family and fun....

 loved this of IH.  she is such a fun kid!!  love her zest for life, curiosity and imagination.  just how you hope all kids will be.  she clearly has a happy life where she is allowed to explore this world and be who she is.

 with the cards as i'm loading these in they started to double up on numbers with the 2 camera's so these are a bit mixed as well.  these first ones are in Pinnacles National Park.  it really is beautiful there and i would have loved to have explored the trails and park for days.  turned out to be a wonderful place to meet up.  i enjoyed the drive as well..stopping at some beaches i haven't seen for years.  love that drive up the CA coast.

 still a bit behind on my to do list for today.  got my tree up and the dog walked.  what else really matters, right?  haha.

 need to write a little note for some of the Christmas cards and then i can get those out in the mail.  then i have some Christmas shopping/packing and shipping to do still. then the local stuff for fun and friends....then at some point i can relax and sit by the tree with my guitar. it's been too long since i got the guitar out and sang.

 these seed pods were impressively sized.

 loads of these crazy boulders all over in this park.  wouldn't want to be here when the big quake hits...those boulders are all precariously placed at the moment. wouldn't take much to displace them and send them rolling

 a few mixed in of wandering around Claremont with friends.

 we just thought this fountain was so cute and fun.

 three nights of work again are in the past.  i worked one in the adult ICU and then the next two in the Peds ICU.  love that during the day the different units are often battling it out to see who gets me.  good to be needed and feel needed.  being in the float pool is great for that.

 got Blossom out to U-Lake between shifts one day.  another day we ended up not making the walk. i picked up Rio's ashes and i felt tired so we just came home and i napped.

 strange not having Rio here.  a few times i have reached over with the spoon to stir up her dog food only to remember that she is no longer there to feed.  i'm sure Blossom misses her as well.   will be some time before i get another pup but part of me doesn't want to wait too long as i don't want Blossom to be lonely, she had fun greeting all the dogs at the park this week.  don't want to  make any hasty decisions about a dog either.  as long as i'm still reaching to try and feed a dog that is no longer there, i think it's best to just let time pass and heal the sadness that comes with loss.

 thought this was cute of CR.  she always cracks me up.  fun to do new stuff in my old state, but mostly i just wanted to hang out with the people that i don't get to see that often in my life.  it really doesn't matter what you do together, just fun to be hanging out.  there are phones, emails, texts, facebook...it still can't beat chilling live with friends and family.

 these are mostly from Thanksgiving Day.  my niece KC and one of her boys.

 my cool sister in law...she's more like a sister though.  she joined the family when i was 13 and i baby sat her kids more than any of them.  always fun to chill with CTP.

 had to sneak some dough. for my moms sake of course, my mom always loved any kind of bread dough.  there are the 4 girls in that family and 2 boys.  all but one of the daughters was there.  CB and KC.

 today Blossom and i hit the beach.  it was going to be easy to go there for the sunset and then circle over to pick up a  Christmas tree. always love the smell of fresh.  it can't be replaced with candles imo.  i had to swing by Freddies too though as my stand was disintegrating last year.

 of course, then i had to also pick up new slippers.  i try to buy a few pairs of slippers in the fall/winter.  they seem to be more available. i had some ratty old ones and it was past time.  they are now in the trash.  i'm wearing new slippers.  my feet are so happy.

 the sunset today was pretty.  always a treat.

 another brother was in from Texas with his family.  i think they had several other adventures planned, Disney and it sounds like they were headed to Catalina Island as well.  always fun places.  the boys got a basketball game in though.  so below is a nephew and my nieces hubby.  above is one of KT cute kids.

 so here are 3 of the 4 from me eldest brothers crew.  such cuties..inside and out.

 Thanksgiving traditions.....the kids were having a blast.

 i always think i'll wake up early and get stuff done before the Monday walk, but i never do.  i guess the walk didn't happen while i was away.  i'm the glue it seems.  haha.  it may be a chilly one tomorrow but we will be out there. it does say it will be just under 20...you can drop that 10 more degrees at my end of town.  we are often the cold spot here.

 JP and his family with a few extra kids in there.  everyone was enjoying the beautiful Laguna weather.  can't complain about that, right?

 wasn't tired at all last night at work until about 6 am...then i hit the wall.  crashed hard when i got home this morning.  i am generally a good sleeper.  between shifts i really tend to only get 4-5 hours sleep.  it does catch up with ya.

 another pic i loved of IH.  it loaded sideways and won't flip...but worth it even if its sideways.

 we had this older ER Doc that was arrested for child molestation, he was in the news again the other day. he is now accused of attempting to hire a hit on one of his supposed victims and their family.  his free life is probably over.  mostly you can only get away with stuff for so long before it comes back to get ya.  there was some outrageous bail requirement for him now.  don't think he's going anywhere any more.  people are nuts.

 still have papers to catch up on from when  i was away.  i like to skim the local stuff and see what i missed.  the road was stopped from going through the UAA area.  thank you Mayor.

 love these big trees. funny how these have been out in CA for years but i don't remember paying too much attention to the trees when i lived there.

 my brother RP with one of his grandkids. i think this little guy is pretty attached to him.

 cool plants up in Pinnacles and then back to the family.

 next generation coming up.  hope that we leave them a decent world.  it all seems like such a mess at times.  i suppose it always is.  you just hope they have peace and happiness in their lives and that we haven't screwed up the earth and the politics too badly.

 as all humans though.  everyone seems to be able to find happy in the moment.  life is the little things, mostly just the interactions, the day to day stuff.

 guess it actually is nice to mix a few nature scenes in with the people scenes.

 fun to have watched these guys grow up and now raise their own kids.  i do remember them as babies and i'm sure i changed most of their diapers at some point.  i was babysitting age when they were being born.  never had kids of my own, but there is enough family to go around in my family.

 sometimes you feel like as the singleton you were some sort of back up plan.  you are there and available if needs arise.  i always hope that they all know i am here still, though far away.  did i have an impact on these kids...i suspect i did in some ways.  i hope they see me trying to help the walrus and the earth and it inspires them to do the same...be stewards of this earth and to teach their kids to love and respect all things earthly.  they seem to have turned out pretty well.  their parents gave them what they needed and a lot of love to boot.  it was fun to watch my siblings raise their kids.

 i'm all about intentions in life and i know that theirs were good.  i know my parents intentions were good as well.  do your best in life and hope it all works out.  nobody is perfect in anything, but it seems like it can be a very stressful gig trying to raise kids for 20 years.

 it's easy to watch the news and believe there are many bad people out there.  what they don't often report on is how many good folks are out there.  our lives don't make the news shows.  not enough flash.  we are out there though.  waking up, going to work or school, being kind and generous to one another.  we are the majority...the evil folks are the minority.

 CB, KT, KC, JP and SP...all but one.  she was missed.  i better crash for the night or i'll never make the walk.

thankful for: A.  doing no harm...that is always the goal at work. had a tiny one this week.  they are a bit more stressful.  B.  sunsets and winter.  cold but amazing   C.  those fudge covered oreo's that come out at the holidays and sees candies.  the place i got my tree out has a mini sees shop.  i had to buy some.  it would have been wrong not too!!