Our visit to San Fransisco

Today we traveled to San Fransisco. We dropped my mom off at the airport in Oakland to go home and then we traveled over to the city of hills to play at the piers. Ben wasn't feeling so good this morning so we left him here at the condo and just our family went. We went straight to Fisherman's Wharf and saw a submarine, played in an arcade with some of the oldest arcade games ever and went to Pier 39 where I got a music box at the San Fransisco Music Box Company. Everyone got a souvenier to take home and we took the long and winding way home on Highway 1 (straight up the coastline). We came home and the boys went out to swim in the pool, we had a nice dinner of steak and potatoes and now we're getting ready to go to bed. What a wonderful vacation we've had so far. We have felt very blessed to be able to take this nice vacation together as a family and have thoroughly enjoyed our time together. We're looking forward to another day at the beach tomorrow and possibly the next day.

Johnathan and Darrel in front of Alcatraz - Alex and Zachary refused to get that close to the water.
Alex is standing in front of one of the old time arcade "games". These were so cool!!


I told Zachary to stand in front of this pretty flower and smile and this is what I get. His personality is really beginning to show a little dark side to it. He finally did smile for me but I ended up liking this picture better.

a family picture

Here we are in the Armstrong Redwood Forest. Look at all those colorful faces!

Canoeing with Charlie Brown

The county fair was in Santa Rosa near the place that Charles Shultz lived and wrote the Charlie Brown cartoon. All the staff at the fair wore yellow shirts with the famous black design that Charlie Brown always wore. We had a great time!!

PICTURES

At the airplane museum The beach in the famous holes
Waiting for the rodeo to start

The beach and the fair

On Friday we went to the beach and we all got burned. The entire Webb family (with the exception of Alex) have red faces and necks, shoulders, etc. We didn't see the sun the entire time we were on the beach. In fact, the temperature hovered around 60 degrees but we still got some serious sun on our faces. Ah, the joys of vacation. We did get to see pelicans diving just off the shore for food and seals that were playing in the surf. The boys built huge holes just out of reach from the ocean and then taunted the waves to come and get them.

Yesterday my dad, Darrel, Alex, and Johnathan went off to golf at the course right beside the condos where we are staying. They had a good time except when Johnathan got thrown out of the golf cart and ended up with what will prove to be a very nasty bruise. Darrel made a hairpin turn that Johnathan was not prepared for and he went flying out of the cart. He's a tough kid, though, and he enjoyed the rest of his day. After they came home from golfing they went swimming in the pool that is not more than 25 steps away from our back door and in the late afternoon we all left for the county fair that is going on right now. The boys rode the rides, we watched some shows, looked at the merchandise for sale (we bought some techni-ice Joy), looked at the cows and then we went to the rodeo. It was a very fun and full day. After the fair we came back and stopped at Cold Stone for a treat.

Today is a slow day. My mom and I are going to take my dad to the airport (about 90 minutes away) and then we'll come back. The boys will probably stay here and play some games. Then this afternoon we might go to the Armstrong Redwood Forest and walk around. I think that would probably be an appropriate Sunday activity.

Hopefully later we'll be able to upload some of the pictures we have taken so we can share them with you.

We're here!

We made it safely to our destination and we are loving this weather!! 74 degrees outside when we got here with a slight cool breeze...I know you're jealous Steve. We are looking forward to a fabulous vacation and hope we don't irrevocably damage Shelby in the process. Hopefully we'll get some pictures up for you in the next couple of days. Sad to say my camera is not going to make it on this vacation, but will hopefully be waiting safe and sound with Joy until I get home. Talk soon!

May they all stay safe and feel loved

In a surprising turn of events, Les (Elise's husband) will now also be going to Iraq with Danny. They will be gone for a year working in a hospital in the green zone. I'm glad that they will be together. This is a financial blessing for both families. I don't envy Elise or Amanda the year they have ahead of them. We will keep all of them in our prayers. Elise and Amanda, you're both welcome in Las Vegas anytime. We would love to have you here. I hope you both feel peace and know that we all love you and will do anything we can to help you in the coming months. Good luck to Danny and Les - we love you both!

The Family Picture

This is the chosen photo - the one that will be placed on canvas and hung in my mom's family room for the foreseeable future. I think it's a nice one. This is my side of the family. My brothers and sisters, spouses and children. I think that my mom and dad did fine work. What do you think?

Danny - my brother - my hero

Danny, my brother, called today and said that he is going to Iraq. He is going as a medic and will be working in a hospital in the green zone. I hope that means he will be safe. This is a great opportunity for him but we will miss him. His wife, Amanda, and dog, Diesel (shown in the family picture below) will miss him a ton also. We will keep them all in our prayers. Danny is a warrior and a very amazing man. I am immensly proud of him and the work he chooses to do. He has made a difference in the lives of many. Good luck Danny - we love you!!

and on a cheerier note...

I just couldn't leave my posting like that. I'm sure the camera thing will work out. I'm still excited to get it...whenever it decides to get here. On a brighter note I have sold almost all my Mary Kay stuff and have two more people coming to see (and hopefully buy) it today. I thought I would leave you with some more pictures from Alex and my trip to Columbus.
Alex and I standing in the front of COSI - this "tree "behind us rotated and when the sun hit the prisms it was just beautiful.
This is Alex underneath the wood spider on the wooden web - I told him to act scared and still had to show him how. Oh the things I will do to get a cute shot. Sad, really.

Sad

I am thoroughly disheartened. I ordered my camera last Thursday morning and set it to ship 3-5 day - thinking that would give me enough time before we left on vacation Wednesday night. Well, B&H photo didn't give the order to UPS until today and they said that we can't change our shipping and it will be here on Thursday. Joy has graciously said that she'll run out and ship it to California for me but that will cost a bunch also and then my shipping has effectively doubled...I should have just paid for it to come faster in the first place. I haven't been this depressed for a long time - and it's just a camera. I'm just very discouraged over the whole thing and I'm kind of in a funk mood anyway. I figured I may as well journal blog my feelings and maybe I'll feel a little better afterwards. I really wanted to play with the camera on the long drive to California and to be ready to take a bunch of fun pictures right off the bat. AAAUUUGGGHHH!!!!! I hate that hind sight is 20/20 and I can't do a darn thing to change the fact that my camera isn't going to be here until Thursday....I was so close. Well, you've probably heard enough of my whining. Thanks for reading my rumblings (if you're in fact still reading)

My new camera!!

I'm so happy!!! My new camera is on its way. We have been selling stuff and saving our money and we finally had enough (some more is coming) to buy my new camera. A big thank you to Darrel for helping me sell our stuff and helping me buy this camera. Isn't it beautiful?!! I am so excited to try it out. I can't wait! Anyhoo - just felt like sharing.

Beautiful Columbus Flowers...

...for your viewing enjoyment. I certainly enjoyed looking at them while I was there and thought that you all (my faithful 6 readers) would also enjoy looking at these pretty flowers.

Our trip to Columbus

Alex and I had a great time visiting my uncle Johnny in Columbus. We went to COSI twice and watched to Tour de France every day (and night) - Alex actually figured out a couple of days into our trip that if he went downstairs and watched that t.v. he could watch whatever he wanted. He was much happier after that. We went to a cool park that had huge bugs made out of wood. We ate out A LOT and generally had the most relaxing time. Here are some pictures of our fun outings...

Here is Alex on the two story unicycle at COSI and (below) with the huge bugs made of wood at a park in one of the suburbs of Columbus.

(Above) Angela and Alex at COSI and (below) Angela, Johnny and Patricia

(above) Johnny and Alex on Johnny's new Harley and (below) Alex in front of Friendship 7 at COSI

(above) Alex in the yellow submarine (COSI) and (below) Alex and Johnny modeling the electric car that I bought Alex at COSI that he (with Johnny's help) put together. They even modified it later to run on solar. Very cool!

(above) Alex lifting the car at COSI and (below) waiting for our 3-D movie to start


A great big thank you to Joy for watching Johnathan and Zachary while I was gone. Today it was back to the grind but we're looking forward to our family vacation in a week! Have a great one!

Headed to Ohio

Alex and I are leaving bright and early tomorrow morning to go see my Uncle Johnny and Aunt Patricia in Ohio. We are so excited to see them. Well, I am especially excited. Johnny and I have always had a special bond and I really, really have missed him lately. He lives so far away and we don't get the opportunity to see each other very often. This will be great fun. Here are some pictures of Johnny and Patricia one of the last times we went to see them. A great big thank you to Joy for being willing to watch Johnathan and Zachary so I can go. This is a big deal for her to do this and I owe her a huge thank you (and maybe a nice gift from Ohio). Love you Joy!!! I went to the store today and got some prizes for her kids and my kids while I am gone that hopefully should help a little. I'll keep my fingers crossed that my children are well behaved and not hard. Have a great weekend everyone! I'll catch you on the flip side!

At the park with water

Last week when Ben was here, Joy and I took him and the kids to the park with water. I could technically call it a "waterpark" but since we lived so near an AWESOME waterpark in Idaho I just can't bring myself to call it that. So, while we were there at the park with water, we hardly got in the water at all. I think that I was the one who got the most wet and I was one of the only ones not wearing my swimsuit. Here are some typical shots from our day...


Okay - to start off we had Daniel who seemed offended if the water even touched him..
Caitlin who had to go potty about every 30 seconds...
And Zach who wouldn't even think about getting wet...
Finally Daniel started to warm up to the idea of getting a little wet...
And then Angela, (me), who couldn't stand that fact that we were at a park with water and no one was getting wet, took Caitlin and braved the water together. Don't we both look thrilled??
This was our experience at the park with water. You notice I didn't post any pictures with Ben...that is because he also never got off the towel next to Joy and I and braved the water. Ah well, another day, another time.

Skymania

While Ben was here we were able to do some pretty fun things but according to him, this was one of his favorites. This place is called skymania and it's basically just a huge room full of trampolines. I took Alex and Ben and after about 15 minutes they were dripping with sweat and having a great time. They played dodge ball and just jumped around. About halfway through their designated hour a bunch more kids came and they were able to have a much more rousing game of dodge ball.

Alex's choir concert

I thought that this picture of Caitlin was so funny. She is wearing her school visitor sign/sticker on top of her head because Zachary had put his on his hat and Caitlin wanted to be like Zach...funny kid.

Alex had his final choir concert of the year last week and here are some pictures I took of the blessed event. We had a minor crisis the morning of the concert when we couldn't find the choir shirt. Alex said that if they weren't wearing their choir shirt then they couldn't perform. So, after the entire family searched for at least 30 minutes, Darrel took Alex to school and bought the very last one the choir teacher had so he could perform. Then, we get to the concert and low and behold look at the boy behind Alex...no choir shirt, and he's still singing. Oh well, it would have been a little more obvious if Alex hadn't been wearing his shirt because he stands front row center. He did a great job, the choir sang some cool songs and now we can cross one more thing off our list of things happening before school lets out for the summer. YEA!!

Saraha and the Cyber Speedway

One of the things we did with Ben while he was here was at the Saraha Hotel and Casino. They have the cyber speedway with real race cars that you 'drive' with a wrap-around screen. Ben and Alex also rode "Speed the Ride" (a really fast roller coaster) 30 times. Ben, Alex and I were also able to enjoy dinner in the Nascar Cafe. We have had a great time with Ben here and we will miss him lots and lots. Joy left today to take him back to Utah. We'll see you in California Ben!