California and Back

Last week was a fun-filled week with our trip to San Jose to celebrate a 50th wedding anniversary and visit with long-time friends. Along the way there was some shopping, some outings, some wine tasting/drinking and just an all ‘round good time.

John and Carol’s anniversary party was especially fun because we had not seen three of their grown children since we moved from Amapola Drive in San Jose in 1981. Big surprise; they all grew up to be gracious and charming individuals. John and Carol have 5 granddaughters ranging in age from mid-twenties to five-month-old twins and four of the five were in attendance.

Carol is a cancer survivor and during this past year John underwent chemotherapy for a second bout with lymphoma. As soon as he finished the chemo earlier this year, he hied himself to the hospital for a hip replacement ……. and was dancing on Saturday night!!!

Of course there were a number of friends in attendance so it was good to visit and catch up with what everyone is doing. The conversations ran the gamut from grandchildren to retirement to social security, and everyone seems to be doing well with all of it.

Jeff and Bev’s granddaughter, Rebekah, has been dancing since she was four (now she is eight), and we attended her studio’s dance recital on Sunday. It was all very well done, and Rebekah was obviously comfortable in her element. I was impressed with the costumes, the music, and the lightning fast changing of groups on stage – all in addition to the great dancing.

Mark Schuler scored four box seat tickets to the game between the San Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees on Saturday night so he, brother David, Jeff and Ken went. That is the only time Ken has attended a game at AT&T Park in San Francisco but his attendance didn’t create a win for the Giants.

We spent some time shopping and a few hours wine tasting on Saturday afternoon. On Monday, we drove to Half Moon Bay, stopped for a bite to eat, and then proceeded down Highway One to Santa Cruz. It was a very pretty drive, and I don’t think we ever drove it while we lived there. I tend to remember the entire Bay area as being in constant gridlock, but now when we go back to visit, I don’t see that. That drive down Highway One was wide open.

Now we are getting ready for the kids to get here. Brian and Sheila and the boys are on their way from Mt. Home in our motor home, will stay in Prosser tonight and be here tomorrow evening. Monday they are going to do a tour of the UofW campus, and then we are all invited to Curt and Cinda’s for dinner, and Jerry and Lois will be there as well. Then the next big event will be the Fourth of July to be followed by the Baltimore Kirkwoods' arrival on Friday.

I have some fun pictures to share, but can’t seem to get to that last step of downloading from the camera and up to the blog site. Be patient, I get them in one of these times. Ciao