CHARLEY'S FIRST HALLOWEEN

Charley Ellen and her mom both came home yesterday, Sunday, Oct 30! They had to take her back for lab work and a check up this afternoon in which everything was okay. I had driven in from my dad's to take Allison's mom to the airport to fly home to Albuquerque. Being that close, of course, I had to wait around to get my granddaughter fix.


Not a great photo but Charley is so tiny in her car seat, I had to include it

Allison asked if I would like to hold her while they heated and ate their dinner. Was that question really even necessary? Of course, I would love to hold her anytime!


This sweet little girl is truly a bundle of joy



Charley snuggling with Daddy in her cute little pink preemie outfit

What would her first Halloween be without a costume? The hospital gave them the crocheted hat that looks like a Candy Corn. Then Darrin found the Halloween bib someone gave her so we added that to her ensemble.

Charley Ellen ready to go trick or treating in costume as a Candy Corn

She slept through the whole thing but Mom, Dad & Grandma had fun

Allison is doing well but she was really sore tonight after walking all over the hospital. Darrin is a real trooper taking care of his family. And I just get to enjoy the grandma stuff then go home and sleep. :-)They are both doing a fantastic job of being new parents! I couldn't be prouder of both of them.

Charley and Mommy just before feeding time

MORE CHARLEY ELLEN

This was a wonderful day! I was able to hold and rock my granddaughter on two different occasions for an extended period of time....and I still didn't want to give her up. :-) Charley turned the corner on nursing today and I was able to share that with Allison, who, by the way, was absolutely amazing & did a great job with a hungry, crying baby - she remained calm & cool until it finally worked.

Allen had thought to bring his camera to the hospital on Wednesday for Darrin to use in the delivery room so today I received all those photos, too.

The new family just hours after Charley Ellen's birth

Daddy grinning from ear to ear - I can't help but smile when I look at this photo

Daddy helping give Charley her first bath two hours after her arrival

After 24 hours in the NICU, Charley was released and is now in the room with Allison. Today I was able to hold her for the first time. Honestly, it is even better holding your grandchild for the first time than your own child because you know they won't break and there is none of the stress involved with figuring out how you are going to do this. It is joy in its purest form!

She had nursed successfully and her tummy was full so I rocked her for 40 minutes while Allison ate her lunch. There is nothing in this world that can compare to that overwhelming feeling of love.

No words can describe how amazing this feels!

Late this afternoon, at Allison's suggestion, we were able to take my dad to the hospital to meet his great granddaughter. He seemed genuinely moved by the whole thing and was so happy to share in this incredible event.

Charley meeting Great Grandpa Pop

This one brings tears to my eyes - my dad, my baby and his baby

I'm only two days into this adventure and already I know it is going to be like no other. What a gift to be given at this stage of my life. Thank you, God........and Allison, Darrin & Charley!

Charley Ellen Silver

Here are the first photos of this tiny, beautiful, amazing little girl - my granddaughter!

Charley and Daddy last night at one hour old

Charley Ellen with all her monitors - what a cutie!

Charley holding tight to Oma Kathy's finger

Everybody did well last night. Darrin stayed at the hospital with Allison and they took her down to feed Charley every two hours. Charley is in the Neonatal ICU because she is small and they want to make sure she gains weight and is able to maintain her body temperature before she moves to the regular nursery. She is by far in the best condition of any baby in the NICU. All of her vital signs are good.

Grandma Nancy flew in from Albuquerque late last night. We all met at the hospital this morning and she met Charley, too. Charley Ellen was zonked out when we saw her - bundled up and sound asleep.

Charley resting and gaining strength with Oma Kathy looking on

I think this little sweetheart is a real fighter and will be out of NICU and home on Sunday as predicted. I haven't seen Allison and Charley together yet but Darrin has some of those photos. As soon as I receive them from him, I'll forward them along. Allison is recovering well and is pretty sore but she's a real trooper. I am so proud of both of them - they are doing an incredible job.

Wow! I can hardly believe these last 24 hours.

BABY SHOWER

In just over a month my granddaughter, Charley Ellen, is due to enter the world. Unless she decides to make her appearance earlier, she will arrive on November 25^th, the day after Thanksgiving. Talk about something to be thankful for!

Yesterday we had a family & friends co-ed baby shower for Darrin & Allison.  It was a fun day with lots of visiting and laughter. I played hostess and did the planning and decorating – something I really enjoy!

The room after my careful attention to detail decorating

The chocolate mousse cake provided by Auntie Karen

The guests ranged in age from 1-1/2 to several 80 somethings – in fact the crowd was predominately seniors. Fortunately we were all fun-loving seniors and Darrin & Allison get along great with any age group.

That's great-grandpa Pop on the right enjoying the conversation

You can’t have a baby shower without games!  I’m not a fan of really crazy shower games so tried to keep it simple. I had a baby bottle full of Jelly Bellys – whoever came closet to guessing the correct number won them. Each person made their guess during our meet & greet time.

Next up was my Baby Jumble. I had such fun thinking up 20 words that had to do with babies, then scrambling them and printing it all on pink paper with clip art. We followed that with a bit more raucous game – everyone had to look at Allison but couldn’t hug or touch her, then they cut off a piece of ribbon that they thought would go around her belly exactly. For these two games we had a prize for the best guy and best girl.

The Baby Jumble winners - Darrin & Allison's mom, Nancy, who flew in from New Mexico

The Ribbon winners - Marilyn (with Grandpa Allen) & Jack (with his mom, Marsha)

I went through the Jelly Belly guesses and you’ll never believe who won – Jack, again!  When I announced that he was the winner and everyone cheered, he grinned and clapped furiously – what a cutie!

There were presents and more presents and more presents!

A baby bathtub - the first of lots of great gifts - note the "diaper cake" in the background

More clothes - Charley Ellen will be a well-dressed little girl!

All of the animals gave baby gifts (with help from Karen & me) - this was from Monty, their pug

This is what their house looked like today. J

And this didn't include the nursery or their bedroom!

Great parents, great stuff & lots of love!

FALL COLOR & TRAINS

Having awakened a little before 7 AM last Thursday, I opened the front door to bring in the newspaper and was greeted with a stunning, golden glow. The Sacramento sunrise was gorgeous – what a beautiful way to start our mini trip!

The sunrise outside our front door

Lou had made reservations to take the excursion train from Carson City to Virginia City (both in nearby Nevada) on Saturday. There had been a story in our newspaper about fall colors in Northern California’s Plumas County so we combined two overnight jaunts into one getaway.

Highway 70 between the small towns of Oroville and Quincy had numerous scenic bridges and train trestles to explore along Feather River Canyon, the lowest pass through the Sierra Nevada mountains. One photo of two particularly dramatic bridges crossing over the Feather River required a bit of quick thinking since there was nowhere to pull over. Lou said it was clear behind us and stopped in the middle of the two lane road. I jumped out and snapped three photos before he started hollering, “Here comes a truck! Quick! Get in!” Of course, the best picture was several feet from the car. I ran for the open door and yelled, “Go, go!” with only one foot in the car – BUT we got a great shot!

One of my quickie shots of the Pulga Twin Bridges from the road

The Storrie Bridge built in 1936

A hint of fall color in the foreground with the Tobin Twin Bridges

The Tobin Twin Bridges from the other side

Ya gotta love small town America - everyone was so friendly and outgoing! We were walking around Quincy taking photos of the fall color when a woman stopped her SUV and asked, “Would you like to take a picture of a 600 pound pumpkin? Just go back in that guy’s yard. He’s there loading it on the truck.” I think it would have disappointed her terribly if we said “No” so we headed back and were happily greeted by the grower and a friend. It was a really big pumpkin! In fact there were two, the second one was over 800 pounds!

This 800 pound pumpkin was about three feet tall - one of us should have stood next to it

Some of the bright yellow color

A Sugar Maple tree that is one of Quincy's main attractions every autumn

Some beautiful leaves on the Sugar Maple

Main Street in downtown Quincy

From there we headed to our hotel near Portola, California. The Chalet View Lodge was a great place to stay in the middle of nowhere. After our continental breakfast on Friday morning, we took a two mile hike through the forest where we discovered a pond just begging to be photographed and another railroad trestle.

The Chalet View Lodge between Portola and Graeagle, California

A dock and canoe with reflections of trees in the pond - a perfect photo op

A train trestle way back in the forest

A fun photo of a telephone pole

Portola is a really small town famous for its Western Pacific Railroad Museum. I had been there over 20 years ago with Darrin. It is unique in that they allow anyone to literally drive an engine – provided you have enough money – and Darrin had driven it years ago. Lou decided to pass on driving the engine but wanted to see the museum. Who would have thought I’d be at this museum TWICE in my lifetime – certainly not me!

The entrance to the Western Pacific Railroad Museum

One of the many historic engines on display

A Santa Fe caboose in the Western Pacific "boneyard"

We checked into our room at John Ascuaga’s Nugget in Sparks, Nevada, about an hour early and were able to enjoy the indoor pool and hot tub before dinner. Lou napped and I read my book. I really enjoyed the Nugget – it was easy to find your way around, the food was good and it had a really nice indoor pool area. Literally across a parking lot was a large cinema complex. Not being big gamblers, Lou suggested we take in the remake of “Footloose” after dinner. I agreed!

I loved the first “Footloose” 27 years ago (OMG, really???) and this one was as good or better! They kept the song, Footloose, the same but changed most of the others – that was my only complaint. The actor who played Willard, Ren’s friend (the hick who couldn’t dance) stole the show – he was way better than Chris Penn. Julianne Hough (of Dancing With The Stars fame) did a great job, too.

Footloose 2011 publicity photo

That song is totally infectious – I’ve always loved it and time has done nothing to diminish that. How can you not want to move when you hear it? We were walking back through the casino where the disco was going strong so we had to “kick off our Sunday shoes” and dance for awhile before heading up to our room – the only thing that would have been better was if they were actually playing “Footloose” instead of “Play that Funky Music, White Boy”.

Saturday morning I awoke to Lou looking out the hotel window saying, “Wow!” There was another gorgeous sunrise greeting us.

The early morning view from our window at the Nugget

The Virginia & Truckee Railroad train ride was a great outing. It was sold out and full of rail fans as you would expect. Lou had paid extra to take the steam engine rather than the diesel and it was lots of fun.

We saw some wild horses on the way and walked ourselves silly all over Virginia City during our three hour stopover before returning to Carson City.

The steam engine that pulled our historic V & T train cars

Us - riding the rails

Some of the interesting scenery along the way

The stage in the Red Dog Saloon in Virginia City where Janis Joplin among others performed

An alley with lots of shops in Virginia City

Some of the wild horses that roam all over Nevada

It seemed like we had been gone a lot longer than three days and two nights but yet it was a fun, relaxing mini trip that really hit the spot. Fittingly, on the drive back home, we were treated to a pretty cool sunset as well.

The sunset near Auburn, California taken out of the car window