Happy 25th Anniversary

We celebrated our 25th anniversary with a dinner out during the week, flowers from Brian and Diana, a new ring and a trip to East Brothers Lighthouse Bed and Breakfast.

Dining room

The East Brothers Lighthouse in in the San Pablo Bay right by the San Rafael bridge.  The lighthouse was originally built in 1873.  It fell into disrepair in the 1960's and 70's. And by 1979 had to be almost completely rebuilt.  One of the ways to raise money for upkeep is to have a bed and breakfast.

The lighthouse keepers are a married couple whose job is to run the B&B and keep up the island.  The wife, Stephanie, cooked us delicious appetizers, dinner and breakfast.  The husband, Bryan, gave us information on the island, drove the boat and did a demo of the old foghorns.

Climbing the stairs to the light house

Looking down from the lighthouse, the white dome is the cistern for rain water

Lighthouse

There were boats going by all day and night

The whole island

Richmond -San Rafael bridge with the SF skyline in the background

Our room - the SF Room

Our room

The foghorn

The foghorn sounded all day and all nite about every 30 seconds.  You didn't even hear it during the day but at nite with was distracting if you were awake.  And if you were awake it was hard to fall asleep!

Dinner menu

The small building was built as a school house for the keepers children, and behind it is the water tower

The water for the island is all rain water that is caught from the grounds.  They gather 15000 gallons of water for inch of water it rains.  Then they filter the water and use it for all water needed for the island.

Our bathroom

The boat used to get to the island

This is a giant engine that is used to run the old foghorns.

Bryan the lighthouse keeper did a demo of the old foghorns.  He started the engine above and waited for the pressure to build to 40 and then blew the horns.  They were the loudest sound I had ever heard.  You could feel it in your heart!

This is the boat house on the island.

This is a giant ship being pushed by a tugboat

An old light from a light house at Yerba Buena light house.

Appetizers were served when we arrived.

The other rooms in the lighthouse were rented by a really nice family celebrating a 70th birthday.  We enjoyed chatting with them at dinner and breakfast.

Our bathroom

East Brothers Lighthouse

Hiking Mug

I got these mugs for the gals that went on the backpacking trip.  We can all drink tea and think of each other and the fun we had.  The back says "Bad Ass Ladies Tour 2015" and "Where the Rubber Meets the Dirt".

Deaf Church

Grace has to go to a deaf event for her sign language class and chose to go to deaf church today.  And since Jack is here, he went too!

Pokemon Regional Tourney

Every year at this time, Jackson plays in the Regional Pokemon Tourney in SJ.  We love it because its cool to check out and it's his birthday weekend so we get to see him on his birthday.

Camouflage!

Action shot of Jack playing a game!

This is all Jack's gear for the games - he has a customer mat.

Family Date Nite - A Midsummer Night's Dream

For G's Minor in music, she needs to go to arts events at school.  So for the first event we all went and watched the play "A Midsummer Night's Dream".  It was super entertaining and we all really enjoyed it.

This was projected on the wall of the building as we walked up.

Happy 25th ring for me!

Here are pics of my 25th anniversary ring.  It is hard too capture the beauty in a picture .  It is so sparkly and beautiful that there I cannot even think up words to describe it.  Thanks to my mom for giving me a family heirloom diamond to include in it.  The diamonds include the one I got from Jim for our engagement, my grandmother's engagement diamond and my great, great grandmother's engagement diamond!  The ring will be engraved with the names of the ladies whose diamonds are in it so that we will never forget!  It will be such a treasured ring for the rest of my life and I hope future generations will love it as much as I do.

Beer Holder

My hillbilly Uncle is making these super cool 6-pack holders made from old barn wood.  The handles are saplings that are twisted.  I LOVE them!

25th Anniversary

This is our 25th anniversary month!  And to celebrate, I am getting a new ring.  But it is not your normal "go to the store and buy it ring".  I had one specifically designed for me and I am using family heirloom diamonds.  I am soooo soooo soooo excited.  It will be a one of a kind that has such sentimental value.  I am even having the names of the women who owned the diamonds engraved on the inside of it.  The diamonds were from my grandmother and my great, great grandmother.  I using my marquis diamond from Jim and am also adding two new diamonds to pass down in the family.

The picture above shows the wax model of the ring.  It doesn't look very impressive but not to worry - the ring will look much better.

Tombstone, AZ

 We took a side trip to Tombstone, AZ this weekend while visiting Drew.  It is a cute little old western town where Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday used to hang out.

This is the original Bird Cage Theater

Marty and another statue

We had lunch in Big Nose Kate's Saloon - which is the actual same building as when Wyatt Earp was there.

Marty and Jim on the corner of Good Enough and Tough Nut!

U of A Family Weekend - 2015

A little beer pong before the football game

We went to Family Weekend in Tucson this weekend and squeezed more in than I thought possible!

It was fun that Drew had an apartment where we could hang out (and party).  We got there at about 11 am, hung out at his apartment for awhile and then went to the football game.  U of A was playing Jim's Alma Matter, OSU!  Unfortunately is was about 100 degrees in the stands.  So we only stayed in our seats for about 8 minutes!  Then we watched the rest of the quarter from the shade and then called it good and went to Drew's house to watch it on tv.

Marty and his statues

Chad and Jim talking football

Room mates families

A room mates Armenian grandma made this raw meat appetizer

Drew's apartment building