Family

The past week has been highlighted by mucho family activity. I am one of those who while on one hand, feels that I have great family relationships; yet on the other hand, I totally take all of those family relationships for granted. Not something I'm proud of though!.... Anyway, this past Sunday, my step-niece, Pam, was in town for the weekend with her friend Kelly. I met up with them for lunch in Old Town and had a blast. It was very surprising when we both realized that I hadn't seen Pam in about 10 years. It definitely didn't seem that long.

Next, my parents just arrived in town from Connecticut for a visit. I've been really looking forward to their visit for about a month now. Of course, living on the west coast means that you just don't see your east-coast family all that often and it's tough at times. Anyway... I'm very glad they're here and look forward to having a great 10 days with them. We're all not getting any younger.....

Lastly, my beloved Aunt Edna developed serious medical problems in the past week and was rushed into emergency brain surgery on Wed. She has a long road ahead of her but right out of the gate, she is kicking ass. Following her brain surgery (removing a plum sized tumor) on Wednesday, she was was doing so well that she was able to eat a Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday and be discharged on friday (48 hours later). Now she has other tumors to tackle, but given her fantastic attitude (and her infamous sense of humor and laugh), she will give it a serious fight, no doubt. Her daughter Beth, my cousin, has been providing all of us with updates over the past week for which we all are very grateful. On a side note, it makes me realize that I haven't talked to any of my cousins in many, many years....

Veteran's Day

On Veteran's Day, Sean, Jodi and I went to Knott's Berry Farm up in Buena Park (near Disney). I had never been there before. Knott's is a nice amusement park that is very close to Disney ( and I think it may have been there first) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knott's_Berry_Farm

Sean had a blast and the highlight of the day was when he won a large stuffed shark at the ping-pong ball toss game. You should have seen his face when he won!

Quick note of Thanks to Knott's Berry farm.... I don't think they get much attention for this but Knott's was running a promotion in November where all veterans and a guest would get free admission to the park. I was very impressed by this because it seemed very heartfelt in that they seem to not do this for any attention (because they don't get any). It seems very genuine. Apparently, they've been running this promotion for the past couple years. But anyway... I greatly appreciated it and very much enjoyed our day at the park. Thank you!

November Update

Hi Y'all, I can't believe it's 2 days before Thanksgiving... Where did 2007 go?? Things have been going very well out here on the West Coast in Sunny San Diego. We went through a rough week of wild fires in late October and many, many people lost their homes. It was a very stressful week and my heart goes out to all who are dealing with the loss of their family home.

Things for the most part are back to normal. I had a number of friends who were very lucky as their homes were right in the thick of things so I am very happy that they all came out unscathed. Four years ago in 2003 was not the same story as my good friends lost their home in the Cedar Fire. It took almost 2 years for them to rebuild.

I personally am looking forward to my parents coming out to visit next week. Sean is excited to see his grandparents. It's always great to have visitors because it gives us an excuse to play tourist. San Diego has so much to offer and we never take full advantage of it except when we have visitors. My Mom has requested that I not schedule too much though so I'll respect her wishes (but I want to do so much when they're here!)

Halloween was fun. I enjoyed seeing pictures of my nieces and nephews. I have always loved this time of year. Jodi and I took Sean to a pumpkin patch and we had a blast carving and painting pumpkins. Sean was Trooper from Star Wars for Halloween. Btw, costumes are much better than I remember as a kid. We had these plastic things we'd wear like a garbage bag with a mask. Now, the costumes have muscles and much better detail. Anyway.... May the force be with you.......

Happy Birthday Mom! (belated)

My Mom celebrated her birthday in late October. Happy Birthday Mom! I'm really looking forward to having you and Dad come out to visit later this month. Thanks for sending the great photos from your birthday and I'll talk to you soon.