I opened my birthday present early, and made homemade ice cream for dessert for Dawn's birthday dinner last night.  It was wonderful!  (and it was so easy - this could become a really bad habit!)  I had been thinking about getting an ice cream maker for a while - ever since I got my Kitchen-Aide mixer (they have an attachment to make ice cream).  Not too long ago, I started doing more research, and decided I didn't want one - the good ones were way too expensive!  Most makers require the bowl to be frozen 24 hours before each use.  I don't always have room in my freezer, or what if I wanted two batches??  Then, last week, I had the best idea yet - Ralph used the reward points from one of our credit cards!  That took the price down on the expensive model to what we would pay for one of the 'more reasonably priced' models.  And then, it came in early, and then it was Dawn's birthday....I just had to open it!  Good idea!  It is a Cuisinart ice cream maker that has the freezer built in to it.  Wonderful!

I'm off today to San Diego - I think I have everything done before I leave.  I spent most of yesterday running around and cleaning.  I still have to pack, but that is about it.  I'm being picked up at 11:00 this morning.  My biggest decision - what project to take with me?  I finished up my doily last night - or as much as I can.  I ran out of thread 3/4 of the way around the last row.  I checked all of the stores here in town that carry thread, and no one has the Aunt Lydia's Copper Mist thread right now.  I'm bummed!  Do I rip out the last row and use a different color (and what would that be??) or just wait until I can find more thread?  I think I'm going to wait.  I'm hoping to get to Reno in September for Knit and Crochet show, and the Ben Franklin store then should have it,  If not I'll wait for a 'free shipping' day on one of the on-line stores and order it.  Eventually.  Bummer.

I made it through the week!  I wasn't too sure at times, but.....here I am!  This 'back to  school' stuff is tough on Mom's too.  Alli seems to be adjusting fine - I'm the one that is running around tired all the time, I think.  So far, school is going well.  At least, not a lot of notes home to us anyway.  By Wednesday, they had a new bus schedule for Allison - instead of being dropped off at 5:00 (even though the driver said it would be 4:45) she is being dropped off closer to 3:45.  Much better!

Yesterday started at 4:45 a.m. for me, and off to work by 7:00.  I got in from work around 8:30 p.m..  A long day!  My department was responsible for refreshments for the monthly staff meeting this month, and, since this is the Bank's 30th anniversary, 'they' decided we should all be at work at 7:45 on Friday before the meeting for a group photo.  No big deal, but that meant we had to have everything set up for refreshments before that!  I got to work at 7:10, and (with help from the department) got everything set up at 7:44.  Whew!  (And then, the photographer didn't show until 8:00)  Then, after work, we had a bridal shower for a co-worker.  I had spent my lunch hour on Thursday running around getting stuff for both activities, and then had to set up for the party between 5:00 (when the bank closed) and 5:30, when everyone showed up.  Everything went well, so it was all good - but I'm tired!  I was tired, but not sleepy - I watched TV until midnight last night, crocheting on a doily.  Then, of course, Alli was up at 5:30.  It's going to be a long day!

Our floor has its first casualty.  One of the dogs threw up sometime during the day, and it just had to be on one of the seams.  Oh well, it was going to happen anyway, but.....I was hoping to put it off for a while.  Two seams right in front of the couch are turning up.  Hopefully, it isn't too noticeable to anyone but me!

I'm off tomorrow on a business trip - I'm off to a conference in San Diego Sunday - Thursday.  It should be a fun trip - there are 6 of us going from the bank.  I have a chance to get "certified" in one of the programs I use at work - I'm looking forward to it.  I don't think Ralph is quite so excited about me leaving.  He'll be fine, but it is always stressful for him.    I've left him a list of what I do, what I pack in Alli's lunch,, etc.  he'll do great!

Alli (and classroom) survived her first day back to school.  She rode the bus to school - pickup is 6:10 a.m. - but I picked her up after school.  She had an appointment with her spine doctor at 4:00 and needed x-rays first.  Even x-rays took forever.  I was planning on getting the x-rays, and then stopping for a snacks, and then off to the doctor's.  Instead, we went right from one place to the other.  Then, we waited until 5:00 to see the doctor.  Alli was DONE by then, but....she survived that too.  Her spine has gotten a little bit worse over the course of two years.  In September, 2010, her upper curve was 47 degrees and her lower curve was 57 degrees.  Now they are 46 and 63 degrees.  She goes back in January to check for further deterioration.

I found a serious down side to sitting on the patio to blog......there was  skunk in the neighborhood last night.  Yuck!  It's still cooler than in the house, so it is a trade off.  He wasn't here very recently, or I would go back inside.  As it is now, I have two dogs (Tank and Koori) for company.  I was going to add that I have a couple of birds in the yard for company too, but Tank saw them.  He doesn't LIKE birds in his yard.  He chased them out before I could even type it.  No he's all proud of himself for defending his territory and is out strutting around the yard.  Silly dog! 

I finished up my baby afghan this morning.  I'm not real happy with the 'pucker' in the middle.  I'm hoping I can block that out.  We'll see!  The baby isn't due until November, so I have plenty of time to make some booties and a hat to go with it.

I didn't do much more on the blog yesterday than post pictures - it's all I really had a chance to do.  I made a big mistake by not bringing the "good" camera on the trip.  All the photos were from my phone, and it isn't the best for photos.  Don't get me wrong, for a phone, it takes great pictures, but it is still a phone first.  The 'good' camera would have been so much nicer to have.  Not to mention the fact that it is easier to get the photos off the camera than it is to get them off the phone,  I had to e-mail each picture home, open each e-mail and save the picture onto the computer.  I took almost 100 pictures!  It took all morning just to get the pictures on the computer and then I had to straighten them.  Every single picture I took was tilted a bit - some more than others.  I missed my camera!

The trip was good - good weather, good company, nice walks on the beach and in the trees.  I miss the coolness of the coast - I love walking in the mist in the big trees, and on the beach.  I wouldn't want it all the time - I love the sunshine, too (and you don't get much of that there) but I do like to get my "beach fix" every once in a while.  I need to do it more often - if Crescent City wasn't 4 1/2 hours away, it would be easier.  Even Eureka is 3 hours away - a bit long for a 'quick trip'.

Alli sure enjoyed the ocean.  She had fun in the sand on the beach long before I got her down to the water.  Once she knew she could actually walk in the water without me telling her to get out, she had a blast.  I couldn't keep her out of it!  Mom and I wandered up and down the beach looking for shells (of which I found exactly 1!) and then for pretty rocks - and we didn't find very many of those.  Alli trailed behind us, walking in the water.  We walked for over an hour, and she was still having fun.  Her feet were probably numb, but she was having fun!  The beach she was walking on is a very protected beach, and very slowly sloping out.  Very little danger for her - I was just worried that she might trip and fall due to the currents, and then I would have to wade out in the cold water to get her up.  She did good though - no falling - at least on the beach.  She did fall on our walk in the trees, and has a very nice bruise on one knee.  Poor baby!

Here's some videos of Alli playing in the waves

Here are some photos from our trip:

 The morning fog on the beach

 The harbor

 The morning fog on the beach

 The trees

 Alli eating lunch at the beach

 The flowers at lunch

 Mom at lunch

 The bay behind the jetty

 Alli at the harbor

 The park at lunch

 The lighthouse from the park

 Alli playing in the sand (she had a great time in the sand before she even got to the water!)

 Alli playing in the water

 Birds

 Birds

 The harbor

 Alli in the water

 Alli just had so much fun!!!

 Alli at the harbor

 Alli AFTER playing in the water

 Sunset

 The lighthouse

 Alli in the redwoods

The harbor

 Alli at the harbor

 The morning fog

 One of my favorite shots

Some photos from out trip to Crescent City