Family Reunion

Carolyn got to travel to Illinois for the Hulvey family reunion. She had a good time catching up with aunts, uncles & cousins that she hadn't seen in a long time. She was able to meet up with relatives from both her Mom's family and her Dad's family.

Carolyn and her Dad show off how high the corn is ("as high as an elephant's eye" -- and they were in Illinois not Oklahoma).

Shortly after she returned, she got a phone call that her mom was gravely ill. Carolyn was able to spend 3 days with her mother before she passed away on August 20. It was a sad relief! No more suffering.

But life goes on. We are now both in full swing of teaching . . . weekends are sure nice!

Southwest Road Trip

2000 miles with Harry Potter



The last two weeks of July we traveled to Tucson to see Carolyn's mother and brother, then to Colorado to visit Mike, Kallie & Jack. While driving we listened to two Harry Potter books. Well, we didn't finish book #4, so we listened to it while sitting out in our back yard at nights after we got back.


Dale and Barb own a limo business. They drove us around Tucson in this "mouse" limo. We hadn't seen Carolyn's Mom since she moved into a nursing home near Dale.


It was fun spending time with Jack. We took him on walks with his Jeep stroller.





We rode a train through the Royal Gorge in Colorado.


Jack is already becoming "electronic." Though he thought the iPod was a cell phone.

More Wedding Pictures

The following links will take you to two different sets of pictures taken during Holly's wedding.

Dan's uncle's pics

Our pics

Bells, Bells & Bells

Wedding Bells


Holly & Dan were married on June 20 at Edwards Mansion in Redlands. It was a great day! It culminated a week of various kinds of dinners and get-togethers; many of them at our house.

Church Bells

Three days after the wedding we took a group of 4 high school students to Europe. We went to London Paris & Rome. The pictures above are from Florence and Rome, Italy.

We even heard the bells of Notre Dame.


Liberty Bells

We didn't actually hear any bells on the 4th of July, but Carolyn and I went with Tim & Stef to a Mavericks baseball game and saw fireworks afterwards. That was after a BBQ and swimming at our house.

Springing Forward

Ever felt like someone changed the laws of nature? It doesn't seem like 3 months since I updated this site, but the calendar says so. Maybe someone is stealing some hours from my day. If so, I hope that person gave them to you.

January.

Holly & Dan joined us for a weekend of wedding planning. I'd like to say wedding planning is fun, but you've all seen "Father of the Bride." 'Nuff said. But the fun thing was an "open house" on Sunday afternoon. Several of Holly's friends, and folks from church stopped by to see Dan & Holly. It was a good time.


February.
Carolyn and I went to a NASCAR race again. It's not as much fun as it used to be. Too bad. Carolyn and I also went with some kids from my high school to cook dinner for the residents at the Loma Linda Ronald McDonald House.


March.
After spending a month at nearby Ft. Irwin, Holly got away for a couple of hours to see us on Sunday afternoon, March 1. That was a good way to start the month. Now with Spring about to spring on us, we have been working in the yard, waking it (and the pool) up, so that we can enjoy our great outdoors.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

This year Christmas is coming very early!

We had our traditional Christmas Eve fondue dinner on Sunday night. We went to Tim and Stef's, and had dinner and opened presents. It was a great evening!

On Tuesday evening we went to Stef's school concert. all "5" of her groups did great!

On Monday it snowed a little But today it snowed A LOT! It started snowing at 6 this morning, and probably won't stop until tomorrow morning. Hesperia schools were closed today. Both Hesperia and Victorville will be closed tomorrow. So that means Christmas break also came early.

We got over a foot of snow. It damaged some trees in our back yard. When it covered the Christmas lights in our front yard it made a cool light show.

Ridin' The Rails

Ok, maybe that's a bit melodramatic, but we did ride Amtrak's Coast Starlight from LA to Tacoma to spend Thanksgiving with Holly. We made it fine, and had a mostly pleasant trip.

Tim took us to Rancho Cucamonga where we caught Metrolink to LA's Union Station. There we boarded our train.




We were downstairs in a coach car, only 12 seats in our area, so it was a bit more private than regular coach. We slept there, and did some reading, but spent most of our time upstairs in the Sightseeing Car with all the windows.

We are two meals in the Dining Car. You sit with other people, so we met some interesting folks.


It was nice seeing the landscape go by, the So Cal Coast and Oregon Cascade Mountains. This time of year, too much of the trip was in the dark to see much.

We slept like on a plane, but with more leg room. We upgraded to a sleeping car for the return trip, so that we can compare.

Fall '08

We didn't do Trick or Treat at home this year because of high school football. The Hesperia High School Scorpions are now 9-0 on the season. This has never happened to us before. It has been quite exciting. We even went with our "rooting section" up to Lake Arrowhead last Friday night for a game at Rim of the World High School. This Friday, the 14th, is our last regular season game, and it is a home game. So it will be a big deal

School has kept both of us busy the past couple of months. Carolyn carved pumpkins with her class again this year. It is always a big hit. The kids get to take the Jack-o-lanterns home. So that is good for them. Carolyn has been fighting a cold that was diagnosed today are a respiratory infection, so now she is on meds. That should help.

It has been unseasonable warm here. Supposed to be in the mid 80s tomorrow. Hard to believe that Thanksgiving is just 2 weeks away.