A Sweet Surprise

I received this darling card from Elisa today wishing me a Happy Easter.  So thoughtful, so cute!

Easter Day

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Leanna's Birthday

After the Easter festivities of the day it was time to celebrate Leanna's birthday.  Daniel made a wonderful meal---baked potatoes, steamed vegetables, fresh green salad, and to top it all off  he baked some luscious salmon encrusted with Daniel's own special blend of spices.  Very yummy!

Here is Alex thoroughly enjoying his meal.

Leanna wanted me to make pudding cake for her birthday--one of her favorites.

Trent enjoyed watching his mommy blow out the candles.

It was then time to open presents.

Daniel framed two of Leanna's chalk drawings she created while attending college. 

A masterpiece!  An extremely thoughtful present from Dan that Leanna deeply appreciates!

Easter

Maya, Alex and Trent had great fun coloring Easter eggs at Grandma's house.

The children really enjoyed finding Easter eggs at their house.  They have a wonderful backyard for picnics, playing, and special festivities.  A great place for having fun! 

After finding just a few Easter eggs Trent was very content.  

He found a special place to enjoy the fruits of his labor!  

Leanna and I were the picture takers.

  

It was a wonderful day.

Math Fun

1 x 8 + 1 = 9

12 x 8 + 2 = 98

123 x 8 + 3 = 987

1234 x 8 + 4 = 9876

12345 x 8 + 5 = 98765

123456 x 8 + 6 = 987654

1234567 x 8 + 7 = 9876543

12345678 x 8 + 8 = 98765432

123456789 x 8 + 9 = 987654321

1 x 9 + 2 = 11

12 x 9 + 3 = 111

123 x 9 + 4 = 1111

1234 x 9 + 5 = 11111

12345 x 9 + 6 = 111111

123456 x 9 + 7 = 1111111

1234567 x 9 + 8 = 11111111

12345678 x 9 + 9 = 111111111

123456789 x 9 + 10 = 1111111111

Numbers

Alex and Maya seem to really enjoy numbers.  In this picture they are looking at the gas meter at the side of my house.  Alex was quite fascinated that the units to measure the gas are labeled 1,000,  10,000, 100,000 and 1,000,000.  Grandma had to run into the house to turn on the dryer so they could see how the meter works when gas is being used to run an appliance.

Marriage License

 This is my mom's and dad's marriage license. They were married on March 14, 1929 in Sacramento, California.  During her senior year of high school Mama  had a good friend named Mabel Pinto.  My mom would often  go over to the Pinto's house--it was like a second home to her.   On one visit she met one of  Mabel's cousins, my dad.   Obviously a romance soon blossomed, and they were married shortly after Mama turned eighteen.

Another Day, More Adventures

       I had the privilege of having Alex and Maya spend the night at my house        again last night.  We  woke up early and decided to go on an adventure.      Our first stop was Shasta Dam.

They are still letting water go down the spillway.

A week ago the water was being let down from the top of the spillway.

It was extremely windy out.  Alex thought the rough 

waves made the lake look like an ocean.

The temperature was in the lower fifties, but the wind  made it feel

 like it was much colder, too cold to stay very long.

Our next stop was Turtle Bay.  It was at least ten degrees warmer at Turtle 

Bay than at Shasta Dam.  The water was still extremely high.

Maya and Alex admiring the scenery.

Maya thought the bridge supports were great fun.

So did Alex.

We're headed down to the bottom of the bridge.

The water was overflowing the river banks.  It is usually dry here, but 

Alex and Maya took advantage of the situation.

It made it even more of an adventure with the water so high. Maya slipped and got 

one of her new shoes wet, but we just laughed and went on having fun.

Next we decided to cross a bridge.  On the other side of the bridge we found a great exhibit.

When you turn the wheel it produces electricity for the display to work.  The display features Native Americans speaking in their native language and then giving the equivalent words in English.  It was very interesting and Maya and Alex certainly enjoyed helping to generate the power.

It was time to go home, but we did not want the adventure to end, and so---

we decided to have a picnic when we got back to my house.

After the picnic Alex and Maya had great fun with my new solar water fountain.

They pretended they were doing a magic act making the water stop and start at their will by blocking and unblocking the solar panel.  Great imaginations!  It was then time to take them home.