She's Beautiful!

My Beautiful Baby!

What a large tongue you have Bailey!

Katie Sue & Timmy Too!

The Adventures of Maxine & Mabel

Maxine & Mabel take on SFO to Celebrate 20 Years!

First we took a bus to Vancouver, Canada and then a Princess Cruise to San Francisco and then spent a few days in the City. Our tour group consisted mainly of retired folks. We were the youngest on the bus of 53 people, we figured the average age was 65-70. By the end of the trip (who am I kidding, after the first 5 minutes) the geriatric generation was completely on my nerves! It was an exercise in patience....which I don't have!
Hanging out with Terri is always fun. I forget how easy our friendship is and how we can have an entire conversation with just a look or three little words. I guess that comes after 20 years of friendship! Some of our experiences included massages on the ship, morning cocktails (and afternoon, and evening!), lots of food, interesting art, a trip on the Napa Valley Wine Train, sightseeing, shopping on the Wharf and Union Square and lots and lots of laughter. During our trip, we traveled on several modes of transportation: Bus, Ship, Train, Cable Car, Taxi, and Airplane. We packed a lot into 5 days and 4 nights!
Can't wait to experience our "anniversary" trip when we celebrate 40 years of friendship. Oh no....we'll be the geriatric generation then! Perish the thought!!!!

Sunrise

The morning sky from our back deck as seen through the eyes of Kaitlyn.

Poker Update

What are the chances that twice in the last three attempts, Kris (yes, that's Kris with a "K") would make it to the final table in a poker tournament? Well, if you said 100%, you'd be absolutely correct and probably shocked (as was I)!

My first trip to the final table a few weeks ago had me finishing in 8th place and winning back my $20 entry fee.

Yesterday, Chris, Dani and I all played in the tournament at Chips. It was Dani's first "real" poker tournament and she did remarkably well. She was cool as a cucumber! Chris and Kris both made it to the final table. I even confiscated some of Chris's chips. Apparently my teacher taught me well! I ended up finishing 5th in the tournament and won $47!!!!! Whoo Hoo!!!

You might as well JUMP!

No, it's not the Van Halen song.....it's the Lewis/Babbitt teenagers jumping off the back of the Instant Gratification last weekend. Each has a unique jumping style as the camera catches them mid-air on the way into the chilly lake!


I love this shot too! I think it is so cool how the kids reflection is seen in the water below.

High Schooler

Kaitlyn's first day of high school.....and she survived!

What a happy family!

Shelley Mauss Photography is responsible for this lovely family photo and for the brand new blog header above. She rocks!

A Day on the Lake

Kaitlyn sitting in her newly found floatie!

Kaitlyn & Derek jumping off the back of the boat.

Miss Shelley enjoying her first outing in the Instant Gratification.

Stowaway

We had a stowaway on the Instant Gratification tonight. Tim and Kaitlyn were sharing their dinner with the ducks and the duckies didn't like it much when they stopped. This brave fellow just jumped right aboard the boat, probably thinking he had a better chance at more food .

Kaitlyn gave names to 4 of the 8 ducks this evening: Larry, Purdy, Queen and King. She believes the photo above is Larry.

I took the photo with my camera phone and actually figured out how to upload it to my computer....very impressive, if I do say so myself.

Still in Love.....

Photo compliments of Shelley Mauss Photography.












Yes, that is Tim's beer bottle in the background!