These last few days have filled me with joy. On Sunday, Bill and I picked up my sister, Cathi, and we drove to Modesto, California, for our Aunt Ginner’s 90th birthday celebration. Cathi and I lost our father back in 1982, so it was so special for us to see his only sister, for whom I am named, on such a momentous occasion. Since Cathi still lives in the general area, she has seen Aunt Ginner, and our cousins, much more often than I. As a matter of fact, I hadn’t seen Ginner’s daughter, Diane, since I was 9 years old! I had managed to make it to a Graham Family Reunion back in 1999, and saw Aunt Ginner, and her sons Gary and Darrel then. How wonderful to see them all on such a happy occasion. Our other cousins, from our late Uncle Bob, had gathered to celebrate Cousin Roberta’s 70th birthday in Arkansas on the exact same day, and therefore couldn’t make it to the party here. Now that would have been a great coup, one that I hope will happen in the not-too-distant future.

The girls – Cousin Diane, Sister Cathi, Aunt Ginner, and Jeanie.
I kept Bill busy taking pictures all day. Gentleman that he is, he obliged with great gusto, and lucky for me we have a great camera and he enjoys taking photos.

Graham/Stambaugh Cousins. Cousin Diane, Sister Cathi, Cousin Darrel, Jeanie, Cousin Gary, and Cathi’s daughter Wendy with her baby, Laura.
On Tuesday (yesterday), Thatcher turned 5 weeks old. Every week I am amazed at how much he grows. Felicia, Thatch and I drove up to Mill Valley to have lunch and spend the day with Wendy, Laura and Cathi. It was the first time they had seen Thatcher, and we were anxious for Laura and Thatcher to meet.

Laura and Thatcher are exactly eight months apart (January 9th and September 9th). Wendy wanted to hold a new baby again – it’s so easy to forget how small they are!

Wendy cooked up a fabulous feast for us. She and her husband, Adam, have lived for a year now in their home, which they like to call Hogwarts. It is an unbelievably adorable, and quite indescribable, cottage/mini-castle. I know that doesn’t make much sense, but you’d have to see it to understand. (Click on Campbell’s Photo Gallery for more pictures.)
After we ate lunch, and were starting the clean-up process, Laura crawled over to the recycling bin and I caught her with this.

This is one of my favorite pictures of all time! Don’t you just love that mischievous look on her face?
Felicia and I had such a wonderful day. I am thrilled that she has family (representing my side!) living near her. While I was growing up in San Diego, all of my cousins lived in the Central or Northern California region, and nobody made the trek much back then. I have only scattered memories, so my heart is joyful when I can reconnect with them now.

With my girl and her boy. I am so thankful for every day that I can be with them.

Last post to get y’all up to date on our travels. January took us back to Arizona to spend a couple of months with Heather, Tyler and Ethan. Tyler turned 6 on January 15th, and for the second year in a row had a rowdy birthday party at their neighborhood park. What distinguished this year from last was that it wasn’t freaking cold this time. Just look at this face – it will tell you everything.

Another birthday for Heather, another horseback riding gift from her Daddy. But, THIS time, we got a picture!

We are always amazed how fast our grandboys grow. We also love that it only takes about 2 seconds for them to warm up to us, even after not seeing us for a while. Such is one of the big benefits of this lifestyle.

The beginning of March took us back to San Diego to celebrate Bill’s 55th birthday, visit with good friends and stuff ourselves at our favorite restaurants. We made a bee-line eastward to spend the Spring in New York. On the way, however, and taking yet another route, we stopped in San Antonio, Texas, to see the Alamo. As I mentioned in a previous post, I have a distant relative on my mother’s side who was an Alamo defender.

My mother was born in a small town that doesn’t even exist anymore, just south of San Antonio. We had some pretty good Mexican food on the River Walk (which is great), but I tell ya, San Diego still has the best!

Another stop along the way was in Dahlonega, Georgia. Bill’s sister, Karen, and brother-in-law Ted have retired there from Tampa, Florida. This was our second trip to Dahlonega. It is absolutely beautiful. The scenery is breathtaking. We just adore the Appalachian mountain range – it extends from Maine all the way down to Georgia. The first American gold rush was in Dahlonega – the phrase “There’s gold in them thar hills” was in reference to Dahlonega (pronounced Dah-LAWN-ega).

Here are Bill and Karen at beautiful Amicalola Falls.

Once in New York, it doesn’t take us long to take in Central Park. It is one of our favorite places. When you are in the park, it is so big that sometimes it is hard to remember that you are in the biggest city in the United States. We had another great visit with our Miami friends Lula and Trevor. Their daughter, Megan, lives in New York and they were there to celebrate her birthday. Another wonderful repeat was being able to spend Aaron’s birthday with him and another glorious Mother’s Day with my son.

Of course, Brando was happy to see us, too. He grew so much since the last time we saw him, and he was just talking up a storm.

He LOVES books and has a very long attention span when he is being read to. Like all kids, he loves to play the “where is the…” game. He can point out virtually anything you can name on a page.

Here is our New York “home”, Croton Point Park. It’s hard to believe that this is less than an hour from the Big City.

And, this is where I will leave you today. We have most of the rest of 2008 already spoken for from here. All-new posts from now on!! Yea!!

As we made our way west, one of the states we were wanting to see was Kentucky. We’d heard how beautiful it is, and the Appalachian Folk Arts and Crafts were fantastic. We pulled into an RV Park not far from Churchill Downs and planned our route. Taking only smaller roads, we came across this fabulous clubhouse:

We actually drove past it, then stopped and backed up to get this. On the same trip, we saw the “We Don’t Rent Pigs” sign, posted on the September 1st entry. Gotta love Kentucky! Knowing that the ancestors of the Appalachian peoples were mainly Scots-Irish, there was, of course, a Campbellsville:

We also stopped at yet another beautiful college town, Berea, for dinner at Historic Boone Tavern. At this point in the day, it was pouring rain, so we didn’t get any pictures. We did love the little town, and hope to return there some day to see the Folk Arts and Crafts prominently displayed in the art shops lining the downtown area. The college is renowned for keeping the old folk arts and crafts alive and charging no tuition.

By the time we got to California, we were ready to take in the beautiful sights of Lake Tahoe. We took a back road from Nevada that was suggested as easier than some to get to our RV Park. We were gratified to finally get to the intersection at Hwys 89 and 50, when we saw what looked like the clouds of a small fire. By the time we got to our RV Park, it most certainly wasn’t small.

We were contemplating evacuating, along with the rest of South Lake Tahoe, but since the wind was blowing the other way, and doggone it, we had already paid for three days, we stayed. It was surreal the whole time we were there. The electricity would go out, then come back on, there was horrible smoke and ash in the air, but the lake was still a beautiful blue, and the stream that went through our campground was a peaceful and restful place to relax. We vowed to return, and we did in September.

We were more than ready to return to the West Coast! We had missed the sunsets over the Pacific, salt air in our faces, and beautiful warm days by the ocean. We secured a place for two months right on the cliffs of a town called Pacifica. This is what we saw from our back window.

Oh, I need to mention that this was our view MAYBE 8 DAYS OUT OF THE ENTIRE TIME WE WERE THERE! I am a native SOUTHERN CALIFORNIAN, and Northern California, on the coast, at least, is very, very different! It rarely got over about 65 degrees, and some days the fog was so thick, it felt like it was raining! If we wanted that, we never would have left Bainbridge Island! Having said all that, it didn’t take long to drive a few miles over the hills that separated the coast from the main Peninsula of the Bay Area. We visited with Felicia a lot, took all the dogs to the various off-leash dog parks in the area, and also attended the famous Gilroy Garlic Festival. By far, one of the best things to happen was to get reacquainted with my sister, Cathi, and her daughter Wendy. Wendy had gotten married a year before Felicia, and, in this picture was expecting a baby.

From left, Felicia, Jeanie, Cathi and Wendy (with Laura). Cousins Felicia and Wendy hit it off immediately and now Wendy’s Laura and Felicia’s Thatcher can grow up near one another. Cathi and I are so proud and happy. We are all getting together next Tuesday for the babies to visit for the first time, and I will post pictures of this historic and momentous event.

Fast forward to October, and we were back in New York. We couldn’t wait to see Brando!

We have a mutual admiration society going – he’s so affectionate! We were staying at an RV Park in the tiny town of Florida, New York, when we learned of Croton Point Park in Westchester County, much closer to New York City. We took a day to investigate, and immediately decided to move when they had a space available. On our way there, we made a rest stop along the Thruway, and Bill noticed that our 5th wheel was leaking brake fluid. Make no mistake, this was a catastrophic event that could have been life-threatening if we had been on a mountain road. To make a long story short, we were escorted, very slowly, to a local garage, where the owner, Eddie Zachery, a seasoned RVer himself, told us to make ourselves at home on his property, no charge, and by the way, here is some water and electricity! We had to stay there for several days while we waited for parts. But Eddie and his crew were Knights in Shining Armor, as far as we were concerned.

All fixed up, finally, and we arrived at Croton Point Park. It is a Westchester County Park (they don’t advertise!), in the most beautiful setting you can imagine, jutting out into the Hudson River, and maybe 45 minutes to Aaron’s apartment. We were in heaven, especially in the fall!

We love this park. It is our favorite in the entire country. The only, and I mean ONLY negative to this place is that it is open seasonally, meaning from mid-April to mid-November.

Brando’s 2nd birthday was at the park next to their apartment, Inwood Hill Park. It is lovely, and truly a neighborhood park. We had a blast, with lots of friends, kids, and a pinata!

What would fall be in the Northeast without leaf peeping? Bill and I took a day to drive up to the Adirondacks to check out the colors before everything was past peak.

Bill composes some really lovely photos, don’t you think? Adirondack chairs in the Adirondacks.

The fall colors followed us south to Asheville, North Carolina. Our second favorite park in the country, Campfire Lodgings takes first prize in the most scenic category.

We seriously considered settling down in Asheville. It has the small college town atmosphere we love, plus it is in the mountains and is freaking gorgeous. What we couldn’t live with was the Stars and Bars mentality that we saw far too often. We are western people through and through. Oh well, at least we can visit. Oh, and by the way, Asheville has THE BEST Mediteranean Food on the planet, Jerusalem Garden on Patton Avenue.

Arriving back in Arizona, it was time for Ethan’s 1st birthday!

He got more on his body than in his mouth, but that’s the fun of it anyway.

Not ones to let any grass grow under our feet, we took off for Northern California again, to spend the month of December with Felicia and Wes. I hadn’t spent Felicia’s birthday with her for years, my birthday with either of my children for years, or Christmas with them for years as well. This lifestyle would change all that! We spent a joint birthday celebration at Tommy Toy’s, a favorite restaurant in San Francisco, for Felicia’s 30th birthday and my 54th birthday.

The year came to a close celebrating Christmas with Wes’s big extended family. At the stroke of 2008, we headed off again to Arizona, to spend the next two months with Heather, Tyler and Ethan.
We were looking forward to some nice sunny, warm weather and a bright new year!
More tomorrow.

For those just joining the party here, this is a continuation of a series of photo posts that flesh out our last 2-1/2 years. We tried mightily to keep the blog up to date, but fell exceptionally short in 2007. Here are some more highlights.

The Alamo Memorial at the Texas State Capitol in Austin. I have a relative, on my mother’s side, who died at the Alamo and whose name (George Tumlinson) is inscribed here. We loved Austin, with the beautiful Colorado River flowing through downtown, creating a great walking trail. Also, being a college town, it has great night life and fabulous music venues.

I’m including this photo because the RV park where we stayed was so unique. It is run by a farmer and his wife who, along with a whole bunch of dogs, have a cattle ranch just outside of town. Auburn, Alabama is one of the prettiest little college towns you’ve ever seen, and the hospitality that was afforded us by these wonderful people made our hearts sing. They don’t care if you leash your dog or not, and enourage you to feed their fish in a huge pond they have. It was quite an experience, and one we have yet to find anywhere else. Their rates were extremely reasonable, too.

A lighthouse on the Jersey Shore. We are enamored of the east coast beaches. They are so different from the west coast beaches where we grew up. Cape May, New Jersey, was particularly beautiful, with a plethora of Victorian buildings that Bill and I found delightful. Then, up the coast we found this.

Lucy the Elephant in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It was dark by the time we drove up there, but Lucy was a sight to behold, lit up as she was. She apparently has been many things in her lifetime, including various businesses and a residence.

For Aaron’s 27th birthday, we took in a game at Yankee Stadium. Good thing, too, as it was the second-to-last season for the venerable old “House That Ruth Built”. I am so glad that I was able to be there once in my life. It just gave me chills to walk out and view the playing field. My father was a huge baseball fan, and having been born in 1915, he was also a huge Babe Ruth fan. My mother once told me that one of the only times she saw my father cry was when Babe Ruth died.

Dinner at Tavern on the Green in Central Park. We met up with our friends from Miami, Trevor and Lula, and had a fantastic meal. Afterwards, we walked off dinner in Central Park. Bill and I would, if we ever become millionaires, buy a pied-a-terre in New York City in a heartbeat. As much as we love small, quiet towns, there is just something about New York and it’s energy, that we find irresistible.

Mother’s Day, 2007. I am including this photo for a couple of reasons. First, it was my first Mother’s Day in years that I was able to spend with one of my kids. They both went to college away from home, and then permanently moved away from home after graduation. I was thrilled to be able to spend the day with Aaron. He took me to Serendipity 3 for lunch, then we walked around mid-town and Central Park. Unfortunately, Serendipity has since closed down, but you can see it in a movie of the same name starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale. Secondly, this picture and the previous one are put here to officially record how big and unhealthy I had become over the years. Bill had also noticed his own weight-related health problems, so shortly after we left New York, we both embarked on a weight loss plan! More on that in another post.

Mystic, Connecticut, another absolutely gorgeous little town. Of course, being big movie fans, we had to take this picture because of the movie, Mystic Pizza, starring Julia Roberts.

Each time we head out cross-country, we take a different route. This time heading west, we stopped in Hershey, Pennsylvania. For years, we had heard that practically the whole town was a theme park, and, as you can see from the picture above, to some extent that is true. Where else can you see the street lights in the shape of Hershey Kisses?

OK – that’s it for today. This has brought back so many good memories for me. We welcome your comments!

When we left New York in late October, 2006, we stayed just outside Washington DC to take in the sights. This was mentioned, again, in a previous post, but we hadn’t included a picture.

The sun was setting so that, looking from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and Capitol Building looked like they were glowing pink.

Several stops later, we landed in Memphis, where we stayed at the RV park behind the Heartbreak Hotel on Lonely Street! We had some great BBQ, saw St. Jude’s Hospital, Sun Studios where so many early rock and rollers got their recording start, and this:

Every morning a piper plays in front of the Presley family graves at Graceland, and it is free.

Moving on down I-40, part of which is the old Route 66, we found the Cadillac Ranch.

Just outside of Amarillo, Texas. If you don’t know to look for it, you could miss it. It took us a couple of passes to take the correct turn-off and schlep out to it in the freezing cold wind!

We arrived in Apache Junction, Arizona, mid-November, for Heather’s baby shower. With hugs and kisses for Heather and Tyler, and promising to be back before her baby was due to be born sometime in early December, we drove up to Northern California for Felicia’s wedding. We had Thanksgiving with Wes’s large extended family, got some last-minute wedding preparations done, and then the wedding day, November 25, 2006!

Wes’s mother, Ineke, and I each read a poem during the ceremony.

We left the following day, and keeping tabs on Heather, we got a call only a couple of hours after leaving Pleasanton that Heather had gone into labor. As far as we were all concerned, she was a couple of weeks early, but that didn’t matter anymore. We made the decision to drive all day/night to get there, hopefully, before the baby was born. Alas, after nearly killing ourselves to make it, we missed it by a mere two hours. Luckily, Heather and Baby Ethan were happy, healthy and very glad to see us.

Meet Ethan William Campbell, born on November 27, 2006. Both Heather and Bill were, and looked, exhausted!

We stayed in Apache Junction for three months helping out and celebrating milestones. First was my 53rd birthday, Christmas and Tyler’s first two wheeler bicycle, his 5th birthday on January 15, 2007, and Heather’s birthday in February. Bill took her horseback riding (her birthday wish), but, unfortunately, we didn’t get a picture.

Needless to say but I will anyway, 2006 was a monumental year for us. More on our next post, as we continue 2007.