Aren't Grandkids Wonderful!!!

Well, after seeing our new grandaughter, we ventured to Virginia to see Sean, Jin and our other 2 grandkids. It was Kyo's 4th birthday, and he wanted to see Papa and Grandma for his birthday, so we surprised him that morning! Here are a few pics of his special day. He picked strawberry cake with vanilla frosting and chocolate icecream. What a funny kid he is. So talkative, cute, smart, cute, loves to play Mariocart with daddy and papa, cute, cute, cute!!





Here are some pics of another of the world's cutest kids, Sean's newest addition, Mcrae. I can't say how much fun we had spoiling him this trip. Actually, we went to many places that he didn't have much choice but to be held most of the time. Poor kid never got to lay down most of the days on our galavanting. But he was so good natured and happy! He's 6 months old now, is darling, has 3 teeth, is darling, laughs and shows his dimples, is darling, and a pretty easy going kid.





I've always heard how great it is to be grandparents, but it's just something you have to experience! We are so grateful to be an influence for good (I hope)in their lives and to make them feel loved...not that their parents don't do a fantastic job of that on their own. But we do feel bad when K cries on the phone when we talk to him, cause he wants us to come back:( They love the extra attention and we are oh so glad to give it!

Our New Granddaughter is here!

After a phone call on Mother' Day morning from Noelle to tell us she was at the hospital after being in labor all night, we hopped in the car and drove to Spokane to share in this exciting event. After 36 hours, and an emergency c-section, Brynnley was born on May 12. We were lucky enough to be coming up the hospital steps when Adam called, and we were able to see Brynn and Noelle just a bit after she was born. Noelle was a bit groggy, but she recovered very well during the next week.

What good parents they are already. I never heard them complain about being tired, night feedings, or soreness from surgery. And poor Adam even slept on a hard, short couch for several nights, just to be with them both. I'm glad they let us share this time with them and that we were able to help. We sure had fun!





Grandma and Grandpa Lambert with sleeply Brynnley




Here's Noelle with her new little girl several minutes after Noelle awoke from her surgery. And proud daddy was
so excited to show off his newest girl.

After several days of recovery, Noelle was ready for a little outing to the park to take pictures of their new little family. Of course we were happy to be the photographers. The cutest family ever, but then we are a little biased. Brynnley was amazingly alert for only a few days old.
Here's Brynn having her first bath. She didn't like it much, but Adam and Noelle seemed to enjoy it.




Granparenting is the best. Now we get to go to Virginia to go see our other grandkids and spoil them, too.

More Australia and Fiji Pics

Some our kids have been bugging us to post more pictures of our Australia/Fiji that we took for a month in February-March. Hope you enjoy them.!

On one of our first days in Sydney, we ventured to the Blue Mountains. We were following the map and ended up in an open glen where grey kangaroos were leisurely feeding. They weren't tame, but they didn't mind if we got this close. What a thrill for us to see them out in the wild.

We stayed in Sydney for 5 days and explored the area. I must have taken 50 pictures of the Opera House and Sydney Harbor bridge, so here's just one of them.


After 5 days in Sydney, we rented a car and ventured up the coast all the way to Cairns. It took us about 12 days to do it. We made lots of stops and explored small towns along the way. Try as we might, we never spotted Crocodile Dundee, but we came close! Here is Dave trying to play the digeridoo in a cultural park called Tjupakai. He did a better job than I did.



On the way to Cairns, we stopped at a koala santuary, where they house and care for injured and misplaced koalas. We learned a lot about these cuddly creatures.

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Since it rained the whole time we were in Cairns, our liveaboard to the Great Barrier Reef was cancelled. So we ventured back to Fiji early to do some more scuba diving, rather than sit around a hotel room in Cairns. This time we were on the island of Viti Levu and we were in a small town called Pacific Harbor. We went on a shark dive one morning, and I can't explain the feeling I got when this 18' tiger shark swam right past me. Thank goodness he had already had lunch!

While on the shark dive, we saw about 8 species of sharks, including this bull shark below. He was a big fella also, but not as big as the tiger.

Getting out of the Cold! Feb-Mar 2008

Well, we're back from our winter trip. We went to Taveuni, Fiji, and the eastern coast of Australia for a 12-day drive. Then back to Fiji. It was raining a lot in Australia, but we have some good memories just the same. I do have to admit that Fiji was my favorite. I loved all the diving, with the colorful underwater panoramas and new marine life. The people in Fiji were the most gracious and friendly that we have ever encountered. We could all take some lessons from these people. The highlights of this trip were trips to the Syndey and Suva temples and lots of scuba diving...and of course playing with wild kangaroos and wallabies on the beach.

Here are some pictures of the gray kangaroos and wallabies on the beach at Cape Hillsboro National Park. We were told if we got up at about 6 AM we would find some kangaroos on the beach foraging for shellfish. Well, when we got to the beach we were approached by about at least 20 of them. They were tame enough to let us pet a few of them and get close enough for some pictures. What an adventure that was. We played on the beach for about an hour with them.

Time has been filled since we returned, and I'm trying to edit pictures, so here is just a taste of some underwater pictures from our diving adventures off the coast of Viti Levu, Fiji.

Check out my Slide Show!

2007 Year in Review

The Eiffel Tower in Paris, France in the fall of 2008
Lake Annecy on the border of France and Switzerland...what a beautiful place this is!

The ville of Annecy was a wonderful little town. This is the canal running through the town. We came upon a festival on Saturday, Retour des Alpages, which is a celebration of bringing the cows down from the high pastures. We sat on the river and enjoyed a meal of crepes and then explored. We witnessed the run of the cows through the streets, fresh squeezed apple juice by the Swiss, and lots of interesting demonstrations and shops. I think this was my favorite day.

Here is a few of the ancient collosium in the french city of Arles. This was taken out of our hotel window on our first morning.

October 2007 - France
We were invited to go to France with some old college buddies. They had access to a home in Heyrieux, France, so we ventured all through the southern region of France and through some of the Swiss Alps. My french came back quite quickly and I was even able to converse in french with some of the locals, and by the end of our trip they were even talking back to me in french instead of english!






July 2007--Brother's Trip to Lake Powell
For the past several years, Dave has been meeting his brother's Rod and Bart and their boys at Lake Powell for a long weekend of fishing and water play. Here is Bart's family doing a bit of cliff jumping.



Here's a great picture of Lake Powell at dusk.

June 2007 -- Lake Powell
Our favorite vacation every summer is our annual trip to Lake Powell to enjoy houseboating, wakeboarding and surfing with friends and family. Below is Dave and Steve Bagley enjoying a moment between wakeboarding turns.

Gayle, old but still agile, give surfing a try. She loves it! Surfs up Momma. Surfing behind the boat while the Beach Boys are blaring on the boat stereo is the best.

Here's Adam, our son-in-law performing one of his fancy wakeboarding tricks. He's amazing.

Below, here is our daughter, Noelle, and her husband Adam wakeboarding together. He's doing a backroll over her! Awesome. Oh, to be young again.
Crae enjoys surfing, too. He holds the record for the longest ride in our group. He can go forever.

May 2007 -- Philadelphia & Amish Country
My dear friend, Paula, from Houston celebrated her 50th birthday in May, so we decided to really celebrate on a girls trip to Philly and Lancaster Country. We had fun seeing historical sights and then driving through beautiful Lancaster County to mingle and learn about the Amish. Great trip with great friends.

We discovered that the Amish do not like their pictures taken...so we had to point and shoot at every opportunity. We found it amazing that their carts and horses weren't hit by cars on every street we drove on.
The Amish do not use cars or electricity at all for that matter. We viewed many families plowing in the field with only horses and plows since it was the beginning of harvest season. Driving through Lancaster County was beautiful and green this time of year.
Of course what trip to Penn. would be complete without a stop at Hersheytown in Hershey, PA. We spent a whole day touring the sites and samling chocolate. No, we didn't really drink all this syrup.

Here we are in front of the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia.

April 2007 -- Big Island & Maui, Hawaii


We wanted to get out of the cold in February, but couldn't arrange this trip with friends until April. Dave & I went diving and volcano hunting on the Big Island for a week, then we went to Maui and met the Hutchings for another week of diving and exploring. We had a blast. Even saw some whales for an added bonus!

Gayle in Maui diving with sea turtles
Various reef fish, pretty colorful.



February 2007 -- Houston, Texas
The addicted scrapbooker that I am, I went to Houston to the Stampinup Convention with my girlfriends. Here's Ann, Pat, Paula and me at Galveston Island, TX enjoying some sunshine! We had great fun making cards, going out to lunch, and going on a tour of the island while staying at Pat's condo on the island.


January 2007 -- Tanzania, Africa
Tanzania is a wildly beautiful place. We saw sunrises and sunsets that should be published in National Geographic! Here's just a few.

Sunrise on Ndutu Plain

Here's a few pics of some of the animals I wanted to take home. Unfortunately it's illegal. Darn!!

Kiplinger's Dik Dik, Serengeti Bat-Earred Foxes, Ngorongoro Crater

Baboon, Ngorongoro Crater

Reed's Waterbuck, Tarangire Elephants, Serengeti

Hippopatamus at Hippo Pool, Seronara Spotted hyena dragging wildebeest carcass, Serengeti Wildebeest migration, Serengeti Lioness, Seronara
Topi, Serengeti
Buffalo, Ngorongoro Crater Vervet Monkey, Ngorongoro Crater
Maasai Giraffe, Tarangire Young elephant, Tarangire Lion on the Ndutu Plain, Serengeti
Cheetah in Serengeti

Zebra on the plains of the Serengeti...SMILE!

Besides looking for animals, look at this slide show to see all the new friends we made.