As another beautiful day come to an end.

We really enjoyed our day at the coast. As the day of walking and enjoying the coastline came to an end I was able to try to capture the moment with a picture. We had a wonderful relaxing day at the coast, strolling along the beach together. Now we are off to see Leslie play in her last game of the regular season. Glad there are playoffs yet to enjoy. 

Oregon Coast

While driving south on the 101 going from Newport to Waldport, which is where Leslie's game was that night we stopped to enjoy the coast line. We went for a few walks along the beach in different areas of the coast and of course take a few pictures. This one was one of my favorites showing the beautiful pacific ocean coastline. God sure has created so many masterpieced for us to enjoy. I am very blessed to be able to stop and take the time to enjoy them with my husband. 

Newport Bridge

We drove over to Newport, Oregon which is about an hour's drive from Albany. We spent the day shopping along the waterfront and walking along the shoreline. Leslie, our niece had a basketball game at the coast so we made a day out of it and enjoyed the coast beforing going to her game. The day was wonderful, the sun was shining and the sky was blue. This is the bridge in Newport where the water goes into the bay under highway 101. I thought this was a great view of the the bridge. 

Santiam River Oregon

We went for a drive last week along highway 20 alongside the South Santiam River. We really enjoyed the drive, it was a beautiful view all the way. We stopped a few times to get out and walk around enjoying the river. It was raining (it is Oregon afterall) so we were the only ones around. We found several good spots for Tyler to go fishing, but what do we know about fishing. Tyler will have to let us know if the fishing is as good as the scenery. 

We spent Christmas morning at Candi and Dustin's. We enjoyed watching the grandkids opening their gifts and all their excitement of Christmas morning. Thank you Candi and Dustin for a wonderful morning and a great Christmas breakfast. 

Chaffee Zoo, Fresno, California

On Thursday, December 22, 2005, we took Taylor and Jayden to the Chaffee Zoo in Fresno, California. The first animal we visited was the elephants and as soon as Jayden saw them he started mooing, thinking they were cows. He was fun to watch discover the different animals. Taylor made sure to tell Jayden what the animals were as we visited all the different animals in the zoo. Taylor decided she was a flamingo and tried to stand like them. We had a fun and exciting day with the grandkids. Boy were we tired when we got back home. There is a reason God gave us kids at a young age! Grandkids are great, we can take them out for a day of fun, feed them sweets and then take them home.

Granddad and Jayden playing ball

Here is Granddad and Jayden playing ball. Jayden was just laughing and having a great time with Granddad. This was a Candi and Dustin's the week before Christmas. He sure is getting big!

Merry Christmas

On December 17, 2005 we went to Mom and Dad Smith's for a Christmas celebration. We had a great time with a terrific turkey dinner. We were blessed with Grandpa and Grandma Burnham with us for the day. We made candy canes all together and they sure are good. We have five generations here and all smiling and having a great day together. I hope everyone has a merry Christmas and is blessed with family together for the holidays.

Traveling with Taylor

I flew from Las Vegas to Bakersfield to attend all of Taylor's performances of Peter Pan, in which she was a wolf. Then after watching the star of the play we drove back to Las Vegas and Granddad "Bry" picked us up from the car rental company. Then we went to the aquarium at Mandalay Bay and Taylor enjoyed seeing all of the sharks. Maybe when she gets old enough she will be adventurous like her Granddad and go scuba diving with the sharks. Then we went to Excalibur, or as Taylor says "The Castle" and she and her Granddad won her about twenty stuffed animals in the arcade. We enjoyed the dinner show and Taylor thought it was fun to eat without silverware. She really enjoyed the horses in the show. After a fun afternoon and evening in Las Vegas we drove back to the rv in Laughlin and spent the night there. The next day we went to Calico Ghost Town in Barstow, California and stayed at the rv park there. Taylor enjoyed petting all of the horses there and is looking forward to riding them when she is 7 years old. She and I had a lot of fun exploring the caves in the area and seeing the sights of the old ghost town. We had a great deal of fun traveling with Taylor and we think she had fun also.

The Grand Canyon

On Thanksgiving day we went up to the Grand Canyon. We rode up in a luxury parlour car with a private rear viewing area on the Grand Canyon Railway. We went to a nice restaraunt with a great view of the canyon and enjoyed a wonderful turkey dinner. It wasn't as good as a home turkey dinner with a kids table and black olives on a child's fingers. But it was very elegant and we ate a lot of very appetizing food. Then we walked around enjoying the view of the southern rim of the Grand Canyon and I took about a hundred pictures. I have never seen the Grand Canyon before and it is an amazing sight. Then we rode back in the luxury car again on the railway. It was a wonderful day. I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving as well.