HAPPY BIRTHDAY SYDNEY

Sydney had a birthday party with her friends at our Olympic Oval on the 27th(her birthday is on the 25th). It was kind of unique because the Olympics were going on in Vancouver Canada at the same time. They had an instructor show the skaters a few moves and then away they went. Down stairs a little area was sectioned off for the cake and opening of presents after their skate.

The instructor was one of Natalie's old students

Later in the day the family was invited over to Jay and Natalie's for dinner and cake and ice cream. Sydney got a zhu zhu pet for her birthday and Nana Donna & Papa John supplied it with clothes.

The whole gang was there except for our Cali family. Thank you for inviting us over, the dinner was great. We hope Sydney enjoyed herself and had a wonderful birthday.

TRIP HOME February 16th & 17th

We decided to go through Death Valley, California on our way home. We got there a little late so we went to the nearest town called Beatty (it's in Nevada) we stayed there over night and then went back into Death Valley the next morning to see Scotty's Castle, then on home through Ely and Wendover Nevada. Those are not white capped mountains, it's white sand

There's water in the desert in February

We stayed at the Stagecoach Hotel & Casino in Beatty

There was a ghost town out side of Beatty so we went for a visit before dark

Rhyolite's statue of a miner and a bird

One of the many buildings left standing, the Mercantile

Hey, we used to live on Colorado Street

One of the ghosts of the town (pretty cool statue)

We even visited the cemetery

SCOTTY'S CASTLE

The next day, we visited Scotty's Castle

Our favorite was the courtyard

The home was beautiful, it's has an interesting history

The Johnson's even had their own music room, pipe's for the organ are behind the back wall

The whole trip to California was great, we had a good time with the kids and with each other. One of my favorite eating establishments was the Jail House Cafe in Ely Nevada. John had Barbecued Ribs and I had a French Dip sandwich for lunch. It was a quick trip, nice to go, but also nice to be home.