December 23, 2007, 2 more days and it's Christmas then all that shopping, and money spent will be over in as long as it takes you to open up presents, which is only a matter of minutes. Now with gift cards the magic lasts longer, or at least until you get to the store to cash them in.
This Christmas Eve Danny and Kim are having us and Danny's family over for dinner. Danny and his family haven't finished fixing up his parents kitchen yet so Kim and Danny had to host the party, plus, it's good for them to do anyway. Christmas morning we will drive down to David's and have breakfast then drive to Mike's and have Christmas dinner with them, then back to Bakersfield because of the dogs.
It is so cold here in Bakersfield, 32 degrees in the morning, Valley doesn't even what to go out for our morning walk, she would rather stay inside and curl up on the couch and stay warm, I have to drag her out. We don't have clothes for this cold of weather, we even went out and got mittens and caps to wear when we are out walking. I have to say tho, that when I see the sun out I do put on shorts, Dave gets mad, but oh well, he is the one with a cold not me.
Anyway, not much else going on. Will write again next week.
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to all.

Sunday December 17, 2006 We are here in Bakersfield. We left Lake Havasu on Friday and it was suppose to be 77 degrees that day. Now we are in Bakersfield and while driving back from Simi Valley last night over the grapevine it was snowing. We don't do snow, once off the grapevine it was just cold and rainy, Oh, was Havasu and the sunshine when you need it. Ha Ha
Yesterday, Dave, Kim and I drove down to Simi to visit the place where it was pretty much decided already where the wedding and reception will be for Kim and Danny. Danny didn't come down with us because he drove down Friday night and is staying at his parents for the weekend while he is helping his family redo his mom's kitchen. Kathy and Javier, Danny's parents, are remodeling the whole kitchen. New cabinets, counter tops and flooring. Danny is there to help tile the kitchen floor. He did such a good job in the Bakersfield house with his brother in law, Fernando, that he gets to do it again at his parents house. Anyway, at
3 pm we all met at the golf course where the big day will be. There was Kim, Danny, Dave, David Jr, Jodi, Riley and me all talking to Barbara, the wedding coordinator there, and we believe the place will work for us. So we put an "UN REFUNDABLE" deposit down so there's no backing out now. The place is set and the date is set, Simi Valley, Lost Hills Country Club, August 18, 2007, mark your calendars. Tomorrow Kim and I will go and pick out and pick up the wedding dress. Kim has basically already picked it out she just wants me to see it and pay for it. It looks like Dave is never going to get to retire again. Kim even had the nerve to say to me that I might have to get a job again, NOT if I can help it. Come next August, maybe even July, Kim and Danny have to start making all of the payments that are related too the Bakersfield house since Kim will be out of school and we no longer have to support her. We'll show her, who has to get another job, we will just refinance the Bakersfield house to pay for everything, that way the two of them will have to make the higher house payment, ha ha.

Just a quick note, we are still here in Lake Havasu City, will be leaving here on Friday to head to Bakersfield. Will stay in Bakersfield until about January 5th then we are headed for Las Vegas for a couple weeks. Nothing new going on here, doing a little Christmas shopping, very little because we have nowhere to keep anything. Plus, we are homeless now and we all know homeless people have no money to buy anything anyway.
Will write again next week.
Bye Jeri

I’ll just do a highlight of our trip, don’t want to bore you guys to death with the details.
While in Simi on the 11th and 12th we got to visit with, Brad and Diane, Alex, Jacqui and boys, Vickey and Chris, John, Amy and kids, and last but not least David, Jodi and Riley.
November 11th, night time Kim gets engaged, had to throw that in again.
November 12th, red eye flight to Orlando Florida and stayed there until Friday the 17th. While in Orlando Dave had meetings all week so I did Epcot and Sea World and a lot of driving around and shopping.
November 17th we flew to San Juan and got on the cruise ship and set sail that night.
November 18th we were at sea

November 19th arrived in Aruba Dave went scuba diving and had a great time and I took a “see and sea” tour. The place is beautiful would love to go back there again; water warm and beaches are great.

November 20th we were at sea

November 21st we arrived at the Panama Canal at 5 a.m. and it was raining. Dave had to stand outside in the rain to get pictures he also got pictures from our balcony too. Watching those locks on the canal is a sight to see, it was more interesting to watch the cargo barge beside us to see who those canal locks really work.

It took all day to go thru the canal, once we went thru the other side we stopped off at Puerto Amador in Panama. We had to take the ships boats into the port because the docks weren’t big enough for us. We went to the dock, it was raining, walked around with Lois and Paul, at the shops they had there, bought some booze to take to our room then went back to the ship.
Lois and Paul are the couple we had dinner with every night, very nice, they live in Chandler, Arizona. What’s funny is there were quite a few people we met that were from Sylmar, Ventura, Moorpark, and Arizona.
November 22nd we were at sea

November 23rd arrived at Puntarenas in San Jose, we didn’t have any tours planned so Dave and I got off the ship and started walking around. The dock was covered with street vendors, not a very clean place. We walked around a little then went back to the ship and checked with the tour cruise guy to see if they had any openings on any tours. We got on a rain forest and aerial bridge tour. Once we got on the top of the mountain the views were beautiful, we found the perfect spot for Kim to get married at, the background view was of the ocean, hopefully the pictures came out. After lunch we went for a walk thru the rain forest, very interesting. They have these large ants that carry leaves to their holes where they bury them so the mold grows on them and then that’s what the ants eat. You look down as your walking and all you see is long lines of leaves moving across the road. On the trees were big hives, which looked live bee hives, but were termite hives. Termites only eat dead wood that’s why they don’t bother the trees there.
The bridges where hanging bridges very high up, was OK as long as the people behind me didn’t keep swinging the bridges.
November 24th at sea again, way to many at sea days for me, that’s for sure.
November 25th arrived at Puerto Quetzal in Guatemala at 6 a.m. Dave and I took the 1 ½ hour bus ride into town. When the bus was pulling over in town I almost shit my pants, I said to Dave they aren’t dropping us off here are they? Being on a cruise I expected nice towns you go in, not run down places. We had 5 hours to kill before the bus came back to pick us up so we started walking. All the way into this city all you saw were people living in shacks or on the ground with trees as their covers. As we were walking around almost every where you looked there were cops with bullet proof vests and machine guns. We went to an internet café and checked our emails and sent emails out, we then went and found a place we could make a phone call and called Kim and Danny. They had a farmers market going on so we walked around there then went to the artist corner. It was a fenced in area that had hand made goods live blankets, rugs, clothes ect with everyone there trying to sell you anything you looked at. OK place to see, not a lot of English speaking people, no flushing toilet paper it had to go in the trash cans because the plumbing is so bad. (Sorry had to add that in) Nice place to visit but wouldn’t want to go back for a long or at least if I did I would take a tour, we don’t do very well on our own.
November 26th arrived at Huatulco in Mexico. We went walking around with Lois and Paul and looked at some shops on the dock. It was such a beautiful day we decided we all just wanted to sit on the beach and drink beer, eat ships and watch the ships crew play on the beach. A lot of the staff got to get off here and have what they call a day off, which all that means is after working the breakfast shift they can have the rest of the day off until 5 pm, and that’s what they call a day off. Those people work 7 days a week 8 to 12 hours a day for 6 or 10 months it depends on the contract they sign. No wonder no one that works there is from the U.S. our labor laws wouldn’t allow it.
I think it would be a great place though for Spanky to be on the show side of it, he would do great with the singers and dancers.
Oh, forgot to mention, on one of the tours which was a boat ride to see the different beaches then go for a swim, a women died. She was only about 57 and the tour was almost done when everyone went into the ocean for a swim. We heard she was swimming around then started not feeling good, they got her on the tour boat and started CPR. There was a nurse passenger from our ship that was on the tour and she tried to help, when they got back into port the ambulance didn’t have a defibulator, the tour boat didn’t have one either and by the time our cruise ship doctor got there it was way too late. That was a bummer.
Huatulco anyway is a place to go and see again.
November 27 arrived in Acapulco and got off the ship. While waiting to get off the ship we started talking to another couple, Linda and Alfredo, who we had had breakfast with earlier in the week and they were, like us, staying another day in Acapulco and staying at the same hotel. We joined up to share a taxi ride together to the hotel and while waiting for the taxi another couple asked if they could join us too. That was Jackie and Carlton who now live in Florence Oregon but a year ago they use to live in Ventura. Linda and Alfredo live in Sylmar and lucky for us they speak Spanish which really came in handy. We ended up with a taxi driver with a Suburban which we all could fit in and then he offered to give us a tour of the city once we all got checked into our hotel. The driver was Carlos, and he spoke pretty good English, he really showed us around. We took a tour of the city then went to a great lunch place then he took us to see the cliff divers. We had a great day and the money was well worth it. He only charged us $60.00 a couple and we were with him for about 6 hours, what a deal.
It was much more pleasant to see those cliff divers in their little bathing suits then the ones we saw on the ship. Why is it these old fat men squeeze themselves into these little suits, their bellies stick out farther then their little bulge in front and they are always so hairy. Yck
When we got back to the hotel we, Linda, Al, Dave and I, went to the pool to cool off. Carlton and Jackie weren’t able earlier to get their hotel room so they took off to get all set up, they were staying another 3 days. Later on we just walked all around, had star bucks, went to a place for chips and dip and just talked. Linda found out before the cruise that she is pg with twins, which was great news for them, even better for Linda because she could eat as much as she wanted.
That’s the short recap, we got back to L.A. and Bakersfield on the 28th. We left Kim’s on the 30th and now are back in Lake Havasu City, where it’s freezing. I’m not a happy camper.
Bye for now.

We’re Back, and had a wonderful time.
Before I get started on the highlights of our trip let me get out the GOOD NEWS FIRST! Our daughter, Kim, got engaged on November 11, 2006 with a wonderful man, Danny Gonzalez. The wedding date, last I heard, is August 11, 2007 so mark your calendars for that date. Dave and I are really happy, they have been together for almost 3 ½ years and Danny is really a saint to put up with her. He’s the only room mate she has been able to keep, all the others have left on a bad note.(ha ha) She will also be graduating in May of 2007 so we will all be having a busy year, but very expensive for Dave and I. Once that ring is on her finger though, all the expenses after that fall on Danny’s shoulders. Maybe I shouldn’t be posting this, if Danny reads this he just might back out, TOO LATE DANNY YOUR STUCK NOW, HA HA!!!
Love ya, and welcome to the family.