Sunday, January 27th, 2008

It's a cool, rainy day here today. It rained hard through most of the night and they say more is on the way for tonight. A good day to catch up on blogging, watching Tiger Woods and the NHL All Star Game. Also, having guests for Dinner this evening. We went to "The Bucket List" movie Friday and thoroughly enjoyed it. If any of you younger people read this and want to see the future, you should go! Who says there's no crystal ball!

Skiing Big Bear, January 16th

After hauling ski gear all the way here, I was able to use it! We drove up to Big Bear Resort about 3 hours north-west of here and I ski'd the afternoon. It was a fun hill and snow conditions were excellent. Now I can say, "I ski'd southern California"!

 

 

The Bob Hope Classic, January 15th, 2008

We visited the Classic Golf Course the day before the Bob Hope Classic Golf Tournament began. We were able to walk around the clubhouse, both in and out, and watched Mike Weir, George Lopez (host of the tournament) and others practice their putting. We didn't take in any of the golf.

The Salton Sea

Is a large salt water lake about 50 kms. south east of here. The largest population of White Pelicans migrate here for the winter, as do sea gulls. The lake is about 220 feet below sea level and its present status was created by a man made irrigation mistake in the early 1900's.

 

Balloons Everywhere!

The annual Indio Hot Air Balloon Festival was held on the first weekend of January. Unfortunately, the winds didn't cooperate and they were only able to have one flight en masse because of wind conditions. They were unable to do the Moon Glow event where the balloons are inflated, but remain tethered while their propane burners are fired-up causing them to glow through from the inside out. It certainly would have been very impressive!
The first 2 pictures were taken from our front gate looking over to the field next to Fantasy Springs Hotel and Casino where the balloons prepared for lift-off.
See the slide show as the balloons take flight. You should be able to click open one of the pictures in the slide show and then continue to view them one by one. This is probably the best way to go as captions have been added and you can enlarge the pics if you wish.

 

 

At Home in Indio

This picture taken from our deck looks down #9 fairway, a 75 yard par 3. The tee box is just outside the picture on the right side. Short holes, but very narrow fairways with lots of windows on either side. Also, there isn't a hole on this 18 hole course that doesn't have water and we all know how much golf balls like water! Very pretty, though!

 

Christmas Hockey

After dinner the gang gathered around for shinny hockey. Even 3 year old Shane laced up and even blind old Shadow was able to steal the puck a few times. Larry and his boys built a rink in the backyard but due to the warmer than usual temperatures, the neighbor's rink also had to be used. We think the girls won, but maybe we're a little bit biased! At the end of the day, everybody was a winner.

Christmas Dinner

Was held at Laurie & Larry's in their new garage/shop/suite building with 23 in attendance, including Larry's Dad, sister and her husband and Elizabeth's Mom. Kevin's girlfriend Chelsey was unable to be there as she had been admitted to hospital with a Chrons attack. She subsequently has had surgery and is doing well.

Christmas Concert

Karley and Kelsey’s school Christmas Concert was held during the evening of December 11th. It was very special for us to be there in time to attend. Karley performed a short solo! We were seated quite far from the stage, but I was able to take a video and while the picture isn’t all that good, the sound of her voice comes through quite well as she sings the last part just before the full chorus. She’s the second girl to sing and if you look closely at the bottom left of the screen you’ll see her returning to her place with the chorus. She’s wearing the dark colored hat. Her singing lessons are going very well!

CHRISTMAS MORN

We spent Christmas morning with Larry, Laurie, Josh and Garrett around their Christmas tree. Don’t forget Shadow. He may be blind, but there’s nothing wrong with his hearing or smell! Lots of presents and lots of fun. Josh even got his driver’s licence from Santa this Christmas.

CHRISTMAS BIRTHDAY

Helen’s Mom celebrated her 90th birthday December 23rd! Three of Helen’s sisters were at the nursing home with Helen.

 

 

 

CHRISTMAS WITH THE BURROUGHS

On the 13th and 14th we met Dann, M-J, Emma and Ethan in Edmonton! Their making the trip to see us was one of the best gifts ever! Emma was able to get to know Max all over again and reinforce her bond with Grandma Helen.
Then there was Ethan, whom we had not yet met. Well…, it certainly didn’t take him long to figure us out! Within no time at all he had Grandma Helen wrapped around his finger like the bow on a Christmas present. As for Grandpa Harley, all it took was sitting on the old knee with a good book and trying to figure out why grandpa’s skin is so