Hanging at Denharts

Been spending our evenings at  Denharts

Spokane For Marys Birthday

Wed: Aug 24th Off to Spokane for a small birthday celebration of Mary’s 7? birthday. Good sunny ride all the way over. Arrived here around 3pm. Put some chicken on the barbi for dinner followed by just catching
Thur Morning did a little walking and coffee drinking Then picked up Steve and Liz at the airport. Now the hens are a clucking in the kitchen and Steve has taken Isabel to soccer practice. Now just waiting for Mary’s extended family to arrive for the Birthday Party.   Had a good BBQ with the whole family from Mary to Violet (pictured above)
Fri Morning: Today the plan is to head up to Diamond lake for a little cabin therapy. Anita, Mary & I made it to the lake where the water was warm and the air was hot 92 or so degrees. Again did chicken on the BBQ.
Sat: After a relaxing morning at the lake we headed into town and gathered our things and headed over for a  short visit with the Burkhard’s. Two hours later we were on our way back home to Seattle. All in all another great trip to GEG!

McAdams return from Scotland / 26th birthday celebration

From AdamPics

July 8th: Headed back down to Bills to see Adam. Who is home from Scotland to obtain  a work visa and head back to his new found life. Also we celebrated a belated birthday. Adam turned 26 on the 28th of June while at Fiendhorn. Now he is recouping from his broken leg and trying to score on a work visa so he can return to his loves. John drove in from Yakima to join us. All in all it was a great evening

4th of July weekend

Thur June 30: Off to Spokane for a visit and a little time at Diamond lake. On the way over Anita and I hiked to the top of the wild horses monument out of Vantage. Upon arrival at Mary’s Isabel and I went for a long walk. Got in 12 miles this day and Isabel was still jumping and running ahead all the way.

Fri Jul 01: Headed to Diamond Lake. Tom and Isabel took off a little earlier than Anita and Mary. Got to the lake and jumped into the kayaks for a quick paddle on the lake. Then it was off for a walk Turned in another 12 mi day. Isabel was showing signs of weakening. and by the end of that day she ran out of gas. FINALLY I out walked an 8 year old. 

Sat Jul 02: Started the day with a long walk alone. Followed up by a long kayak ride. Spent the rest of the day just hanging out and visiting neighbors and a BBQ. Turned in 15 miles that day. A new record for me. 

Sun Jul 03: Woke up went for a walk  and a kayak ride. Then more or less started getting ready for our drive home.

4th of July: Home Now this morning even tommy walkalottie was out of gas but managed to put in my morning walk. Then in the afternoon it was off to brother Bill’s for his annual 4th of July celebration. The usal Key Center crowd was there with one surprise guest. Virginia Lacy from Cordova. Made it home a little after midnight.

Sowder Farm Hikes

June 3rd : Off to Yakima to do a little hiking. Took the canyon road into Selah. Did a little walking around the hood and had a good dinner and catch up with Larry and Jane.
June 4th : John showed around 9:00 ready to go for our hike. Rich and the kids showed up around 9:30 So we were off to do the Cowiche  “canyon that  is” Started on the rim and worked our way down into the canyon. It was well worth the effort of a 5mi hike. The weather was perfect and all in all it was great fun. That after noon we jumped in Jane’s car and headed up to Nachese “Wow what beautiful country” At Whistling Jacks we decided to head up Big bolder caves” This was a short beautiful hike into the cave. Which was formed by a lava tube. Unfortunately we did not have flash lights But were able to go in using John’s flashlight app on his phone and an occasional flash from my camera. We made it in until it was darker than anything I had ever experienced and walked into a wall. That was the time to head back out
June 5th: Headed home to Seattle.
I am ready to go back and do it all again.

John’s WSU Graduation

Thursday May 5th (Cinco da Mayo) I zoomed home from exercise class and Anita had the car loaded and pointed East. Made it to Chez Frey around 3:55pm. Ok drive. We did suffer from a few highway projects. Good Night

Friday Going to Burkards for some breakfast. Then it will be off to WSU to visit the graduate before heading to Lewiston for our nights lodging.

Made it to WSU and had lunch and a nice walk with John. Then off to Lewiston ID. for a good nights rest. First thing in the morning it was back on the road back to Pullman for the big day. The ceremony was great and I think the only one in the place prouder of John were mom and dad. It is hard to believe that he has graduated from collage with honors (as you can see from all the decorations on his robe. Now its off to Yakima for a summer internship at GE Aviation. Then come Sep he will be off to Michigan to work on his masters degree. WOW! Way to go John!!

Better Late than Never Apr. 23rd

The First Baby Ducks showed up 3 days late on April 23rd. Actually it was also the first day in April that topped 60 degrees. WELCOME Spring

Wait Can it be? A Spring Day

Tommy at Twin Falls	Anita at Twin Falls

WOW! We just had our first spring day. It was so nice for a change while Anita was stretching out at yoga I went for a three mile walk. When we got home it was off to Twin Falls just out side of North Bend. We took of for what was a beautiful  4.2mi hike to the falls. Maybe a little more up and down than we bargained for, But it was more than worth the effort.
  I am still glancing out the window frequently waiting for the first baby duck sighting. They normally show on April 20th like clock work. I am thinking this colder than normal weather may have something to do with their late arrival. I am still waiting for them to show and unfortunatly so are the eagles. Anyway it’s been a great day.

Just a little update

Tommy  Weowna Park Hike	Anita

Well its been quite a while since my last post. Since then I had a little bypass procedure and have been on the mend ever since. It’s been six weeks since the procedure and I am feeling great! I have been walking every day since and now do two to five miles per day. Every day get’s easier and I am really looking forward to May 31st. That’s when I can resume doing what I want. Hopefully a little walk on my hands. Or at least an Air Chair ride. Weather permitting. Speaking of which the weather here is the definition of sucky. This has been the coldest April on record . In fact it’s now the 19th and there are reports of snow flurries in the area. “That’s Just WRONG” Although the birght side is it keeps me from wishing I could do this or that while my breast bone is healing.
Anyway All is well.

Tommy’s B-Day

Let the Games begin. Mar 4th 2011 !!

Celebrated one more year at brother Bill’s with some of Billy’s excellent BBQ chicken. A great way to start another year of Tommy’s Excellent Adventures. Thanks Everyone for all the cards and wishes.
t..

Quick visit to Spokane

Day I: Sunday. Had a good drive over. Sunny and bright all the way. We expected fresh snow in the pass, But the road was bare and wet and the slopes were covered with skiers. Took a 3 mi walk with Isabel. Now its time to sit down in front of the warm fire and fire off this post.

Billy D turns 60!!! Jan 10th 2011

Can you believe it. Billy DeLeo is 60 years OLD. WOW!!

Open your Eyes it’s 1951	Handsom Lil Dude
Rocking Out @ 3920	What Can I Say

2 0 1 1 Here We GO!!!

Jan 1 ^st 2011:  Bring The Adventure On!!!
I  Can only predict it’s Gong to be GREAT. You all invited to share our ride thru life with Anita and Tommy’s Adventures
Almost  made it to Midnight. Made it to 12/31/2010 11pm. Got up here in Spokane to a Clear Sky and a balmy –4.7 degrees. Priceless! I think we will be headed west this morning. Although I got to keep in mind. It’s New Years Day and that means Bowl Games

Great drive home

December 2010 The Holiday Season

You Might Have to WAIT a Bit for Pictures to Load

Dec 3rd: Down from the attic came all the the goodies to “Deck The Halls”Now the fun begins. Anita is hard at work decorating the house for gatherings and people hopefully stopping by. Pretty much throughout our flying lives we very rarely decorated  and being we usually are not around the house all the time this time of year. We neglected to do much house decoration. This could be FUN

Dec 4th: A fun morning sunrise. The air is clear and as in the seen in the slidshow pic. You can see Venus in the upper right of the picture.

Dec 11th: Wow how the week has flown by. Anita has been very busy preparing chez DeLeo for the up coming weeks of guests. This morning I broke away and did the Seattle Motorcycle Show. This evening we were pleasantly surprised by a visit from Kathryn Flanagan. She brought smiles and one of here fine calendars with a sampling of her art work. Shortly after she headed on her way. Bob Hesse arrived for some Christmas cheer and some GREAT soup that Anita had prepared. Looks like tomorrow is a day of rest. Monday evening our neighbors Dave and Patti Page are coming over for our annual get together before they head off to their den in Sun Valley for their winter hibernation.

Dec 13: Had Dave and Pati Page over for snacks and drinks.

Dec 14: Had to check out Snoqualmie Falls with all the major record breaking rainfall. Well it was as expected!! The good news was there were hardly any people there checking it out. The bad news was it was pouring, But it was a well worthy adventure and something that I have always wanted to do.  Dore and Judy Cross time GREAT evening spent with Dore and Judy. After a Steak Tommy dinner. We sat around the fireplace and visited for hours.

Dec 15: The morning started out with a THUMP or should I say thumping. With all the record breaking rain the lake has shot up way too much and the boat on its track is only about 6in out of the water. The problem arises when all the crap that flots off other people’s beaches gets redistributed and our bulked seems to trap more than our share. Anyway around 1 am. Anita and I were waken to the sound of a drum. “Could it be the Christmas Drummer Boy?” NO WAY It was a log wedged under the boat and banging on the hull. So it was time to don my led headlight and bathing suit and venture into the cold dark water and dislodge the pesky log. Got Er Done!! Hopefully the water will start to recede and my boat worries will go away for another day. Today’s big plan is to start heading the crap around the bulked so it can continue on it’s merry way to find a new home. There is one good thing about this annual crap migration. I do always find some treasures. Be it a good timber or two or as I spotted this morning a nice new dock bumper that will find a happy home on our dock. Anyone need a   ball? We always get a great selection of those

Dec 17: Chuns for dinner Spent the day preparing for the evenings event. Oh yes I did have to rebuild one of my laptops that went south But after a bunch of tweaking and tinkering. All is well! In fact I am blogging from that laptop now.
Everett, Barbra & Molly arrived around 4:30 followed by Ann Denhart around 5 . Molly is Barbara’s 92 year old mother. Who is visiting from Australia. “What an inspiration” She travels from northern Australia to Sydney. Then off to San Fran, Then to Seattle. All on space available flying. Now that is something to admire!! After some great gabbing it was time to hit the kitchen and get the dinner underway. Everything turned out great. Not to mention Barbara’s “To Die For” desert. Thanks All for attending.

Dec 18: Steph and Tony were good enough  to come over for dinner after arriving home from Hawaii at 6 this morning. Had some great visiting. The normal Tony and Tommy talking tech (guy stuff)” and Steph and Anita talking ??? lady stuff. Oh yes we did have a lot of four way conversation also 

Dec 19: DeLeo family dinner

 
Larry Sowder, Tom DeLeo, Adam DeLeo, Jason Holman, Brooke Holman, Bill DeLeo, John DeLeo, Robin DeLeo, & Anita DeLeo
Wow the Whole DeLeo Family ALL in One Place!!
The Big gathering for our little house went off without a hitch

Dec 22: Its Schuler Wednesday already. The floors are freshly sucked and polished. And the dinner is almost ready Had a long overdue visit with Jim and Bet.

Dec 23: Ahhh! Break in the holiday action. After five dinners this is a well needed break Today We Are officially for a day….

 

 

 

 

Dec 24: Friday Morning off to Portland for our annual Christmas Eve and Christmas with the Steve Zimmer family. We or at least Anita has been making this event for at least the last 25years. I had to miss a few due to prior United Airline obligations. Had a great drive to Portland, Speed limit all the way. We were also entertained by horse trailer transporting a camel. Boy do camels look stupid. Big time!! Anita could not stop laughing every time we got to the camel.
Sort of hung out at Steve’s Then headed over to Ron & Cali’s (Liz’s sister) for desert and the Dresser family Christmas.

Dec 25th: Christmas Day!! Well the big day is upon us. It’s still Tommy time. The stockings are hung and everyone else are still sound asleep dreaming of sugar plum fairies or whatever. My is hot the fire is warm and things are quiet. Life does not get much better Oh yes. The first present has arrived in the form of a wee named Bella. I think Liz and Steve are trying to impose a sense of responsibility on Steph and Tony. I am sure they will be up for the challenge

Dec 26th: Time to point the trusty Rav4 North. And say goodbye to our hosts Steve and Liz. Good drive home. Never came to complete stop. The normal slowdowns. Centralia, Olympia and Tacoma. But all in all a good ride.

Dec 29th: On our way to finish out 2010 at Mary’s. Left Bellevue and it was starting to snow. And it contiued snowing all the way to Cle Elum. Then was clear and the roads were dry until about 40mi out of Spokane and then it started snowing again, By the time we arrived at Mary’s it was a winter wonderland just as I had Hoped

		Bellevue Snoqulamie
		Cle Elum Entering Spokane
		almost Mary’s Mary’s Street

Here we are at Chez Frey

Dec 30th: Good Morning Spokane
A beautiful fresh snowy morning. Got up around 5:30 and waited for mornings light. Oh Oh here comes the I had better get out and see if I can get a picture or two. The highlight of the day was. Isabel and I jumped into the car and headed down to Riverside State Park to check out the Spokane river. There certinly was no disappointment in that little adventure. The roads and some of the paths had been plowed, There were a few other people taking in this winter wonderland. All of which were also filled with ahh. Later our friends Fran and Barb Burkhard stopped by for a visit.
Oh Ya. Watched the Dawgs beat the Huskers in the Holiday bowl

Dec 31st: The last day of 2010.

What a way to end the year COLD!!! Started the day with a quick trip for some drip from Starbucks. And some sign of life. I do have to admit I totally love this time of day Summer or Winter. Just think I have the day all to myself with no interruptions. “Hot , A warm fire ,and a whole day ahead to enjoy” Life just can’t get better than that!!
While Anita and Mary got their last minute 2010 shopping in. Isabel and I took a wonderful drive up to Mt. Spokane and checked out the real winter wonderland.
We finished up the year with a Filet Mingion dinner at Chez Frey

Jan 1 ^st 2011:  Bring The Adventure On!!!
I  Can only predict it’s Gong to be GREAT. You all invited to share out ride thru life with Anita and Tommy’s Adventures