Saturday, August 30, 2008

Irish Heritage

I just realized I have not blogged about our trip to the Giants game. On Tuesday, August 19, we went to see the SF Giants play.

We had a fun time - despite the home team losing. Andy (our friend from Edmonton), Hubby and I took the train (BART for those of you who know the Bay Area) to San Francisco and met Mike, his buddy, Vance, his wife and children and Darcey at the game. We all became friends thru the years because of the Seahawks.

That week, the SF Giants were having Heritage Week with a different theme each night. It was Irish Heritage Night for our game - Hubby and I were the token leprechauns....lol.

Hubby, Andy and Mike before the game - the hats were the giveaway for having tickets in the Irish Heritage section.


We could not pass up a photo op with our 12th Man Flag!

Even the former mayor of NYC was in attendance.

The view from our seats - The Cove in the background.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Back from SoCal

Hubby and I returned yesterday from our long weekend in the San Diego area for the Seahawks vs. Chargers pre-season game.


We stayed with our good friend, Dana, in Oceanside. Also staying at Casa Dana were our friends, Rich from Colorado and Andy from Edmonton, Canada.

The rest of Saturday was spent unpacking and resting at Dana's while we figured out what to do for the rest of the day. Andy was able to get on our flight as he was here in our area on business and was able to fit the Seahawks game into his schedule. Rich was flying into San Diego from Denver and he was arriving a bit after us.

On Sunday, Andy wanted to swim in the Pacific Ocean. For the past couple of years, Dana has been telling me about the fish tacos at the Brigantine restaurants in the and beach San Diego area. So, we were going to go there for lunch and then to the harbor in Oceanside.


After lunch, we headed to the beach. The "boys' headed to the sand and Dana and I visited the shops. The shops probably took us 10 minutes to visit so she and I ended up at Rockin' Baja Lobster for margaritas...lol. We did have to stop there anyway so we could make dinner reservations for later in the evening. She and I then headed to the beach to meet up with the guys. Andy was able to swim in the ocean and enjoy the SoCal weather.

We went to dinner at Rockin' Baja Lobster and Dana's boyfriend, Tony, met us there. After drinking more margaritas and just enjoying each other's company.


Monday was game day! The game started at 5:00 but we arrived at parking lot section J3 of Qualcomm around 1:00pm to start the tailgating. We met Seahawks fans from all over Southern California, Las Vegas and Washington.

Here is a picture of Dana (#8) and I before the game:


We headed in to the game and hiked up to our seats. We were second row from the top. Since we have great seats for our home games, our away game seats are usually 'nosebleeds'. The game was a tribute to the military. At half time, a few troops were introduced. They were injured in the Middle East. I was just about in tears. Also, during the game, they showed video messages on the jumbotron of Chargers fans stationed overseas with messages to their family and their team.

Well, the Seahawks lost to the Chargers but it was a fun time - just to hang out with my peeps!!

I went back to work today - that was hard, but knowing that we have a three day weekend made it better!

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Rolling Stones and Wedding Bells

Last week started with a kidney stone and ended with a wedding - neither of which were mine!

I'll start with the wedding first. Hubby's first cousin married his perfect match yesterday. They had been together for about 6 years when he proposed Christmas of 2006. Originally this wedding was to take place in June at a golf course but the course/restaurant had filed for bankruptcy. Alhough they said all event contracts would be honored, our cousins were referred to the Holy Trinity Cultural Center in Moraga. It is a lovely place! My husband was the photographer and this was treated like any other 'normal' client, as far as contracts, hiring an assistant, etc. Actually, I have not done a wedding with him for a couple of years. I get too stressed out....lol. He original assistant came down with shingles about 1 1/2 weeks ago so to be safe, he quickly found another local wedding photographer to assist him.

Here is a photo of the wedding favors...I helped the bride get these through my party and wedding favors business.



One of her bridesmaids made the printed program. She also made all of the Save the Date cards, bridal shower invitations and wedding invitations. She did an awesome job!
Now to the kidney stone....which actually turned into something more serious. I had called my mother-in-law on Tuesday to see if they could come by on their way to the wedding and pick me up and I would go home with hubby. Our house is on the way and there was not a point in taking two cars when he family would be driving by my area anyway. Hubby had to be at the Center early for photos and I could just arrive with the other guests. My MIL had answered my message saying her and my father-in-law were dealing with a situation - FIL was having problems with kidney stones again. This was about his 7th bout over the years with them so they went to Urgent Care at the big K and they took and x-ray, gave him a prescription for pain pills, and he was sent home. He was basically told to do what he always does when the stones hit - drink a lot of fluids.
On Thursday night I noticed that one of hubby's sisters called but did not leave a message. I was in the backyard, picking some peaches. Hubby was at his monthly photography association meeting about 15 minutes away. He came home about 11:00 pm and mentioned that his sister left a voice mail but he said he would check in the morning. They were driving over from the other side of the Bay to stay with their parents - all going to the wedding yesterday and then to a local amusement park today. So, hubby figured that was why she was calling.
On Friday morning, I checked my emails before leaving for work and saw an email from MIL, with the time of 3:04 am. My MIL called 911 and and ambulance came and took my FIL to the hospital. Not the big K but the closer one that does take big K patients for emergencies. He had a very high fever, and had the chills and was getting delirious. He developed sepsis. Without going into much detail, he was drained from the fluid being block by the stone. It was a bad infection that could of killed him. His blood pressure was low and his heart beat was very high.
He was taken into the Critical Care unit so he could be monitored. By Friday morning and afternoon, he was hooked up to an IV with antiobiotics and was more aware and doing much better. He spent Friday night at JM Hospital. We found out that he was being moved to a big K hospital nearby - not to a Critical Care unit but to a regular room. He was settled in by Saturday night. Another cousin took some photos and had them developed for him to see today.
Hubby and I went over to see him today. One of the bridesmaids told me to take one of the floral centerpieces home so we took it over to him. We got to his room as he was finishing his lunch. He looked good. He was sitting off of the edge of the bed, eating from the rolling table. He was there and also one of his nieces husbands stopped by. FIL was in good spirits - looked tired though and seemed a bit out of breath after eating, but not wheezing, like earlier on Saturday.
The doctor came in as we were about to leave FIL to rest. FIL said we could all stay as the doctor checked him. The blood tests show that his kidney functions are getting back to normal. His white cell count was elevated but his leukemia was contributing to that. They are taking him off IV antibiotics and would be starting oral antiobiotics to see how he does. If all goes well, overnight and into tomorrow, he will be released and able to go home - and doing 2 more weeks of oral antibitocs at home. He will have an xray in the morning to check the stent that was inserted and the kidney stones.
My hubby is doing well with his dad having his medical issues. Hubby was with me when I was dealing with my parents and their illness and then when they passed away here at home.
I love my in-laws. I hear horror stories of how others don't get along with theirs and I know I am so blessed. Looking forward to FIL being around for a long time!

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Just a Another Saturday...

Earlier today we went over to my in-laws to visit. They only live about 15 minutes away by car. I am really lucky to have in-laws that I like and get along with. They are both retired and belong to an RV club. Just this past weekend they went to Smithwoods in the Santa Cruz Mountains - http://www.smithwoodsrvpark.com/index.htm .

While over at their house today, I took some photos of my mother-in-law's flowers. My husband is the professional photographer but I wanted to test out the 'close up' feature on my camera. I don't think he has to worry about me stealing any jobs from him!













The rest of my Saturday has been spent here at home. I finally have my laptop so I am trying to work on the family history research but the thought of trying to decipher Portuguese is not sounding fun today...lol.
We received our Seahawks season tickets package yesterday - yes! But it is hard to believe that the pre-season starts up soon! Our first trip of the season will be at the end of the month to Southern CA to see the Seahawks at the Chargers. I do miss our football Family and really look forward to our trips to be able to hang out with everyone.