Sunday was Veteran's Day, and today is the day off from government and schools to Observe the day. We have Ken to thank in our own home for his love of Country and sacrifice that he is making. My Opa, George Weiss, would sit and talk to me about the love he had for the United States, and I would hear about our family's journey into American culture. So, we spent the weekend enjoying our family, our friends and our freedom.
Ken and I started the weekend by going to the movies on the opening day of Skyfall - the newest James Bond movie.
I told Ken that I just HAD to see this in the theatre - it is a must. We arrived for the second showing of opening day, and we were the youngest people in the audience. Ha! I was probably the only woman in the place who was there because I was the actual fan of Bond and not to make the husband happy. As this also marked the 50th anniversary of James Bond films, I loved the way that everything was tied and linked together. You got some answers about Bond's family life, the Aston Martin made an appearance, and this was by far - the best villain to ever be pitted against Bond.
We left the theatre and Ken was even talking about how great this film was. I couldn't stop myself from jabbering on - there was great action, a wonderful storyline, and it was BOND! Yep, Ken already knows to get me the DVD when it comes out. Cannot wait to add it to my collection.
That evening we enjoyed the company of Michael Gallagher and Ted Carlucci for supper and drinks. We hadn't seen Ted in a couple years, and it was great to catch up with him. Unfortunately, his girlfriend wasn't able to make it over so we could meet her.
Saturday, I was sadly overcome by an incredible headache. I managed to make it through the girls' hair appointment, but I spent the rest of the day isolated from the family so the girls could play. I know that the term "vascular headache" is no longer valid, but that's the only term I know to associate with this level of pain. Being called a Migraine does not begin to describe the pain, and poor Ken was so worried about me. When I start crying from pain - the family knows it's bad. I tend to only take the Fioricet when necessary for my headaches, and I'm happy with the almost instant relief. I may take one a month at most, so the fact that I had to take two in one day really concerned me. Luckily, whatever set off the headache didn't keep it going, and I was back to myself by late evening. I was able to snap a picture of the girls after their haircuts, but the photo was a little blurry - I didn't notice at the time because of the stupid headache.
I was very happy to have the headache dissipate because Sunday was our appointment for Family Pictures. We did not include the boys for this round because Brian is living in Texas with his mom. A friend of mine from high school, Nicki Henne, is a photographer, and I have loved seeing her work. She was gracious enough to not charge me her full going rate, so it didn't take me as long to save up as I originally thought. I am very excited to see how things turn out, and I really hope that the 30 images I paid for will be enough. I was only going to pay for 10, but then I started seeing how cute the photos were and I increased accordingly.
There is no higher recommendation than a referral, and as all of my Mustang friends are aware, Nicky's work is amazing. If you are in the Southern California area (and she will also travel if requested), then visit her site. She is also on Facebook:
Ken didn't much care where we went, and I know he only did this for me, but I chose Prospect Park in Redlands, CA for the pictures. I really wanted to take pictures at Kimberly Crest, but they never answered my calls for me to get a photo contract. Oh well. The Park is gorgeous, and we found some great places for pictures.
Because I know it will take a couple weeks to get the pictures back, I started with my own little camera to show how we all looked that day:
I hate taking the time to kill my hair by styling and I am too lazy to wear this much make-up all the time, but I do love how my eyes look when I do this.
The girls loved having so much time and attention paid to them.
The pictures came back from Nicki and they are gorgeous!! I am so happy with how well they all turned out, and I'm making sure that they end up in the blog as well as in a special book to showcase them.
Now, I have to hold my breath that Sean and Justin will be able to get a couple of days off around Christmas, and that I will be able to get the pictures myself of Ken with the boys, all 8 of us together, and the kids together. I'm not sure how this is going to work out, but Brian living out of state really makes things difficult. I'm thinking that the next time we do this, that we'll schedule things with Sean and Justin since they are local and have it work out that way. Well, everything new has a learning curve and while I don't want to exclude Brian from things with us, I also don't want to leave the other two out who chose to stay.
Because it was actually Veteran's Day and most everyone had the Monday off from work, Ken and I scheduled our BBQ for Sunday night. Unfortunately, Cal Trans seem to think that randomly closing a couple lanes of the Cajon Pass in the afternoon is a good idea, and we barely made it home before our guests started arriving. We had a great time enjoying our friends, and Ken got to the point of crying from laughing due to some stories being told.
Ken, Mike Gallagher, Cynthia and Grant Clark
Sean and Justin came over and all of the kids spent time huddled around the food.
Ken showing off his Semper Fi wine while Cynthia loves on her "Man"
Hmmmm, which does she prefer?? Ken or her own hubby??
Above - Mandy's reaction to Cynthia's story about her dad, Norm, losing his pants while holding milk and oreos and her daughter, Val, getting a view of ass and balls. Below is Ken's reaction to that story and Mike in the background. Everyone needed a break in order to breathe again after laughing so hard!
Despite ending the night a bit earlier than we normally would have, it was a full day and we had a great time.
I was really glad that Sean decided to stay the night with his brother, and I know that they both had homework to get done, but I pushed for them to come back over this morning in order to get the annual Veteran's Day photo with their dad, and I spoiled them with some breakfast - vanilla bean crepes with vanilla mascarpone filling and a raspberry sauce. My true happiness was the compliments they both gave me about the breakfast which warmed my heart. I know they are both struggling and it was a lot of fun for me to spoil them with a special breakfast. And then, I was able to get the picture of Ken with his kids.
Above - without the dog
Below - with Addie
Overall, we were busy, but there was plenty of time for relaxing - which was totally needed. The girls and I will have to finish out this week with school/work, and then all of next week is vacation. I have so much work to do, however, that I'm afraid I'll have to work some of my vacation. Yuck!
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