San Francisco!

It was time for Annie, Audrey and I to start our road trip and adventure in San Francisco!

Audrey has a Kindle - awesome for trips! Download books, games and all kinds of funness!

WE ATE A LOT!  There was so much good food to be had, and Willie needed nourishment ;)

Continental Breakfast Audrey style !

My Colleague Dr. Olga Ramirez explaining our poster and work to another math educator at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) meeting in San Fran. It is the largest educational research meeting in the world - over 5,000 in attendance. It makes for a great conference every year and is hard to get your proposal accepted as so many are entered. I'm so glad we got in!

 

Our Poster...we've been doing Family Science (me) and Family Math (Olga) for seven years!

Audrey having dinner on top of Nordstroms - it was yet another delicious meal!

More of Audrey - love her so much.

My open-faced hummus sandwich...can you just see the deliciousness???

My new motto....going to put this on the front page of my course-pack next semester. It was an awesome trip and I hated to see our visit come to an end. AERA was awesome, the baby shower was exceptionally awesome, and being with Annie and Audrey was a highlight of the trip. Looking forward to seeing everyone again sooooon!!!!!

A visit to Lemoore Naval Air Station (California) and Annie's baby shower

Breakfast to start the day (Annie didn't want me to take her pic eating...I didn't follow directions :). Willie (the baby that Annie will have in July - birth name to be determined) is hungry so we all must eat a good breakfast. Courtney is an actor/writer in Los Angelus and came for a visit. Also, coming up in this visit is a baby shower for Annie :)

Lunch (another day) at Panera bread. Yes, food makes us happy!

Audrey trying out her new roller skates.

""Roller skating takes a lot of practice" - Audrey

Pure cuteness on top of eight wheels !

The Rosebush Picture - getting ready to go to the baby shower!

In honor of Annie's baby shower - well, no, not really-- - in honor of a lot of pilots coming home after being away for 8 months, there were many of these flyovers in the jets as they came in from there San Diego check in . It was a happy, happy day on base!

Audrey and Courtney at the shower.

The Fab Four - and  Willie !!

She got some awesome gifts - the girls were so sweet and everyone so happy!

Lots of little boy clothes and toys! Can't wait!!!

Mother and daughter...and soon to be here son :)

Some of the things were Navy themed, some were hand sewn, all given with lots of love and best wishes!

A very excited soon-to-be sister!

Not sure what Audrey was thinking.... but I loved this look on her face :)

It was an awesome shower, and we soon started packing as the next day we (me, Annie and Audrey) were leaving Lemoore to head to San Francisco!

Gretel's swimming lessons!

We (me and Ron) have been taking Gretel to the beach since she was 9 weeks old. She was little and  a bit scared of the water when she was younger, but we kept taking her - on the leash, keeping her close and not giving her total freedom. Then there was winter when it was too cold to take her, and then...spring. Gretel is 10 months old now, and boy, what a difference!!!!!! She was all over that water - swimming in it, chewing it, diving in it and playing ball like she never wanted to quit. Yup, she wasn't born with webbed feet (yeah - they  really are webbed!) for nothing! No leash - free as a bird, and with her training - staying close to us while having a BLAST!

Going after the ball - or looking for it :)

This is the ball chucker that throws that sucker wayyyyy out there! Notice how the dog is NOT watching the ball, but running anyway. We gotta work on that....

Blurred but LIVE ACTION SHOT of Gretel diving head (and ears!) first after the ball!

That is me saying "good girl Gretel" as she learned to leave the ball on the truck's bed (saves us from picking it up!) !

Getting ready for the next throw...the tail never stops wagging. I've been looking forward to this day - letting her off the leash and watching her play and run and chase the ball - since she was a puppy. It's so AWESOME!!!!!

After frolicking at the beach and polishing off some Kentucky Grilled chicken :), we took her to the boat ramp to 1. rinse off and 2. learn to jump in the water after the ball. She didn't mind number 1, but number 2 gave her some pause to reflect -- it was a long way down there!

She retrieved the ball and loved the swim in...no waves. A great doggy paddle if I do say so :)

My Gretel with her favorite toy - she is a beauty. There will much swimming (and dog paddling)  in our future!

Fishing (even though we froze)!

Ron and I couldn't stand it anymore. It was the first Saturday in ages that the sun was shining, the breeze was manageable and it was (kinda) warm. So off we went!

Pelicans at the bait camp waiting for an easy meal :)

Ron caught a beautiful drum - 27inches! They both look pretty handsome here! We threw it back in the water and gave it instructions to go make babies. You see, I can't kill something that is so gorgeous when there is dead fish at HEB ready to cook and eat ....

Here is the drum before it became Free Willie :)

Now, technically I did not hook this fish --- Ron was nice enough to let me reel it in. It was cool though it didn't fight much. Catching drum is kinda like catching a cow...it just mozies on in. But it was fun, and I got to hold the fish like I caught it. It became Free Willie Number 2.

We had fun though I will say the hard-heads (catfish) put up more of a fight than the drum. We froze when the boat was speeding, but would do it again. Fishing is a blast!!!!

Gretel the Omnivore

By biological definition, omnivores eat a variety of all foods. Gretel exceeds the usual fare...

How to break into a 25 lb bag of bird feed?

Got my running shoe and removed the toe...duct tape (barely used) shoe.

Evidently she didn't like the last issue of Science magazine!

And also hated Cesar Milan's Dog Training book!

She had very fresh breath after stealing my toothpaste off the bathroom counter.

Who say's shower gel doesn't taste good? (look at that guilty face!)

Sometimes all a dog needs is a good bone!

Or a Kong toy!

Shoe and hibiscus bush were torn in the same morning...it was not a good day.

Two, yes TWO contact cases have been stolen and destroyed --- along with the contacts therein.

What towel???

I remember the days when the bone was almost as big as she was....

This is a favorite -- major chew!

Poor Ella - Gretel made it look like Ella was guilty!!!

NOT pictured: Guitar tuner (I left on the night stand) 4 remote controls that all have teeth marks/buttons missing, lotion that she squeezed all over the bed and floor, flip-flops, toilet paper rolls....I still love her to pieces...even though she keeps stealing my stuff!!!!