I received a real surprise this year for my B-Day. On the 18th of March I went over to have lunch with my parents in Santa Clara where they live, and when I entered the motorhome(they live in a Class A Motorhome), I saw Rachel standing just inside the door and Will sitting in one of the chairs. I said hello and was about to ask why and then Amanda and Melissa came from around the corner where the couch is and said Surprise. I was in total shock!! I never expected them to be here. They said didn't you see the truck outside? I did see a truck and motorcycle in tow, but didn't think it was theirs. It was such a wonderful surprise. I found out that everyone else in my family knew, only I didn't. The kids had gotten there only 2 hours before I arrived. They had checked with my boss earlier in the week to see what time I got off work that day, so they could be there on time. This had all been planned for about month.
Well, the rest of the suprise was that they were all going to to redo my kitchen cupboards. Dennis and Jeff had started them a while back, but never finished them. Will did alot of the work and they look great. They took off the white paint, sanded off the dark brown paint underneath and have them down to the natural wood. We will have to linseed oil them and then put them back up. Dennis and I just have to get movitated to finish them. Hopefully the weather will get back warmer so we can do this outside.
Amanda was able to visit with many of her High School friends while she was here. Well, we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium on my B-Day(20th) after work and Rachel loved it. On Saturday the 21st(Rachel's 2nd B-Day) we had a party at my sister's home in Scotts Valley. Patty & Dan Moody, Dave, Carole & Ruben Carter, my parents, Dan Judd and of course my sister and her family were there. It was a great party and great to see everyone. Jeff, Rachel and I received many nice gifts and appreciated them.
Sunday we headed over to Twin Lakes Beach to enjoy the ocean. This is the same beach were Will proposed to Melissa over 3 1/2 years ago. It was windy and a little cold, but I gave Amanda and Melissa each a pretty glass bottle for them to collect Santa Cruz beach sand and shells so that they can each have a little bit of Santa Cruz and the beach with them always.
I was sad to see Monday come since the kids had to leave to go home. It was such a long drive for them all, but I'm glad they made the drive. Waiting until mid August for our Family vacation is so far away. I'm so glad that we had great weather for them while they were out here.
We started our Family Vacation by having a mini Judd Reunion at the Camp Ground by the Lake in South Lake Tahoe. The Dennis Judd and William Johnston families had planned to spend a week at this campground during Melissa's 25th Birthday Week and invited Dan & Patty Moody and my parents Norm & Inez Lee to join us. Dennis had a great idea to have Melissa organize a mini family reunion for the Judd's. Melissa emailed and facebooked all the family members to let them know of our plans and what the dates where. With many messages going back and forth, the date and time were set for the reunion. The menu was decided on and assignments were made. Melissa and Rachel had spent 3 weeks with us before we left while Will was on a work business trip in Germany and London. It took us much longer than we expected pulling the trailer to get to the campground. We were about the last to arrive to the campground, but we enjoyed spending time with everyone. There were 2nd cousins that the kids had never met and nieces kids that we hadn't met before. About 1/2 hour or so after we arrived, in drove Will and Amanda. Will had flown home from London the night before, picked up Amanda, packed the truck(which Melissa had all set aside ready to go before she left for CA) did laundry and got a few hours of sleep. Boy did he need this vacation. Any who, for Melissa's birthday(she requested Dennis' dutch oven fruit cobbler for her B-Day cake) she wanted to do something special. So what do you think she did? Well, she had already skydived before, so this time she decided she wanted to para-sail. She checked out the prices and she, Will, Rachel and myself went down to the marina for the time they had reserved. I was going to watch Rachel on the shore but found out for a small fee that Rachel and I could also go out in the boat and watch from close up and take pictures. Above you will see a picture of when they were not to far from the boat so you can see them and one way up high. We went out to dinner later that night and celebrated Dan's and Meliss'a B-days. Dan's B-day was the week before. The guys went fishing a few mornings during the week seeing who could catch the 1st fish, largest fish and the most fish. The gals would go shopping(Rachel got to meet the Blues Brothers while we were out shopping), exercising, doing laundry or just hanging out at the camp site. We went sight seeing and took a long bike ride with Dan & Patty one day. As each morning came the events would be: will Amanda be able to zip & unzip her tent(the zipper had a major problem), will the air still be in Dennis & Lorrie's air mattress( it sprung a leak, we purchased another one to only find out it leaked also), how many hours will Amanda sit in the womens bathroom charging her cell phone and texting James(her new boyfriend) and do G.G. and Pops(Norm & Inez) have enough plugs in their motorhome to charge everyone's cell phones or ipods. We all took a trip to Virginia City one day(see Jeff on the bucking bronco w/his energy drink) . We took old family photos. Dan and Patty did one and the rest of us did one together. I don't have a scanner so I can't put it up, sorry. We enjoyed walking around the town and seeing all the shops. Norm & Inez left after lunch and went to visit a friend who lived near by. The rest of us stopped by Genoa on the way back to see the town and the monument. On Friday Dan & Patty, Norm, Inez & Jeff took off for home. The rest of us went down to the lake and took a ride on a catamaran and then went back to camp and went for a bike ride. We road near the lake side and stopped for a bit of fun in the water. Rachel had a blast playing in the water and shooting us all with her water gun and pouring water on us from her bucket. After breakfast at IHOP on Saturday we said our goodbyes and went different directions for the ride home. For me, it was hard to say good-bye to Rachel after spending a month with her and not knowing when I would see her next. She's growing up so fast. All in all it was a fun and relaxing vacation for all. We will see what we plan for next year.
