October Guests & Fun

 Ed & Luanne speaking about Faith Promise giving during our Missions Conference

 We saw Kathy (Klages) Hicks & Joyce (Lindley) Webster at Mimi's

 Here we are-all together!

 Mom & her "Fourth Daughter" Jan Gidel

 Ed & Lu stayed with us the first week of October. 

We loved having them here! :)

 Here, Lu is showing Philip & Abby her digital picture album of her time with her 2 

13-yr old granddaughters this summer.

 Great Aunt Luanne meets Little Lee

 Great Aunt Jan meets Lee, too!

 Lee's pudgy little hands at the piano. He enjoys playing it.

 Great Grandpa Stevens enjoying his namesake.

 The kids came over for dinner to visit with "Aunt Jan & Uncle Steve"

 We enjoyed chatting together. Steve & Jan stayed here for 12 days as they were seeing supporters & participating in our Missions Conference. SO great to see them again! :)

 Steve & Jan with Mom & Dad before our Faith Promise service

 Steve & Jan were married at Granada 25 years ago, & walked along this path to their getaway car. :)

 Precious Little Lee is 7 months old in this picture

Back at Mimi's

We had a busy, fun & meaningful month!

Lotsa Birthday!

 After going out to eat, we went back to Grandpa Stevens' home &

 "the kids" went for a walk in his lovely neighborhood.

 Little Lee getting topped off

 Jeff's Bday is 9/4, Philip, 8/30 & I'm 8/31

 Cards & loot from Grandpa Stevens & each other

 Birthday loot from Kirk

 My Mom had us over for a homemade dinner. Here Philip & Abby are looking at Grandma's latest updated scrapbook. (The apple doesn't fall from the tree--does it?)

 Daddy barbecuing delicious ribs. YUM!

 Grandma with Lee

 Not too many ladies my age (except for my sisters) get a home cooked meal from Mom every birthday! (She is so amazing!) She made apple sauce from their apples & delicious carrot cake too!

 Grandpa having fun with Lee Boy

 Great-Grandma with #23

Mom offered for each of us girls to take something beautiful from her curio cabinet on our birthday. So I chose this hand-painted pitcher that belonged to Auntie Katherine, our Grandma's sister. I hope to hand it down to Heather some day. :)

I feel so blessed & celebrated!!

Roadtrip-part 4 Comin' Down Highway One

 Beautiful beaches on Highway 1

 Love the green ferns amongst the redwoods!

 The Golden Gate bridge on a fog-less day!

 Pigeon Pt. lighthouse is in disrepair but still beautiful to this lighthouse-lover. :)

 Julia Pfeiffer State beach has a fresh waterfall into the ocean!

 A fountain in the "secret garden" at Cambria Pines Lodge-one of our favorites places to visit.
We love the great breakfast and beautiful gardens throughout the property.

Avila Beach was our last stop on our 16 day trip. We had a wonderful time!

Roadtrip-part 3- Ferndale, Mendocino, and the Skunk Train

 Next, we drove out to the charming Victorian town of Ferndale. It is surrounded by dairy farms and is called "Creamery City." I love this "dairy cake" with the John Deere tractor on top!

 The buildings on Main St. are all like this! I bet the local house painters are busy!

 Another storefront

 We stopped and had a huge and delicious bowl of chili and hot tea. 

(This was a nice change from being so hot at the beginning of our trip!)

 Love those redwoods!

 We couldn't pass up the "Drive Thru Tree"!

 This is the Headlands Inn B&B in Mendocino,  an East-Coast style town on the West Coast.

 Our room had a fireplace with everything ready for us. All we had to do was light it!

 The view out one of our windows

 Breakfast on our deck. They brought our breakfast to our room on a tray with china cups and saucers, flowers, delicious food and even a fuchsia on our granola bowl!

 The church in town

 We took the Skunk Train from Ft. Bragg 20 miles thru the redwoods to Northspur.

 We stopped and had a delicious tri-tip dinner with all the trimmings at the turn-around spot.

It was delightful to chug through the forest and take as many pictures as I wanted!

Ferndale on Dwellable

Point Reyes Station on Dwellable