Water Park Fun!

After traveling to Japan and missing Sarah and Mckay's birthdays we decided to go to the waterpark and have a day of fun activities.  Char and kids were able to meet us there so it was a real treat.

                                                    Sarah and Hannah

                                                                      Hannah

                                                              Char and Elise

 Grandpa, Grandma Elise, Benson and Gracie... I think Clarke was not able to be with us... Char and kids came and stayed a week with us!

 Gracie loved the camera. She wanted her picture taken each time I brought it out.

                          Char and chunky, cute Elise who is 1 now.... hard to believe.

                                  Benson taking a break in the tube after eating lunch.

                                                      Hannah having her turn

 The boys were off and no where to be found so we ate at our rented cabanna. Lucy, Maren, Taylor, Gracie and Benson.

 I had nap duty and it was quiet. When I would think Elise was asleep I would sneak over to check on her and this is what I would find... big bright eyes staring at me as if to say.....i am not going to miss any of the fun grandma.

      

                                                 Time for Hannah's bottle.

Benson and Gracie have such a cute relationship. They absolutely love each other and have a good time.

                                           

The girls had a fun stroller ride around the park with grandpa....although Hannah doesn't lppk to happy. I think it was way past nap time.

Utah in July with Clarke and Char and kids!

 After carpooling to Utah we arrived at ST. George at the Doughty's home. They have been kind enough to have us at their family reunions the past 2 years. Of course the kids were in the water fast. There was a heat wave and the temp was 117......HOT!

                                               Clarke looks so much like his dad.

 One of the activities we did was to go to the Tuacan and see Mary Poppins. Andrew and Lucy were able to go with us. It was well worth every penny and sitting outdoors in temp of 108!

                       Carolyn, Jared, Clarke, Andrew , Lucy, Char and I at Mary Poppins.

                                                                       Sweet!

                                         Married for 36 years of adventure! Love you hunny!!!!

  Char and Gracie at Mammoth. We spent a day up at Mammoth.It is in the mountains and gorgeous. The Doughtys have a retreat with cabins and lots of outdoor activities. It was so nice to get out of the 118 heat and have only 90 heat. We had a great day. Thanks Bill and Carolyn.

                                               Lucy and Jared at the outdoor amphitheatre.

A highlight was a wade in the freezing river. Jared is always so accommodating and helpful when we are with grand kids. Keeping Gracie and Char afloat!!

                      The view of the river near their retreat.... the air was so crisp and clean.

                        Andrew with his fishing pole! He is 9 years old and I can hardly believe this!

Elise was having some bonding time with Jared. He was so happy the she is starting to like to spend time with him. She is a doll.

June 22, 2013... Ashley is a bride!!!

Ramiro and Ashley were married on Saturday, June 22, 2013. Ashley is now Ashley Garcia.

The happy couple.....married at the south building Turlock Stake.

All the flower girls.... the nieces and Daisy, Ramiro's daughter.

                                     The guys with the newlyweds.....the nephews!

                                        Ashley and Ramiro with Jared and Barbara.

                              Char, Clarke, Spencer, Sarah, Ashley, Ramiro, Perla, Tina and George.

                           My friend Louise Burgess made this cake as a gift for Ashley,

               We had a dance after the dinner and these two stole the show... Benson and Gracie....

                       Jared acted as master of ceremonies and DJ with help from Benson.

     

                                     Dad was so happy for Ashley.... the smiles tell it all.

 Cake anyone?.... this group came running when it was time to cut the cake... do you think they love cake????

                                                      Enjoying a bit of twist!

                                                Twist and shout and let it all out!!!!

                                                         Ramiro and Jared.

 George gave them a bundle of money that looked like a stack of hundreds.... but he was quite the joker... under the hundred were lots of ones.

 How did Sarah end up with all the kids? I suppose most of them are her own. They were so cute!

This is Clarke's youngest Elise with Aunt Sarah! We had a great time. Congratulations to Ashley.

On the other side of the world.... Paradise!

I was blessed to receive a tax return large enough to allow me to visit Spencer and family in Okinawa. I love to walk around at sunset on the boardwalk. Such a sight...and to have two of my grandchildren share this with me is incredible. I am so blessed.

 

 Notice the sea wall and how far it extends. This is great typhoon and tsunami protection.

 This is a 5 minute drive from Spencer's home. We drove to the sea wall because it was really hot and wanted to stay till the sun went down.

                             Sydney, Shawn, Suzy and Spencer threw rocks in the ocean for a while.

Suzy has quite the collection of sea glass in a variety of rare colors....blue, green, brown, and white. It is amazing to find it in the sand after a storm. Its really quite beautiful. Shawn helps her find it.

                                                      Sydney and I on the wall.

      

                                       I love this photo of Syd looking in to the sunset.

 I love to go to the Japanese grocery store and see all the different vegetables. These are weird. Wonder what they taste like?

 Shawn loved Tory Beach where we actually found a beautiful blue starfish.... I would post the photo but I don't want a photo of me in my bathing suit....sorry!

 One day we went to the Peace Memorial which is dedicated to all the men from several countries who lost their lives in the Battle of Okinawa. This is Spencer's family at the entrance... can you see Sydney's little Japanese shoes?.... She just had to wear them and they are not easy to walk in.

 

                                                    Beautiful view of the grounds.

                                         This is the huge Peace Shrine in the visitors center.

 This lady was gracious to allow me, a tourist, to get a photo of her in her traditional costume.

                                        Spencer and family at the bell that tolls.

 I will need to do some genealogy to see if I am related to this man Gilbert Weiss... my maiden name.

 The restaurants were so good. You really get a lot of fresh vegetables and herbs in your food.... and a big portion

 This was one of my favorite restaurants. They grow their own vegetables and herbs and it overlooks the ocean; so the view from the restaurant is amazing. The food was amazing! The next photo is outside the restaurant.

                         Shawn was a trooper but was missing his nap so he was tired.

                             It started to rain.. you can see a few drops on the photo.

 My favorite spot and place to go....Okuma Beach. The military has a resort that families can rent housing and stay. It has boat and kayak rentals, BBQ pits, beautiful scenery, warm,clear oceans, bike rentals, hiking... a reastaurant.... all the works. The most beautiful water I have seen or swam in. I got sun burnt because I stayed in the water for a few hours with the kids.

                                      Shawn had a great time with digging in the sand.

 Children know no language barriers. This Japanese girl played for a hour with Sydney and Shawn. No words were needed. They were so sweet together.

 We had a race with Spencer in these cars... Suzy and I drove a 4 person bike with the two kids in the front. It was fun!

                               One of our hikes to the top of one of the small mountains.

 Beautiful scenery and floral gardens on the resort. Shawn is so sweet and I am glad I got to bond with him. He would say... where's grandma when I would leave the room! I have a relationship with Sydney but Shawn was only crawling the last time I was in Japan so I was thrilled he liked me. He is so fun!

   

Now that is some gorgeous water! See what I mean!

                                          One of the boat rentals..... I stayed on shore to photograph.

 This is the small mountain we hiked to the top off. So beautiful . Wish you could all go for a visit to Okinawa!

 So the zoos are so different in Okinawa. The animals are right in the area with you. These birds flew from across the water to us when we entered the zoo. It was, at times, a bit scary as they came right up to us.

 

                              They had an area where you could hold small animals and dogs.

 Can you believe they let us feed the turtles and even sit on them for pictures. Of course Spencer and I tried to keep most of our weight off the turtle.... Spencer looks like a teenage mutant ninja turtle... Rafael.

So I took this photo of Suzy feeding these weird looking animals.... what ever they are; but I swear they look like the rodents of unusual size in The Princess Bride. I want to thank Suzy and Spencer for all their love and sharing many of the islands activites with me. I love them so much.