FAMILY
Family Album
Joy & Ray
Our Offspring
Grandchildren
Monica's Page
Selina's Page
Rico's Page
Our Wedding Photos
Gail & Tom's Wedding
Paul & Robyn's Wedding
SQUARE DANCING
Square Dancing
Mike Sikorsky's page
by Joy Tennison GENEALOGY
Genealogy
Surnames
1997 Reunion
FTM genealogy site
Four Generation Photos
MEIERDINGS
Christian/Katherine
Andrew F.
Andrew/ Emma
Emma Schultz
MISC.
Christmas letters
Ray's 60th Birthday Party
Joy's Grammar School Reunion
TRAVELS Last Updated on 
This Page
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| Hi, we're Joy
and Ray Tennison, citizens of the world--formerly of Lafayette, California
and before that of Chicago, Illinois (and Deerfield). We enjoy
square dancing
, traveling, the theater, doing
genealogy research
and activities with our family. See our
TRAVELOG
for current info, and click on the links to visit the more detailed
descriptions in the travelog. If you're interested in ancient history
check out our
Christmas Letters
which date back to 1967! JANUARY - APRIL 2004 After the first of the year we got back to square dancing and managed to squeeze in ten or eleven two hour sessions weekly. We renewed old acquaintances, made new ones and continued getting our home and landscaping in shape. We played pinochle and bridge and had dinner parties with friends and relatives. At a neighborhood party forty-six new neighbors showed up. We've joined a Wine and Dine, and Ray was involved in forming a new Computer Club and is now in charge of speakers for the monthly meetings. Had our fitness profiles done, so now weight machines are added to daily walking routine. Family members and friends from California came for visits. We flew to California for the Easter Holiday, and now we're back in Arizona getting ready for our six-month sojourn, which will begin shortly. DECEMBER 2003 Unpacking and settling in severely limited our square dancing and social activities. We attended a wine and cheese party and saw the Rockettes when they are in town. We put up a few Christmas decorations and celebrated Christmas with son, Mark, and daughter, Pam. Telephone wishes to the rest of the family had to suffice this year. We look forward to square dancing after the first of the year. NOVEMBER 2003 We arrived in Last Vegas in time for my jury duty requirement which, fortunately, was completed in one day. So, we aimed south to visit our nearly completed new home. We closed in mid-November and spent the remainder of the month unpacking. OCTOBER 2003 We boxed and repackaged various items which we had rummaged through in storage over the last few years and finally got everything shipshape for the movers to come when needed. Next we turned our attention to getting the party for Paul and Robyn’s Wedding Celebration underway. Everything came together nicely, and we celebrated with them and friends on the 18th at Gail and Tom’s home. The weather cooperated, and the evening was cloaked in candlelight, white lights, friendship, good food and good friends. We managed to visit some more with family and friends
before heading off to Nevada where I had to report for jury duty on November
3rd.
JULY 2003 The heights of a colorful balloon festival on Independence Day and the grandeur of Pike's Peak kept our spirits up along with the temperatures in Colorado. Wyoming's towns of Cheyenne, Casper and Cody didn't offer any relief from the 90 degree heat, but Yellowstone National Park gave us cooler days and nights with the bonus of the magnificence of this national park's wonders. What a time we had. JUNE 2003 June could have had better beginnings, a delayed registration sticker, a blown air spring, two blowouts in one day, and new brakes freezing up on our tow car and a few other episodes kept us from enjoying the first half of the month. But eventually we made our way into Colorado and enjoyed the mountains and parks--Colorado National Monument, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Royal Gorge--in this spectacular state. APRIL - MAY 2003 When square dancing was winding down in Mesa, we decided we'd better make some decisions. We had been looking at homes in the area and finally decided to build in a winter home in Gilbert at Shea Homes' Trilogy at Power Ranch . May found us in California arriving in time to see our granddaughter off to her first prom and to attend daughter, Gail's wedding to Tom . Following the wedding we stayed with our two and six year old grand kids while their parents took a much needed vacation, then we stayed with Gail and Tom's daughters while they were still on their honeymoon in Figi. Now we're ready to roll. JANUARY - MARCH 2003 We left the Bay Area in early January and visited family in Tucson before arriving in Mesa, Arizona for some serious square dancing. We will remain in Mesa through March to finish some lessons at the C2 level of square dancing. We're dancing, visiting with old friends and making new ones. We have also enjoyed the Renaissance Festival, saw the movie, Chicago, and our youngest grandchildren came for a weekend and brought their parents in February. We had a great visit. NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2002 Back in the San Francisco Bay Area we have been caught up in the holiday rush of family and friends. We've enjoyed playing cards, square dancing, dinner with friends and family, shopping, the opera, a ballet and an ice show. Hanukkah and Christmas parties filled enjoyable evenings. We've had our annual physicals and dental check ups, and everything still seems to be in working order. Thanksgiving was at Mark's in Sacramento and Christmas at Bev and Rick's in Danville. Life is good, and we look forward to the New Year. OCTOBER 2002 We finally left Michigan by October 7th, only to be halted in Peru, IL by a motor problem which kept us there for a week. We stopped in the tiny town of Falls City, Nebraska and retrieved lots of information on my maternal great grandmother's family. But, alas, by this time the weather had changed and we hit some horrendous weather enroute to California to join family and friends. AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2002 Following his two week hospital stay, Paul recuperated at home while we helped as best we could with Ray handling the outside work and me the interior. Lots of his friends came to visit from near and far--one from as remote as Tokyo. By the last week in September Paul had moved from wheelchair to walker to cane and assured us he could manage without us. We packed up and were ready to depart when Ray had to fly to Tucson where his mother was having surgery. So I waited in Michigan for Ray's return so we could once again be on the road. JULY 2002 After returning to Michigan from our California visit, we stayed through the holiday weekend and made tracks to Canada. We spent time doing genealogy research in Bruce and Wellington counties, then went to Ontario where we enjoyed Shakespeare in Stratford and Disney in Ontario. We visited the highlights in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec before returning to Michigan to be with our son who was in a water skiing accident and required serious back surgery. We will be here for a while. JUNE 2002 A visit with longtime friends in Springfield, Illinois started off the month of June and was followed by Joy's grammar school class reunion in Chicago along with lots of visiting with old friends. (Here are the photos from the class reunion.) Our route then took us to Michigan to visit with son, Paul. Next we boarded a plane for ten days with grandchildren, children and friends in California. MAY 2002 We continued researching my family in Oklahoma and visited with another cousin near Tulsa. By the middle of May we decided to continue north into Missouri and stopped for a week in Branson the Ozark Entertainment town. We had a great time taking in the shows and enjoying the hospitality. We spent the remainder of the month doing Tennison genealogy research in assorted counties of Missouri--got lots of good stuff. APRIL 2002 San Antonio, Texas held our interest for about a week into April, and then we moved to lake country for some kickback time along the shore of Lake Livingston. We visited with a cousin of Rays in Palestine, TX before driving north into Oklahoma where we researched my paternal ancestors in lots of tiny town and county courthouses. We enjoyed visits with my cousin--near Oklahoma City. The additional benefit of visiting in Texas and Oklahoma in April is the ongoing thrill of wondering whether a tornado will pounce on you. We're living life on the edge. MARCH 2002 We visited with friends from California in Scottsdale, picked up son, Paul, when he flew in for a visit to Tucson, toured Sierra Vista and Bisbee in Arizona. We visited Nogales, Mexico. We climbed cliffs to walk through the 13th century Gila Cliff Dwellings in New Mexico, walked the Catwalk of Whitewater Canyon, visited the Space Museum and the beautiful White Sands Dunes in this state. We enjoyed immersing ourselves in the early history of the Southwest and ended the month in Texas. FEBRUARY 2002 Early in February we settled in Mesa, Arizona for a month of square dancing . We had a great time dancing and visiting with square dance buddies from all over. We saw the sights in Mesa and attended Lost Dutchman Days in Apache Junction. JANUARY 2002 We began the year with friends in the Bay Area first with a New Year's Eve party then a New Year's Day dinner. After more visiting with family and friends, we finally departed for a square dance weekend in King City where we enjoyed dancing and visiting with more folks. From there we drove to Fresno where we picked up a dolly to tow our car. Yes, we finally decided to drag a car behind us. We ended the month in Tucson visiting with Ray's mother after a brief visit with his brother in Surprise. DECEMBER 2001 December started off with a bang when Bev and Rick had their annual Christmas party on the 1st. More holiday parties, luncheons, errands, shopping and a general round of activities keeps us busy most of the time in the Bay Area. Hope everyone has a great Holiday Season. NOVEMBER 2001 The first of November we pulled into Mesa, AZ to get some square dancing done. We even danced Mainstream one evening to fill out a square. Got to visit with some California friends and were in town when Arizona won the World Series. Made these folks pretty happy! We returned to California and the San Francisco area to be here for Thanksgiving with the family. OCTOBER 2001 
I hit the jackpot on several family research items
while in Salt Lake City --some previously unknown maiden names of great grandmothers.
In genealogy research that is the key to delving deeper in your family tree.
Next we had to be in Las Vegas to have the emissions
test on our motorhome completed for licensing, then we visited Ray's family
in Arizona to celebrate some birthdays. We missed grandchildren Rico and
Selina in their Halloween costumes, so here they are for all to see.
SEPTEMBER 2001 As soon as we had a quick visit with kids and grandkids, we headed our home Northward to Oregon to visit in Coos Bay. We were there when the terrorist attack occurred and were so grateful to be with good friends at this horrible time. Later we drove farther north to Portland where we met with genealogy acquaintances/family researching Ray's maternal great-grandfather's line. They were gracious hosts, and we enjoyed our visit. We left Oregon and returned to Salt Lake City for a week of genealogy research. AUGUST 2001 Back to the San Francisco area again to celebrate our 43rd Anniversary and to collect clothes and suitcases for our trip to New York and on to Russia. Spent four days in the Big Apple and enjoyed some Broadway shows--Annie Get Your Gun, Chicago and Kiss me Kate. Great shows! Then the long flight to St. Petersburg to board our riverboat to cruise the Waterways of the Tzars. What a great trip! I'm currently working on the Travelog of our adventures. JULY 2001 We returned to the San Francisco area briefly after our Anaheim trip and decided we would make the trip we had thought about to Moscow, Idaho to attend a week long conference on RVing, so we hit the road for some hard driving (for us). The Life on Wheels Conference offers classes on RVing–the lifestyle, safety, and basic RV information. Ray attended classes on tire safety, weight safety, fire safety, batteries, propane, generators, solar, towed vehicles and electrical systems. I chose things like adjusting to the RV lifestyle, digital photography, budgeting for fulltime RVers, RV gadgets and accessories. The instructors were long time RVers, most of them authors and/or columnists on the lifestyle. It was an informative week. From Moscow we headed to Coeur d'Alene and then west into Spokane, Washington before deciding once again to square dance in McCloud, California. So that is where we ended the month, dancing A2 with Mike Sikorsky calling and enjoying one of our favorite pastimes. JUNE 2001 Yosemite National Park was our first stop in California. After four days of enjoying its sweeping vistas, we headed into the San Joaquin Valley for a visit with relatives before returning to the Bay Area to see grandchildren and children. Monica's grammar school graduation and Rico's christening were June 14th and 17th respectively. Paul was in from Michigan and Mark from Los Angeles for the festivities. The end of the month we drove a car to Los Angeles and had dinner with Mark then went to the Anaheim Hilton for the National Square Dance Convention. Great fun, but really tiring. MAY 2001 We spent a few days at Lake Powell, that gorgeous area formed by the Glen Canyon Dam, and then continued north into Utah. We visited St. George briefly then continued up the Grand Staircase to Zion National Park with its soaring canyon walls and on to the beautiful red hoodoos of Bryce Canyon National Park. We continued wending our way through Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Capitol Reef National Park, Arches National Park and Dinosaur National Monument before settling in Salt Lake City to do genealogy research for a while. We moseyed across Nevada with stops in Elko, Winnemucca and Reno before entering California. APRIL 2001 The Grand Canyon was just sitting there at the Northern border of Arizona, and we thought it was time to get ourselves there. Drove leisurely northward with a stop at Montezuma’s Castle, then Flagstaff, where we got eight inches of snow, and on to Grand Canyon National Park. It was cold (in the thirties) but spectacular. After a few days we headed to Lake Havasu and then Las Vegas in time for Easter brunch at the Luxor. We hung around Vegas for a while then headed back to Arizona to join Ray's brother and his RV club for a trip to Rocky Point (Puerto Penasco), Mexico, after which we headed north again for cooler weather in the Sedona area of Arizona. MARCH 2001 We left the Bay Area the first of the month, stopped to visit relatives in Manteca, then square danced on two successive weekends, first at Los Banos, then at Bakersfield. After a stop in Palm Springs, we visited Ray's family in Tucson and Phoenix. FEBRUARY 2001 February's big event took place on the 2nd when Enrico Joseph (Rico) was born to daughter Bev and hubby Rick in Walnut Creek, CA. He weighed in at 9 pounds 1 ounce and was 20 inches long. Here's his web page for lots of photos - Enrico Joseph - born February 2, 2001. We spent much of the remainder of February visiting our new grandson whenever possible and helping the new mom get some rest occasionally. JANUARY 2001 We got out of the holiday mode in time to gather our wardrobe and leave for a two-week Panama Canal cruise from San Diego, CA to Miami, FL. We had a great time traveling with eight friends from the Bay Area. Met an old school friend on the docks in San Diego for a quick lunch before departing, then visited Cabo San Lucas and got to see lots of whales on a tour, then to a coffee plantation in Costa Rica before the fascinating canal crossing of this 1914 engineering marvel. Stopped briefly in Cartagena, Columbia and Aruba before landing in Miami and heading home. Enjoyable time. DECEMBER 2000 Holiday parties with family and friends. Ray flew to Arizona early in December to visit with his Mom, I got the Christmas Letter done and some Christmas shopping. Paul and Mark will join the rest of the family in the Bay Area for our Family Christmas gathering. That should keep us busy until 2001. Happy Holidays to you and yours. NOVEMBER 2000 Enjoyed visits in Arizona, stopped to see Mark in Los Angeles and spent a few days in Palm Springs before returning to the Bay Area in time for Ray's surgery. All went well, and we had Thanksgiving at Bev and Rick's with all family, except Paul, present. He will be here for Christmas. OCTOBER 2000 We're back after our interesting travels in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. We had a couple of nice visits with Paul in Aachen. We returned to the Bay Area for a few days, then headed to Arizona to visit Ray's family. SEPTEMBER 2000 We returned to family and belongings in Contra Costa County. We saw Gail and Monica before they flew to Brussels, attended to some business, played pinochle with friends, and got suitcases for our trip. Ray flew to Arizona to visit his mother, and I drove to Manteca to visit relatives there. I babysat for Selina, went to the theater to see A Chorus Line and got my hair cut (really needed that). Mark visited here from Los Angeles, and then we departed for Europe on the 12th. We have tickets to the Passion Play in Oberammergau, hope to get to the World’s Fair in Hanover, visit with son, Paul, in Aachen, stop in Berlin and visit Belgium and the Netherlands. We'll return October 23, 2000. AUGUST 2000 We crossed the border back into the U.S. where we relaxed for a couple of weeks and celebrated our 42nd Wedding Anniversary. We picked up granddaughter, Monica, in Vancouver and visited there, then Seattle, Mount Rainier, Mount St. Helens and finally the Columbia River Gorge before sending her back home. Next we visited Ray's uncle in Salem, and headed to Crater Lake, that spectacular volcanic hole with unbelievably blue water. Spent my birthday in Ashland, Oregon seeing Twelfth Night and having an exquisite French dinner. We left Oregon and found ourselves near Square Dance Country in McCloud, so we decided to indulge ourselves and spent a week square dancing to Bob Baier with loads of old friends. Had a great time. JULY 2000 After having our RV torn apart at the border crossing into Winnipeg, we spent some time sightseeing there before going north to Saskatoon. Edmonton's mega-mall and Calgary's Stampede were stops before Banff, Lake Louise, Moraine Lake, and the Columbia Icefields where we walked on the Athabasca Glacier. Spent the end of the month in the area known as the Okanagan, just relaxing. JUNE 2000 We visited friends in Springfield, Illinois , did some genealogy research in Galesburg, then went to Chicago to visit family and friends. Left there to square dance in Milwaukee, then drove around other parts of Wisconsin doing more research and enjoying the scenery. Drove through Minnesota and stopped in Sioux Falls, and Aberdeen, South Dakota. We headed north to Fargo and Grand Forks, North Dakota before crossing in to Canada. MAY 2000 Savannah, Charleston, Fort Sumter, Boone Hall, Columbia, Asheville, Great Smoky Mountains, Oak Ridge, Nashville, Hermitage and Mammoth Cave. And after that we headed to Ohio and Indiana for visiting and genealogy. We've been on the move. APRIL 2000 We spent the entire month of April traveling through Florida, first down the west coast stopping in Sarasota , Fort Myers , the Everglades, and Naples before heading to Key West for Ray to meet some friends there. Back to the Miami area for a computer fix, then on to Disney's Epcot and MGM in Kissimmee. Our final visit was an extended on to the historic city of St. Augustine. MARCH 2000 Began the month in Arizona but quickly moved to New Mexico, then Texas, Louisiana and finally Florida. We have been in caverns , on shipping lanes , in swamps, capitols , bawdy houses , and plantations . Got blown away by a Texas windstorm and unexpectedly rode on a small ferry . Visited Big D and the Big Easy . I have some great photos taken with our digital camcorder and just need the time online to get everything done in web pages. My online time has pretty much been limited to five or ten minutes once in a while to pick up emails at various RV parks. FEBRUARY 2000 Visited, played pinochle, bowled and played Mexican Train Dominoes in Surprise, went to an Indian Hoop Dancing tournament, a Chocolate Festival and a Senior Fitness Fiesta. We square danced in Mesa to Mike Sikorsky and Randy Dougherty and enjoyed the "famous" Organ Stop Pizza which features a 1927 Wurlitzer Theater Organ. Drove through Apache Junction towards Tortilla Flat (sounds like a bad Western novel, doesn't it?) then to Kartchner Caverns . JANUARY 2000 The new millennium New Year's Day Cioppino dinner in Walnut Creek, California. Thirty plus of us enjoyed the camaraderie and great food. Some bridge and pinochle before Winter Festival. To Morro Bay , next Ventura, Valencia, Van Nuys and Palm Springs . For Ray's birthday we attended the Palm Springs Follies, a great Ziegfield-like vaudeville show. Next "the world's largest swap meet," in Quartzsite , AZ and finally Superbowl Sunday in AZ. DECEMBER 1999 The CHRISTMAS LETTER IS UP! Spent the first part of the month with Monica since her mom was in training in Deerfield. Family visits, A brief celebration before Bev, Rick and Selina departed for Florida, Christmas with family at Gail's, and Paul returned to the Midwest. Then Mark was in town after Christmas. We enjoyed New Year's Eve with good friends and deemed it a fitting way to end the millennium. NOVEMBER 1999 Some time was spent with business/personal activities then we headed to Mendocino for some Giant Redwoods and rugged oceanfront. Returned for Paul's pre Thanksgiving visit, then Thanksgiving, and a nice square dance weekend the end of the month. OCTOBER 1999 Our old motorhome balked slightly at being put out to pasture on a Southern California airfield, so it gave us a few problems before we drove it (fully loaded) to pick up our new rig (YES, we are calling it Camelot--not Camelot II, but just Camelot) in Las Vegas. We finally made it to the RV dealer on Monday, the 4th and Mark flew in on the 10th to drive (old) Camelot back to Los Angeles. We drove to Arizona to visit Ray's family where Bev and Selina flew in to be our first houseguests. We visited then headed back to California where we watched the sunset on the beach in LA (actually Playa del Rey), square danced in Solvang, then relaxed with long walks along the waterfront in Pismo Beach before heading north to shed excess baggage from our new home and pick up things we cannot live without. SEPTEMBER 1999 A visit to Reno gave us the time to obtain our Nevada driver's licenses. We returned to square dance in the Gold Country over Labor Day. Ray is consulting and we're awaiting word to pick up our new Rexhall American Clipper motor home in Las Vegas, hopefully by the end of the month. AUGUST 1999 We have jokingly characterized this month as "homeless and sleeping around." Actually that does sum up a lot. Ray "officially" retired on August 5th and was back consulting the following week. We square danced in the Bay Area and in Las Vegas. Slept in various hotels and at daughter's homes. Celebrated our 41st Anniversary with dinner and theater (Jekyll and Hyde) in San Francisco, daughters birthdays with get togethers and my birthday with an elegant dinner overlooking San Francisco bay (actually Alcatraz). JULY 1999 Packing, storing, moving - the same thing day in and day out. We will be "homeless" as of the 20th. Guess I'll have to start a "logbook" page to keep interested folks aware of our whereabouts. Keep in touch via Email (Joy) or (Ray) JUNE 1999 The house officially hit the market June 1st with a realtor's tour, open house the 6th , and bids the 7th. The house is now listed as "pending." We close in mid July. Not sure what we will be doing in the immediate future, but eventually we'll order that new "Rexhall" motorhome and be on the road in the USA. But before that maybe back to Europe--or elsewhere. We're just not sure yet. Email and this web page will be our communication. I hopefully will have time to update grandchildren's pages and put up our China trip once everything is finalized. So, stay tuned. MAY 1999 May is a blur of contractors, painters, landscapers, rug installers, floor installers and any number of other strangers trekking and tracking through our house, which incidentally no longer looks like our house, as there isn't a single item of ours to personalize it in any way. Granddaughter, Selina celebrated her second birthday and is not quite certain what is happening to Grandma and Grandpa's house! We managed to see a production of Kismet and to go dancing one week end in May. No China pages done yet. APRIL 1999 We celebrated Monica's 12th birthday. Paul and Mark came home for Easter and shortly thereafter we headed for China. Shanghai, Suzhou, Qufu, Tai'an, Jinan, and finally, Beijing. We traveled with twelve friends, and the tour company added only four others, so we had an elite group of eighteen. A good time was had by all, and I'll have travel pages up as soon as life settles into something like normalcy. MARCH 1999 The exterior of the house is now a "sell" color, and the interior is full of boxes either being packed, stacked for transporting, or just open for wondering! Enjoyed a great square dance at Bolado Park (Hollister, CA) and now are back at work on the home front! Ye old computer has been in ICU for almost a month, so this is just getting up-to-date. FEBRUARY 1999 The month began normally enough with a nice round of bridge, then a Gourmet dinner at our home, but we quickly moved into the "getting ready to sell our home" mode and were all of a sudden meeting with realtors, decorators and contractors. After three weeks of moving sales, charity drop-offs and a huge pickup, we still have a house full of "treasures" to sell, donate, store or ??? Had to cancel out of two square dance events which is a first for us. We enjoyed the new San Francisco production of Evita courtesy of daughter, Pam. JANUARY 1999 Guess the holidays got to me because my back "went out" the first week of the month, and I'm still babying it. We played bridge a couple of times and square danced at King City. We're trying to get mountains of work done here at home. The rains have now begun. DECEMBER 1998 Hope your Christmas was grand. We managed to get our 1998 Christmas letter "snail mailed" and published on the WWW before Christmas, decorations up, gifts wrapped and Christmas dinner served, so I'd say we did pretty good! I did find a wrapped gift in my wrapping area the day after Christmas, but only one, so that's not bad. Gotta get ready for our New Year's Eve party. NOVEMBER 1998 Bridge, pinochle, a good production of Oklahoma , square dancing in Napa, a trip to Arizona, dinner and overnight in Calistoga have kept us busy so far, then Thanksgiving ended the month with it's usual festive food fest. All but Paul were here for dinner! OCTOBER 1998 October began with a flurry of activities beginning with bridge on the 1st and pinochle on the 2nd. Ray went to Ohio while I Selina sat. We enjoyed an impromptu trip to Denver. I visited the mint and we had a great dinner at a favorite spot. A gourmet dinner and the Rodeo kept us fed and entertained at the end of the month. SEPTEMBER 1998 Spent the Labor Day weekend in the Gold Country in a century+ old hotel and square dancing. We enjoyed our anniversary gift of Christopher Plummer in Barrymore and a stay at the Westin Bonaventure in Los Angeles. We also attended the Picasso exhibit and the Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona. Hosted our gourmet dinner group, went to the local theater, and granddaughter sat while Ray traveled to Arizona and Oregon. AUGUST 1998 Ray and kids retaliated for his January Birthday Party by surprising me on mine. Fifty plus family and friends gathered at the kids' condo clubhouse on my 60th birthday! And I thought we were going out to dinner. Celebrated our 40th Anniversary at brunch on the 9th. I enjoyed the company of both granddaughter s this month. Saw Dames at Sea in San Francisco, went to a movie in San Diego when there for another surprise party for a high school friend. Hey, getting old isn't half bad! JULY 1998 Hope you started the month with a great 4th of July holiday! We've been catching up on yard work and other chores. We square danced at the USA West Square Dance in San Francisco and earlier at the Santa Cruz Fairgrounds. Ray went to Ohio, and I handled the home front alone. I'm adding Travel Pages from our trip every few days! Check some antics from our cruise. JUNE 1998 Once the Chicago BULLS won, I exhaled and updated web pages, caught up at work, yard work, house cleaning, etc. Between games we attended our granddaughter, Monica's, 5th grade graduation, had dinner with friends and got the photo album from our trip done. MAY 1998 We landed in Barcelona May 1st and spent a few days sightseeing before separating from our fellow cruisers. Traveled along France's Mediterranean coast and to Monte Carlo before heading to Italy and the wealth of Italian sights. Returned home on the 16th in time to celebrate our youngest granddaughter, Selina's , first birthday. APRIL 1998 Our granddaughter, Monica , celebrated a birthday; we played bridge, played pinochle, had dinner with our gourmet group, had Easter dinner with family and friends, and finished the taxes. Not a bad start for April. We flew to Ft. Lauderdale the 16th and then left on our TransAtlantic cruise on Royal Caribbean's Splendour of the Seas out of Miami on the 18th for a thirteen day crossing with twelve friends. We had a great time. MARCH 1998 Ray moved to his new office and traveled only to Southern California. We square danced in Hollister and Bakersfield and took an RV trip to the Redwood country. FEBRUARY 1998 Bailed out a couple of times from El Nino. Ray flew to southern California, and I played catch-up at home and at work, spent Valentine's Day in Stockton, and later square danced in Monterey. JANUARY 1998 We began 1998 with friends at our annual New Year's Eve Party and square danced in King City. A surprise birthday party for Ray's big 60 was a huge success! Seventy friends and family came from all over to join the party. See his Birthday Page for photos! DECEMBER 1997 Parties, decorating, shopping, , projects, guests, wrapping presents, entertaining, writing Christmas letters---always a busy month. Here's our 1997 Christmas letter . NOVEMBER 1997 We square danced in Napa, took our granddaughter, Selina , (and her Mom, Bev ) to Phoenix, had an annual dinner in Calistoga with a group of friends and had a quiet Thanksgiving. OCTOBER & NOVEMBER 1997 - Daughter, Gail , and I visited Italy, France and Belgium--a fantastic trip. Pictures are on our Travel pages . |
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