It's Colorado River Time At Aha Quinn . . . .

On the weekend of August 29th, Paul and
Joanne invited us to their place at Aha
Quinn on the beautiful Colorado River.  It
is  one of our favorite places to go for fun. 
We had not been for awhile and were so
excited to go.  Ryann would turn two on
Saturday and we were looking forward to
celebrating her birthday with her.

It was going to be a quick trip.  We left
Saturday morning, the 29th, at 5:00 and
arrived there at 8:00.  Paul and Joanne,
Justin and Ani, Chris, Jeni, Ethan and
Ryann, had all arrived Friday night.  Justin,
George and I would be staying at Paul and
Joanne's.  Chris, Jeni, and the kids, were
staying with Chris' parent's, Gary and Kathy.
They live just down the street from Paul and
Joanne.

Muggles was so excited.  The minute she
spotted the water tower near the entrance to
Aha Quinn, she started crying and running
back and forth in the back seat, from window
to window.  She has always loved going to
 "The River' and has been there many times
since she was a puppy.  She loves the freedom
and knows there will be other dogs there for
her to play with.  Her and Ani are the same age.

It was a quiet, laid back, and relaxing visit.
the morning's festivities began with Paul
cooking a delicious breakfast.  They didn't
have a set schedule in the works.  It was
just going to be fun doing what we wanted
to do.  Paul had not planned to put a boat in
the water as we did not know how my breathing
would be.

Paul set the Slip N' Slide up on the greenbelt
behind the trailer.  The gently sloping hill going
down to where it levels off, is perfect for a
Slip N' Slide.  Theirs has a long run ending
in a small pool.  Ethan and Ryann are
fearless on it.  They even had their grandpa
and grandma slipping and sliding along with
them, and that is quite a sight to see.  Sitting
in the lovely shade at the top of the hill while
we watched all of the action, is mine and
George's idea of a geat time.  Later, while Justin,
Chris, Jeni and the kids, went down to the River
to play in the water and on the beach, Paul, Joanne,
George, and I, hung out at the trailer.  Paul and I
played a game of UpWords, and what a game it
was!  We maxed out twelve columns and our
scores were so high we went off the board.
Unfortunately, I lost.  He beat  me by one
little point, 445 to 444.  Our second game
wasn't  quite as exciting, but it was a good one
because I won.  When Jeni came in a little
later, we had just started another game and we
invited her to play.  I don't know how excited
she was about it as she said she hadn't played
for a long time and probably didn't even
remember how.  Guess what?  She beat us. 
What a sly smile she bestowed upon us.  It
sparked a memory of sitting at Carlsbad State
Beach one summer evening years ago.  Jeni and
 I played a game of Scrabble.  She was a novice
and she beat me for her VERY FIRST Scrabble
win!  I think I was as excited as she was.  Humility
doesn't always last forever, however.  I will take
this opportunity to explain that statement.  The
other day Trey, Jenna, Montana and Harlee Mae
(I just had to get the Mae in there), came by to
bring George and I a treat, and while talking
about our weekend at the river, Jenna said,
"Oh yeah, Jeni told us she trounced you and
Paul in a game of UpWords".  Oh well, it ended
 up with each of us having a win.

The afternoon also included watching the Ryder
Cup Golf, some San Diego Chargers football,
reading, and playing with the kids. That evening,
Jeni cooked dinner for all of us at Gary and Kathy's
place.  It was delicious lasagna, green salad and
garlic bread.  She then brought out the cupcakes
she had made.  She had a special one with two
candles for the birthday girl.  We all sang Happy
Birthday to Ryann while she blew out the
candles and then we ate cupcakes with ice cream.

After we finished our dessert, Ryann opened her
 gifts.  What fun that was!  She was having a great
time.  It was so much fun watching her tear into
her gifts with a lot of help from her big brother,
Ethan.   One of the first gifts she opened was a pair
of dress up high heels.  It was a hoot watching her
totter around on them while she opened the rest of
her gifts.  What little girl doesn't love to dress up
in grown up clothes?

I had a great time watching both sets of doting
grandparents, proud parents, and Uncle Justin and
Aunt Missy, watching all of this with smiles from
ear to ear and lots of oohs and aahs.  Some proud
great grandparents did a lot of smiling, also.

Earlier, Muggles had gone on the traditional walk
she always enjoys at the River with the other dogs
and she had fun playing as the kids, big and little,
played on the Slip N' Slide.

Sunday morning, Paul cooked another great breakfast.
We hung out for a couple of hours and then, it was
winding up the festivites as we all got ready to return 
home.  George and I left at 12:00, Justin about the
same time, and the rest of them later in the day. 

We did a lot in that day and a half.  It was a fantastic
time.  Thank you Ryann or inviting us to your birthday
party.