FATHERS DAY 2011 !

Father's Day this year was nothing short of AWESOME !!!  Mandy helped me choose places and things to do and, since Daddy is the only driver at our house, we just told him to get up and, our 1st stop was out for "Brunch"  !!

After Brunch it was off to "Play" our 1st stop was to what Mandy calls  "The Bridge"   aka The Sun Dial Bridge to take a little walk around and of course walk the Bridge and look at the Beautiful Sacramento river.


it had been a long  time since we'd been out there !! but it was GORGEOUS as usual !!!

 The Bridge is constructed of  planks that are "See Through"  and, at night when the lights are on, the planks light up as well as  the actual "Sun dial"  , its a GORGEOUS site !!!   it was quite warm, but still cool enough to enjoy the beautiful surroundings  !  ENJOY the next few pics  ......

 Getting ready for our walk on the bridge and surrounding areas !! soon, the flowers and bushes will be all dead , I am glad we went out when we did !!

 Happy Father's Day Daddy !!!!!!

ALL the flowers were so pretty!!!   sad that soon they will all be dead when the heat gets really bad !! glad we saw them before the heat killed them all !!

 There were a Bunch of ducks at the water's edge, and even some sweet babies too  :)

 After  our time at the Sun Dial Bridge we decided to take  another short drive up and check out the Lake  and Shasta Dam.   


 Shortly after we arrived up  by the Lake and were close by the Dam ,  Damian saw a Doe off in the distance. Not to "Spook" it, I started walking up so I could try and get a picture , I must have shot a BUNCH  and, NOT  pleased with the pics I had, I decided to go  and see how much  closer  I could get to her, and get a better picture ! I was so excited, as I  moved closer but, I must tell you as I got closer I started to get a little "Scared" not knowing what she would do if she realized I was walking towards her !!   I have NEVER used my zoom lens before , to shoot something as beautiful and ALIVE  , I am happy to say, I  actually did it AND, the picture even came out ! lol

 "Cropping" it, even made it better !!

After my exciting time with the deer, I decided to take some pictures of the Lake !!  Its not been as full as it is, right now in quite some time , its GORGEOUS !!!!! The Dam was only letting a VERY little bit out , and the Snowy mountain in the background  of some of the pictures is Mt. Shasta !!

Shasta Dam

Mt. Shasta still covered  with SNOW !!!!

beautiful Shasta Lake !!

Happy Father's Day, Daddy !!

 GOD BLESS THE USA !!!!!

Disney Cruise 2011

We got up on Sunday morning, June 6th, To begin our latest adventure !
After an early breakfast  , we gassed up , and, began our drive over to Reno, NV.   we decided to go early enough so that  we could go  to the Disney store and get Mandy her "Credit Card" aka a Gift Card, so that she would have her own $$'s to spend on the cruise..

Next stop was over to the Best Western by the Airport. We settled in for the evening, which was going to be a short one !   at 3AM  we got up  and ready for the 1st part of our journey. we flew  to Orlando, FLA. transferring in Salt Lake City.

 The plane we flew on for the 1st leg of our journey

 

 Mandy girl is READY to go !!!!!!

  spent the evening there at the Hyatt Regency ,  and got up Tuesday morning to catch our ship, The Disney Dream, our home for the next 5 days, stopping  in Castaway Cay ( Disney's own Island ) , then on to  Nassau, Bahamas and back to another fun day at Castaway Cay  before returning home to Florida.  5 days of more Family Fun than I remember having in a long time !! our 1st stop in Castaway Cay, we rented tubes on the beach, it was so awesome .

Here we GO !! and of course Donald Duck had to travel with us !!

next stop ORLANDO !!!!!!

On Our way to the Cruise ship, Mandy and Dad can hardly wait !!

This was the entrance   to The ship !!!

1st day at Castaway Cay. the water was chilly but it felt SO Good !!!

 The Dream is a BEAUTIFUL ship, a small city on the water, is the best way to describe it !! EVERYONE was so nice and went out of their way  to make sure that we  ALL had a Fantastic time, and they out did  themselves  to make sure that LOTS of good memories were made !!



Mandy had a ball, everyone made sure of that.   here are only a few of the many pics of her !!

And on the formal night , who could forget  Mickey, Minnie and even goofy  :)

                                                          

The 1st night, we met our dinner mates, a family from Texas.

Our server's for each evening were the the same, and followed us to 3 different restaurants ! Gilbert, is  from ,  The Philippines  and, his teammate was Adi ( Pronounced "AD DEE " ) , he hails from Indonesia

Our Stateroom host, was Carlos ( From Costa Rica) was in charge of keeping our  state room clean and our needs met.  And  The Cruise Director was. Rachel  Quinn from  England   what a wonderful job she did, keeping a ship of thousands of cruisers busy and happy  :)

Last but certainly not least is our ship's Captain    Tom Forberg he hailed from  Norway

We can hardly wait to plan another Cruise with Disney Cruise Line .

BEAUTIFUL SHIP, GREAT  MEMORIES  and such a FANTASTIC  time was had by  all.

A Trip of a Lifetime for sure !!!!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MANDY !!!!!

Since this is Mandy's 21st birthday weekend , we decided that we needed to do some thing "SPECIAL" !!!

So, on Sunday morning , May 29th we decided to hop in the car and head down to the Vallejo area  !

Our 1st stop was to have an early brunch  at McDonald's ! YUM YUM

Then it was off to the "JELLY BELLY FACTORY. For a short tour , and to sample  some YUMMY "Jelly Belly's !!  Mandy's favorite were  "ALL OF THEM" :)

                                 Above is the COOLEST car !! I was bummed I was to BIG to get in it lol!!

There was NO production going on when we were down, but, they did have  the regular tours going on and lots of videos of just what they do in creating and making each jelly Belly , we also got LOTS of samples, I think my fav. was "Birthday Cake" it was really YUMMY!!  in production they do have "accidents" and the jelly bellies that don't turn out so good, are called BELLY FLOPS!! LOL 

 after our tour we decided to go to the "JELLY BELLY CAFE " and have a little lunch , Mandy chose a cheese burger, that was shaped like a JELLY BELLY BEAN  :) and the french fries were shaped like Happy Faces.  So Cute  along with a coke in a VERY special Cup  !  

Monday the 30th is  Mandy's actual birthday and  since  we stayed at a hotel right next to Six Flaggs Animal Kingdom  we , decided to  get up and  go explore the park since we have never been there before !  Nice park, LOTS of rides, and  Many Animals too !! 1st tho it was off to have the "Breakfast Of Champions" at IHOP ,  Yummy Pancakes and the birthday girl chose, French Toast and  Bacon !!

                                                   Mandy and Dad wait for breakfast 

Happy 21st Birthday Mandy Girl  

After breakfast it was time to go play !  we wishes we had longer , this place was so fun !! We are DEFINITELY going back !    

                      The Character's in this park were  ALL  Looney Tunes , 

                      Here is  Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny with the birthday girl 

After we walked around for a while , we decided to go check out the mammal  exhibits and even took in a show  that featured  many sea lions  !  so fun !! on the way out we saw a sea lion and photographer , , I couldn't resist !!  I told the photographer that this was Mandy's birthday and , when she took the picture she made the sea lion "SMILE" it was so funny  and when she got up to leave , he applauded her !! 

Below is a link to check out all the pics taken by pro photographers !! 

https://sixflags.venuephotos.com/SFP/0/0/.TOP.System.Guest.SlideShow.aspx?sub=5118&iId=84100785&loc=SFDK

it should work if you copy and paste into  your browser , let me know if it doesn't, I'll send you the link  :)

A Fun Weekend had by the whole family !!!