Doobie Brothers

Yesterday we all went back to the mall again, Eastridge and then Valley Fair west gate. I wanted to go across the street and check out Santana Row, as long as I have been here I have not walk through there yet. I wanted to go to the Alameda County fair today but I have a doctor's appointment. For the bout the last three weeks I've been having a lot of pain in my shoulders, neck and back of my head and I have been trying to get in to see a doctor and of course they scheduled me for today so we would just go to the fair tomorrow, I hope the weather is cooler.

I ordered tickets to go see the Doobie Brothers at the Saratoga Mountain Winery for the end of August, I am so excited. Also Foreigner and Styx are going to be there and I'm seriously thinking about getting tickets for those also.

Cousins, Nephews and Neices

Last Sunday Stanley brought David and Kelly to stay here for a week. We watched a couple of movies and had pizza and Stanley went home, he has all week to himself.

On Monday we went to the Eastridge Mall to check it out, they just remodeled it and there was a lot of new places there. I didn't know there was anybody that like to shop more than me until I met Kelly, the girl can shop.

On Tuesday we were looking for something to do when my mom called and said that my cousins Kevin and Kelly were going to come by after they went out to breakfast. We went down there and they were talking about going to Santa Cruz for sushi at Mobos and to check out the Beach boardwalk. I hadn't been there for awhile and we had a great time. We played some games, ate some garlic fries, fried artichoke hearts and fried mushrooms and went and got an old-fashioned picture taken, we really had a lot of fun and the weather was perfect.

Today we're going to Pleasanton for the county fair. I went the last two years to see Carrot Top but he's not going to be there this year, I didn't think that I would like him judging by his commercials but he is very funny.

Calm before the storm

Thursday was really hot. I thought I was going to be smart and leave at 10 a.m. to go to Vassona Park before it got to be too hot but by the time I got there I was 104 in the van and who knows what outside. I stopped by Los Gatos High School to take some pictures and then we went to Vassona to take some more. I want to get a bunch of pictures of some pretty pretty vocal stuff, enlarge and frame them and put them up in my spare bedrooms and around the house, there are some really beautiful site's around here. That is what I want to do next week is to visit some more of these places and get pictures.

On Sunday Stanley is bringing David and Kelley for the week. I hope it is not going to be too hot because I would love to stay outside as much as possible and keep busy.

Yesterday wasn't as warm as it was on Thursday. I met Cindy for lunch at Sam's barbecue but it was pretty warm there so we ended up getting our lunch and going over to the day room in the hospital, I didn't know if they would throw us out or not. On the way in I ran into Lynn and we visited with her for a while and then had a really nice lunch and talked for a little bit. As I was leaving I ran into Carol and her service animal Alma and a service animal that I met a while back named Tarzan. Brodie started to get a little aggressive but then calmed down and we had a really nice visit. Weekend after next Lynn is going to meet me with her two dogs at the dog park to try to get Brodie to get used to being around other animals.

Hall & Oats

David, Anna Maria, Deziree and JohnPatrick got here yesterday at noon. I ended up staying in bed because I got a really bad sunburn at the wedding Saturday and I couldn't even wear clothing, I did today because I had to but it was very painful. Janet, Robert, David and Corinne got here about five p.m. and we left for the concert. Our seats were right in front of the stage, what an awesome view. David took a bunch of pictures and I have some pictures of the wedding that I will add tomorrow or the next day. Everyone had a great time at the concert even though they did not play "Rich Girl". I got a guitar pick and the guy that ushered us got me the list of songs from the stage that they were going to sing (Rich Girl was on the list but I don't know what happened) The guy that ushered us, John, was awesome. They picked us up in a golf cart that had wheelchair seating right in front of my van and took us right to the area where you get your tickets and go to the deck to eat. The view was overlooking the vineyard and Saratoga and it was really beautiful. The food was awesome also. After the concert John picked us up at the bottom of the hill, where the stage is, and drove a straight to the van. While the concert was going on he brought us snacks and water and kept asking us if there was anything that we needed. Stanley was here when we got back.

Rich and Vanessa's wedding was so beautiful. It was at a resort in Aptos. We wanted to make sure we missed traffic so we got there about two hours early. When we got there it was foggy and you couldn't tell that the ocean was right underneath where the ceremony was. I turned around to talk to some people and by the time I had turned back around the fog had lifted and the view was breathtaking. I wish I had turned around earlier so I could have went for a walk and explore the area. After the ceremony Gramps was ready to leave but Aunt Kathy talked him into staying for dinner, it was a Hawaiian theme and a delicious dinner. We didn't get to have any cake but Uncle Dick brought us over some the next day and it was delicious, his friend Dan the cake man made it. I definitely plan on going back to have lunch and check out the beach. They have resorts along the side that look really cool to stay in and fifteen miles of private beach, you can even get a massage in your room.

Unfortunately when I took these pictures all I had was disposable cameras. I have been trying them a lot lately and have been very disappointed in the quality. I have two cameras that take really good pictures but I always seem to forget them.

Wedding

I had a really nice and relaxing weekend. Usually by the time Sunday comes around I am really antsy and climbing the walls to get out of this bed but I really enjoyed it this weekend. I slept a lot and watched a lot of movies that I TiVo and although the weekend went by really fast it was good.

Next week is going to be busy and then next weekend my cousin Richard is going to get married in Santa Cruz so I need to find something to wear to that. Sunday is my birthday and both of my brothers and their families are going to be here for a couple of days, I am really excited about that. Deziree is going to stay for a couple of weeks, Little David is going to stay for a week and Kelly, my cousin Terrie's daughter, is going to stay for a week also. I'm trying to find some things to keep them busy. There is a lot of museums, IMAX, go cart race tracks and miniature golf courses.

We gave Gramps his new voice barcode reader and he seemed to really like it. David made the little stickers to go on playing cards so all he has to do is pass it by the front of the scanner and it tells him in earphones what the cards are, it is so cool. You can also scan anything with a barcode and it will tell you what it is, cereal boxes, prescription bottles...

David's Graduation

I'm really glad that I went to David's graduation. He is a very smart and very talented. He wrote a skit that he did where one of his friends sat on his lap and was his vantrilequest dummy, it was very funny. He also played the piano and helped out four of his friends with their skit. I stayed in a motel and when we got there late and tried to use my portable lift it did not work, we tried recharging it and it still didn't work, so I ended up spending the night in my chair. I slept pretty good but when I woke up I was pretty sore. After the graduation we went to the mall for a little bit and then went out to eat and then headed home. I was supposed to get together with an old friend that I went to eighth grade with but unfortunately I had to cancel because I am really exhausted and I have a pinched nerve and I can hardly move. Hopefully a couple of days of rest and muscle relaxers and I will be back to normal, whatever normal is for me.

More surgery

Yesterday I went to the hand clinic at Valley Medical to see Dr. Hentz, Dr. Yim, Dr. Shem and Lisa, the lady that does the post tendon transfer surgery research, and it looks like I'm going back for some more surgery. They're going to release the tendon in my middle finger on the left-hand, it is curled up in a cannot straighten it anymore. Dr. Hentz said that while there are there they're going to tighten up my thumb and give me a stronger pinch grip. I thought I was done with my surgery but I just can't live with my finger this way.

Today I'm going up to Modesto to spend the night so I can go to my nephew David's graduation tomorrow morning. He is coming here for a week in a couple of weeks.

Last night a bunch of us got together to play Cribbage at my mom's house, it is always so much fun and so much food. I won every single game and even skunked everyone in one game, we play for a dollar a game.

I cannot believe how fast this year is gone by. My birthday is the 18th, I was born on Father's Day, both of my brothers and their families are going to be here and on the 19th my brothers and I are going to the Saratoga Mountain Winery for dinner and to see Hall and Oates, in the middle of August my mom and I are going to see Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, at the end of August my aunt and I are going to see the American idols. On the Fourth of July I'm going to try camping for the weekend, my first time camping in a very long time and I'm very excited.

On Saturday and old friend that I went to eighth grade with is going to come for a visit, I haven't seen her since eighth grade. They're having our second eighth-grade reunion in July, my brothers are going with me. We went last year and it was really cool to see everybody that we haven't seen for a long time and we drove up to where we used to live and boy were there are a lot of changes there.

The weekend

Friday was a pretty busy day. It seems like everything went wrong. First we got started late and then Lulu called and said that she would be late but as it ended up we were five minutes early, I really hate being late. They poked some wires into my arm to test my muscles on the computer. It was pretty cool because I can see how the muscles work. I go back two more times and then one time for the MRI to see how my muscles look now a couple of years after the surgery. I'm not really too thrilled about the MRI but I will do it because I don't like to be afraid of things. After Stanford I had an appointment at VMC with Lynn to work on my finger some more. They have hand clinic next week so I'm going to find out if they need to do surgery on my finger to straighten it out. About a week ago I notice a bump on my head that is really really sore so I'm going to ask them to look at it at the same time. It makes me kind of nervous because there is a lot of cancer in my family but I guess it is better to find out now?

Today and tomorrow are just kind of getting the house organized because it's going to be a busy couple of months and I want to make sure everything is clean and organize.