Am I the only one who doesn't love Zoos?

Zoo animals don't DO anything! They are bored...and sick of us looking at them.

Quite possibly the most exciting event of the morning was when the gorilla vomited into his hand, then began to eat whatever it was all over again. Now THAT got a reaction from all the kids clinging to the plexiglass wall of the observation area! Pictured are my vote for ugliest bird and cutest critters (The Meerkats).

SEPTEMBER IN SAN CLEMENTE

These shifting moods are what make California charming. Weather was abnormally warm for September...which made for nice beach time (except for the one where the pictured mist hung around all day).

WE DID THE BEACH THING!!

Last year my California-bred husband craved beach time so much that he went by himself and slept in the back of the Van like a regular beach bumb. This year I decided to be more supportive and join him. (I am a lake, streams and mountains girl).

We traded our normal timeshare winter dates in San Clemente for the favorable September weather. Becky and Audrey spent the week with us and Charles joined us after classes and work on Friday. Victor came away from the experience as brown as a milk chocolate Hershey's bar. Even with caution I came away with my normal flaming red weirdo sunburn. We also went to Palomar Observatory, the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana, the mountain town of Julian, the Los Angeles Zoo and Trader Joes. (You may think that last one isn't such a tourist draw but the Austins can't party without 6 kinds of cheese and 19 kinds of chocolate!)

Audrey is a fresh water girl. She has been taking swimming lessons and loves going to the pool, but.......

.....she did NOT like the beach! She refused to touch her feet to the sand and on the first day did not venture anywhere past the perimeter of the blanket! By the end of the week when her Daddy joined us and took her to the water's edge she got converted. She led him back again and again into the "wannie" with the "bubbles" (the ocean foam which lapped at her feet). What fun to see even little ones have new experiences!

MORE VISITORS - MORE CANASTA BUDDIES

For five months we have been planning this gathering! At last we got the Lewises, Brunners, and Whiteheads all up at the cabin on the same weekend (along with Whitehead's son Randy and his friend Shelby who were so good to come hang out with the old folks!). They are weekend Canasta buddies and Cruise companions as well as some of our favorite Ward friends.

We all felt like we ate non-stop, though we didn't. We had time for ATVing, games, puzzles, reading, clay pigeon shooting and lots of fun "pithy" discussions about everything from child rearing to Sunday Fasts. Hope the Stake got along fine on Sunday without us cuz we had the Bishop and a Stake Presidency counselor with us instead of in Vegas. Great people one and all. We are so lucky to have such good friends! The day before everyone got here we had several light showers. At last I got to have the experience I have waited a long time to have up here: a full arc rainbow across the eastern horizon. It was, of course, much prettier than my camera captured. Seemed to shimmer and vibrate and the colors were clear and intense. Lasted about 1/2 an hour and I just sat and marveled! Wish Margene Taylor (who had left just the day before) could have seen it!

This is the carving of the turkey breasts that Randy Whitehead smoked for us! Have never watched that process or had the tasty results before! Fun, fun and a VERY approved Sunday dinner!

Shelby Bevell, Victor with Shellee and Gary Lewis, Marrae and Karl Brunner, Kandy, Randy and Ryan Whitehead, all standing around drooling while I finish fixing breakfast!

Our summer of cabin living has come to an end. We'll be up for a short visit once or twice more before we close for the winter, but the long, relaxing days of our Utah haven are about over. You all need to call us and schedule a visit for next season!!

A new use for game-time treats

We are entertaining our friends Dennis and Margene Taylor for a few days at the cabin. We were playing Canasta outside when the usual afternoon winds picked up. We quickly found paper weights to head off the potential disappearing cards. Probably using fig newtons as paper weights is better than consuming them. (Dennis and Margene served with us in Chile. Dennis and I also served our missions together in Guatemala all those many years ago!)
You probably can't tell from this picture but the ladies are losing badly to the gentlemen!

More Idaho and some genealogy sleuthing

From Twin Falls we headed to Montpelier where we took advantage of being in Idaho to look for death information for the elusive husband of an indirect-line ancestor. Checked the cemetery and the City Hall records and ended up at the Court House in Paris (Victor was impressed that I finally could afford to take him to "Paris"). Nothing concrete to give us an actual death, but at least some land records pinpointed it a little better. Those on-site experiences are always fun to do. Puts you back in the era of the people actually homesteading and marrying and settling, etc.

Traveled past Bear Lake to get on further south toward the cabin and, being fascinated by the unique town of Garden City, we missed our turnoff to Logan and were half-way to Wyoming before we realized the mistake! At least it was a pretty drive and let us see this house TWICE. Someone has really spent some quality time in their yard!! Maybe this one home is why the town is called Garden City!

Enjoying Idaho and Family

After leaving Boise we headed to Twin Falls to visit with Victor's niece Diane Jensen and her family. So fun to see the "next generation" doing well and achieving some of their dreams. They have a lovely home, a great garden which supplied some wonderful meals and live just 5 minutes from the new Twin Falls Temple and a few miles from Shoshone Falls. We visited both and had a wonderful time with them. Neglected to get pictures of the PEOPLE, though, so will have to post those at another time.