Grandma's B-day Weekend and other delights!!

Calvin and Porter have been having a great time together - and the sleepover was a smashing success!!

Noah joined us for dinner and went with Phoebe to GH to visit the folks there.

We're thinking we'll be blowing this one up poster size when they leave on their missions!

A great visit with Grandma Clayton - check Donna's blog for more photos.

Favorite Aunt Donna - getting to know the newest little Terrill baby.

Phoebe lucked out and found other family members there.

Phoebe even got to sleep in today - enjoying a little stretching time with Mom.

Phoebe's class reunion included a picnic at Library Park - and fun times with old school chums! These girls haven't changed much at all!!

Sully wasn't extremely impressed with the proceedings.

Getting a group photo of your old school friend's kids is about as easy as getting a grandchildren shot!!

Included Kyle in this one!!

A group went to the Homecoming game last night, and there is a get-together tonight too. Calvin, Porter, and I enjoyed shopping and lunch at Wendy's - and Porter was sad to go home - and Calvin was sad to see him go.

Tomorrow a big family party at Chez Terrill on Lemon - the good times continue!!

All in a day's work?

Phoebe and I had quite the eventful day today!! In fact, we could do without any more "events" for a while!!

For starters, we went and rented a car and left Calvin with Dawn while we did so. When we got back, we were visiting briefly and observing Calvin at play when we all heard a "thunk!" We ran to the front window to discover that a car had somehow run into a car parked in front of the park and had flipped on its side. You could hear the woman crying for help. Dawn ran across the street and started reassuring the woman that help was on its way - Phoebe commented that she was amazed at how many neighbors were at home, because folks were pouring out of their houses. 2 fire trucks came, a rescue truck, an ambulance, and 3 police cars.

We were all riveted as we watched the firemen cut the woman out of the car. And the poor man who had been sitting in his car - eating his lunch - was wandering around in shock! Dawn took a photo of the car and sent it to Harry on her phone - Harry was in court for his job - and I thought about taking a photo, but obviously didn't get around to it!

The woman was taken out on a board with her neck anchored - and it was amazing a while later to see that the car had been essentially put back together to be towed away. In the meantime, since all these rescue vehicles were smack in front of the driveway, we were not able to leave! Dawn ended up walking with Calvin to school to walk Eve and Porter home - it was still raining, but Dawn, ever prepared, had umbrellas for everyone! Phoebe and I stayed at the house since Isla was asleep. Harry was at Nadinna's - so Dawn texted her the accident photo to explain why she hadn't come for Harry!! Nadinna texted back that it was fine, but could Harry walk in the rain with them to go get Damien and Sascha from school!!

Calvin had been dreaming of In and Out, so we detoured over to Santa Anita and Colorado for lunch - it was now after 1 - and then finally got on our way to Bonny's!! The plan had originally been to go to Bonny's and the beach - the rain nixed that plan - and then to go out to the Valley to visit my mom and Donna. Like all plans, these went awry!! I'm sorry I didn't take shots of the kids at Dawn's - we were preoccupied with the moment I guess!! But as you can tell from the photos here, I did take shots at Bonny's house.

Bonny and Phoebe had a nice visit, the kids enjoyed playing with Calvin, and we enjoyed a yummy dinner together. We left around 6:45 and figured a half hour would see us at Mom's house. Oh, ho, ho - aren't we dreamers!!?? Bonny drew us a map and we decided to go over the mountains - a route I have gone on countless times, so I wasn't worried.

I guess I should have been though - because our first hurdle showed up a ways down the road - FOG!! We cruised slowly along, thinking that we'd recognize the sharp turn at Stunt Road. We started thinking we'd missed it - but we were heading down the mountain so we figured we'd hit the way out of the mountains soon enough. And the fog started to clear so we could see - scenery I did not recognize!! That should have been a clue!!

Then we came to a sign telling us the road was closed - we had no choice but to turn around and go back. At least it was clear - we had been afraid to turn around before because of the fog. We were on La Tuna Canyon Road. We headed back and miraculously found the turn we had missed before!! In the meantime, Phoebe, who was driving, was feeling more and more carsick from all the winding and turning and twisting we'd been doing. We had tried several times to make calls to Bonny - or anyone actually - but there was no service!! We finally got hold of Mom and Donna and said that now that we'd found our way, we were just going to head home - it was after 8 already. And did I mention that about halfway through our misadventure Sully started crying - mostly inconsolably??

We got home safe and sound - which is the important part. But Phoebe and I are feeling like we've had enough adventure already!! I thought about not going to school again, but my favorite sub was not available, so I'd better sign off and get to bed. We're also thinking about how we can incorporate this experience into a good object lesson for a talk!!

The Eagle Has Landed!!

Phoebe and crew arrived tonight - after almost missing their flight - owing to the stalled freeway conditions prompted by President Obama's motorcade as he arrived in Portland!! According to Calvin, he waved at them!

Other than that the flight was uneventful, and Calvin and Sully behaved in an exemplary manner!

We're excited to have the kiddos here - and Phoebe too!! Watch for posts detailing our exciting adventures!!