Flashback to the mid 80’s.  Melissa is in high school and I’m hooked on MTV!  Melissa’s favorite band–Bon Jovi!

Fast forward to a few months ago when Melissa tells me Bon Jovi is touring and the number one thing on her Bucket List is to see them again before they’re too old–or she’s too old!  I tell her to buy us tickets and she does–fourth row.  FOURTH ROW!!!!

Bon Jovi’s first stop–Seattle.  Melissa and I spent the weekend at my parents condo.  Here’s the view from First and Spring.

Mount Rainier over Safeco Field and the Quest Center.

The waterfront.

Tall buildings.  Hey, I’m from a really small town.

Of course we had to go to Pike’s Place Market.

Aren’t the flowers on the rooftops beautiful?

Years ago when the Market was being refurbished, they had a buy-a-tile fund raiser, and my mom and dad bought tiles for the whole family.  Here are ours!

But, come late afternoon, we’re ready to go!

The concert was at Seattle Center.  Here’s a view of the Space Needle over the top of Experience Music Project.

Great public art on the way in.

Past the International Fountain.

Quick mother/daughter photo op.

Now here’s the cool thing.  A semi-circle comes out from the stage–about four feet wide.  We’re in The Pit–the area inside the circle!  That’s VIP section, baby!

Another peek at the Space Needle before we go inside.

Of course everything is in Melissa’s name–and her name is on the list–BUT, she took her ID out at the airport and put it in her carryon.  It’s not in her purse!  Must be nice to be young and cute.  She just smiled, batted her eyelashes a few times and the guy said No Problem!

We were escorted to a special reception room and the band was there to greet us–well, paper cut outs of them!

The appetizers were waiting for us.

As was the open bar–always high on my list!  As you can see, I did my part to support the cranberry industry.

Soon dinner was served–the pasta bar was yummy!

And who could argue with a Build Your Own Cupcake station!?!

The band didn’t join us, but one guy I nicknamed Phony Bon Jovi was loving having his photo taken with all the cute girls!

I know you want pictures of the real thing, but that will have to wait until Part 2!

Really!  I got to have breakfast with Joe Biden in Seattle last week.

It was a fund raiser to kick off Senator Patty Murray’s re-election campaign.

My parents bought a table, and we were right up front.

I think Bob may have been the only one in the room with a John Deere tie on!  And speaking of Bob, he was turned away by the Secret Service at the security checkpoint!  He had a pocket knife!  Luckily, he could leave it at coat check, but I think the SS kept a close eye on him all through the event….

My sister and her friend Robin were there.

My brother-in-law, Ray.

Cole got an excused absence from school–but had to report to his classmates!

Of course we had warm-up speakers.

I had a clear shot of the stage, and while they aren’t the best quality photos, I’m happy to have them.

Here’s Dow Constantine, King County Executive.

And Congressman Jay Inslee.  He and I have hiked to the old growth cedar grove on Long Island together, but that’s another story!

And Senator Murray, of course.

Then the Vice President himself.

He talked about a half hour and was very engaging.  He pressed some flesh in the crowd afterwards.

Mom, Dad and Cole got to go through the receiving line and had a professional photo with Senator Murray and VP Biden, but we weren’t allowed in.  Bummer!  All in all, a very fun morning.  Oh! Oh!! Scott at http://www.redfishphoto.com/, the official photographer, has given me permission to use the photo.  Here it is!

Doesn’t it look like Joe’s telling my mom a great joke!?!  Actually, he was leaning in to kiss her on the forehead!

We spent a fun weekend at The Great Wolf Lodge with Bob’s boys and their families.  Do you know about these places?  It’s a chain, but there’s only one here in the west–and it’s about 20 minutes south of Olympia.

They certainly have the “wolf” and “lodge” theme figured out.

But the big draw is the indoor water park.

There are lots of areas, including a great toddler pool.

And a wave pool.

Several tube rides you could shoot out of!  I discovered I can still scream really loud–especially when your tube is doing a vertical drop!

This was the view of the tube rides from our room.  Great fun during the day, but nobody told me it would be pitch black in the Howlin’ Tornado after dark!

It was several stories high inside, and there was a HUGE bucket that would fill with water….

…and once it was full, it would tip……

….and splash everything in the middle of the room!

The kids had so much fun.  McKenna was big enough and brave enough to go on all the rides.

Justin loved the slides and jet skis.

Carson and Jason had lots of fun in the toddler pool.

Carson nearly drowned me when I tried to take his picture!

Peyton got some Grandma time.

And some time in the pool, too!

It was great fun, and I highly recommend it!

In addition to all the other Christmas decorating Sally does, this year she added some special wreaths–six of them, in fact.  Each wreath has a special theme, and they are on the doors to each of the upstairs rooms in her home.

Luckily, there are double doors on the master suite, so there was room for a wreath for Sally and one for Ray!  Ray is quite the coffee guy.  Can you believe she found ornaments like little Starbucks cups as well as an espresso maker!?!

As you might imagine, Sally is a super shopper!  And her wreath reflects that passion with shopping bags and gift cards from some of her favorite stores.

Cole’s room has a baseball theme–and so does his wreath!  If you look carefully, you can see part of the baseball mural on his wall.  Go Mariners!

Some of you may remember the post about Sally’s craft room party.  The purpose of Sally’s craft room is gift wrapping and scrapbooking.  For the party, she had a wonderful centerpiece with adorably wrapped boxes.  Always the frugal one, she repurposed those little boxes for this wreath on the craft room door!

The bonus room contains Cole’s computer, so it got a computer themed wreath.

And last but not least, the guest bedroom.  This room is most frequently used by my daughter Melissa, our friend Robbyn from Florida and me!  We’ve all been known to enjoy a fancy martini or two!

My sister Sally takes Christmas decorating very seriously.

Of course the planters on her front porch are embellished for the occassion.

This large wooden ornament on the front door is a hint of the theme inside.

The stairway in the entry is so lovely.  Couldn’t one make a great entrance down that stairway?

And the niche is the perfect place for this modern tree.

The main tree and packages are in the formal living room.

I love how her skinny tree tucks right in next to her fireplace.

The decorations this year have a really fun and funky theme.

Sally loves polka-dots, and this theme is really ‘her’!

Every gift is a work of art.

With paper and ribbons perfectly chosen.

The mantle has it’s own unique trees.

We got some of these Kosta Boda Sasntas on our trip to Sweden last summer.

There are even matching toss pillows on the sofas.

The coffee table shows off some of her Murano glass trees.

The powder room is, of course, decorated.  More Murano trees….

….and a little something in the shower.

There are Murano trees on the piano.

And elsewhere in the house.

The family room mantle has more of the polka dot lights and a snowman.

On an end table a modern tree shows off her crystal ornaments.

The dining room looked stunning.

Aren’t the place settings adorable?

Even the windowsills are decorated.

Sally has a wonderful collection of Steinbach nutcrackers.

Upstairs there are two trees in the bonus room.  The ornaments on this one are all Cole’s.

And these are Cole’s “international” ornaments from various trips.

You never leave Sally’s house without a favor.

I’m lucky enough to have been to two parties there this year–including a lovely luncheon yesterday.

Thanks, Sal.

P.S.  I have more photos to show you tomorrow!

I just has to post a few more photos from harvest–and some of our grandkids who were here to help!

Justin got hip boots for Christmas last year.  He’s right at home in the bog.

That paddle is really heavy, but at six, he’s ready for the task.

I never get tired of watching the totes fill up.

I gave up my hip boots years ago.  I’ll cook and drive truck, but I stay out of the bog.  Oh, there’s a “bogged down” joke here somewhere!  But, I do have the most stylish boots of all!

This is 2-1/2 year old Carson, getting the feel of the leaf rake.  We’ll have him shoveling before long.

He likes to ride on the tractor with his daddy, Doug.

I made the mistake of saying his boots were muddy, at which point he shook them off his feet and wouldn’t put them on again!

Megan, Kyle and Marie.  Who says harvest isn’t fun?

Another trailer loaded and ready to deliver to the receiving station.

Knee deep in berries.

Here’s Marie with her paddle.

Here’s Marie after she stepped in the ditch!

Back home.  We didn’t make Peyton work in the bogs–not this year.

And isn’t this cute of Carson on our front porch?

Jayne, our live-in babysitter from 1956 – 1959, came to visit us in Long Beach in 1965.  We had moved to a new-to-us house a short time before.  When Jayne was here recently, she shared these photos she’d taken then.

Here’s our house.

I loved the big yard, and the first thing I asked for was a dog!  You see, in the past, when I’d asked for a dog, my parents always said we didn’t have a big enough yard.

I was the only one in the family that was a pet lover, but my parents agreed.  This is our dog, Cinnamon.

It was fun not only seeing photos of us, but of the house and furnishings, too.  I had these chairs in my first home many years later, and Sally had them after that!

Ditto with this bedroom set.  In fact, it was in Sally’s guest room until just a year or two ago.

The kitchen didn’t have a dishwasher, but my mom solved that problem.  She had a portable one on the back porch.  Nice curlers, Mom!

My grandparents must have driven down from Raymond to see Jayne.  Here’s Grandpa with “my” car.

And Grandma.  She always wore dresses in those days.

Here I am with our neighbors (who were like grandparents) Nanny and Mr. Reisner.

My Aunt Evelyn and cousin Jim.

Butch Jasperson was a high school boy who lived with us.  I remember the big thing for the high school boys then was to have their pants pegged–the legs narrowed.  The school administration didn’t like the tight pants, so they passed a rule that the boys had to be able to drop a golf ball down the leg of their pants!  Oh, and the girls had to kneel on the floor, and the hems of their skirts had to touch the floor!

I mentioned in the last post that I think Jayne had a crush on my cousin, Jim.  Here they are again–and Jayne with curlers in her hair!

When Jayne was there, Mom and Dad had just returned from their first trip to Hawaii.

They brought leis for everyone!

Sid and Sally are checking out the kissing Hawaiian dolls.

And I’m trying on my grass skirt!

In 1956 my parents advertised in the Portland, Oregonian for a live-in baby sitter to help with their three children–my brother, then called Bobby, was 4, I was three and my sister, Sally, almost 1.  In those days, Portland was a world away.  Now it’s about a two and a half hour drive, and it probably wasn’t too much more than that back then, but we just didn’t take those kinds of drives!  And this is what Long Beach looked like!  Probably quite a shock for a city girl.

Anyway, the ad was answered, and Jayne, who was starting her sophomore year in high school, came to live with us.  Today we’d call her a nanny, but not back then.  Here she is, holding our cat, Fluffy Mayonnaise.

Jayne stayed with us for the next three years.  She was like a member of our family, even going to Disneyland with us!  She made a whopping $10.00 a week.  After high school graduation, she moved back to Portland  She visited once or twice when we got older, but then we completely lost track of her.  Surprise of surprise, she just came back to Long Beach for her 50th class reunion!  We had a great visit, and she brought some wonderful old photos with her.

Here we are in Disneyland.  Sally was too little to come–and still hasn’t quite gotten over the fact that she was left home.

Jayne still refers to my grandparents as “grandma” and “grandpa.”  Here’s my Grandpa Kennedy in his garden.

She had several photos of my cousin, Jim.

I think she may have had a crush on him!

Oops, Jim with a broken foot.

Jim holding my brother and me.

Jim and I share a love of horses, but here he’s giving my brother a ride.

Not only did he have a horse, he had a nice car, too!  Actually, I think it was the family car, and not just Jim’s.

This is Jim’s mom, my Aunt Evelyn.  See the car in the garage.  That’s my grandpa’s 1954 Dodge.  He gave it to me in 1970 and I still have it!

This is my favorite of all the photos.  It’s my Grandma and Grandpa Kennedy and all of their grandkids.  On the left is Jim, holding his dog, Dukey, then my cousin Cheryl and me.  On the right is my cousin Susan, my brother, Bobby (today known as Sid) and Sally, my sister, is on Grandpa’s lap.

Bob and I were lucky enough to go to a Mariner’s game with my mom and dad recently.

We enjoyed a great meal in the Diamond Club first.

Even the Babe was there to greet us!

Mom and I are anxious for the game to start.

It was a great game.  The Mariners led all the way–and the Moose kept us cheering.

This was the view from our seats.  The best part was, we got a win!

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for a fun time.

Our two oldest grandkids, McKenna and Justin, have been here visiting for a week.  Little brother, Jason, wasn’t very happy about being left home!

On our way home, we stopped in Seaside to break up the trip, and took time for a ride on the carousel.

I just love this photo.  We had to stop to watch the Young’s Bay Bridge be raised for a fishing boat to pass under.  Must be a guy thing!  McKenna and I waited in the car.

The favorite and most requested activity during the week was Gator driving.  I use it to water and fertilize around the yard.  As you can see, Justin liked being in charge of the spray nozzle!

While McKenna and I did a lot of Gator driving, Bob and Justin spent a lot of time on the John Deere A, now named Henry.  Bob was trying to fire it up one day and said, “Come on, Henry,” and after that, Justin called it Henry!

We baked Snickerdoodles, Papa’s favorite.  Okay, so I had a few, too!

McKenna made an apron from my Daisy A Day apron panel.

Here she is modeling the finished product.  I was so proud of her.  She did all of the sewing except attaching the waist band.  Her top stitching was lovely!

She chose this fabric for the reverse side, and we added the ric rack.  How fun!

We spent one whole day at Vista Park on the Columbia River.

It’s amazing how kids can spend hours at the water’s edge.  And grandparents can spend hours watching them and enjoying every minute of it!

We had a picnic and used the same plastic picnic plates that I ate off of as a child when we’d go to Chinook Park.

Now this was a bit of a stretch.  I had to put curlers in McKenna’s American Girl Doll’s hair.  Heck, I don’t even put curlers in my hair!  If it takes more than four minutes, then it’s not the hairdo for me!  But, it was in preparation for a very important party.  We invited the dolls and Great Grandma Bette for a tea party in the log cabin.

We spent the morning cleaning the cabin and picking flowers.  Of course picking flowers involved Gator driving.

Melissa and Kerstin wore matching dresses.

We had tea sandwiches and scones.  Our table had a daisy theme–daisy fabric in the table cloth, daisies on our bouquet, and daisies on my 1974 wedding china.

When Grandma Bette arrived, she was chauffeured to the cabin in –what else– the Gator!

She brought hostess gifts for both McKenna and me.  McKenna got a piece of cut glass that Grandma Bette has had for over 40 years.  What a treasure!

We didn’t forget dessert.  We had a strawberry whipped cream cake!

Yesterday, before heading out, we took one last Gator ride.  We went to the neighboring cranberry bog.

We took a little trip down a grassy road into the woods, and guess what we saw–a black bear!  It might have been this one, that son Doug snapped a  phone photo of in our yard last spring!  The bear ran off into the woods, and we turned around real quick!

We met their parents in Portland yesterday for the exchange.  Looks like Jason is happy to have his siblings back!