He's in the Navy

It's been so crazy around here lately I forgot to post Gregg's Navy trip. This is the van that drove them around. Imagine the looks on people's faces when this drives up and a group of old, out of shape counselors get out.

This is him in the van.


Looking good. He found out afterward he had this on backward.

Check out the big guy in the back with the little life jacket.

This guys name is Donnelly.

Doesn't look tough enough to be packing that. That's good, he's a counselor not a recruit.
The Navy recruiter from Gregg's school took him on this free trip to San Diego to check out their facilities. I don't think any of these picture will give away any govt. secrets. It was snowing in Reno the week he was gone. Lucky guy. We survived the week without him and were happy he made it back safe and had such a good time.

No fun

Some criminals in IL, Homewood to be exact went on a spending spree yesterday with my debit card. They got away with $1300 and change before the fraud alert shut them down. I would have loved to see their faces when they were denied at Macy's. Of course they probably had another stolen account to charge against. The little kids are off track so we're all going on a field trip to the police station to file a report. The worst part no debiting for 7-10 days, how inconvienant. Parker wants to go to the police dept. to see people get killed (good thing we have a counselor in the family). Reese asked if I caught the person when I came back from the bank. No such luck.

Softball and Pretzels

Blakelee is a member of the Nationals this year. She did ok in this game. She was walked and hit by a pitch. Getting on base is good, a hit would be better. I'm holding out hope. Last year she only got hits when I wasn't there. I wonder if that's a sign?

The highlight of the evening.

Wetzel's pretzels mall employee appreciation night.

After the game in which the Nationals suffered defeat we headed out to the mall to take advantage of my mall employee perk. The next ball game has to be better and hopefully warmer. It's hard to photograph when you are freezing.

He's back

We went to Alameda for fun and most importantly to welcome our good friend Brian home from his mission. Here we are waiting anxiously for his arrival with our signs and balloons.
This is us with Brian's parents, his good friend Daniel and his older brother Matthew. More signs so he won't miss seeing us.

Brian towering over his little mother, Arlene.


Donnelly's with Brian outside their house.



Brian with parents and Daniel outside their house.

The third try. Brian kept blinking when I took the picture so this is him keeping his eyes open.

We ate so much I didn't think I would be able to drive home. I should have changed into my sweats before we left.

We were so happy to see Brian again after two years and visit with his family over the weekend. He didn't know we would be there and the surprise was worth it.

It's not often that Parker is in so much male company, at the Heddell's it's all about boys. This is three of the four Heddell offspring with their Dad, Daniel and Parker. We were so grateful to be a part of Brian's homecoming and share in his families joy over his successful mission. Brian became a good friend of ours shortly before he left for his mission. We grew close to him and his mother while they were here in Reno and his dad was working out of state. We will always be grateful for the circumstances that brought us together (which I'll leave out as not to embarass anyone) and the strong bonds of friendship and love we feel for the Heddell's. Thank you Brian for all the fun times, the great example to our children as well as to us and hopefully many more movies and laughs to come. We been blessed for knowing you and your family. Welcome home we missed you.

We met Daniel when he visited Brian in Reno prior to the mission. Parker was equally excited to see him again.

The Hornet

We saw this old pier from a higher vantage point and went to investigate. Their were broken clam shells everywhere. We discovered a bunch of live clams stuck to some floating wood nearby and wouldn't you know it those brown bumps at the end of the pier were seals and we found their feasting grounds.

That's said pier in the background.

Lookout Hercules.

Where do they come up with these poses?

This is the Hornet. It's permanately docked here and is now a tour. Since it was a Sunday we didn't tour.

This giant rope was very exciting.

How often do you get to pose with a giant rope?

Or wear it for hair?

Or simply rassle it in the wind?

The crew with Arlene, and SF in the background.

I do not know where they get this from.

Air craft carriers are huge.

Like I said huge.

You can see how small a plane looks parked on top with the wings folded up.

The way back

Reese spotted this house on the way back from the beach and wanted her picture taken with it because she thought it was orange. Tiny palm trees.

Are you taller than a palm tree? Parker isn't.

Reese isn't.

Blakelee isn't.

We have a beach

Five of us headed to Alameda Ca over the weekend to welcome Brian home from his mission. We are headed out to find the beach that Arlene assures us is nearby. We have yet to see any water. The green plants were a site for sore eyes though. Still snowing in Reno.
Frog kids we spotted on our walk.

We found the beach and low tide. Undaunted us city dwellers headed for the water. That is Arlene way behind us picking her way slowly through the puddles.

We love the beach no matter the month or weather, the beach is always fun.

San Francisco in the background. Parker wanted to know why we didn't bring our swimsuits so we could go in the water.

We were all a little more wet and sandy but it was worth the walk. Parker's shoes were so wet he walked back barefoot.

It took two days for Parker's shoes to dry but they were asking to go back the next day. Can't get enough of the beach.

Reese and Blakelee spotted this old truck on the way back and thought it looked like Troy Bolton's from HSM 3.

It's all about the badges

Last Friday night was the Cub Scouts Blue and Gold dinner.
Parker got his Wolf badge (early because he is so obessed with badges on his shirt, he needs lots of time to get arrow points before he's a bear).

Gregg was a huge help, he cooked a hundred hotdogs and borrowed a chafing dish from work to keep them warm in.
Bree was off somewhere else as usual so we took Kimmie. (cool chafing dish in the background, it's not really a dish)

Our cub scout. I have a few things to sew on his shirt after this.