!!! Right now we have no oven or sink. We tore out the whole kitchen and changed electrical and patched drywall.
Did you hear about the roving refridgerator??? The one that came with the house went to Marc & Pam's, but alas it didn't fit there kitchen opening, so it came back to our house. Then Christi thought it would be good at her house, so we quickly got it there and thought at the last minute , oh her fridge would work well at Marc and Pam's. We played musical refridgerators that night, but in the end everyone was happy. Except maybe Don, who did alot of work and got no refridgerator or anything :(
Next our cabinets came in. They are wonderful!!
And guess what our refridge didn't fit the opening...It is fat & not square, or side level! Ok so tommorrow the cabinet guy will fix the opening so it isn't so narrow.

Dad installed under counter lighting this last Saturday... it was way more work than we thought. But they look great.
I'm glad we aren't moving or remodeling anything else for a long , long time!!!

Our 1st week at work in the Phx area

2008-03-08T05:26:00.001-08:00

So we both just finished our 1st week. Mine took a day or so to get used to, even though the work is the same. I have a helper at the office who can gather the printed paperwork and attach it to the clients physical file for Jim's meetings. Only on friday did I have a problem. Everyone had left the office for the day, I had to scan and e-mail a client something he asked for. I couldnt figure out how to send it to him with out using my personal e-mail. So I sent him some info from work e-mail and said I was having difficulty with the anaylsis and would send it to him on monday. What can happen Monday, I'll print the piece, have Emily stick it in the scanner, then from my work e-mail I can send it. I have a printer/scanner here at home, but didnt know how to send it back thru work e-mail.
So for Dad,-- his week went well. The 1st day it only took him 45 min to get to work. We thought it would take an hour. He is reading alot of procedure, but now he is getting to do some actual work. Laura and Alana came to visit him and they got to see his desk and the facility. This small office seems great about Flex hours , so that will be nice. They even gave him a laptop to bring home so there is potential to work from home. That would be awesome...not fighting the traffic one day a week or so.
Today we will look at some new cabinets and granite. I'd like to get that done quickly.
Then the grass is growing and needs mowing....Home Depot Loves us !!!! (we have no mower yet!)

No More Tucson

2008-03-02T18:34:00.000-08:00

We live in Chandler now. No longer residents of Tucson. Wow we were there 14 years. Tommorrow I start work from home. I think it will go well, if I can get my desk to feel comfy. I'm using the L shaped desk now and the left side feels confining. My arm chair doesn't fit as well as Denny's did. But My desk is on order and I have a new 19 inch monitor. So i should get distracted with that!

We have a house, so painting comes next

2008-02-03T17:58:00.000-08:00

This weekend with Friday off we began painting the new house. When i first walked in to the empty house, I thought Oh I love this house!!! Any way little by little family kept showing up and picked up a brush to help. We had a great time and not to many mishaps.

Everybody got a little chance to paint.

We were so grateful for all the help. We transformed the masterbedroom from dark blue and light blue to more warm tones of pumkin and pale spice. The white is primer. Then Paula painted the laundry room with a little help from Laura, Alana, and Randy.

Apartment Life

2008-01-26T13:09:00.000-08:00

So we are two months into our 3 month stay. for the most part it hasn't been bad. It is temperary.
For parking the car I got the one covered carport spot. But my sweetie has to fend for himself among a few unclaimed spots.
I don't think we had a neighbor by our bedroom wall til recently. But now you can hear this guy snoring right thru the wall. Not really loud , but loud enough. So we are using our projection alarm clock that also comes with nature sounds. So one night we put on the rainforest, one night the summer crickets, we should try the ocean sound we will think we are on vacation.
We don't see too mny of the same people, but in the morning you can hear alot of little doggies barking 'let me out'.

I think we are in a pretty safe area, off the beaten track. We even have a very nice mountain view from the parking lot. The worst seems to be the internet connection. We have DSL and I imagine the phone lines are old. It goes off several times a day.
oh well , it won't be long now!!!
We move in the new house March 1 We are ready!!!!

We found a house

2008-01-07T05:54:00.000-08:00

We made a choice as hard as it was!!! We wanted a nice house , a nice neighborhood for a cheap price!! OK , that is impossible. Even in this market. We searched all over the internet. Thru 100+ listings our realtor sent us, looked at around 30 homes. The one we liked the best is on Kempton Rd. We put an offer in and after a few back and forths we came to an agreement. We met them too. They are a nice young growing family. They just had twins 10 weeks ago. They have 2 other children as well.I'll try to post some pics, if I can figure out how.

Dec 15 house hunting

2007-12-21T20:07:00.000-08:00

So we survived the house hunt, one of many I'm sure. We saw a total of 13 houses from 10am til 4 pm. We actually narrowed it down to 2. Both have great features and both have pros and cons. We need to see those last two again. Then once Christmas is over I'm thinking a few more may come on the market to choose from. We hope to decide by mid January.
Our last week at work was quite busy. My office had a great dinner out night at Flemings Steak house. It was wonderful, thank you Jim!!!!...but now we each have the next 10-11 days off. This is my favorite week of the year.
OK be sure to turn off the alarm, I dont need that thing going off at 5:30am.
We will be up in Phoenix with all our family, most of Monday thru friday. Hope to see you!

The new Adventure

2007-12-14T05:10:00.000-08:00

OK so I guess it is time to post again. We have been so very busy. Selling our house and moving was quite time consuming, then that dumped us right into Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Each time we are up in the Phoenix area we look for houses. We went with our realtor early December, then the next day just wandered around neighborhoods trying to get a feel for what was out there. Then copy down a few addreses of neighborhoods we like, for sale or not we look them up on Zillow for approx. price range and year built.
We started looking for homes for sale that were built in 2000 or newer, 2100 sq ft to about 2700 sq ft. We found that kept taking us far south. Then we saw a home we liked from the outside and it was a 1991 built, but had very large bedrooms and family room. It had a new A/C, and other new features (which is why we had dredded the older home, we didnt want to walk into all sorts of repair needs,)So this Saturday we will look at those.

Our search has been around the Gilbert/Chandler area. Once, a year ago or so, we drove up Gilbert Rd near the 202 and I really liked the newness of the shopping and general area. When we 1st moved to Tucson, many parts of the town were very old and dated. I think Im ready for something new and refreshing looking. Actually the part of Oro Valley we live in is like that too, I guess that is why we like it here now.

We are keeping an eye for homes in other areas, but with Mimi just moving to town I'm sure we will be getting together with Stella/Don and Mimi/Ralph alot for doings and happy hour. So near there makes sense.
Scottsdale isnt anywhere near my price range....Don't want to live anywhere near Central Phoenix. North 101 loop has nice homes and close to our sweet Alana, but far from everyone else. It has not been an easy choice.

All these things

2007-09-03T20:36:00.001-07:00

We had wanted to post again about our trip wrap-up , but since we have been home , it's been one thing after another.
We did manage to make some neat 11x14 prints of 3 of the famous monuments in Rome. Now to find frames!!!

Meanwhile...

2007-08-10T17:47:00.000-07:00

...while Denny and Carolynn have been gone... Lady, their fun old dog, has been having a blast up at Randy and Paula's house. [We have pictures to prove it!]

The days at Randy and Paula's were relaxing, and involved quite a bit of sleeping.

There were kisses from Mr. Floppy.

There were those daily walks to the mailbox that she just had to come too on...

Then, there was the unsuspecting tug of war rope that Mr. Floppy ever so daintly brought to Lady's attention... Lady devoured it.

Out of all that fun though, we speculate that Lady's highlight was the trip to South Mountain to go hiking. Granted, it's a toss up as to whether she liked the car ride, or the hike more. :-)

Our Last Days in Europe

2007-08-09T07:33:00.000-07:00

Our time is coming to an end.
We really enjoyed our time in marseille , France. We went to a quaint village, on the way were rolling hillsides and green vineyards. Every where you go they give you wine with lunch, they say it is cheaper than water. We had some free time in aix en province. we ordered our own lunch , which was quite an experience. I almost ended up with onions on lettuce for a salad of the day.
We left the ship this morning and are wandering around Barcelona, Spain. the architecture is so different here, very ornate buildings kind of like you would see at Disneyland with glazed tile roofs and almost a cartoon style, yet very stately. We hope to include many pictures later, but where we find internet it isn't always possible.
We will fill in more blanks when we are back in the U.S.
I think what has impressed me the most is how many ancient civilizations had things that are so familiar to us, lots of marble and building materials we treasure today. Also how different our culture is from many of these countries

More when we get back , we are due home Aug 11
-Bye Carolyn and Denny

Naples and a Rescue

2007-08-06T06:45:00.000-07:00

on our way to naples the ship made a water rescue, someone from Rome had taken their sailboat or small yacht out too far , there where high winds, rough seas and they put out a distress call. our ship rescued 5 people including 2 children. it caused us to be 2 hours late to our port , but we were so glad to be available to that family. i cant even imagine being in that position. next we went to positano where under the tuscan sun was made, it was the most beautiful countryside yet. amalfi coast has the whole town on a hillside. then on to pompeii, we cant wait to show you pictures of this 2000 yr old ruin that has been restored. ok i need to go now, no caps or punctuation since the key board is so different--love to you all
Denny and Carolynn

On our way to Naples...

2007-08-04T09:07:00.000-07:00

Our next stop was Istanbul, Turkey. It was an exotic port, with Sultan Palaces, Harem quarters, and the oldest biggest Church around. The Hagia Sofia is 1,500 years old. It used to be a Christian Church , but is now a Mosque/Museum. We have some of the pictures from that area we will post later as internet time here is slow and costly. We also visited the Grand Bazaar, they had lots of Turkish Rugs, spices and Turkish Delight!!!

Our next Port Myconos Greece, stopping in the Greek Isles was canceled due to high winds. The captian did not feel it was safe to enter the port. We were outside and when he began to turn the ship. The wind was so very strong!! It even blew a deck chair up in the air about to go over the 4 foot retaining wall. The pool water was sloshing all around, pretty exciting. Yet we were glad it wasn't any worse.

We are going to Naples next, and have enjoyed two nice relaxing days at Sea. Gaining weight with the excellent meals, and just really enjoying our time.

Pictures

2007-08-04T09:01:00.000-07:00

Gondola Ride in Venice.
The Coloseum.

Arch of Constantine

Venice and on our way to Turkey

2007-08-01T10:13:00.000-07:00

The Train ride from Rome to Venice was beautiful, thru countryside and the Tuscany Area. Then Our time in Venice once we trotted across 3 bridges with our suitcases (yuck) , was wonderful. A beautiful city, we took a gondola ride thru narrow canals, then took a public water boat down the Grand Canal to the Rialto Bridge. Our time was short, but very sweet. The sailing out provided a grand view of the city with Andre Bocelli singing in the back ground.

Next we Came to Athens, the highlight was the Acropolis Area which is the home of several old structures from the early 400BC era. Today we saw Ephesus, which is now in Turkey. It was amazing. Large structures that have been unearthed dating back to the 1st Century. We saw the stadium where Paul Preached and St. John's Tomb, it was very interesting. Yet hot, hot, hot. 95- 104 degrees, but very humid. We are enroute to Istanbul.

Rome Day 2

2007-07-27T12:08:00.000-07:00

This morning we left early to see the Vatican. I didn,t think I would enjoy it as much as I did. Lots of walking, Many old statues, paintings, and tapestries. So much interesting history. We saw the Popes Tombs, very eerie. The Sistine Chapel, on the small side compared to St Peter,s Basillica. Yet awesome to view in person. We are tired and lots of sore muscles. We returned tonight to the same quaint outdoor cafe. We enjoyed wine, minestrone soup, pizza, and a small dessert. All were excellent. Interesting though, you can not order dinner until 7:00 pm , but you can sit there and drink until 7pm. We also saw the Coloseum. Very Big and amazing. So old yet still standing.
Pam got one of their two bags. The other one is missing and no where to be found. We are hoping and praying it will make the ship, but it looks slim. Tommorrow we move on to Venice, taking the train across the countryside.
The weather is warm , but not too bad. Just very humid, we are soaking through our clothes! Pictures will have to follow. Ciao for now

We Are Here Now- Rome

2007-07-26T12:54:00.000-07:00

Wow , 18 hrs and we are here. It went well, although Pam and Eldon dont have their luggage. We have seen the Trevi Fountain and The Colloseum from the Van. We had Great pizza at a small cafe. The Cafes are every where, and oh yes, gelato, yummy. The key board im using has many different characters on it. And blogger shows up in Italian. Its 10 pm and people are out every where. More later , we see the Sistine Chapel tomorrow very early. Ciao-
PS WE SHOULD OF LEARNED MORE ITALIAN !!!!!

The Bridge Cam

2007-07-25T07:37:00.000-07:00

Here's the Bridge Cam, the best time to view it is early morning because of the time change.

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Our Big Trip is Finally Here!!!

2007-07-20T20:20:00.000-07:00

We are so excited about our upcoming vacation to Europe. We leave July 25th. We hope you check back to see where we have been. If we can post along the way we will try , but no promises.
Here is where we will be and when. Also check out the webcam on the Emerald Princess , You can see 1st hand where we are. The best time to check it out is early morning.

July 4th at the Beach

2007-07-05T08:06:00.000-07:00

It was a good day. This year early in the morning we staked out a beach site (on the sand). Then watched hundreds of others crowd in around us. It was nice as different people in our group came down , we were able to be together. Dave encouraged me to also get an early morning lawn place, as is our long standing tradition. I wasn't sure I wanted to fight for that spot this year. There must be a turn over of occupants at Carlsbad Inn,as not many where there for the table and chair race at 6:00am. So we tried something new. We got a table way out in between the gate to the beach and Condos. It was a great choice, a little more secluded, quiet, close to the performers, and in those wee hours that we stay holding the table we could see the beach and the waves, as well as beautiful flowers directly in front of us. I think this is a new favorite spot.
It was funny though as Becky and Dad looked out the balcony for us the 1st time and they were looking and looking before spotting us!!!
The day was overcast, but that was ok, since we were outside all day. The tempurature was very pleasant. We hit the BBQ's around 5:30, and enjoyed our usual potluck with the massive group. The whole Geary family, including their new grandson, all the Carroll's, Ken and Christi, and their friends, Stella, Don, Mimi ,Ralph, Several of Becky's friends, as well as the Collins kids and friends. The beach in the evening was very crowded. After all the days events Ken,Denny and Don played a round of poker. No hour of the day was wasted on sleep, that is for sure!!!

Sitting at the beach

2007-07-02T06:12:00.000-07:00

It's early morning , I'm on the balcony at Carlsbad Inn. I know you can visualize this. The weather has been nice. Friday we went to Sea World and had fun seeing all the sea animals. I bought a neat sweatshirt with a Shamu tale embroidered on the front, and the outline of hundreds of mini-tales line the hood. Even the zipper pull is a silver look tale. We stayed at a great hotel, then Saturday morning visited Seaport Village. Mid day we drove to Carlsbad Inn, The sun is out and we waited patiently for our room.

My long lost cousin, Emilie came to meet us.Stella and Don were there as well as Christi. Ken and the kids were enjoying the beach to the fullest. We had a delightful visit catching up.
Then soon Dave and Becky came, as well as Dan and Gale. Sunday we went to the beach to soak up the scenary.
Manna came, as well as Joy, Nakiska and Torin, we also had a patio lunch at Fidel's. My cousin had brought a Cold Stone Creamery Ice Cream cake to go with dinner. It was pretty big, but oh so yummy. Of course any one who walks thru our door has to help consume it..No one has complained!!!!

Today for the afternoon our visitors will include Richard and Helen, Mimi and Ralph.
More cool sunshine to enjoy. The weather is about 75 degrees. OK time to finish putting up all my red,white and blue!!!

Lady in Waiting

2007-06-15T07:04:00.000-07:00

Our dog Lady loves sitting indoors. So in the morning after her time outside, she is always wanting to come right back in. Who can blame her it's hot out there.

Well yesterday when I came home I walked in, turned off the house alarm, and headed for the kitchen. Then I took a double take. What --- Lady was in the house already???? Oh my gosh I HAD LEFT HER IN ALL DAY. Poor thing. She wasn't even in a hurry to get out.
Lucky for us she must of just sat there all day, while I was at work. If she had left the family room the alarm would of gone off. I looked around, and no puddles, whew. Sometimes she cuddles up on the tile behind the recliner so she didn't catch my eye as I left.

So I let her out , and within a couple of minutes she was asking to just come in again. Guess she is getting old and really doesn't have much to do outside!

A two car Garage?

2007-06-02T11:13:00.000-07:00

We really do have a two car garage but its tight. Even tighter for a truck and car, and even tighter if you have a lot of stuff to store. Mom boxed up some stuff and we spent the morning arranging the boxes, paint, fans, and other misc. items. We also filled a trash can (mostly with cardboard). After the dust cleared we very carefully eased the Tahoe in and then the Lexus. I had an epiphany and realized that if I back the Tahoe in then we only need one wide (er) aisle for exiting both cars. This worked great. Its still tight but It will help preserve the paint jobs a little. This should last until we accumulate more stuff or need to get into the stored stuff.

Here's a picture.

Itried to add an AVI file but couldn't. I'd like some help please.

Wild weekend at Grandma and grandpa's

2007-06-02T10:49:00.000-07:00

Alana came for a long visit. She and Grandma had a great time.

Grandpa got to take her fishing.

And yes she caught fish- 4 to be exact!!

Memorial Day Weekend Was great

2007-06-02T10:18:00.000-07:00

We had a nice relaxing weekend. We chose not to camp and I liked that for a change. We asked to have Alana over and that worked out great. Laura brought her down Friday and stayed the night. We saw Shrek III, which was pretty good,had sushi,and swam in the pool. Saturday Dad had a doing at Sportsmans Warehouse with Trout Club, while I got my car windows tinted. Oh my gosh the difference was amazing on the inside car tempurature. Why did I wait so long???
Sunday we went to Mt Lemmon, since we just bought Alana a new Fishing Rod.It comes with a plastic fish, but she said she wanted to catch a REAL fish. She ended up catching four!!! she did an awsome job with grandpa's help. Monday we returned Alana and bought a new laptop computer. We had been pricing them out and got a smoking deal. It is a Toshiba with a 15.4 inch screen. We are really liking it! Even Vista is kind of fun to play with. Oh it was sure nice to have a 4 day weekend!!! Then the work week was only 3 days for me since I usually have Friday off. I guess I'm spoiled!!!

Watching the Corn Grow on I-10

2007-05-28T16:22:00.000-07:00

In the last few weeks, starting early April, we have been up to Phoenix almost every weekend. Interestingly enough, near Casa Grande there is a Corn field growing along the freeway. So one week we noticed these sweet little green plants maybe 5 inches tall. The next week they were about a foot high. The next week they were 3 feet tall or so. Wow we are witness' to these little veggie lives!!! (OK , you already knew it was a boring ride otherwise!!!) Today when we went by they were about 5-6 feet tall. Pretty soon they will have Corn and then, our little corn stalks will probably be no more! It has been kinda fun to see how quick they grow. They look nice and healthy, very green.
When you come down you can see them too!
Other than that, we keep having things to post, but either get busy or forget :(

The Good ,the Bad and the Ugly

2007-05-12T20:00:00.000-07:00

Well the good is the past two weekends have been great!! Cinco De Mayo, or as Gina calls it Cinco de drinko, was fun even if the place didn't give any specials for the day. Gina and Christi joined us for a short time. The good is also since the drinks were not cheap , , we didnt have many!
This last weekend, we spend friday evening up at a retirement party. It was a Luau theme and was a good time. They hired hula dancers ( a troupe of about 10) which were really good. A couple of little kids that could make some sharp moves. 4-5 adult gals that changed costumes faster than you could bat your eye. The drum player , that kept the music lively.
Since we have had several events up in Phoenix we have done a few quick turn around trips. But we have spent just about 24 hrs there , then home again to capture the rest of the weekend. That has helped alot!
The Ugly is we just realized that we need to amend our tax return....this is NOT fun. we omitted an item accidently, that we had not recieved a form for. It's good that we found this on our own, and the IRS didnt spot it 1st. The bad is , once again that 100 degree heat has found us! I just need to remember , the hotter it gets , the closer it is to vacation!

a special birthday meal

2007-04-29T15:34:00.000-07:00

So what better way to celebrate a special day than with a special meal. Especially since we live in Tucson where a special place just opened especially for us! Special Huh?

Great stuff for the Dad

2007-04-29T12:20:00.000-07:00

Here is the Dad with his loot from last night's birthday bash! The net fits perfect! Can't wait to get out there and try it all out. Thanks again kids! Your the best.

Happy Birthday

2007-04-28T11:15:00.000-07:00

This weekend we are celebrating Dad's birthday. we will head up to Phx in just a little while. Oregano's sounds yummy. Tommorrow we will be back in Tucson, and who knows we might even be brave and go to the In-and -Out Line!!! which last report was about 2 hrs long. But oh so worth the wait!

A test picture

2007-04-23T20:46:00.000-07:00

Here's a nice 20 incher from my last trip in March.

We'll both add content

2007-04-23T20:38:00.000-07:00

After a few mis-sarts we figured out how I can add posts here too. Hope you like fishing pictures!

April 23, 1977

2007-04-23T16:12:00.000-07:00

Interesting day to create a blog.

Today is our 30th anniversary. So this is the day this Pair was created, many years ago. We took a cruise for our honeymoon, it was great! So after the last 3 years of planning, this year we will celebrate this milestone with a cruise to the Mediterranean. I'm hoping we will be able to update here , even while on the cruise, but we will see.....

We have many destinations, Rome Venice, Florence, Pisa, Naples, Pompei, Istanbul, Athens, Marselle, Provence and a few others I cant spell. We don't leave until Summer. But preparations are under way already.

But don't worry we will probably post other interesting things here. Or maybe they will be boring, but that is the neat thing about a blog , you can read or you can not.