Car Trip to Haley's Graduation

We drove the Honda 5 hours out to San Clemente to attend the Graduation Ceremony of our oldest Grandchild, Haley.

Granny and Haley

We left Las Vegas at 4 am on Friday morning to beat the heat and traffic going out I 15 toward San Diego.

We drove through the San Bernardino Valley and it was dry and parched after the long period of drought they have had.

Todd and his Business Partner, Katie and our family friend had found a home to rent just 10 houses away from Haley's home.  We had LOTS of room and a full kitchen and really enjoyed ourselves.  Thanks Todd and Katie for getting that all set up for us! 

Katie, Haley and Todd

The Graduation was held outside at the San Clemente High School Football Field.  It was sunny and in the 70's and was a perfect day for the graduates.  We enjoyed it all, but the sun did get a bit warm as we sat there about two hours.

Seating for the 700 Graduates.

Haley was sitting in the row directly in front of us.

CONGRATULATIONS Haley Lauryn Collins!!

Haley with her Dad, Todd.

 

Todd took us down to the San Clemente Pier to the Fisherman's Restaurant that hangs out over the ocean and we were treated to a lovely meal by Katie.

Eating oysters on the half shelf is always an experience.

The day ended with a stunning sunset and a walk down the pier.

We sat at a table under the third umbrella from the left.  I took this afterwards just to see what we were balanced on.  So thankful the San Andreas fault behaved itself while we were there.

Walk back down the pier toward the quaint town of San Clemente.

We had a time of gift opening.

We all spent the night catching up on some missed sleep.  Sat morning began with some domino playing.

It was a short walk down the the beach to spend some time watching the waves and surfers roll in.  

There wasn't allot of flowers blooming because of the drought, but this home on the hill with some gorgeous ones caught my eye.

We had a fantastically fishy meal at Harpoon Henry's on Dana Point.

Daddy and Daughter

Craig, Kathy, Katie, Haley and Todd

 

Todd's doctor friend, Jeff and his wife, Kristie joined us after dinner.  We were glad to meet him and thanked again him for his help in diagnosing Craig's abscess issue while we were traveling to Las Vegas.

Craig, Todd, Jeff, Kristie, Haley and Katie.

Dr. Jeff, Haley, Kristie and Todd

 It was going to be a hot trip back to Las Vegas after a day of 113 degrees there.  We also saw lots of construction backing up traffic going toward Vegas, so we decided to pack up and hit the road.  It was some time after 10:30 pm.  We pulled up to the Motorhome about 3:30 am and slept for four hours.

I think I feel a nap coming on.  What else are we going to do when it's 119 under the shade of our awning here??

We will probably spend time with Mom tonight and tomorrow and start heading east very early on Tuesday morning.

Happy Birthday to our now Teenage Grand daughter in Indiana, Kara!!

AND, Happy Father's Day to our family and friends!

Blessings,

Kathy

And the Heat Goes On!!

Tell me this can't really be true?  We lived in Glendale, AZ when the kids were little and I remember temps like this.  But, we didn't stay there for long..........especially not in a Motorhome.

We had wind, rain and hail while we were in Colorado.  I can't say that I miss that, but we have made a huge change.  We have been in Las Vegas since May 28th.  We had a great time surprising Mom for her 90th Birthday and we have been hanging out with some friends and playing some cards.  Our plan is to leave the RV here while we make a trip over to San Clemente, CA, Friday through Sunday for our Grand daughter, Haley's HS Graduation. 

We had done a variety of things like going to Church with some awesome worship, to spending time with some of Mom's friends at the Dennis Bono Shows at the South Point Casino, to a dance and on Saturday we had lunch out to celebrate our 45th Wedding Anniversary.  We have done some projects around the RV and around Mom's place for her.

It was actually cooler than normal for June for the first two weeks, but this last week we feel like we are living in a blast furnace.  We have been in Duck Creek RV Park and the price is good and we are 12 miles away from Mom.  Craig is healing up from the abscess that he had so much trouble with, but we ran into a bit of trouble.  Sunday night at 11:15 pm, our power went out.  It was still close to 100 degrees.  We checked around outside and found that 4 or 5 of us were having the same problem.  It was a power surge and they aren't sure what caused it.  They said it's never happened before.  We were fortunate that it didn't do damage to our electrical systems, but it did kill our DVR recorder, our microwave, a clock radio and a new fan.  We spent the night with the windows open, with our 12 volt fantastic fan working so hard to keep us cool, but there wasn't much sleep going on.  An electrician was outside working on the electric most of the night.

In the morning we were able to plug into a different electric meter and regained air conditioning.  The park was very apologetic and they are going to make an insurance claim to cover our items.  They say they are going to have to dig up the parking spots because the issue is underground.  So we were asked to move to another site.  That's what we did this morning in about 95 degrees.  It's a nice spot with a bit of afternoon shade.

On our way over to Mom's this afternoon, we just had to stop for something cold to drink.  This was a great answer to 107 heat.

We moved to another spot today and it gives us a clear view of the sunsets.  It was a beautiful one tonight.  

It would be great to figure out a way to catch the reflection and make it permanent on the windows.

Our new spot does get a bit of shade in the afternoon.

It's suppose to get to 114 this weekend.  Hope the Whale will survive while we are away to see Haley graduate!

I'm still taking my garden with me.  The geranium is real and just started to bloom again.  The pink flowers are not real, but help bring some shade to the geranium.

We are so looking forward to our trip out to California this Friday.  We are praying that it's cooler there!  It has to be, doesn't it?

Blessings,

Kathy

Our 45th Wedding Anniversary!

Craig and Kathy were married on June 13, 1970.

That makes 45 years.

We both grew up in the same home town and graduated from the same High School, but we didn't get to know each other until our time at Indiana University.

 My good friends and bridesmaids.

Ann, Ellen, Jan and Val.

Mom made all of our dresses.

 My family

Bob, Mom, Kathy, Dad and Dave

 Mom grew roses on the side of our home.

Lt. Craig Collins USAF

Chuck, Craig and Dick Collins

 Craig's oldest brother, Chuck, Craig, Kathy, Ann and Rev Mieta.

 Our Parents

Robert and Marcella Hoshaw, Martha and Richard Collins

 Ellen, Val, Jan, Ann, Kathy, Craig, Chuck, Dave, Ron and Bob.

 Our Grandparents

Maude Liston, John and Eva Hoffman, 

Marguerite Parry and Jessie Collins

 

 

It's been a great life together!  We have lived in 30 homes, 3 Countries and 7 States.  We have 3 children and 8 grand children.

We feel very blessed and thankful to the Lord for keeping us together!

Blessings,

Kathy