Class/Senior pictures

Getting class pictures can get very expensive if you have more than one attending school. So go ahead and get the school picture taken but just don't buy the packages.  Instead ask Grampa if he would take class/senior pictures. So I spent two days taking them, 150 for the Barnharts and 454 for Andrew.  Thank goodness for digital technology.  Here is a sample.

Joseph

Lorelei

Gretchen

Couldn't just take individual pictures; we needed a group shot.

Andrew. I can't believe we have a senior in the family already.

So I am placing this post ahead of many others so keep looking at older posts because they will be posted before this one.

The outdoor theater.

While the gang was all here, it was time for some outdoor fun and a camp out in the backyard.  The activity was watching a movie on the big outdoor wide screen in the backyard.

The four Larsen kids were there as well as their Barnhart cousins.

Mingah loved the grass.  She loved it so much that she would grab a bunch of it and try to eat it. See all her fun moves below.

Ellie with Lorelei and Gigi.

Playing inside the phone booth.

 This is our mosquito proof theater.

This is the after the show sleeping quarters.

During show time, there was a log of excitement with all kinds of treats and drinks.  Who else could have root beer floats at a movie?

The sleeping quarters were divided into a boys side and a girls side. Kyle stayed with the boys

and Tana stayed with the girls.  They actually stayed there all night.  The rest of us slept comfortably in the house.

Picnic at Snail Lake

With Kyle in town, it was time for a picnic at Snail Lake, with the Smenteks.

Mairin showed us the best way to eat a strawberry.

After playing on the playground equipment, and a quick lunch, the kids wanted to go to the lake and throw rocks, sand and snail shells in the lake.  Grampa was elected to take them there.  I told them not to get too close or they would get their shoes wet and their parents would not be happy. One had crocs on so I didn't mind that but it was his younger brother that had shoes and socks on that didn't seem to mind just walking right in.  So much for listening ears.

The next day Judy had promised to pick her Norwegian relatives at the airport in Minneapolis and bring them to the Mall of America during a five hour layover.

We met up with the Barnharts at the MOA along with some other cousins. We took a break with some ice cream.

 

Calvin was there doing what Calvin does best.

Lorelei

 

 

We all met up with them: Olav, Nils Magnar and Vilde. I dropped Judy and Erik off at the airport to pick up the Norwegians and hop on the light rail to the MOA.and then I drove to the MOA and waited for them to arrive.

 Marit and Olav.

Vilde with her two cousins Britney and Janie.

Erik waiting patiently at the airport. Judy and Erik brought the Norwegians back to the airport on the light rail and waited for me to pick them up for the ride home.

Going home - with a few extras

It was time to say goodbye to Glendale, AZ. We helped clear out the house and pack up and deliver Kyle's household goods to a storage unit. We spent several hours cleaning their house top to bottom. We split up three of the four kids in two cars and headed out to Minnesota.  Tiffany and Amelia stayed behind to tie up any loose ends and they will fly to Minneapolis at the end of the week. We will spend 2.5 days getting back home.

Ellie is ready to go, watching a movie.  She was in the Honda with Judy and I.

Erik and Charlie were in the van with Kyle. They are all smiles.  We left Glendale right after lunch and spent the first night in Albuquerque, NM. Ellie and Erik traided spots the second day.

Charlie was so tired he fell asleep and stayed sleeping.  In the morning I found him underneath the air conditioning unit.

It was lunch at a fast food joint.

Charlie likes to eat out, but he also loves to run around alot. The second day was long but we made it to Wichita, KA and the third say was even longer and we made it back home before it got too dark.  We already had Charlie-proofed the house for an extended stay of the grand kids and had beds ready for those tired kids.  Tiffany and Amelia flew in on Saturday.  The best part of their stay with us is that while they were here, Kyle landed a job with Hertz in Oklahoma City.  To go along with that there would be another move for them. This is how it happened: Tiffany flew down to search for a house to rent and stayed with my niece Rosie while searching; Kyle flew to Arizona to get a big rental truck, get their household goods and start driving to Oklahoma City.  The kids stayed with us and Judy and I left the next day with their van and our car and made it there in 15 hours, with several stops. This has been their longest drive ever. By the time we got there, Tiffany already had purchased a fridge, dining room table and benches, and washer and dryer. And after that got a couch - all on Craig's list. But in the middle of all this, Kyle needed to start his job and his first week was in New Jersey.  So it was up to me to get the truck to the new house and unpack it and return it to the rental agency, while Kyle was out east.  It is just amazing how with all this turmoil, everything seemed to fall right into place. The kids were registered in school (within walking distance), and started school the day Judy and I left for home.  Another plus is that Kyle's office is a 5 minute drive from home.  The distance between our two homes is 798 miles and can be driven in 12 hours or less, depending on stops.

Time to start heading back

Well our time in California was over and we started heading home, via Phoenix to help Kyle and Tiffany pack up, clean the house and move to MN with us for awhile.  This means that the Over The Back Roads Cross Country Trip was over. Interstates all the way, except for traveling through LA on 101.

We wanted to see the Hollywood sign on our way out and stopped at the Griffith Park observatory for some pictures.

Hollywood

Smoggy downtown LA from the observatory.

We drove right through the middle of Hollywood, thinking that the time we arrived there would not be very many people (tourists) there. WRONG!!!  It was a nightmare, traffic at a standstill. We drove past the Stars of Hollywood and saw Darth Vader, Ironman and others.  They were each asking $10 for a picture.  We did not stop, because the closest parking spot was probably ten miles away.  Total chaos.

On the way out of Hollywood, we followed Sunset Blvd.. The Hollywood sign from Sunset

Entering Beverly Hills on Santa Monica Blvd.

The LA Temple

Over the back roads cross country trip Part 4

Well when we got to our room at the famous Pierpont Hotel, we needed to stock our fridge with water and this is what we found.  Five inches of ice surrounding the freezer.  I was kind of upset and turned it off and started defrosting it.

This is before.

And this is after. Finally we could use it.  We used our electric cooler in the mean time.

We headed to the beach in the morning to start our sightseeing before the Thompson Reunion festivities got under way.

We were notified that we were in a tsunami hazard zone

There was plenty of beach but since the forecast high temperatures were only going to be in the mid to upper 60s, they were bare, except for the birds.

There was one paddle boarder that braved the cold water.

Then we saw a few others that were braving the coolness, probably tourists who wanted to swim in the Pacific Ocean

 The Pierpont Hotel from the pier.

Vineyards on the hills of Ventura.

Me on the end of the Ventura Pier.

That afternoon was a family gathering at a park for a picnic lunch and photos.  I made everyone stand behind the figures.  This is Marit and Olav from Norway.

And this is Vilda and Nils Magnar, also from Norway.

Vilda and some of her California cousins.

Olav tried his hand at ladder golf.

So did Marit...

As well as Nils Magnar

The coals were hot and the cooks started cooking the burgers and hot dogs.

Here we have Kurt, Jack, Shirley and Grace.

Another table of relatives.

And still more relatives.

Oh did you think we were finished?

Judy decided to sit down and visit with the hunters in the family.

Vilda and her dad Nils Magnar

 Vilda needed to try ladder golf.

The next day we wondered the beaches again and found a few more people at Ventura Harbor. Several of the relatives wanted to learn to paddle board, so we tried to find them. We headed off one direction and didn't see any one we knew, or any paddle boarders.

Vilda soaking up the California sun. She goes swimming in the ice cold waters of the Sogna Fjord in Balestrand, Norway without a wet suit. Tough girl!

Crashing waves.

 Vilda now standing in the cold Pacific Ocean, probably warmer than the Sogna Fjord.

 We headed back to where we started and then continued on about a quarter mile and found them.

That evening was the dinner and the awards. What is a Viking without a viking hat? This is Olav

 Nils Magnar, Marit, Olav and Vilda came all the way form Gode Gamle Norge (good old Norway) to visit us. Each received Olympic Medals and gifts to remember us by.

 Even Judy got an Olympic medal and a Thompson Reunion apron

This is the whole gang at the formal dinner.

And all the Norwegians.

We got a picture of all the Hunters in the family.  Plenty of game taken over the years.