Deep Sea Fishing

Months ago, we decided to take a family vacation to California.  This was our "last" big trip before Pumpkin heads to the Academy.  His only request was to go deep sea fishing.  I made the reservations for the three of them thinking I'd let them have some father/son time.  We got in late and had to get up early to meet the boat.

Still smiling...

Got their poles...

Ready to depart...

Apparently, the ocean was very rocky.  The Big Guy and Peanut did not fare too well on the seas!  However, once they "fed the birds," they felt much better.  The advice they got was to look at the horizon.  They were looking at some lovely houses on the Pebble Beach coastline!

Peanut was glad to be back on land!  

 Fortunately, Pumpkin did okay.  His future in the coast guard will have some rough seas!  They say down waiting for their fish to be cleaned.

 A reporter was on the boat doing father/son stories for Father's Day.  Fortunately, she waited until after the fishing to interview The Big Guy.  She recorded the interview and still botched up his name and his statements.  You can see the published story here.  

 It is a learned skill to clean a fish...

 We ended up with three bags of fish.  We took one across the wharf and enjoyed it for lunch.

The Big Guy is not a big fan of fish, but he enjoyed this fresh stuff.  It makes a huge difference.  We all liked it blackened the best.

We froze the other two bags and successfully brought them home with us on the plane.  We will have to have our own fish fry at home!  Other than the rough seas, the guys had a great time.  When they start talking about it now, they end up laughing so hard they are crying.  I am so grateful they got to do it!

California Bound!

Last Thursday, we flew into San Fran and headed to Monterey, CA.

I soaked up as many of Pumpkin's smiles as I possibly could.

Peanut gave me some great grins too!

At the gate in Memphis...

Catching some zzz's on the plane...

Watching Salt on my MacBook...

Taking self pics using your mom's iPhone...

Smiling, again, for your mom...

Surfing in the aisle at 40k feet!  I remember doing this buses going down the road.  We look a bit worse for wear as the long plane fight was taking its toll.

More surfing...hands free...on the train ride to the rental car terminal...

Absolutely, cannot get enough of the smiles!!!

Happy Belated!

My baby turned 15 last week!  The Big Guy was out of town.  So the three of us headed to Jerry's Sno Cones.  It is legendary in Memphis.  Only Pumpkin had been and we wanted to give it a try.  It was yummy albeit it rather big.  He is eating the smallest size they had.

 When your belly is full, it is nap time!  Pumpkin gave him the shades for his birthday.  He's looking cool!  We gave him some Chaco's.  He declared them to be too much for him - not his style.  We returned them and ended up with a keyboard attachment for his mini.

We lost Pumpkin to a party.  Just the two of us headed to dinner at Bonefish.  It was Bang Bang Wednesday, perfect for a birthday dinner.

A group of boys came over on Friday night for burgers and fun.  They stayed up way too late, but had a good time.  He's studying the driver's ed manual.  Yes.  In TN, he is eligible to get his learner's permit!

Post Wedding

On Sunday, we made our way back to the Baltimore area dropping The Big Guy off at the airport.  Originally, he had to be back home first thing on Monday for work.  The boys and I drove down to Annapolis.  Pumpkin has two friends going to the Naval Academy and he wanted to see it.  This shot is from outside the Visitor's Center.  It was a hot, muggy day.  We walked around the Academy for as long was we could stand it.  Peanut bought a tshirt that he threatens to wear on July 1st!  That is brotherly love for you.

To cool off, we found an ice cream place in Annapolis.  As we were enjoying our scream, the Big Guy called saying his flight was delayed and they rebooked him for the next morning.  He was going to get to stay with us.  Yahoo!

There were storms all up and down the east coast.  They hit Baltimore early in the evening.  We had appetizers, drinks, and dessert right at the hotel.  It was so nice just to hang out.  We did not even care that it was raining cats and dogs outside.

Our flight was very early in the morning.  I did not sleep well.  I tossed and turned thinking we'd miss the 3:50am alarm!  But, we all got up and on our way.  Here's Pumpkin waiting for the hotel shuttle.  It did not start running until 4:30am.

I walked over by the shuttle just to make sure we got a seat.  By the time we loaded, the shuttle was full.

The three of us on the shuttle heading to the airport.  Yes.  It was still very dark outside.

We flew through Detroit and made it home w/o an issue.  It was nice to travel as a family.  The Big Guy headed to work and so did I.  Yes.  We were exhausted by the end of the day!

The Wedding!

Hard to believe the wedding was more than a week ago~

Here are a few before waiting to be seated.  I know I am biased but my boys clean up pretty well.

 David's sister and her two boys.  They are so handsome.

 David's brother and family.  They look great.

 All of the male cousins waiting for some after wedding photos.  The shot looks pretty GQesque.

 The bride and groom with her mom's siblings.

 Bride and groom with all the cousins.

 The wedding was at the Arboretum at Penn State University.  It was a lovely setting.

 There was an on/off breeze which helped with the heat.

I found this dress back in the fall walking by a sale rack at Macy's in Kenwood, OH.  My niece was looking for a formal dress.  I glanced at this one.  Grabbed it w/o trying it on and brought it home.  I commented to my sister that I have a Macy's if I need to return it.  It worked out great.  I spent some time looking for other options, but came back to this one.  Peanut got a blue and orange bow tie, ready for wearing to a future Coast Guard Academy event.

Pumpkin's not cutting the curls until he reports.

Pre Wedding

We headed out as a family to State College, PA.  Do you know how long it takes to get there?  We did enjoy the Pennsylvania countryside.

We got on our first flight, backed up from the gate, and waited.  It started to get warm:-(  The pilot informed us that they could not get the right engine started.  Fortunately, we had time between connections.  The mechanics went to work and we were off and flying in no time.

Flying can be exhausting.  The Big Guy and I chuckled over the head bobbing, neck rolling, twitching and mouth breathing going on!

 Gotta get some pretzels when you are in PA.  We did enjoy the UTZ sourdough.

 We stopped to change clothes and freshen up.  Who knew?  We'd come this far to see a sign congratulating Pumpkin on his graduation.  Shhh!  Don't tell him that it is probably not for his high school.

 All changed and ready to head to the casual rehearsal dinner party.

 On the morning of the wedding, we hit the trail heading toward Beaver Stadium.

To clarify, my boys ran and I walked.  This was a welcomed site to see them come running back toward me.

 I know the Big Guy was taking it all in running with his sons.  The only bummer was the weather.  It was unseasonably hot seemed like we brought the Memphis heat/humidity with us.

Two of them jumped right into the cold pool.  They both said it was refreshing.  But, they did not stay in too long.

We had pizza on campus and stopped by the Berkey Creamery to try some yummy ice cream.  If I had to go back to school, I just might study ice cream making!

We headed back to the resort to hang out a bit with family before the wedding.  More to come in the next post...