Preston's 16th Birthday

Since we had all the family here this weekend (except Jason but it will be that way for another year) we decided to have Preston's 16th birthday a week early. He is a fan of the Food Network show, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, and had seen an episode where they featured a breakfast diner here in Phoenix. So we headed to downtown Phoenix for his "birthday breakfast."

After a wait in the heat, we had a great breakfast at Mike's Big Breakfast (1st Street and McKinley for you Arizonans), everything was a hit but the pancakes were voted the best. They use lots of real butter, so all the food tastes great and whether it is healthy is not even a question you ask.

Today we did the cake and presents thing and Raquel out did herself with her first homemade ice cream cake; everyone loved it. I have a had time believing that Preston is 16, or will be next Sunday, unfortunately for him, he will always be my baby now matter how big he gets.

We are giving this a try!

Lonica has been here this week and has created this blog for me, mainly to use on our vacation this year. I am not a great writer and it might not be too amusing, but if you are interested in what we are doing this summer I will try to keep you updated. And I’ll try to add lots of pictures; I know those appeal to everyone.

I have been waiting 30 years for this vacation, it is a dream come true. We (Preston, Garth and I) are going to Europe to see a friend of mine and her family and a few other sites. Preston and I leave July 1 and Garth will join us on July 18 for 12 days, but Preston and I won’t be back until Aug. 3. If you want to hear Garth’s sob story call, him in the first two weeks of July and you can hear him cry about how he has to work so his adorable wife and son can go to Europe.



30 years ago this summer I was lucky enough to go to Europe with People to People. We had three home stays while we were there and my first one was in the Netherlands in the town of Weert with Anita Creemers and her family. We developed a special, unique relationship in just a week that has lasted 30 years. She has been here to stay with us many times and even visited us while we were Japan. We can’t wait to see her and the sights in Europe. This picture was taken of us 30 years ago (as I’m sure you can tell) and I have to apologize to Anita because her eyes are closed but it is the only one I have. Hopefully, we will take another one this summer, we won’t look too much older and her eyes will be open!