Last Day!

Dan actually got up at his normal time today and did his normal routine.

Here he is as I see him every morning having his breakfast.

 He's off!

 Yesterday the people he directly supervises had a special lunch with him.

They are not happy he is leaving!

From the past:

Dan's nose was featured on the cover of a magazine!

 He once got to play golf with Arnold Palmer!

A couple of nice awards:

Now on to new adventures!

Happy Retirement!

We had a fun family party in honor of Dan's retirement!

The twins got to eat first!

Then we all enjoyed a yummy barbecue in the backyard...

Later we played some games.  MaryAnn read some of the job description for Dan's position...

...and the kids had to decide if it was something they could do or not.

Then we played Hobby Charades.  The kids had to act out different hobbies Grandpa might enjoy doing when he is retired.  

Bicycling by Hannah

Jigsaw puzzles by Kathryn

Lawn mowing by Joshua

Whale watching by David

Photography by Amelia

Piano playing by Daniel

And reading a book by Michael

Other hobbies acted out included: Star gazing, playing board games, hiking, kayaking and temple work.  

Then Dan looked through a basket with gifts from our 6 kids filled with things to help him enjoy his retirement!

Some of the gifts included: Barbecue and cooking supplies, BYU jigsaw puzzle, adult piano book, bike computer, tickets to a Giants game and several generous gift cards!

He loved the card Emma made!

It will definitely be a happy retirement with a family like ours!

Never Leave the Playground!

Someone sent Dan a link to a very fun video suggesting he might get some ideas for his retirement.   We surely enjoyed watching it and so did the grandkids who live here.

I am posting the link for anyone who is interested and especially for Darryl as we wish him a speedy recovery!

 Very fun video:   http://growingbolder.com/793777     

Never Leave the Playground! 

Here is why the co-worker thought of Dan when she watched this video!

Quote from the website: "At age 72, Stephen Jepson is living proof of his philosophy of lifetime fitness called Never Leave the Playground.  He rides a unicycle, juggles while balancing on a bongo board, throws knives and plays jacks with both hands, walks a tightrope, swam across Iowa's Spirit Lake at age 66, and has won over 80 gold medals in swimming since age 65. He knows the secret is to 'just keep moving' through constant play, not exercise.  He's developed toys for all ages and degrees of physical fitness to use throughout our daily lives so we never have to leave the playground no matter where we are or what we're doing."  He says what he does is called "age proofing the brain and the body.  There is more on his website: www.neverleavetheplayground.com

Retirement will be busy!!

Splash Party!

Since things were a little busy for the Perrys in late November when Hannah had her birthday, they promised her a Half Birthday party in late May.  

Nice weather and good friends at the splash park made for a very fun party!

Here is the sign Hannah made to welcome her guests:

Hannah was smiling and having the best time!

David was having a blast!

Joshua like "cleaning" everything!

All the girls having the best time!

Fun with buckets...

...and water balloons!

Then some drying off and eating the treat... cookies that were cut in half!

No presents, but they had a book exchange instead!  

Everyone brought a book they no longer wanted and everyone went home with a new book to read!  Hannah decorated these cute "waterproof" bags so the books would get home and stay dry.  

Hannah and MaryAnn should go into the party planning business!

Retired and Admired!

A wonderful luncheon was held in Dan's honor on Friday.  

We are so happy that Darryl and Amanda were able to be there!

It was so fun to see some of Dan's co-workers who are now retired themselves.

In the middle is Florence Nakai who worked for the League for 51 years and Vicki Gorr on the right worked there for over 40 years.  So nice they came to honor Dan.

On the left is Lorraine Okabe who has worked for the League for 37 years and is still going.  She worked closely with Dan for 24 of those years.

(Notice the decorating theme:  BYU!!)

For our family, that man on the left is Clark Goecker, now retired and owner of the Sea Ranch house we love.  In Clark's comments he mentioned that Dan was the first League employee hired who had attended college outside of California.

Over the past 40 years Dan has had much association with city officials.

Here he is with Heather Fargo, former mayor of Sacramento and a past president of the League.  

Here is Dan in front of the slide show about himself with the Executive Director of the League, Chris Mackenzie.  Chris hosted the oral tributes given at the luncheon.

He couldn't say enough nice things about Dan including that he was honest, had integrity, was decent, level-headed and on and on about what a wonderful person and effective co-worker he is. 

The other tributes were from city officials, League employees past and present and others from organizations the League works with.  The man on the left, Jerry Burke, has worked with Dan in CSCDA, the League's finance program, for 26 years. He said that he wanted to pay Dan the highest compliment he could think of and that was that Dan was truly a great public servant.  This was also echoed by several others.

We got lots of comments on the slideshow to which I contributed some photos.  

It was fun for them to see Dan not only as a great League employee but also as a really cute kid, wonderful husband, father and grandfather!

 He was excited to receive a special retirement gift which included this very nice camera outfit and a voucher to be used towards an Alaskan cruise!

I am so very, very proud of him!!

Amelia!

Amelia is celebrating her 6th birthday today!

She is a sweetie!  

It has been fun getting to know her better since they moved close!

With her good buddy/cousin, Joshua:

5th Birthday:

A special Princess window in her honor!