California Relaxation

Wow, what a whirlwind this last month has been. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time with friends and family in CA and as I write this we are leaving the state, heading East for our next job with MMAP which will be in Walker, Iowa.

After we left Julian, we spent a week in Menifee, attending a 6th grade promotion for our oldest grandson,

and commuting to Redlands to complete some work on the house there. We were able to see a few more relatives there, including Paul's sister, Betty; cousins, the Kimms; and uncle and aunt, John and Willma, catching up on family news.

Our reunion week in Coronado was fabulous!! Karyn is such a great blogger, I cannot even begin to add to her account of events and fun at the beach. Her blog, Johnson's Journal, covers it best! To have almost everyone (except for our oldest niece and her family) there at one time on Saturday was a fantastic highlight!

And yes, Jean, Paul did learn to relax a bit!!

After leaving Coronado, we took a jaunt back up to Julian so Nate could show Chris where he grew up,

took them back to the airport, spent a couple of days with John and Barbara in Perris, regrouping, doing laundry, and generally "taking care of business". Then Wednesday, we surprised Bubba by showing up at his school at pick up time...

the beginning of time with West Coast grandkids!!


Highlights included Toy Story 3, Red Robin, swimming, Yogurtland, the library, and even an Angels game,
which we found out is more about socializing,

eating,


tatoos,

and playing!

The Angels lost in the 10th inning, 4-3, but we had a great time, and did not turn into pumpkins at midnight!!

Since we will not be present for birthdays, we got the kids early birthday gifts. We went shopping with them and let them choose:
skateboard,

bike,

and scooter,


All things must come to an end, and so must our time in CA.

Julian

After three weeks, we finally finished working in Borrego.





We could have stayed another couple of weeks but needed to move on to Julian, where we painted the kitchen, (walls and ceiling), painted some outside poles and trim, completed tile work left unfinished, resealed the tile inside and out, recaulked bathroom tile, re-plumbed the washer in the garage, fixed the fence, scrubbed the fireplace and stainless steel refrigerate (after cleaners scratched it while cleaning), yardwork including weedwhacking, filled a separation in the cement in garage, dump run to Ramona, and a multitude of piddly little maintenance jobs!!

And when we had the septic tank pumped, a problem was found that needed fixing, but we are leaving that in the hands of our expert, Bruce, to deal with!! Really, something Paul is NOT going to do!! YAY!
We could spend another week here as well, but we need to say ENOUGH!!

The Lord has answered prayer for us and friends, Gina and Gary. They will be renting month-to-month temporarily, and have it available to show for sale. This way we will have staging for the house, yard care, as well as income, and they have the temporary roof over their heads and storage in the garage.

In Julian we not only kept busy at the cabin, but were able to visit friends, attended another surprise birthday party for Ginny

and of course, had coffee with the guys at 3 o'clock at the Julian Pie Co.!

We enjoyed being back at Hillside Community Church, and having Sunday lunch with "the group". Paul even went to a men's event!

The weather has been great, with some cool nights, and we were encouraged that greenery is coming back after the fires of 2003!


Over the Memorial Day weekend, we had grandson, Matthew stay with us at Oakzanita campground. We went fishing at Lake Cuyamaca on Saturday, but did not catch anything.

But the folks beside us did not eat fish, so gave us theirs!! It was the best trout I have tasted!


On Monday morning, we returned and Matthew caught one, a crawFISH!

Matthew beat Paul at chess on Saturday night, so Paul had to ante up with the $20 he promised him!



And of course, we had Smores at night!!

I close with this: A good time was had by all.....