Sunday

Sunday we had a family outing. We want to spend some time with Laura. So we went to an apple farm at Oak Glen. They have a small hiking trail we went on. I think the kids all had fun.

Sunday evening we were back at the house. We were all starving so I put a tri-tip on to cook. Laura and Colin took turns on the pumpkin for their classes. Sean and Brendan checked on the rocks being tumbled. and Laura got dog piled!

Saturday evening

In the evening we met Cherie and family at a pumpkin patch. The first one we went to was a dud so we moved on to a bigger better one.

Colin and Finn goofing off behind a bale of hay.

Saturday at the park

Saturday we went to see the boys baseball games. It was fun seeing them have being happy. Sean and Brendan's team even won the game. Go team!

Experiments

The grandsons are really into learning right now. So I am will to help expand their minds. They have been into collecting rocks for some time now, not just throwing them down the hill in the back yard. One of the teachers Louise works with had a rock tumbler in the class room and let us borrow it. After a learning curve to set it up and not leak, we put some rocks in and turned it on. Each stage takes about a week, so in about a month we well see if we found any great gems....

Louise found a book of experiments that the boys could try. Some only take an hour or two to do. This last Sunday they brought it over and wanted to make an magnet. Well papa was willing to play, I mean help. A battery, copper wire, and a nail and we were off.

Mom's Birthday dinner

We took my mom out to eat for her birthday. We went to a place that Louise's parents eat at often. It is Al the Wops in Locke Ca. I will let you read about the town at http://www.locketown.com/als.htm if you want more information.

We had a great dinner of steak and pasta.

This town was built by the Chinese and Al bought one of the buildings in 1934 and started serving steaks.

It took us over three hours to get there and after looking at the map, it only was an hour and a half home. We drove up and down the deltas looking for the place. I called Louise's mom a couple of times. We just kept getting turned around. Guess I should have pulled it up on the computer!

Pumpkin patch

Louise took some pictures of me watering the pumpkin this morning. It has grown a lot this last week. You can see I placed a baseball next to it so you can compare the size.

2009 pumpkins are growing!

I have two pumpkins that are off and running now. It has been a slow start this year with the rabbits eating plants. I still have about six weeks of growing time left. I think I will let both of the go this year. they are on opposite ends of the plant. We shall see. I will try weekly updates now.

John's 50th B-day in the park

I had a great day at Disneyland with my wonderful wife. The line for rides were not long so we did almost all the rides we wanted to do. We had a great lunch at the BBQ ranch. It is severed family style with chicken and ribs. I think that is the first time I left a meal there stuffed!

All five grandsons!

Colin, Finn, Dillon, Brendan and Sean

That's a HOT one!!

We had a family dinner tonight with Cherie and Amber's families. Sean is into "spicy" food. A couple of weeks ago I showed them my sweet banana peppers. Tonight I told Sean that I had a Hot pepper plant. He said he would taste it. Then he changed his mind and said he would try one if I would pay him. After checking that my wallet was not in my pocket I said sure. Well watch the video...

I felt it was worth more than the 62 cents in my pocket. So I gave him $5 and told him to get some ice cream....

A new Truck!!!

I turned in my old truck for new one. Uncle Sam was willing to give me money to turn my old one in if I was willing to get one with better gas mileage.

Hey, no knobby knee jokes. You are suppose to be looking at the truck!

Colin and Finn wanted a ride in Papa's new truck.

Brendan and Sean like it.

We had to break the new truck in. We loaded up and went to the drive-in to see a couple of movies. We saw UP! and G-Force.

A Pumpkin Plant Grows!

While we were on vacation, I put a small ring around the plant to protect it from the rabbits. It did well. Now I have a bigger fence and it looks like the plant is going to take off. I may get a big one yet.....


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