HAPPY 2018

Wishing all our friends and family 

a very happy new year! 

May 2018 bring you many blessings!!

Happy New Year from the Pavones!

We made so many memories on our travels in 2017.

We are truly blessed and fortunate to be able to travel.

Mid-January took us to Nashville where we met great friends and visited the Jack Daniels Distillery, in nearby Lynchburg, as well as a 'behind the scenes' tour of the Jack Daniels Fire Brigade; met friends in Las Vegas; a Caribbean Cruise, in February, with Kathy and Stan (my sis and BiL); and a few RV trips, including trips to Pismo Beach, Buellton, Rincon County Beach, Newport Beach, Thanksgiving week at Del Mar Beach Resort on Camp Pendleton, and our annual trip to El Mirage, AZ, for the month of March for spring training.

When we returned from AZ, we picked up our new puppy, Bailey, a 14 week Brittany, at the San Diego Airport. She flew down from Idaho to become a member of our family. She's a year old now and a great addition to our family, although we will be glad when she stops digging and chewing things that aren't meant for dog (like drip lines, dog beds, paper or fabric scraps!). She is loving and playful, and helping to keep Sydney (now 13) young at heart!

In July, we took a trip of a lifetime cruising the rugged coastline of Norway with Kathy, Stan, and our good friends, the Lauries. It was a fantastic trip. The Norwegian landscapes and fjords are breathtaking and spectacular (my favorite fjord, Geirangerfjord, is pictured on the front of this card). Norway is one of the most beautiful places we've ever seen. It meant so much to walk on the land where our fathers' ancestors are from (although our cruise didn't take us to Skien, 

the actual town, of my dad's ancestors).

Our Christmas gift to our family was taking all 11 of us on a Caribbean Cruise, in mid-December. A wonderful time was had by all, especially the grandkids. They loved everything about the ship, Oasis of the Seas (one of three of the largest cruise ships on the seas): the food, the buffet, swimming in the ships' pools, the Carousel, kids' club activities and more. They also had fun going ashore and swimming or snorkeling in the clear turquoise waters at the beaches of Labadee and Cozumel. It brought us such joy to watch the excitement on our grandkids' faces on this great adventure. Guess we've spoiled them; they can't wait to go on another cruise!!

Sadly, we said goodbye to my mom, Hope (she had Alzheimer's), at the end of Sept., three months shy of her 90th birthday.  She will be missed by so many, and always remembered with love!

            We are thankful for our family, our health, and our friends.

                        Wishing you and your family a very happy and healthy 2018!

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE PAVONES

Highlights of 2016

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

I had the best of intentions for writing blogs, but alas, our busy life got in the way and I didn't make the time to write any! So, here are the Highlights of 2016. It was another busy year filled with family, friends and fun, traveling, RVing, quilting teaching, and much joy. 

We traveled throughout the year. In January our traveling included a trip to a very stormy New Jersey,  and a Caribbean cruise with friends. In July, we flew to Seattle & took a summer road trip with friends (not in the RV) thru the Olympic Peninsula; drove around the Lavender Festival in Squim; ferried to Vancouver Island; stayed in a quaint, boutique hotel close to the waterfront in historic Victoria; spent a day amongst the beautiful flowers of the Butchart Gardens; ferried to Vancouver, Canada; spent a couple days in Whistler; then continued on to the big city of Vancouver; then back to Seattle. The Pacific Northwest is so picturesque and a favorite of ours. Sept we went to Laughlin on our now “annual family vacation;” spent 4 fun-filled days on the Lake Mojave with our adult kids and 5 grandkiddos-always a great time! Oct we went to Santa Catalina Island on our friend’s sailboat. It was a wonderful, relaxing trip; had fun exploring the town of Avalon.

RVing included the month of March in Arizona for Spring Training again; in May, a weekend with family and friends in Julian; spent the 4^th of July in Oxnard with my sister and family, then onto Buellton to camp with friends; in Aug at Rincon County Park (on PCH but right on the edge of the beach; for our Annual Thanksgiving week of camping we spent it with friends and family at Del Mar RV Resort, on the Camp Pendleton Marine Base.

Nick did a lot of teaching all over So Cal for the State Fire Marshal’s Office; he worked on beautifying our yards, and helped with our master bath remodel, re-staining our vanity and tiling the floor. Karen went to the Broadway play, ‘Carole King’s Beautiful” with Nicole (a wonderful night of reminiscing back to my college days!)and went to 4 quilt retreats, making many quilts for charity.

Rounding out the year we tried to spend as much time as we could with all 5 of our grandkids (pictured above l to r: Seth-3½, Hallee-5½, Gigi-9½, Micah-6½, and Brody-6½). Every time we are with them it is always fun. They bring us much joy and happiness.

Exploring the USA

We took our first USA RV Trip with our good friends, Sue and Bill, (and our dog, Sydney, of course!). Our wonderful journey started on August 11th when we left Lake Almanor in Nor Cal.We returned home on Oct 8th, 2014.

(we drove to the top of Pike's Peak in Colorado)

We spent 8 1/2 weeks on the roads of northern America in our 40' RV, towing our jeep, on our trip of a lifetime (the first of several such trips).

Nick and I have camped our entire marriage. We started camping in a tent, before we bought a camper. After the camper, we owned 2-travel trailers (18" and 24"), 2-Class C motorhomes (22' and 28'), 1-Class A 34' motorhome, and 2-diesel pusher 40' motorhomes. We have always talked about seeing and traveling through all the states of the USA.

Last year we bought our USA map (those of you who camp have seen the USA maps on the sides of RV's). On it, we put the states' stickers for the states we traveled to in 2013 in our RV: California, of course, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.  Now our USA map has 19 states' stickers, only 29 more states to go, 30 if we take our RV to Alaska!

Here's a look at our trip by the numbers:

We traveled 17 states:  (18 states if you count driving 20 miles through Arizona!).

We visited and or/traveled to:

*** 38+ American cities/towns

*** 6 cities visited friends

*** 8 National Parks:

    Glacier National Park
    Yellowstone National Park
    Theodore Roosevelt National Park
    Badlands National Park
    Rocky Mountain National Park
    Arches National Park
    Bryce National Park
    Zion National Park

*** 26+  Points of Interest and National Historic Sites, including:
    National Bison Range, MT
    John D. Rockefeller Memorial Pkwy (the road between Yellowstone and Grand Tetons)
    Little Missouri National Grasslands, ND
    Mt Rushmore National Memorial, SD
    Custer State Park in the Black Hills, SD
    Crazy Horse Memorial, SD
    Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, SD
    "Wall Drug," SD
    Jefferson Expansion, St Louis Arch Gateway to the West, MO
    Anheuser Busch Brewery and Budweiser Tour, MO
    Branson. MPO
    Air Force Strategic Air Command and Museum, NE
    Holy Family Shrine Chapel, NE
    The Mall of America, MN
    Minnehaha Falls, MN
    Harley-Davidson Museum, WI
    Wisconsin Dells, WI
    Vesterheim - Norwegian-American Museum, IO (both Sue and I are Norwegian!)
    Covered Bridges of Madison County, IO
    United States Air Force Academy and AF Cadet Chapel, CO
    Pike's Peak, (14, 115') CO
    Garden of the Gods, CO - National Natural Landmark
    Royal Gorge Suspension Bridge, CO
    Grand Mesa outside of Grand Junction, CO
    Lake Mead and Hoover Dam, NV

*** 4 baseball parks: Minnesota Twins, Target Field; Milwaukee Brewers, Miller Park;
               St Louis Cardinals, Busch Stadium; and Kansas City Royals, Kaufman Stadium

*** 33 RV parks, including 3 state park campgrounds and 2 city RV parks

*** 28 days/nights of rainstorms with thunder and lightning, like we've never seen in southern California! Everywhere, along our trip, locals told us it was the "wettest" summer in years, which we can attest!

***12 audiobooks listened to along the way

*** 2,000+ pictures taken

*** and 8,600 miles put on our RV and 1,500 miles on our jeep.

America is so much larger than we imagined, with the most amazing beauty, vastness and diversity of the terrain. We saw green rolling hills, lush foliage and forests;

many rivers, including the Missouri River, the Mississippi River, the Arkansas River and the Colorado River; waterfalls: many lakes and the very Big Sky of Montana; the wildflowers; glacier, hot mineral springs, and geysers;the brilliant blue skies over America with the clouds almost close enough to touch; the beautiful sunsets;

the sunflower fields, as well as the endless fields of sorghum and soybeans, and corn fields; Hoodoos (spires); the plains; the many mountains, including the mighty Rocky Mountains; and many different wild animals, including: American Bison, Elk, Prone Horn Antelope, Mule Deer, Whitetail Deer, Prairie Dogs, bear, chipmunks, ground squirrels, and Mountain Goat.

We drove on two lane highways, interstates, back roads, and dirt roads; throughout National Parks; through small towns and large cities; in the middle of what seemed like nowhere, alone on an interstate and stuck in traffic (YES! there is traffic outside of California, although shocking, I know!); used 4 GPS's and a good old-fashioned Atlas, at one time, to guide us along our way, sometimes finding a "different" way to get to our destination. We drove on sunny clear days and through some torrential thunderstorms; had warm weather and some really cold weather in the fall (woke up to 27 degrees in Bryce Canyon National Park); through the plains, over the continental divide several times, and over the Rocky Mountains via the Independence Pass, 12,096 ft.

To see more of our trip check out  my flickr page !

Happy New Year!

2013 was a very good year filled with much joy & memory making for the 

Pavone Family. 

 Alex, Micah-3, Angelina, Seth, Hallee-2, Brody-3, Karen, Nick, Gigi-6, Nicole, David & Sydney

The biggest joy of the year was the birth of our 5^th granbaby,

Seth Robert Pavone, born June 3rd!

We enjoyed RV trips that took us from Arizona for Spring training; to Fort Bragg

for Ab Diving; on a 5 week trip from SD to Sisters, OR to Sequim & Seattle, WA,  

with a day trip to Victoria, BC; to Julian for apple picking; to Lake Havasu with Gigi;

and our annual beach camping for Thanksgiving week.

  We also had a fun filled year of travels with friends, spending a week in Cancun,

and a two-week driving trip from Gettysburg, VA thru the Amish Country of PA,

NJ, NY, Conn, Newport, RI, Cape Cod and Boston, MA.

The highlight of our travels was an 18 day adventure & cruise to

Australia and New Zealand!  The people of these countries were so friendly.

We loved the beauty and awe of "Down Under'!

We are definitely loving retirement!

We are so thankful for how God has blessed us with our wonderful family.

We hope your Christmas was a special one.

May 2014 be extra happy and healthy filled with wonderful memory making moments!

Gigi Goes to Disneyland!

We spent a wonderful day at the "Happiest Place on Earth" on Gigi's 5th Birthday! It's a whole new place when seen through the eyes of a child, especially on her first visit to this magical land!

Papa and Gigi just before entering the park.

Mommy made Gigi a Minnie Mouse shirt to wear with her Minnie ears 

which she also wore on Halloween!

David, Hallee, Gigi, Nicole and Brody

Unc A and Micah joined us.

First ride for us was the all new Star Tours.

  Dumbo and the Carousel were both hits for all the little ones.  We all enjoyed the Tea Cups, Jungle Cruise and Autopia, too!  The grown-ups loved Pirates and Big Thunder as well!

Midday, Gigi changed into her princess Belle dress and had her face painted.

We explored ToonTown and took a tour of Mickey's house and the rest of the ToonTown.

Gigi and a reluctant Brody had their picture taken with Minnie Mouse.

In the afternoon we visited the Disney Princess Fantasy Faire.

Gigi was getting a bit tired,

But, despite the almost hour wait to Meet the Princesses, when asked what her favorite thing about Disneyland was, Gigi still replies:  "Meeting the princesses, Cinderella and Tiana!"

Gigi and Cinderella, her favorite princess, shared a chat, a hug and an autograph;

Gigi getting Tiana's autograph!

 It was truly a fantastic day!! 

You can see more pictures on my flickr page.

December 2011

Christmas Celebrations with the Pavones

We went to the Kids' Christmas Party at the fire department, mid-December, and the kids had a blast! The fireplace was decorated with fire boots for Santa and his elf's arrival, down the fire pole; the movie Polar Express was playing; children ran around laughing; there was pizza, vegies and cookies for the large crowd of over one hundred!

Our little he boys enjoyed sitting in the fire engine, and playing with their new wooden trains, and Hallee seemed to enjoy her first time sitting on Santa's lap! The boys, on the other hand, both screamed when their dads got them within close proximity of Santa and his elf! Even Gigi was more reluctant this year.

Christmas Eve.... we enjoyed a delicious Chicken Piccata dinner prepared by Nicole, accompanied by the wonderful sounds of the holiday season

from our newly set up (by Nicole) Pandora station on our TV.

After dinner.....

David and Nick assembled a few items. Top left, David assembling Brody's new train table; top right, David and Nick assembling Micah's tricycle.

Bottom left, all the family stockings were filled to their tops, and overflowing, each one having a "traditional orange" in the bottom. Bottom right, Our beautiful Christmas Tree!

Once the little ones were tucked away in their beds and fast asleep, we watched Chevy Chase in Christmas Vacation, one of our traditions!!

While we waited for Alex and family to arrive from Costa Mesa, we called Great-grandma (my mom) and sang her Happy 84th Birthday as Christmas is her birthday, too.

Christmas morning was filled with joy, laughter, wonder and amazement in the eyes of children, mixed with a bit of chaos and more sounds of Christmas!

Top left, Nicole with Hallee and Gigi; top right, Hallee on her new quilt beautifully paper pieced by Granny. Bottom left, Micah on his new tricycle and Brody on his scooter; bottom right, Alex with the boys, Micah and Brody.

And, Gigi riding on her new Razor Scooter, boy could she go fast down the slight hill of our driveway!!

At the request of our son, Alex, we "dressed-up" for Christmas dinner,

and we all looked fabulous, of course!

Getting all the kids to look at the camera at the same moment isn't always the easiest!

Top left, Alex, Angelina and Micah; top right, Karen (yaya) holding Hallee, Gigi, Brody and Micah in the middle, and Nick (papa)! Bottom left, David Brody Nicole Hallee and Gigi in front; Jeri (granny) and Dan (granpa)Bennett

A very Merry Christmas was had by all!!

More pictures on my flickr page.

Christmas Stockings and more!

The first year we were married I made my hubby and I stockings from Vogue Pattern 1312, which is no longer in print. I embroidered our names on the stockings' cuffs, from the iron-on letters which came in the pattern. At the time I didn't consider that these stockings are extra large and would need to be filled with lots of goodies. We still fill each other's stocking every Christmas, and sometimes those stocking stuffers have been quite interesting, including, socks, toothpaste, candy, cd's, dvd's, shaving cream, or you name it!!

When our kids were born my mom made stockings for them, but we decided to make them smaller than the original pattern size with embellishments of applique, lace and ricrac, and of course, their names embroidered on the cuffs! Fast forward 25 years, the tradition continues: I made stockings for our Nicole and David, to hang at their home.

A few years later, I made a stocking for our daughter-in-law, Angelina. Amazingly, the letter iron-ons still imprint more than 30 years later! Our kids' original stockings and their spouses' stockings hang along with ours from our mantel.

In 2010 I then made a set of stockings for Alex, Angelina, and my grandson, Micah.

I varied the pattern by making their family stockings out of red minkee and flannel.

Back in 2007, I made a stocking for our first granddaughter, Gigi, with an appliques angel, similar to the one her mom's grandma made for her. Last year, I also made a stocking for my grandson, Brody, embellished with baseball bats and a ball!

This year I made a stocking for our newest granddaughter, Hallee. The Bennett family's stockings are all made from Christmas Batiks!

The tissue pattern pieces are well worth and getting thin, and a few of the letters don't imprint as dark as they used to, but that hasn't stopped me from using it over and over. It's a shame this pattern isn't available anymore because it has so many cute Christmas projects I have made through the years (pictured above): ornaments, wreaths, our Advent Calendar and I still decorate with these projects every year.

On Being Thankful !

I want to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving, so I thought I'd share my whimsical,wall hanging for Thanksgiving.

On a more serious note, as I reflect on Thanksgivings past, I am reminded of all the good times we have had as a family and our life long tradition of "camping" for the holiday. Family and friends join us in this tradition. We used to camp from Wednesday afternoon until Sunday morning. But over the years we have added a day or two to the time we spend camping, at the beach (South Carlsbad State Beach or San Elijo State Beach, with a couple of years spent at the San Mateo Campground in San Clemente, part of the San Onofre State Beach). The last few years we have camped for the entire week of Thanksgiving, rain or shine! I say "rain or shine" because we've had a few years with downpours of rain, but it never dampened our holiday spirit.

This is a time to be thankful, and I have much to be thankful for: my health, my family, my grandchildren, my life, my God. I was inspired by a "pin" on Pinterest, which linked me with the blog, simplyvintagegirl, so I made my own Thankful Tree.

With a grateful heart and joyous praise I give thanks to God who blesses us all!

Spontaneous Family Fun Day

On the spur of the moment, Nick and I went with Nicole, Gigi, Brody and Hallee to WAP, one day, the San Diego Wild Animal Park, now known as the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. We still refer to it as the Wild Animal Park, some things are hard to change!

It was a beautiful 70 degree day with a light breeze blowing. As we walked all around the park, we saw the elephants, tigers, lions, gorillas, including the newest baby gorilla, named Monroe, who is almost the same age as Hallee, born a couple of weeks after her in June.We also saw so many beautiful flowers all around the park.

While walking through the Lion area the funniest thing happened. The lions were lazing around in the sun, when one of the lions sneezed. We were standing on a bridge area behind a fence. Brody was standing next to papa, and jumped behind papa at the sudden sound of the lion's sneeze! He was quite startled. He also didn't like the sounds coming from the "jungle cars" in the kids play area.

Hallee slept through much of the day, while Gigi ran and skipped her way around the park. Brody rode in the stroller half the time, and the other half he tried to keep up with Gigi, which wasn't an easy thing for him, since he's still a bit unsteady on his feet, especially when he tries running.

We ate lunch at the park and enjoyed a waffle ice cream cone. After our "snack" we stopped by the meer cats exhibit so see them all "sunning" themselves. And, a visit to the WAP wouldn't be complete without a ride on the carousel! Gigi and mommy rode on animals, and it wasn't easy to capture them while they rode round and round!
Brody didn't want to ride on an animal so he opted for a seat with papa.

Days like this one make extra special memories because we see things through the eyes of our grandbabies!

More pictures.

I Wonder

Hello blogland!!

It's been a while since I've blogged. I've been going through some old papers of my mom's and came across this beautiful poem my grandmother, her mother wrote in 1948. She penned it on a lined 4 x 6 page from a memo pad and entitled it, "I Wonder."

A flood of memories comes to mind when I see her handwriting, which is so familiar to me, even though I haven't seen it in so very many years. She was a wonderful person, loved by everyone. My sister and I called her Grandma, and the neighborhood called her Grandma Dodge because she was the neighborhood grandma for sure! She was such an amazing Godly woman, a true inspiration to me. She meant so much to me I honored her by giving her name to my daughter, Nicole Viola, who is also an amazing Godly woman and inspiration to me.

I Wonder

I wonder if one ever thanks

God for the beauty of a sunset,

Or for the laughter of

a child at play,

Or for the rain

that leaves our garden wet,

Or for the glory of the dawning day.

I Wonder

by

Viola Dodge 1948

Thank you, God, for the beauty of a sunset and the laughter of children at play,

(especially the play of my 4 grandchildren!).

Thank you, God Almighty, for the rain I do love, and how the rain provides nourishment for gardens everywhere on earth.

Thank you God, "for the Glory of the Dawning Day!"

Thank you God for every Dawning Day!