Great news!

Our daughter-in-law Amy had her usual followup every 4 month MRI  on August 14 -I love when Dr. T walks into the room, looks at us and says "It's good"!!!!!  3 1/2 years out from surgery for the brain tumor and a little over 3 years since chemo and radiation ended!  We do the same drill:  She picks me up, MRI, walk around, head to Manny's Tortas (this is Manny) in Global Market and meet Chris for lunch, back to doc appt with the usual 4-5 family in the room, get the report and home!  It's a full day.

Alex spent the day with Ross while we were gone to the hospital and as soon as I got home he's waiting to ride bike to the beach.  We dug the longest "channel with waterfalls" ever and it took a couple hours.  Great exercise and I love spending time with my grandchildren.  The day before he called to say "Grammy, I accept your invitation to spend the night and go out to dinner - but is it fancy?"  No - pizza!

Another lake, another day this week.  My walking friend Mardelle and I took our grandchildren out on a paddleboat for an hour!  Wow - they are not easy to pedal or paddle or whatever you call it.  The little boys 6 and 8 have strong legs and helped us.

After paddling headed out to a get-together with my old work crew.  Cancer has hit hard and so far I have not been a target so am grateful for that.

Living room - Done!  Now I need to "redo" the piano corner to modernize a bit.  The charcoal picture of the roses above the piano was done by my Grandma Sylvester.  She was a pretty good artist - and a schoolteacher.

So.....in celebration of Amy's good news I booked an apartment in Budapest for May 2014!  I realize that travel planning is my greatest stress reliever and of course I always have a mental list of places I want to go.  Now will be trying to find one in Bucharest - definitely more Eastern Europe.
Today my brother Brian arrives from California; tomorrow morning the whole bunch heads up north to the Jolly Fisherman Resort for the biannual cabin experience!  Alex:  "Uncle Brian is so nice that he always rents the pontoon for us"...and "Grammy don't forget your homemade strawberry jam"...and "My mom is really nice.  She buys lots of clothes for me that I really like and I'm bringing this to San Diego" - showing me his surfing shirt.  The little guy is ready for our family spring break in March!!!!!
I just have to remember to bring the toilet paper tomorrow!!!!!