Thursday, August 12, 2010

...to Grandmother's house we go.

Hello Blog Friends!
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We've been so busy re-tiling our floors and taking a road trip that I haven't had much crafting time. I thought I'd throw in a post with some photos taken last week of our road trip "home" for my grandma's birthday celebration. {There's craft stuff at the end if you make it that far!}
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We decided to go through San Diego, California on our way to central California. San Diego is not really "on our way" but it had been a while since we'd seen the ocean and we were craving it so we took the long way there. I took several photos from my car window that seemed like a good idea at the time, but ended up being kind of ridiculous when uploaded. :o\ Know what I mean? Anyway, the photo below is of the dunes just outside of Yuma, Arizona. This is where the Jabba the Hut scenes were filmed for Star Wars.

And some windmills along the way... (It always amazes me that we have this type of resource that's free and non-pollutant and we don't use it to its fullest potential...)
There are so many flowers blooming in the "Little Italy" district in San Diego ...

And of course, Carrie and I found an art store. It was a really good one but we felt a little rushed - which is probably a good thing! We still ended up spending some vacation money here!

Here's Doug and I in an British pub in San Diego. The beer was good and cold! (We laughed thinking about how my British friends would probably scoff at this place. The decorations were very cheesy - including a huge framed "painting" of Princess Diana amongst all the polo memorabilia.)
And here's Carrie in same said pub, not impressed with the parentals {Carrie's term of endearment for us} drinking beer.

Ahhhh...the ocean...

Everyone of us forgot to bring sunglasses, so we bought some cheap pairs on the boardwalk.

Breakfast on the boardwalk...baby's happy now... :o)

From San Diego we headed north to my sister's house. {We never want to drive through Los Angeles again!} On Saturday morning I made God's Eyes with Presley and Carrie.
Then Saturday afternoon was my Grandma's 90th birthday party! I took a TON of pictures but won't bore you with family shots...just a few little glimpses...
My mom made the cutest photo boards with pictures of my Grandma. Don't you love the one in the background of this shot? So cute. And the bird Mom used is one that I made. :o)
Here's a picture of Grandma with some of her great-grand kids. I asked her how many grand kids she had and she rattled it off with a sweet smile and a tone of pride in her voice: "11 grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren, and 4 great-great grandchildren." {look at Presley in the front with her arm around Grandma - and my niece Britny holding a very unhappy Stone...}

We spent Saturday night at my mom's house. I was happy to see that she had her chalk blocks out - here's what they looked like:
And last but not least... Why is it that if I try to read in a moving car I get car sick, but I can stitch and feel just fine? I made 24 flowers with a few scraps I threw in my bag at the last minute. They need buttons in the centers and a project to land on...
I'd love to proclaim that I will make a mini-book out of these road trip pictures but I've gotta' be real. I'm really starting to think about the upcoming holidays and have some big plans for handmade gifts.
And I have a haiku to write.

18 comments:

Amy said...

What a fantastic recap of a road trip! I know what you mean about being realistic when it comes to making projects - thank goodness for blogging and a quick scrap pages to get the details down :-)

debs14 said...

Great photos! This is such amazing scenery - thanks for sharing. I laughed at your comments re British Pubs, must be honest, the ones round here don't tend to have too many pictures of Lady Di in them! Whenever we go away we always seem to find Irish Bars which makes us smile as most Irish bars abroad don't look anything like the ones we saw when we visited Dublin. When we went to Tunisia we went for a walk once we had unpacked in the hotel and the first building we saw was an Irish bar, seemed so weird in an African setting! Come on a scrapping holiday to the UK and your blog pals will show you real English pubs so you can compare ;-)

Anonymous said...

Lovely post Deb and I love those little fabric flowers, the photo of all the children with your gran was lovely and your mum's photoboad is gorgeous, with that little bird.

BTW I laughed out loud at your comment on my blog about the Celebration song and I have to acknowledge that if there wern't the fireworks we wouldn't be the girls we are and so alike!

scrappyjacky said...

How wonderful for your grandmother....so many of her family together.Loved hearing about your road trip...and it's true...that is nothing like a British pub!!
I've often made 'god's eyes' with kids at school....but never heard that name before...we always call them 'dream catchers'.

Ruth said...

Lovely to see the whole snapshot of Grandma's 90th. And how proud she must be all her descendants! x

Sian said...

What an entertaining post full of chat and news!

We have friends who live in San Diego and we have been talking about a visit for some years now. That sunshine looks very tempting :)

The party looks like so much fun..you are fortunate to have so many generations alive together! My Grandma was 94 when she died but that's 12 years ago now..

Stephanie @ La Dolce Vita said...

Looks like a great trip, and I think you made a good choice stopping by the ocean. Absolutely nothing like it for soothing the soul. Love the recap- thanks for sharing!!

Becky said...

Wonderful photos! Loved reading about your road trip and you make flowers in the car? I would be throwing up! Can't do anything but look out of the window or sleep lol! Love your flowers though, they are gorgeous. Hope you get your haiku written - it's a great challenge isn't it? I had never written one before, but found it great fun and I'm going to use it as journalling on a layout :)

traci said...

i love roadtrips deb and it looks like that was a great one. i would love to go to san diego. some day. so wonderful that you got to enjoy your grandmas birthday with her.

Rhona said...

I love looking at your photos and as for that mini book, maybe it could be done next year? As for your crafting in the car, I don't think I could sew either - I just have to look straight ahead of me ;o) Have a great weekend. x

Maria Ontiveros said...

Wonderful to hear about your trip. Recognized your bird right away, and I hope it's not tacky to say, but your husband is so good looking! I don't remember seeing him before.
Rinda

Mom said...

I love this post! Pictures are terrific and your monolog very well written! I love the shot of the photo board with your bird and Grandma's picture. I'm going to hate to dismantel them but I'm giving the little birdie to Grandma as a keepsake. I may take all the pictures off and scrapbook them -- I'll let you scan the ones you want first.

Cutest little flowers--never saw anyone like you--hands in constant motion! xoxo

JenCoen said...

Wow! Looks like you all had a fab-u-lous time!! I miss SoCal sooooo much! I get back whenever I can!

Thanks for visiting the bloggy-blog.
My back is actually very good. I have been going to my chiropractor religiously and now am down to a visit every other week, with core training and massage therapy to help. Every once in a while I'll have a bad few days, but all in all I am really keeping my body my first priority. Life is so much better when you're healthy!! :-)

Unknown said...

It was definitely a great trip! Can't wait to go back again! :)

helena said...

great idea to sew in the car - used to knit on the train but haven't in ages. Lovely photos and know what you mean about craving the sea when not seen it for a while.

MarleneMAZ said...

I love your trip re-cap, you always take great photos!

Kirsti said...

Looks like you had a fabulous road trip...fantastic photos...do kids in America moan all the way saying 'Are we there yet?' or 'When are we there?' or 'How much longer?' all said with at least a slight whine in there voices....lol...Have a great weekend...Kirsti xxx

humel said...

Fabby photos! And oh, I love your flowers - great use of one on a headband in the previous post - I clicked straight through to that tutorial! xx

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