June fun with the Bakers

 The last part of June, Jeff and I enjoyed a week with our 5 grandchildren while our daughter and son-in-law had a fun get-away to celebrate their 20th anniversary. It just doesn't seem possible that 20 years have past since they were married.

 On one of the hottest days we cooled off at a local swim pool.

 Very stylish with those sun glasses.

Our grandson plays baseball, so we very much enjoyed a couple of games.  Below is me watching a game, below that is Papa with our oldest and youngest granddaughters.  Nothing dull with them around. 

Our grandson is #10 and looks very good at his catcher position.  Below he made a hit.

THE TEAM IS IN THE HUDDLE

Here is our "ball player" headed off to supper with his Grandpa Baker. 

There is a nice playground at the ball park.  The girls had to test their balance. OK, Maybe I even had to try it, just a little.   

There is also this fun water park at the ball park. 
 It was too bad we weren't  dressed to get soaked.  

Checking things out!

We enjoyed a hot dog roast on the back yard fire pit.   (with all the fixings, below)

Roasting of the Hot dogs.  

Roasting of the marsh-mellows!

Eating of the "S'MOORS"

While this family pet watches every last bite.
 A hot dog just happened to be slung off the fork and  GUESS WHO GOT IT?

Early "FIREWORKS" fun for the boys. 

 

Jeff said he got board and just had to do something so he replaced the door lock as a Anniversary surprise.   

This took a lot longer then anticipated but finally got it in place with several keys for the family. 

With a little help from his friend, youngest granddaughter. 

A boy and his bike!

A father and his daughter enjoying a visit as they walk to the wild black raspberry patch. 

A girl and her bike!

Nice wild black raspberries. With all of us picking and getting scratched up, we got plenty for a double batch of jell. 

Little helper!

Mom is the "jell" maker. 

 These jars of sweet Raspberries will taste great this winter.

A special surprise for our daughter from her loving husband. A bright red rose for each year of marriage.

Below is the original bridal bouquet our daughter carried at their wedding 20 yrs ago. (silk flowers)  

The happy couple after getting back from a fun get-a-way vacation.. 

The family's cat (actually, oldest granddaughter)  Rusty loves to look out the window.

Our daughter sporting her work attire,   Along with working part time at Nothing bundt Cakes, she cares for the family, cooks, washes and home schools our 5 grandchildren.

We thank God for the blessing of this beautiful family. 

Hawaiian Adventure - Flowers

I enjoyed the flowers while we were in Hawaii.  I took way lots of pictures of many different flowers and a lot of duplicates with my 2 cameras.   

Below, I will start with the State Flower,  not just any "Hibiscus"  but this  "Yellow Hibiscus".  This one was very big as you can see.   The state flower always has that red center.  

 

Our open air hotel lobby was decorated with many beautiful "Orchids" of many different sizes and colors.  

This is a "Bird of Paradise" flower.   You can see why it is called bird, kind of looks like a bird.  These flowers were often seen in floral arrangements.  

I don't know the name of a lot of these plants.  This is some kind of "lily"   Jeff and I did go on a 2 hr garden walk tour where we were told many names, details and history of flowers, trees and plants.  It was hard to hear him due to a large crowd of people and he didn't have a mic.

 These are "Ginger" plants and unique blossoms. 

I think these and above are called Bougainvillea.  This is a very close up picture.

 I am not sure what this beautiful blossom plant is called.   I did over hear some local land owner talking about it and that it has thorns and is not a good plant to have in ones yard.  Hard to control and if it is not pruned or trimmed, it dose not bloom.

I was amazed at this plant.  This is the flower and it is over a foot long and about 4" across.  It gets it's seeds inside these red things.   This exotic plant is called a " Heliconia".

This is the flower from the big monkey tree.  

This is a "Crown of Thorns" plant.  

You can see all the thorns on the stem of this "Crown of Thorns" plant.   My mother always had a beautiful plant like this, Indore though.  She would twin it around wire to make it look like a round thorn crown and the small red flowers remind us of the drops of blood shed by our loving Savior for the price of all our sins. 

This is the "Weird Sausage Tree"   I thought they look more like peanuts but they are big, like a foot by 5 inchs round.  I think I heard Elephants like to eat those peanut looking things that hang down on long vines.

This is called a "Shell Shrimp Ginger"   notice how this un-opened blossom looks a little like a shell.  Then it starts to open and only takes about 5 minutes once it starts to open.    Now that is weird too.  

 

I do not know what this is called or also the plant or blossom below.  I took pictures of different flowers in different stages of blooming.  This plant gets tall and the blossom is a good 8 to 10 inchs tall.

A type of Ginger plant.

 
This is the most popular flower in Hawaii,  You see many women wearing them in their hair and also in leis.     This is the very fragrant "Plumeria".   I think it is funny how it blombs at the top of these dead looking shrub, bush looking tree.  Most that I saw were white with a tiny yellow in center but they do come in many colors when it is the right season.   See the chart below.

We found this one laying on the ground so I got a close up.

 

NO IDEA WHAT THIS IS! 

This tree with the lighter leaves produces the Jewel Nuts that are used for necklaces and have a very special meaning,  like if you wear them you will be very strong and wise.

I dont know what these were, they looked like olives but these tiny birds just loved them.

This is a Java plant.

I did not catch the name of this bush or flower tree but these blossoms are only open for one day.  Open in morning and are all done and drying up by night.  

I just had to show my beautiful fragrant "LEI" again.  It is made from Stephenotis and carnation. 

Lots of little orchid like flowers to make wrist "LEI"