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Showing posts from 2007

Scotty has his own Blogspot!

If any of you have been following my posts you will notice that probably 80% of what I write is about Scott my grandson. I felt that in keeping with the title of my blog it was time to make a new spot for Scott. It will feature lots of pictures of him, what he does during the week and be a better, more focused update on the little guy. This blog will revert back to mainly our trips around the Central Coast. So, here is Scotty's new blog address: http://www.scottymckenzie.blogspot.com/ Stop by and check it out sometime.

Scott At 14 Months Old

It never ceases to amaze me just how fast a child can grow! He is 31" tall and weighs 24 lbs. He's able to say small words like mama, dada, kitty, doggy, bye bye and hi. Funny little story, I took him to coffee with me on Tuesday morning. He went over to where a couple was sitting, sidled up to the woman, looked up at her coyly and said, "Hi!" He is such a charmer! He loves to be outside and play with trucks. Here is in in his "new car" after going for a ride with Grandma.

Card for my Mother-in-Laws 80th Birthday

This is a very special birthday for my Mother-in-Law, Phyllis. It is her 80th Birthday and I decided to make her a card. My husband wanted to give her a gift card, so I developed something that we could put the card in. This card has the gift card part plus an area behind the gift card we could write our personal message. I took a Stampin' Up "stamp a stack" class in November to make Christmas cards, and this Birthday card was based on that design. I love the way it turned out, the colors and the cute little rubber stamped images. Happy 80th Birthday Phyllis!

Christmas "Nugget" Boxes

Tis' the season to be crafting! This is my first attempt at making a Nugget box. The nugget part is a Hershey nugget wrapped up fancy for Christmas. If I can do it, you can do it. I've been looking at the Split Coast Stampers site quite a bit lately as I'm trying to make more impressive cards and paper gifts. This is a great site with loads of information and pictures of finished products. My plan is to make several as Christmas gifts for the mailman, my ladies group, friends and neighbors as just little extras. Good luck with your box. The link for the directions for these little boxes is here: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/nuggetbox.php

A Thanksgiving Trip to Avila Barn

Thanksgiving week is busy with all the preparations for the big turkey dinner. Avila Barn is one of our favorite places to go to get fresh fruit, vegetables and bread. They also have a good supply of country mixes and homemade pies and pastries. We decided to take our little grandson, Scott, and make a picture taking session out of it. He is SO cute and we had the best time. Happy Thanksgiving to you all! http://avilavalleybarn.com/

Kristen's Motorcycle Lesson

It's been a REALLY long time since I put anything up and decided today was the day to get busy. Wes and I took our son Wes and his fiance Kristen out to learn how to ride a motorcycle. We drove down to our local Marshall's parking lot, actually behind the store to avoid traffic and started the lesson. As you can see from the video, SHE DID GREAT! I am so proud of her that she would even want to learn and then to do so well on her first try. Kristen...YOU ARE AWESOME!!

My Brother-in-Law Mike turns 50!

My sister Lynn really went out of her way to make sure her husband Mike had a great 50th Birthday. She sneaked into his work after hours and did all kinds of decorating and had it ready when he came to work. Can you believe the walker, Depends and all those black balloons!!?? He must have been duly embarrassed and surprised. Happy Birthday, Mike...Happy Birthday to You!!

Weekend Campout at Lopez Lake

We went camping at Lopez Lake this past weekend. It was us with our motorhome, our daughter and her in-laws with tent trailers. We had such a good time relaxing, eating, sitting around the campfire and just doing nothing. The baby was really good and seemed to enjoy the great outdoors too. We went down to the little kids park and let him play on the slide, swing set and merry-go-round. The slideshow is Scott, his Mom, Dad and Uncle Cullen. We saw so many deer, turkeys, racoons, quail, red-headed woodpeckers and crows. Nature really can rejuvenate your spirit! http://www.slocountyparks.com/activities/lopez.htm

Treasure Bracelet

Treasure bracelets are a collection of glass beads, charms, buttons and baubles all put together to make one stunning statement. This treasure bracelet is adorned with buttons, lampwork beads, charms and 100's of glass beads all in shades of green, aqua and purple. To read more about this type of beadwork, please see http://www.robinatkins.com/ . It was through her book, Beaded Treasures, (ISBN 978-0-9705538-6-7) that I learned how to do this fun, eclectic bracelet.

Scott is Walking!

The moment we've all been waiting for has happened! Scott started taking his first steps at 10 1/2 months. He is tentative at best, walking between furniture and short spurts between his parents and grandparents. Click on the picture below to see him go about 3 steps. Scott is walking!

Shell Beach

Shell Beach is one of the Five Cities of the Central Coast. It is located between Pismo Beach and Avila Beach. It is a great place to rent kayaks and explore the coastline. As you can see from the picture, the Brown Pelican colonies are taking over the tops of several coastline rocks and their groaning and screaming calls can be heard on the shore. Each evening they go out to the feeding grounds about 1/2 mile off the coast and they can be seen diving from heights of 30ft into the water to feed. Shell Beach also has several really beautiful hotels and motels lining the bluffs complete with some of the best seafood restaurants in the area. http://www.virtualslo.com/attractions/Attraction.php?id=14

Ode To Chocolate

Ode To Chocolate Chocolate is so sweet and good, Some say fattening, I say misunderstood. A gift from the Gods of Old Mexico, it helps our hearts and makes us glow. Tastes GREAT in Cakes, Puddings, Drinks and Pies, Chocolate helps mankind be happy, healthy and wise! I think chocolate's saving grace, Is how cute it looks when it's... ALL OVER YOUR FACE!

Thursday Night Farmer's Market in San Luis Obispo

From 6:00 to 9:00 pm on Thursday nights, the bell rings and the open air Farmer's Market in San Luis Obispo goes into full swing. The local farmer's can begin selling their fruit, vegetables, plants, honey, eggs and other local tasty food. It's a great place to just grab a couple of BBQ ribs or a roasted ear of corn and sit down on the curb and listen to music. You can't beat the freshness of the local produce and it's just plain FUN!! The side streets host various local talent venues such as bands, choirs, gymnastics, belly dancers, even face painting and a bounce house for the kids to enjoy. This week was especially busy because of the nice weather and a local car show in Arroyo Grande this weekend. Can you believe the size of that crowd?? Farmer's Market San Luis Obispo, CA

Evening in Pismo Beach

Instead of going to see Pirates of the Carribean we decided to go to downtown Pismo this evening and take pictures. The day had been mostly foggy and as it progressed, it even looked like it could rain. But wouldn't you know...one of the prettiest sunsets you could ever want to see. The clouds parted, like they do on so many evenings, and we were graced by a gorgeous golden sunset.

Take Me Out To the Ballgame!

On Friday, July 20, 2007, we decided to go see the Blues play a home game in San Luis Obispo . The Blues were playing against the Santa Barbara Foresters. The Blues have been having a very good season and the bleachers were full of supporters! It was an exciting game right to the end but our local team didn't come out victorious this time. Final score? 4 to 3. Wes and I had Hot Dogs, Beckie, a Cheeseburger and Matt tried the Tri -Tip sandwich...all very good! Even little Scotty had Gerber hot dogs! We also ate some peanuts and sang "Take Me Out To The Ballgame". After the sun set it started getting kind of chilly and we had Chai Tea and Hot Cocoa to keep us warm. It wouldn't be summer without baseball! http://www.bluesbaseball.com/

Visit to Morro Bay

We made a quick visit to Morro Bay today in hopes of getting some pictures before the fog rolled it. It was a beautiful 80 degree day in San Luis Obispo but quite different by the time we got to Morro Bay. The fog had already started to come in and we were lucky enough to take a few shots before the fog had totally enveloped The Rock. Morro Rock is stunning no matter what the conditions are.

Oceano Dunes Recreational Area

Temperatures in the low 80's combined with the beauty of the Central Coast draw visitors from the nearby sweltering San Joaquin Valley during the summer months. Here they can cool off while enjoying the sun and fun at the local beaches. Oceano Beach is one of the only places in California that allows you to drive on and either use the beach for the day or for overnight camping. Everything from riding ATV's, Surfing,and Paragliding to renting horses at a local stable or a Bi-Plane to fly over the beach is available. You can even cruise the beach from the seats of a Hummer. Campsites are limited and making reservations is advised. Also, 4-wheel drive vehicles are recommended and paying careful attention to the tide charts can prevent you from the risk of getting stuck in the sand. During the rainy months a creek forms that can be quite treacherous. http://www.ohv.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=1207 http://stevesatv.com/ http://www.pacificdunesridingstables.com/ http://www.bannerairways.

Can You Believe He's Crawling!!??

I am SO excited to share with all of you that Scotty is crawling! He had been doing the "soldier crawl" for about a week and a half and now it has progressed to the real thing! He's also standing and walking around furniture and letting go briefly, but I'll take pictures of that next week. Here it is...... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjxmVhYanSs

Inspired

I woke up early this morning feeling inspired. I've been wanting to make this bracelet for at least a month but couldn't really decide how I wanted to "order" the beads. Finally, I decided to just put all the beads into a bag and draw them out one by one and string them...no real order... and I loved the way it turned out! One of my favorite stones is turquoise and the red jasper and carnelian combined with the Hill Tribe silver really makes it pop. Jewelry making is one of my favorite and most relaxing pastimes. You can really get lost in the process of just sliding bead after bead onto wire. I N S P I R E D !

The Nine Sisters

Evening is a magical time here on the Central Coast. It is the perfect time to find just the right lighting for photos. So experimenting with my new Canon Digital Rebel XTi, I found myself near Edna Valley Vineyard. As the sun was setting I snapped a few pictures of the field with Islay Hill in the background. Islay Hill is the southernmost of the nine major "morros" known as the Nine Sisters. This chain of extinct volcanic peaks stretches from Morro Bay to San Luis Obispo. M ore information about Morro Rock and the nine sisters can be found at : http://www.morrobay.com/rock.htm

Antiquing on the Central Coast featured in Country Home Magazine

The July/August 2007 Country Home magazine features an article titled "The Antiquing Highway" that outlines a 3 day visit to the Central Coast. The cities of Los Alamos, Arroyo Grande, Pismo Beach, San Luis Obispo, Cayucos and Paso Robles are all destinations visited along with specific stores, restaurants and motels. This is a really great time of year to make the trip here. In addition to the stores featured, we have the local flavors of Farmer's Markets in nearly every town, numerous Wineries and events such as Art in the Park in Shell Beach the first Sunday afternoon of the month during the summer. Avila Beach is home to both Sycamore and Avila Hot Springs resort and has a great Farmer's Market/Fish Market on Friday evenings during the summer. Have I mentioned being able to drive on the local beach? Oceano State Beach offers both day use and camping facilities for those of you with off road vehicles. Check out the links I've provided. Links to the Central Coas

Visit to Ocean Beach Park

My husband and I visited Ocean Beach Park just west of Lompoc, CA over the weekend. The tide was in and we had to scale a hill and go over a set of railroad tracks to get to this part of the park. It was well worth the effort...just look at that view! There are so many beautiful places to visit in our area. http://www.visitusa.com/california/beaches/san-luis-obispo/oceanbeach-countypark.htm