The Mason's Visit from Australia!

Andy, Linda, Brittany (15) and Sammy (11) Mason came to visit us from Australia!  It had been 9 years since they were last here, so the 2 and 5 year olds had grown up considerably!  They live on the sunshine coast of Australia, where both the weather and the ocean are warm, so they found our weather to be quite cool!  Here's a picture of the Masons at the beach.

We had a great visit with them.  They arrived on Wednesday, September 1st, and left on Monday, September 6th.  We managed to do a lot in the short time they were here, even with jet lag!  We had fun shopping, spending the day in Santa Cruz, swimming at Bob and Penny's house and doing the tourist thing in San Francisco.  Linda and I did a tour of the San Francisco victorians, built in the last half of the 1800's.  It was really interesting and we saw some beautiful homes.  What a great experience - can't believe that I'd never done that before.  Thanks, Linda!

Sam and Brittany at the beach

Climbing the trees in the "Magical Forrest"

Sam, swimming with Tucker, Bob and Penny's dog.  They had a great time.

Sam and Brittany in the pool with Tucker and Sophie.  Tucker and Sophie are "Golden Doodles", a cross between golden retrievers and standard bred poodles.  They love kids and they LOVE the water!

Sam and Brittany

After swimming, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner, at the table under the wisteria arbor.  If you were at our wedding, you will remember this beautiful space.

Andy, Brittany, Michael and Penny

Linda, George and Samantha

And of course, Tucker!

Andy and Sam at Coit Tower in San Francisco on Sunday

Brttany and Sam at Coit Tower, in front of the statue of Christopher Columbus

Andy and his girls.  Linda and I were out viewing victorian houses!

Andy, Brittany and Sam at the Palace of Fine Arts.

Linda in front of a Queen Anne victorian on our walking tour.

More beautiful victorians, nicely restored.

Linda, pointing out the Golden Gate Bridge and the Palace of Fine Arts in the distance.

San Francisco's "Painted Ladies"

Linda in front of a beautiful garden

A grand victorian.

The Masons and the Golden Gate Bridge

Brittany and Sam

Ok, we were trying to get Andy's hands positioned so that it looked like he was holding up the Golden Gate Bridge - didn't quite work!

Off to Pier 39!  Time for lunch and some souvenier shopping!

Brittany and Sam, outside of the Hard Rock Cafe

The end of a wonderful day!  The lights on the Bay Bridge were great, but they didn't show up in the picture.

One of the things the girls wanted to do was eat at Mc Donalds - "Mackers" - and see if the food there was different.  We worked this in on the way to the airport on Monday.

Waiting for lunch at Mc Donalds in Pacifica

Lee and Brittany, with groovy sun glasses!

California girls!!

Andy and Linda

And now they are off to Florida!  First stop - 5 days in Orlando and the theme parks!  After that, they are going to Bonita Springs, FL, to visit with family and friends.  We're pretty sure that they will enjoy the weather in Florida!

Thanks so much for coming to visit, you guys!  Come back again, soon!