We just returned from a trip to New York City which included Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty and, passing "Ground Zero" (shown here out the bus window) as well... overall a fun trip, but really exhausting!
Monday, July 28, 2008
I am still in Summer School
We just returned from a trip to New York City which included Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty and, passing "Ground Zero" (shown here out the bus window) as well... overall a fun trip, but really exhausting!
Friday, July 25, 2008
I'M BACK IN CALIFORNIA
I know this blog is for posting our summer adventures, so I'll let you know what I've been up to. Sadly I had to return to CA to take care of the business my dad left me after he passed away in April. It was not doing well at all and after lots of discussions, I decided to fly home.
I am happy to say that my daughter and son-in-law have volunteered to jump in and help as much as they can and they have been WONDERFUL!! They have fantastic and amazing ideas. They have put in so many hours and have been so helpful. And all of this and taking care of a 7 month old and a 3 year old and her hubby has a full time job.
This week has been so productive but VERY stressful. As of yesterday I have seen much fruit from our labors. There will be more updates later. Yesterday I tried to drive home from O.C. What usually takes about 12 minutes took over an hour and a half. Evidentally there were 3 accidents and a fire. I swear to you, I never got over 2 miles an hour. Finally after being so stressed, I called my massage place and made an appt. and got off the freeway and headed to the SPA. I got a 90 minute massage and it felt wonderful.
I called my daughter to have her check the freeway situation and it was still really bad. So her hubby said "tell her to turn around and come have dinner with us." 'Nuff said, I headed back to Anaheim and it took my only 12 minutes to get there!!!! So I stayed till about 10:30 and headed home. It was so nice to be home and sleep in my own bed, 'cept it was missing something very important...MY HUSBAND!!!
I have an appt this morning with the DMV and am heading out the door shortly. Then I have to deal with my dad's house and get it ready for an estate sale and to get it rented. So much to do, so little time!!
Now to share something ....when I arrived at the airport and got to where the baggage claim was, there was a swarm of papparazi's practically knocking everyone over to get to someone coming down the escalator. Later we found out it was Zack Effron from High School Musical. But while looking at the video on TMZ, Jennifer shouted, "Mom, come here!!! You are on the video!!". Yup, sure enough there I was standing totally frozen and watching the whole thing. I feel sorry for these artists, it really was a horrible frenzy.
Now here is the cute story. My grandaughter, Katie and I talked on the phone a lot while I was gone and she kept asking me "you come to my house now Gramma?" Well finally I was able to say YES! So the day before I was to come home she started singing "if I knew you were coming, I'd a baked a cake". So she and her mom baked a lemon bundt cake for me. BUT she was a bad girl, she got into it while it was still in the pan. Fast forward to her seeing me at the airport....she came running over. After I picked her up, she looked at me and said "gramma, I ate some of your cake." I said you did??? and she said "yetz, I was a yiddle hungry". Well that cracked me up so much that I turned my head so she couldn't see me laughing and she thought I was crying so she patted me and said so seriously, "it's ok gramma, mommy fixed it." Isn't that cute? The cake was good too!!
I was able to have dinner with my bestest friend, Rosemary (that I've known for over 36 years). She came to town because her son and daughter in law had a baby and for her other daughter's wedding shower. I brought my step mom, Rose, with me and went to dinner and sat at a round table for 14 people. This Italian place is "SO Italian" that it had pictures of the Pope EVERYWHERE AND a waxed bust of him in the middle of the table. Everyone kept turning the lazy susan around so he wouldn't be looking at us. Later my grandson, R.J., came running over to me and gave me the biggest hug ever!!! Then he pointed to the picture of the Pope behind me and said "grandpa!" LOL I'm sure he was speaking of Grandpa Freiholtz.
One funny story and then I have to go.....Rosemary was chatting with Jennifer giving her a bad time...Jennifer told Rosemary to "shut up" (she was just playing) and Rosemary's daughter, Lisa, heard her and laughed and said "don't tell my mom to shut up" and then my son Richie said to Lisa, "don't talk to my sister that way!!" LOL we were all laughing, it was sooo funny!
OK...I'm off. I'll try to post some pictures from dinner.
I am happy to say that my daughter and son-in-law have volunteered to jump in and help as much as they can and they have been WONDERFUL!! They have fantastic and amazing ideas. They have put in so many hours and have been so helpful. And all of this and taking care of a 7 month old and a 3 year old and her hubby has a full time job.
This week has been so productive but VERY stressful. As of yesterday I have seen much fruit from our labors. There will be more updates later. Yesterday I tried to drive home from O.C. What usually takes about 12 minutes took over an hour and a half. Evidentally there were 3 accidents and a fire. I swear to you, I never got over 2 miles an hour. Finally after being so stressed, I called my massage place and made an appt. and got off the freeway and headed to the SPA. I got a 90 minute massage and it felt wonderful.
I called my daughter to have her check the freeway situation and it was still really bad. So her hubby said "tell her to turn around and come have dinner with us." 'Nuff said, I headed back to Anaheim and it took my only 12 minutes to get there!!!! So I stayed till about 10:30 and headed home. It was so nice to be home and sleep in my own bed, 'cept it was missing something very important...MY HUSBAND!!!
I have an appt this morning with the DMV and am heading out the door shortly. Then I have to deal with my dad's house and get it ready for an estate sale and to get it rented. So much to do, so little time!!
Now to share something ....when I arrived at the airport and got to where the baggage claim was, there was a swarm of papparazi's practically knocking everyone over to get to someone coming down the escalator. Later we found out it was Zack Effron from High School Musical. But while looking at the video on TMZ, Jennifer shouted, "Mom, come here!!! You are on the video!!". Yup, sure enough there I was standing totally frozen and watching the whole thing. I feel sorry for these artists, it really was a horrible frenzy.
Now here is the cute story. My grandaughter, Katie and I talked on the phone a lot while I was gone and she kept asking me "you come to my house now Gramma?" Well finally I was able to say YES! So the day before I was to come home she started singing "if I knew you were coming, I'd a baked a cake". So she and her mom baked a lemon bundt cake for me. BUT she was a bad girl, she got into it while it was still in the pan. Fast forward to her seeing me at the airport....she came running over. After I picked her up, she looked at me and said "gramma, I ate some of your cake." I said you did??? and she said "yetz, I was a yiddle hungry". Well that cracked me up so much that I turned my head so she couldn't see me laughing and she thought I was crying so she patted me and said so seriously, "it's ok gramma, mommy fixed it." Isn't that cute? The cake was good too!!
I was able to have dinner with my bestest friend, Rosemary (that I've known for over 36 years). She came to town because her son and daughter in law had a baby and for her other daughter's wedding shower. I brought my step mom, Rose, with me and went to dinner and sat at a round table for 14 people. This Italian place is "SO Italian" that it had pictures of the Pope EVERYWHERE AND a waxed bust of him in the middle of the table. Everyone kept turning the lazy susan around so he wouldn't be looking at us. Later my grandson, R.J., came running over to me and gave me the biggest hug ever!!! Then he pointed to the picture of the Pope behind me and said "grandpa!" LOL I'm sure he was speaking of Grandpa Freiholtz.
One funny story and then I have to go.....Rosemary was chatting with Jennifer giving her a bad time...Jennifer told Rosemary to "shut up" (she was just playing) and Rosemary's daughter, Lisa, heard her and laughed and said "don't tell my mom to shut up" and then my son Richie said to Lisa, "don't talk to my sister that way!!" LOL we were all laughing, it was sooo funny!
OK...I'm off. I'll try to post some pictures from dinner.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
This is for John Bradshaw, a teacher from my "day job", who likes to call me "Bunker"... I am so popular in Watertown where we teach in the summer, they named a whole street for me!Trebuchet Action Video!
This will give a basic idea of how frightening a weapon like this, only three times larger, would have been to people in a village under siege... only instead of a jug filled with ice, the projectiles of choice were skulls, bodies of plague victims, dead animals - the kinds of things that would make the citizens of the receiving village anxious to open the gates and leave!
BIG DADDY'S
Big Daddy's Ice Cream!!!
Wells, Maine
Yummy!
With loads of fun flavors - Grandpa chose "Frozen Pudding" whatever that is...
PORTLAND, MAINE
The Portland Head Light - built in 1790, when George Washington was President
Isn't this picture post card perfect? Jack really did a great job!
"A particularly lucky shot - what is in the full view and hidden here is a sailboat centered in a vee in the rocks"
2nd Lighthouse whose name we forgot
Joseph and Grandma
The Portland Head Light keeper's house
This says it all!
Gertrude and Heathcliff atop the keeper's house chimney
GETTYSBURG
Joseph and Jack stopped for a brief tour of the Gettysburg Battlefield. Having to be somewhere on a schedule made some of our stops too brief, or they made for a long day of driving..."Say, Grandpa?"...
"Yes?"...
"Can we go swimming when we get to the hotel?"
"You sure can... I will if the water is warm enough."
WASHINGTON, D.C.
The back side (Rose Garden view) of the White House, well guarded... "Can we get any closer, Grandpa?"... "Well, yes we could, Joseph, but if you think traffic is rough here, Pennsylvania Avenue on the front side is even worse."... "OK, then maybe we should just keep driving. Oh yeah, Grandpa?"... "Yes?"... "Why are there so many people here on a Saturday?"
The Washington Monument as we drove by... sadly, we had a fairly long drive and more stops or we would have parked and wandered around much more.
The Lincoln Memorial as we crossed the 14th Street bridge over the Potomac.
On the farm
Joseph cranking up the trebuchet... John, one of my ham radio buddies who lives on a fabulous farm in North Caroline, bought a 55-year old radio from me last summer, but we had the time nor the space to deliver it, so this year, Joseph and I detoured and discovered this marvelous 1/3 scale toy in the front yard - heaving a gallon jug of ice 200 yards is quite a thrill for a young lad who has only seen such a thing on TV!
St. Louis, MO
THE ARCH!! - 192 Meters tall (630 feet if you don't get metric)
They were trying to get the picture to look like Joseph was holding up the Arch. Grandpa didn't do a very good job, cuz Joseph was really working for it!
Joseph running down to the water. Front Street under the railroad bridge. To the right is a TV crew.
The Mississippi is flooding, but not as much as in 1993 - more than deep enough for me!
This side-wheel paddle boat (really a floating casino) can't get under the bridge ahead nor the bridge behind due to flooding. It is stranded and cannot go anywhere.
Looking down toward the I-70 freeway Joseph and Jack took from the west.
Looking straight down toward the Mississippi... those ant-like specks are people!
Notice the flooding as well???
Notice the flooding as well???
The Court House Building from the top of the Gateway Arch.
Inside the Arch... kinda cramped and more crowded than this picture shows. Joseph asked: "Grandpa, can we go up?" And you don't have to guess what Grandpa said!
Helicopter pad "you need to take a very big step to get to off".
While flooding along the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers was not as bad as 15 years ago, we encountered several roads where lanes were closed because flood waters were over half or more of the roadway, and the rivers had not yet crested!
While flooding along the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers was not as bad as 15 years ago, we encountered several roads where lanes were closed because flood waters were over half or more of the roadway, and the rivers had not yet crested!
Road Trip with the Boys
Jack and Joseph (formerly known as Bailey) hit the road on Tuesday June 17th in Colorado. Joseph was so excited about this summer's adventure he wanted to pack 3 months in advance!
Joseph loves maps and told Grandpa that he would help navigate. Well these pictures Grandpa took of his "Navigator". He had a ham radio headset on.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)