See more pictures on the Events page, in the "2009 Babies" album.

See pictures on the Event page under "Makila at Six Flags"

One Bride. One Mother-To-Be.

See more pictures on the Events page.

He arrived February 14 at 6:06 a.m.

7 lbs, 11 oz

Congratulations, Jon and Kim!

(More pictures on the Events page)

It was a wild two weeks in San Diego, but I was thrilled to help out Mary and Alec as baby Van put in his appearance. The little guy was born on June 22, at 9:50 a.m.

There was a contest of sorts as Van had his choice of several special days to be born: my birthday (June 18), Father's Day (June 21), or his paternal grandfather's birthday (June 22).

So, happy birthday, Marvin! What a great present!

Just for the record - it could have been any of those days, since Mary managed to be in labor for all of them. She is really glad it's all over!

Hi Everybody,

The Contra Costa Times ran an article about a couple of authors in the Amazon contest:

http://www.contracostatimes.com/contracostacounty/ci_12352073?nclick_check=1

Some big news: the book made it into the semi-finals over at Amazon's contest. Top 100!

At this point, you can still read and review the excerpt (if you haven't done it yet). Editors at Penguinn Publishers review the entire manuscript (all 100) and pick the top 3 on May 15.

The link is http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001UG3CKS/

We had a wonderful time playing the part of grandparents. We had two whole days with Makila all to ourselves, visiting the Sea Life Park, the zoo, and playing in the kiddie pool or at the beach. We went along on an Easter egg hunt the army staged at Scofield Bararcks, and on Sunday, we celebrated Makila's 3rd birthday (two days early) at Chuck E Cheese!

Lots of fun for everyone. We had a few days to ourselves, as well, hiking in the rainforest, touring the North Shore, or just lazing at the beach.

Steve and Joelyn are being transferred to Kansas next month, so this was probably our last trip to Hawaii. It was fun while it lasted!

I made the cut into the quarterfinals! My novel, The Time Travel Journals: Shipbuilder, is up for reviews at Amazon.com. There are 500 quarterfinalists.

Please click on the link and download the excerpt. Read it and then go back to Amazon to leave a review. I need reviews to actually win the contest!

Thanks!

 The link is http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001UG3CKS

We just got back from inspecting the new baby. He passed all his tests (admittedly, we weren't a tough room). There are a ridiculous number of pictures added to the Events page. Take a look!

Marlene

Jon and Kim had their beautiful baby boy on Saturday morning. Valentine's Day! Rick, Lydia, and I are going up to Renton next week to introduce the child to part of his extended family! Gloria and Bill are going up next week, too, a few days before we are.

This is not easy to announce.

We've had to put Cissy to rest. She's been struggling for a year or so, but while we were on vacation, she suffered a vistibular disorder and went into a steep decline. We thought for a few days that she was improving, but by Thursday it was obvious she was suffering too much. Rick took her in Friday morning, August 29.

She was a sweetheart until the end, grateful for every moment of petting. I'm happy to report that she never stopped liking to eat! It was nearly impossible for her to do it the last few days, but most of the time, she was willing to try.

We'll miss her. This will be especially hard, as we are now a dogless house. We need the break, but it will take some getting used to. Cissy and Scottie were truly our furry children. Dogs need to live longer lives.

Mary and Alec drove in from San Diego and stayed with Rick and I for the weekend. The occasion was the engagement party for Gloria and Bill. On Friday, several of us did a Napa trip, except poor Rick, who had to work. He is now offically on vacation, however!

On Saturday, the party was held at Gloria's dad's house and everyone had a good time. These things are always a good chance to see relatives I don't see often. We all got to meet Bill's parents and one sister and a nephew.

Rick and I take off for Oregon on Monday to look for possible retirement locations. So today is packing and other organizational type stuff. We'll see Suzanne & Forest & Josie in Coquille, Bill's parents in Grants Pass, George and Brenda in Eugene, and Carey in Portland. Jon and Kim are driving down to meet us in Portland, too. I hope we can get a nice hike in with them.

It took us more than a year to get around to finishing the kitchen. Last May, we had the cabinets refaced, a new floor, and new lights put it. But the company that installed the lights didn't handle the finishing part (because I wanted something "different"), so we've had bare sheetrock for a year. Also no baseboards. And the walls were screaming for paint.

We finally did it! I wasn't sure about the paint color, but I love it more everyday. In the evening, we have a sort of golden glow in the kitchen. A friend of Naomi's did the work, with the wood work being his specialty. He built frames for all the windows and new molding for the door and baseboards. It was really hard to match our cabinets, but he came amazingly close. I think it looks wonderful.

I'm still waiting for the switch plates for the outlets and light switches, and for the new shades. I'm going for color - we have a mustard yellow on the walls, I've ordered brick-red shades, and green switch plates. We'll see if it all works!

I just got back from Seattle, where Jon was commissioned as an officer in the National Guard. He also just got his RN exam results and he passed! A big week, indeed!

We had a good time visiting and it was a treat to see Kim and Jon twice in one year. Wish we could do that more often.

The lad turned 12 on Sunday, and he is as tall as I am. We had a small celebration at our house. He gets a bigger party next weekend when his Aunt Lydia takes him (and a gaggle of friends) to the paintball course. That should be fun!

We had a fairly simple meal: I made lasagna and salad, with a lemon meringue pie for dessert. I gotta work on that crust. It's just not consistent!

Rick and I had quite an adventurous time over Memorial Day weekend. Pirates were involved. The occasional alien was seen. We danced with Jane Austin. And watched a spaceship make a perfect landing on Mars.

What on Earth were we doing? BayCon! Our first science fiction convention, at the Hyatt Regency in Santa Clara. We liked it so much, we'll try to go next year, too.

I really liked the Regency dancing! There's a Bay Area club that meets once a month to dance and they host a few balls a years. Unfortunately, they meet in Palo Alto. Darn!

Sadly, we didn't get many pictures. Just a few of the dancing, and none with Rick or me in them. I'll add them to the Events page.

Marlene

The bushes I planted 4 or 5 years ago have produced berries for the first time! I'm really stoked about this - I love blueberries, but they are so expensive. I planted 4 bushes and have been waiting patiently to see if they would produce.

The picture above is of the biggest plant. Two others also have a few berries growing. One has no berries, although it had a few flowers this year. Still, it looks healthy and I think it will grow some eventually. There are not a lot of berries yet, but that's okay. It'll happen.

We have candles in our yard. Not 61 of them, but enough to show the neighborhood what a special guy is my Rick!