2008 Trip to Kara's

We made our annual trip to Battle Ground, Washington to visit Our daughter, her husband and our 4 youngest grand children. We were treated like royalty and had a great time.

It's usually cold out there this time of year so we were pleasantly surprised to find it near 90 degrees on our arrival.

The kids had begged their Mamaw to bring her bathing suit to swim with them so they went to the pool soon after our arrival. The next day turned cooler so this was the last use of the pool.

It seems everything grows better out there. Better soil and more moisture I assume.

Here are Drake and Peyton to add more beauty to the roses. Bryce is in the background.

Here is Logan, on the left, practicing Taekwondo. He has a green belt.

We attending every practice to watch them kick, wrestle, etc.

This is Drake, on the left, also practicing Taekwondo. He also has a green belt

That is both of them on the right doing a "duck walk" race.

My birthday occurred the second day we were there and my daughter baked her "old" dad a cake. Only one candle was used to prevent any more forest fires. "Smokey's" rule I've heard.

It's almost impossible to get them all together for a group photo. Logan, Peyton, and Drake cooperated but Bryce is way behind on the floor.

Drake had his 6th birthday party a few days early so that we could attend. We had a house full and everyone seemed to have a great time. Our daughter is helping Drake with all his presents.

9/11 Remembered Again.

September 11, 2001, two minutes after the plane struck the first Tower.

Madeline and I were getting dressed in a motel room in a small town in southern Washington state. The TV news suddenly announced the tragic news of a plane crashing into one of the twin towers. I thought it might be a small plane that accidentally crashed since I remembered that in years past a plane had crashed into the Empire State Building.

We were having a wonderful vacation as we traveled across the west visiting National Parks. We had visited Olympic National Park the day before and were heading to Portland Oregon that day to visit our daughter and grand children. We left the motel still not knowing the full extent of the crash but the news was on the radio as we traveled. We stopped for breakfast and everyone was reporting rumors of every type not knowing themselves how much more we could expect.

The country came together as one that day and for a short time later.

Even though our president has kept us safe for 7 years, there are those that now blame him and our country for this terrorist act and anything else they can think of. How pitiful..............

How soon some forget.

God Bless America.