We hope you guys are enjoying your cruise so far...I know it's only the 2nd day! I'm glad that you get to spend Mother's Day with Darren & Sepi! We're taking good care of your "other baby", Bitsy! Her and Lani are having a good time! We moved her crate into our room @ night on Mike's side of the bed so that everyone gets to sleep in the room with "Mom and Dad"! Hee, hee! Enjoy your day...hopefully they will do something special @ dinner tonight for all the Moms! Much ♥ for all that you have done and continue to do for us! We ♥ you so much for being such a wonderful guiding light in our lives!
Many of you already know the story...but I'll tell it again!
This summer an opportunity presented itself to a Marine Musician friend of mine. The Marine Corps bands used to participate in the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo in Canada every year. It's a HUGE entertainment extravaganza attended by people from all over the world and includes performers from all over the world. About 10 years back, the government decided to quit funding trips such as this. So the international community has been begging Marine bands for 10 years to come back. Since the government won't fund it, it can't happen, no matter HOW badly the Marines want to participate. A wonderful man, Guthrie Woods, a Canadian came forward and talked to the Marine Musician friend of mine and said, "What if you got together a bunch of your FORMER Marine Musicians, and I paid for uniforms to be made specially for you guys, and I got sponsors to provide instruments that you guys don't have access to?" Matt said, "I think I can DO that!" It was all approved through the Headquarters Marine Corps, and "The Band of America's Few" was born! I will be performing on clarinet this year...and Meghann will get to attend as well for 1 week with me! What an opportunity for us both...she, of course, never got to see her Marine Mommy perform, so this will be the next best thing! An AMAZING group of former Marine Musicians has been assembled and we will "Take Halifax by Storm" in June/July 2010! We are an ongoing group and will continue to support other "missions" that arise...we've already been requested for quite a few "gigs" and invited back for the 2011 Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo! The PayPal widget to the right @ the top of the blog page is to encourage you to donate to our non-profit organization...and help foster the goodwill that Marine Musicians have always provided to the local and international communities! Every dollar helps...so give a dollar, give 10...whatever you can, it'll be MUCH appreciated! The widget only shows what's been donated to "The Band of America's Few" through the widget...we've had our fundraising going for about 3 weeks now and have gotten a lot of donations, this is just one more way to get our name/story out there!
Our Logo in Brass form...for our buttons and belts
Our embroidered Logo on the windbreaker
Here is the promotional video from the Tattoo website...how cool is THIS?!? Did you see the Marines?
We got VERY lucky this year on Meghann's 15th birthday...it fell on a Saturday so that we could spend the whole day with Grandma & Papa in Hemet! Grandma planned out a whole day of fun for her party! We played games, ate WONDERFUL food, and enjoyed the BEST company! Meghann loves that her Grandma & Papa are so thoughtful and think of her all the time! We invited David to come and enjoy the day with us as well so that Grandma & Papa could meet him, since she's met both of his Grandmas...had to even up the playing field and subject David to the "once over"! Hee, hee! Of course he passed with flying colors...Grandma & Papa can see how happy he makes their granddaughter! Thanks again, Mom & Dad for your wonderfulness and for always making home such a happy place to be! We love you! ♥
{Decorations on the table}
{David and Meghann sitting on the couch}{Meghann and David swimming}
{Meghann peeking @ me...}
{Papa, David & Mike on the patio for lunch}
{David trying his best to "mail the lost invitations"! Sorry David...I beat you!}
{Megs making an effort to "deliver the lost invitations"! Sorry Megs...I beat you too!}
{Lani just laid there while all the envelopes were flying towards her...she didn't care!}
{David and Meghann getting ready to open the presents}
{AWESOME Grandma & Papa bought Megs an iTouch! They also bought her some wonderful watercolor pencils and paper for her to practice her art. She didn't look so good in that picture, so she can thank me for not posting it!}
{Nice green cover for your iTouch Megs...oh, wait, why don't you just hand that over to Daddy since you've been using HIS since Christmas and have all YOUR crap on it! Hee, hee!}
{Squinty Lani in the sunshine of Hemet}
{WTG Papa...distracting Mike with your antics so that NEITHER of you are looking @ the camera! What AM I gonna do with you?!?!?}
{She huffs...she puffs...she gets all 15 candles blown out! PHEW! Yummy FunFetti cake...thanks Grandma, it was TASTY!}
{On the patio for lunch...couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather!}
Another year down...{SIGH!}...where HAS the time gone?? Our little girl is so grown up now...next year she'll be able to DRIVE! {YIKES!} We ♥ you baby girl and are so glad that you're ours! ♥, Dad & Mom
Family and friends all got together on 13 March 2010 to celebrate 50 years of marriage between Fred & Rosie Hernandez. These are 2 of the most WONDERFUL people in the world! They have overcome obstacles with love and patience and dedication to family. What BEAUTIFUL role models they are to everyone that meets them and is blessed enough to have them in their lives! We are SO lucky to be included in that bunch of people!{The 3 Walkers}{Dan, Elvis & Cindi}
{Joey, Roseanne, Fred, Rosie, Cindi, Kelsey & Dan Hernandez}
{All of the married couples dancing...the couple in front; Ana & Nathan, have been married over 50 years as well and just happen to be Fred's brother and Rosie's sister! That's right! The 2 brothers married 2 sisters! How AWESOME is that?}
{The newest married couple in the family}
{Meghann DRIVING? Oh NO!}{Kelsey is pretty sure Megs doesn't know where she's going!}
{Sisters @ ♥}
{Oh...those "teenie-boppers"!}
{Oh...those "teenie-boppers"...AGAIN!}
{Oh...those "teenie-boppers"! Oh wait...Mike, Michelle, Dan, Cindi, Denise, Robert}
{Fred, Rosie, Roseanne, Michelle, Meghann, Mike & Joey}
{Cammie in her run-around ball}{Cammie going into her little hidey-castle}
{Cammie sitting in her food dish washing her face after a snack}{Cammie sitting in her food dish washing her face after a snack}
{Cammie's habitat}{Cammie's habitat}
{Cammie sitting on her slide}
{Cammie posing for a photo in her slide}
Meghann decided that she would like a hamster for a birthday gift this year! Since she just got a new dresser, we figured she could keep the habitat up there and be totally responsible for little Cammie. We've had a name change already...Megs decided she didn't really look like Rhino, so she was calling her "Hammie" all the time and Mike said she looked like "Caramel", so we combined the 2 and she's CAMMIE now! She's a super cute little hamster and has already brought a lot of joy to Meghann's day! I'm sure she'll keep doing that for many more days to come! Lani didn't seem to bothered by her running around the house in her little ball, but of course that could change! Lani is pretty easy-going, so we know it'll be fine. Especially since "that thing" (Lani's opinion of her, I'm sure!) will be in Meghann's room most of the time! Welcome to the Walker family little Cammie! ♥
We're SOOOO excited for Megs' birthday next Saturday! Our young lady will be 15 years old...{SIGH!} She wanted to spend her birthday with "The Boy". Last Saturday we went to dinner with his family (parents, Grandmas, Aunts/Uncles) so we thought it would be fun for HIM to meet some more of OUR family! So we'll be heading out to Hemet so "The Boy" can meet Megs' Grandma and Papa! It should be a fun day filled with playing games, good food, and a nice family time! Pictures will be posted...
Thanks for your wonderful hospitality Mom & Dad! :-D
Meghann is celebrating her 15th birthday 15 days early! We're taking her and her friends to go see Alice in Wonderland in IMAX 3D today...OPENING DAY! Looks like an absolutely perfect job by Tim Burton! What a fun way to spend an afternoon! Happy early 15th birthday party, Meggie! We ♥ you!
WooHoo! I don't know HOW I'll get anything done today @ work when all I'll want to do is play with my new iPhone! How FUN! I can do so many cool things on my new phone! Now I know what you meant, Mom, it IS fun to "have an app for that"! :-)
Happy Birthday to ME! What a fun new present! Thanks Mikey!
{The view up into the Atrium Plaza from the 7th deck}
{The Long Beach Cruise Terminal}
{View back towards our lovely Long Beach with the Queen Mary in the foreground}
{Night 1's turndown service and rabbit? towel animal...Mike's favorite part? The chocolate mints on the bed every night!}
{The view out of our cabin window of Avalon, Catalina Island}
{Mike on the tender over to Catalina}
{Hamilton Cove...friends of Janet's had her and I over to their place last summer that is right under the Wrigley's penthouse and has a BEAUTIFUL view back towards Avalon!}
{The view of the ship as we were tendered over to Avalon}
{My friend, Capt. Jim, lives in Avalon and does the Glass Bottom Boat tours for the Catalina Island Company. He was over on the mainland when we were there and let us borrow his golf cart to get all around the island! How nice to not have to rent one for $40 an hour! We have GENEROUS friends!}
{What a beautiful view of Avalon from the back side!}
{Another view of just mainly the harbor and the green pier}
{Look! It's our home!}
{Mike is SUCH a stud! That's a big ship you're lifting, babe!}
{Descanso Beach where Lesley and I took our Girl Scouts a few years back to kayak and play!}
{We saw a TON of woodpeckers on our way to the Wrigley Memorial!}
{William Wrigley Jr. Memorial}
{Mike and I at the top of the memorial...lots of stairs!}
{A beautiful tree in bloom}
{Mike and I in the famous bathroom doors @ the Marlin Club where Janet and I have closed the bar down and done dishes a few nights! (Oh wait...I think Janet was playing POOL while I did dishes!)}
{Mike on the deck of the Emerald, the UnderSea Tour that our friend, Capt. Mike, does in Catalina! We got to do all of our tours for free...once again, we have VERY nice friends!}
{Shot of the beautiful artwork and lighting in the Casino's theater}
{Me @ the top of the Casino building with the ship in the background}
{Towel animal and turndown for night 2}
{Looking over the bow towards Ensenada, Mexico. Mike and I didn't get off the ship because we've been to Mexico before and didn't need a bunch of touristy stuff and there really wasn't anything we were excited about seeing...so we just relaxed!}
{Mike and Ensenada}
{That's ONE BIG flag! Look how small the people are @ the base of the pole! NUTS!}
{Mike and I played a round of mini-golf on the top deck of the ship. He won...poop!}
{Towel animal and turndown for night 3}
{Towel animal and turndown for night 4}
We really enjoyed our time reconnecting with each other on this relaxing vacation! We are SO blessed to have such wonderful friends that took care of Meghann and Lani while we were gone. And a wonderfully grown-up daughter that came to the house each morning to get ready and brought in the mail, made sure everything was okay, etc. What a young lady we've raised...so responsible and loving! We look forward to taking another cruise with some friends sometime soon...that would be REALLY fun to do! But like always...there's NO PLACE LIKE HOME! ♥♥
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