The Sat. Morn. Post - Vol. 10 - San Clemente, Part 1

Hi there! This Saturday morning I'll reflect back to last weekend: our family vacation to San Clemente, where we celebrated our son Brady's 16th birthday. Thanks to my wife Laura's wonderful grandparents, Bertha and Gil, to whom we owe so very much. Bertha and Gil have a timeshare on the beach in San Clemente. They graciously allowed us to use it for the weekend to host Brady's 16th birthday party. If it were not for Bertha and Gil, we could not have had this wonderful family vacation and birthday celebration.

And it couldn't have been a nicer weekend. It was not blazing hot as it sometimes is in late August here in Southern California. And we didn't have to travel far. Brady's guests didn't have to go far out of their way either. Lets look at the pictures, shall we?

First up is the view from the balcony of our room looking straight out (west). This is San Clemente Pier:
This picture was taken from the same spot, but with the lens pointed a little to the right.
What you can't see in either of the pictures above, is the train tracks. Amtrak, Metrolink, and Coaster all share the tracks, and trains run frequently between 7:00 a.m. ish and 7:00 p.m. ish. It doesn't take long to get use to the bells at the crossing (which you can barely see in the top picture), but the train horns are somewhat louder.

Also, the two pictures taken above were actually taken on Sunday morning, the last day we were there. All of the remaining pictures in this post were taken on Friday, the first full day we were there. The morning cloud cover was so thick you would think we were experiencing June Gloom.

Laura loves taking pictures of the two of us, but by holding the camera herself - as opposed to allowing someone else to hold the camera and take the picture of us. She took 8 of these pictures, most of them cut off the top of my head from just above my sun glasses. This is the best of that bunch of 8 (in my opinion). I chose one where both of us had a nice smile, but doing so I had to pick one that didn't show what was written on my hat. I will not spell out the whole name, but the initials are UCLA.
Our daughter Nina brought a friend with her: Alyssa. Here they are sitting on the back of the life guard's jeep. We took a walk the Friday evening out on to the pier, and along the beach. It was noticeably cooler than during the day, and that June Gloom cloud cover only got thicker.

Here we have me and Laura taken by Brady. (see, my hat isn't chopped off). Laura is holding up my beer belly, as I am sucking in.

And here without me having to move an inch, we have the birthday boy, Brady, and Nina.

So this concludes the "family" portion of our vacation. The part 2 portion of my post will focus on Brady's birthday party. See you next Saturday morning.

The Saturday Morning Post - Vol. ??

I'm on vacation this weekend, and not at home like on some of my previous vacations. I didn't bring my computer, so I'm writing this post using my cell phone, and the Internet access I have through my cell phone provider.

I'll be back next Saturday morning with pictures and a story.

The Saturday Morning Post - Vol. 9 - More on The SMP Vol. 8

Last week I played golf. Last week was the La Habra Corn Festival. Last weekend started as if I was on the road to H-E-double hockey stick.

I've written before about the golf tournament named in memory of my dad, and about the Corn Festival and Parade. Last week, for the first time since the golf tournament was established, the two events took place on the same weekend. The thing that complicates this is that the weekend also coincided with the start of my daughter's cheer leading season. That means it coincided with the start of my wife's cheer coordinator season. That means it all added up to stress, tension, anxiety, unpredictable expenses, and emotional moments that I would prefer not to have experienced.

So what happened to make it such a challenging weekend? First, the background information: every year, the boys and girls of La Habra Pop Warner Football and Cheer get to march in the La Habra Corn Festival parade. The little girls - those on the flag squad - get to ride on the float. Last year, the float was awarded a prize. This year it's the 40th anniversary of the La Habra Pop Warner Football and Cheer's existence, so something special was supposed to happen in this year's parade - the 61st annual. Well the person in charge of the parade for the league had a personal crisis, and bailed on her responsibilities of coordinator, and of towing the float.

My wife finds out about this on Thursday - two days before the parade - after all the little girls were told they would be riding on the float. But all is not lost: the coordinator dropped off her trailer (the would-be float) at our house on Thursday evening. My wife and some cheer coaches and cheer moms decorate the float on Friday. I get home from work Friday night and opt to hook up the trailer (float) on Saturday morning before I leave for my golf outing.

Saturday morning comes and I find myself struggling to hook up this trailer (float) only to find my hitch is not compatible with the trailer's counter-part. The owner of the trailer is contacted and arrives to assist. Also assisting in this effort is my wife's grandparents (our next door neighbors). Between all of us - we can't hook our truck to the trailer / float. And, by the way, I am overdue to leave for the 1 & 1/2 hour drive to the golf course to play in the tournament.

I was already worried that my wife would be towing a trailer (float) loaded with 5-7 years olds, while my daughter marches nearby. Did I mention that my wife has never towed anything in her life? My nerves were shot. Not the best frame of mind to be playing golf - that is if I arrived in time for my start time.

Well all worked out fine. It was decided that the trailer had some problem with the device that attached to the hitch of our truck - so no towing (or driving in the parade) would take place. All the girls - disappointed little ones included - would have to walk the mile and a half parade route. I would have to drive like a maniac for an hour and a half to get to the golf course. I would take my first swing at a golf ball on the first tee - approximately a year after I took my last swing at a golf ball on the 18th fairway. I shot something that I would be more proud of if I were bowling. I forgot my camera, so I have no pictures to share. And my wife forgot her camera too, so I have no pictures to share of the parade.

So you are left with reading another boring post about my mundane life, and all I can offer is a few links to previous year's post's of a similar topic. See you next Saturday morning.

The Saturday Morning Post - Vol. 8 - Golfing Today

I'm playing golf today. I used to be a semi-regular golfer, but now it's just an annual outing. Today, just as in the past several years, I'm playing in a tournament named in the memory of my father. I'll post more about the event and maybe a picture or two - next Saturday.

The Saturday Morning Post - Vol. 7 - Family Pictures

This Saturday morning, I thought I would share some pictures of my family. After all, the name of my blog is Danny & Family. My wife Laura is the keeper of the pictures. That is to say she has the digital images on our family computer under her login, and she set up folders to categorize them. She also has a box of photos in our closet taken from our older camera - the one that used film. I don't have the time to look through the box and pick out any, and don't really want to scan them and put them on the computer. There are plenty to choose from on the computer right now. So below are some fairly recent ones.

I'll begin with a few taken on my Birthday back in January. Laura and I, along with our daughter Nina, went to Disneyland. Disney has this offer where the person celebrating their birthday gets in free. My birthday also happened to have fallen on Martin Luther King's birthday, so due to the holiday and so many people being off of work and school, the Magic Kingdom was quite crowded that day.

I don't remember why our son Brady didn't join us at Disneyland, but he did go to dinner with us at the Olive Garden. Here I am getting ready to blow out my candle on a piece of chocolate cheesecake I was given, and Brady decided to be a goof.

Next stop on our picture tour is right next door. Literally. Our next door neighbors are my wife's grandparents, Bertha and Gil. On Easter Sunday, we also celebrated Gil's 80th birthday. Here's the birthday boy, and his lovely wife:

Also taken on Easter at Gil's party; Laura with her sister Sara and her brother Sean:

Pictured here are four generations: Bertha, Tina, Laura and baby Olivia.

Here's a better picture of Olivia:

And finally a picture taken about a week ago. Laura e-mailed it to me at work, and the subject line said "Our Kids"

Well that's it for this week. See you next Saturday morning.