The Backyard is Landscaped!!! It is beautiful and we love it. Can't walk on it for 15 days, but then, you'd better be ready for a mean game of horseshoes.
(Note- horseshoe pit on the left side of yard) The pool and tennis court are ready for use now, so come on over anytime. 
By special request, here are some Italian Hunks. One is our guide Dario, in Capri. 
Several are cyclists from the Giro d'Italia which we caught up with in Milan. Guiseppe, our bus driver looked kind of like Tony Soprano, but with the most beautiful blue eyes. However, I was not there to look at men, but to enrich myself culturally on the art, antiquities and beauty of Italy. Also of interest, most Italian men no longer pinch without extreme provocation or request. My friend Tina was pinched by the Italian singer at a restaurant, but only after we asked him to ( it didn't take alot of encouraging, and he did ask something about which hotel she was at...) Myse
lf, I was frisked at the airport. Twice. Que sera, sera....
Italy! It was so amazing. For anyone who didn't know, I just spent two fantastic weeks in Italy with a group of eight amazing women. We did a tour, which is definitely not the same as a vacation. On a bus with 40 other people, walking around with headsets and cameras, we were total turistas! It will probably take me three years to pay off my credit card, (the dollar really sucks against the Euro) but I can't wait to go back. I don't think I can post all 1100 of the photos that I took, (actually I took more, but deleted the really bad ones) but I'll try to post a few. I've also returned with magnificent treasures, as our tour guide called it, junk and genuine junk. Maybe to receive your own Italian souvenir, you'll have to look at (and pretend you are enjoying) all of my photos. Caio!
Hootieville is starting to really spruce up. The front yard is done and it is so beautiful! Saturday they laid the sod and finished the planting. I was out of town and when I came home Tuesday night, wow! The driveway is lined with white roses and the pathway to the front door is laid out like an English garden. There are multicolored roses, gardenias,camellias, azaleas, jasmine and other things I don't know the name of.
In the center of it, is a beautiful park bench and lamp post. It is
the perfect spot to watch the sunset. Did I already say that I lo
ve
it? Now the backyard is Harold's domain. The barbeque was finished two weeks ago. Last week we were finally able to fill the pool, but they are still working on the equipment. This weekend, I think they are starting the irrigation system in the backyard.
Notice, there are no pictures of the inside of the house. That is not coming along quite as quickly as the outdoors. Unfortunately Harold hasn't hired anyone to finish the unpacking :)
Oh my gosh...Ian is texting again! Maybe that should be "Ian is texting Amanda again." On boats, on surfboards, airplanes, in shops, restaurants, on downhill bike rides.... Ian is texting again.
After two days of constant beeping noises, I had Harold call Verizon and make sure his text messages were unlimited and not on roam or anything special. We tried to get a count of the total texts, but Verizon said that info wasn't available yet. We'll let you know.
Today we went whale watching. Again. This is not anything like whale watching at home. These whales get soo close, you can almost reach out and touch them. Just look at the breach I caught with my high speed camera. It almost looks like someone is touching the whales tail!
So all the great pictures are on the movie camera, I'm not nearly quick enough with my little Sony. So when we get home, we'll dope everybody up with seasick medicine, and watch my whale movies. Maybe I'd better learn to edit them first.
Wow our house has a new name! Thanks Todd, So much nicer than the Adams Family House.
Our house has new speakers in the family room, new alarm system, and new drywall in the needed spaces. New carpet in the master bedroom and according to rumor, clean carpets throughout! We found out that the master bedroom didn't have hot water and lo and behold, our private master bath water heater wasn't working. We didn't even know we had one and now we have a new one of those. When we left last week, our front door had been stripped and was getting a beautiful new finish and the front yard was getting new landscaping. 
Last week our landscaping advisor and friend, Kevin Davis, brought his concrete and pool designer pro, Emmett, over and we found out the patio should be replaced. In came the "demo" team and the patio is now gone and forms are laid for a new one. Just that fast! We won't even talk about how expensive.
Meantime on the other homefront, Florence (Sis) and Larry are here from South Dakota. Newly retired, they are here practicing to be snowbirds. We are soooooo glad to have them! They've filled their truck with boxes and odds and ends, made numerous trips moving stuff and taken care of meeting with various contractors for us. They can come and visit anytime! Next time they visit we won't work them so hard. And we did invite them to join us in Hawaii!)
This week, we will have the television installed and some furniture delivered. Scott, our handyman, and his crew should be finished up with the odds and ends. Landscape, hopefully, is progressing in our absence and concrete should be poured after we get home. Wednesday we need to go back to work, but plan on packing most of Thursday and movers arrive on Friday. Friday night, we will be home sweet home at Hootieville Estate!
Okay, I'm going to skip ahead. Pretend I have already written the blog about taking Melissa and Ian with us to Maui. I've also gone in depth about how busy we are and wouldn't have taken this trip, but it was already paid for, so we HAD TO GO TO MAUI! Also pretend you've read the latest house blogs and all about Harolds sister, Florence and her husband, Larry, and how they are at our (old) house moving stuff to our (new) house.
Now that you are pretending to be caught up, Melissa and Ian went surfing today. 
They had terrific teachers from Maui Wave Riders. Ian was a little nervous, but last father's day he gave Harold a gift of him taking surfing lessons. I don't think he will need to be bribed or coaxed to surf again. He loved it. Mel had a great time too, but said it was easier when she was in "water polo season" shape.
Friday afternoon we finally closed escrow on our new house on Jacobs Circle. For anyone who doesn't know about this yet, we are moving to Woodcrest (Riverside). This picture is from last September when we first made an offer on the house. At that time we called it the Adam's Family house.
Here is a picture of the house less than 18 hours after the sale was recorded.
We had an entire tree crew removing eucalyptus, palm trees (yes, Harold actually let them take out some of the palm trees), and half a dozen other types of trees. The house now looks even bigger than before.
While the chainsaws were buzzing and the wood chipper grinding, we were visited by our new neighbors, The Lewis family. They looked out their windows and said "There's a guy in every tree!" Fortunately Kevin and Amy are Miles and Heidi's good friends and early risers. Miles and Heidi came over with Noah and Hannah, beer and burritos, and the kids tested out the new tennis rackets.
Today we were back in Riverside changing locks, replacing toilet seats and for the first time in my life, I polished brass. We have alot of work to do!
Okay, I'm not sure if I'm writing this for my own gratification or if someone else will actually read it. Originally this blog was to communicate with the family while we were on vacation, but I'm told that friends actually check it from time to time and say they are disappointed that it still shows last August. I'll try to do better.
Since this is or was my travel blog, I guess I could tell about this month's travel. I've been to Las Vegas this month, twice. Yes, twice in less than 20 days. The first trip was January 2nd with my mom and my sister. We stayed at the Bellagio and had really nice time. I love the buffet! My mom loved the electric scooter we rented for her, and Marti loved.... hmmm..... spending time with me?
Last week there was a promotional products trade show in Vegas. Whereas Embroidery In Motion dabbles in promotional products, Harold suggested we go. So on the 15th, we headed for the Venetian. (I'm becoming a hotel snob!) We stayed two nights, spent a long day walking an awesome show, and had a nice time wandering the casino of the new Palazzo. We've decided to avoid brand new hotels, restaurants, etc. in the future. But that's the story for another blog.
