The Battle

While waiting with Tommy in the recovery room, another patient and his wife commented on how my "daughter" and I could almost be twins. I said, thank you, but she's my daughter-in-law. The big guy is my son. I've heard this a lot. The first time Tommy introduced Jena to his friends, they all said that Tommy was dating his Mom!

Lyla and Bailey spend a large part of each day aggravating each other. What one has the other one wants. Don't assume that Bailey wins all the time. Just because Lyla is little, she can be pretty tough too!

Welcome Home Party

When we arrived home on Sunday, standing in the street were Tommy's friends, neighbors and family. They were cheering, tooting horns, and holding signs. All over our yard there were balloons and signs (even Justin Bieber showed up!) It was pretty awesome.

There was food, drink and lots of love being poured out for Tommy & Jena. It was the perfect ending for their trip home.

War and Peace

Our hotel in Estes Park was right next to this peaceful stream. It was really nice just to sit next to it and and relax. They had chairs, swings, and fire pits. It was really nice.

On our way out of town we passed by these 3 male elks (bulls). It seemed odd that they were just standing there doing nothing.

But then they gave us a little entertainment called "antler wrestling".

Go East! (And then a little north)

Paul, Tommy & Steve rock climbing in Arches Nat'l Park.

I think Steve is telling Paul how to catch this rock when it falls from it's perch.

Nothing better than looking at tractors.

The view in Grand Lake, Colorado.

Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park

Hoodoo

After a short detour to a ER in St. George, Utah, we headed for Bryce Canyon. We all enjoyed lunch at the lodge, then headed out to see the Hoodoo's. Paul referred to them as hobos. The pictures are from the drive to Bryce and some Hoodoo's.

I can't tell you what these 2 are laughing at. You'll have to ask them!

Vegas

Our trip home from LA started with a stop in Vegas. We took in all the highlights - 829 lb. pumpkins.

Water shows

Watching Paul gamble

Never ending rivers of chocolate

Scrumptious desserts

And a stop at Hoover Dam.

Final Days

Here are some pictures from our final days in LA with Tommy & Jena. We leave behind Chris, Sunny & baby-to-be, but we will still see them often. Chris is reading up on gambling. Sunny is telling him, that it'll be okay. Babies don't cost that much!

Steve and I took a quick hike to Malibu Creek State Park.

I think the Akeys should get one of these for their boat.

The marina at night.

Sailboat sailing through a bunch of seagulls.

Tommy & Steve playing a game of hit the ball over the pool. They'll make a game out of anything.

Waiting at Cedar Sinai for the final appointment. Tommy saying goodbye to Dr. Forscher for taking such good care of him.

Our 2nd to last day at Jules apartment, the electric went out about 11am and didn't come back on until 3am the next morning. They laid out glo sticks in the hallway. It was pretty dark that night. I read my book before bedtime by candlelight.

I have lots of pictures from our trip home. Internet has been pretty spotty, but I'll try to get them up as soon as possible.

Marriage on the Rocks

The Wall Street Journal recently reported some interesting statistics regarding the institution of marriage.

Only 42% of young people (24-39 years old) are married, down from a high of over 80% a few decades ago.

I have a healthy respect for the younger set, but they have this one wrong. Very wrong.

According to the Journal, cohabitation rates among unmarrieds are also at an all-time high. People feel they need "to try things out". To me, this logic is either an excuse or self-deception. Because despite all of these trial arrangements in the name of common sense, divorce rates are sky-high.

Experimentation is not the answer; commitment is.

Seal (not Heidi's husband)

Tommy said I should title this post "My 19th post about seals in the Marina." What can I say? I love animals. And taking their pictures. I'm an animal stalker! The 3rd picture down is a seal that jumped on the back of a boat on the swim platform. It was quite comical.

Love

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:13

A Fortune in Pennies

As a youngster, I had a flash on how to get rich quick. All I had to do was convince everyone else to send me a penny. Doing the math for my hometown (Sikeston at the time), I figured a fortune of $250 could be had with no real sacrifice from anyone else. Everyone could afford a penny.

So I informed my mother than we needed to mail out some letters stating my case (before someone else beat me to the punch), and she asked why I'd spend 13 cents on a letter soliciting a penny. Party pooper.

Later, I expanded the concept and calculated that a penny collected from every American would net $2-3 million. But the postage problem continued to loom large.

My plan was finally enacted when the internet age hit. But not for me. It's called advertising. With no stamps or other distribution sites, content authors can post ads and make a penny per hit, and there are a lot of people surfing the net! This is why 24-year old billionaires now walk the earth. They discovered the simple secret of collecting pennies from a massive audience.

Some ideas just need time for technology to catch up.

We're back...

Recently, we helped move Tommy & Jena out of their apartment. We forgot to take pictures of it. Oh, well. For their final week in LA we have all moved into a friend's apartment. She was out-of-town. It worked out really well. She lives right by Tommy/Jena's previous apartment in the Marina. We love the marina. We felt like we were on vacation.

Steve and I took a walk around the marina and took a few pictures of the things we love about this area.