Kendra June

Kendra June Weed arrived on the afternoon of August 9th.  She weighed 7 lbs, 13 ozs., and was 20 inches long.  She was welcomed by her Mom, Lindsay (our granddaughter), her Dad, Jacob and big sister, Madi.  Mom and baby are both doing well.

Unfortunately, her daddy was working in Moses Lake and was unable to be there when Kendra was born.  Lindsay came home from the hospital on Thursday.  Valarie was showing her horse at the fair, and was committed to being at the fair all week.  Hailey also took a horse to fair, and was not available to give Lindsay a hand.  So, it was a great opportunity for me to hop on a flight and spend a week with Lindsay, Jacob, Madi and baby Kendra!

It was great to be there, spend lots of time holding Kendra, playing with Madi, and helping Lindsay get settled.  We also went to the fair so that Valarie could see her grand babies, and they could see her.  Lindsay had participated in the fair through 4-H for years, so she really enjoyed seeing her Mom show, and being at the fair.  It was a new experience for me, but it was a lot of fun.  And of course, Madi loved it!

Cathi came down with Patience and Jordyn while I was there to see Lindsay and meet her new grand-niece.  It was fun to visit with all of them, too, and Madi really enjoyed playing with the girls.

Kelsey and Matt came up from Tacoma to meet their new niece and spend some time at the fair.  It was great to see them, too, and be able to spend some time visiting.

We were blessed with fantastic weather during the whole week that I was there - a real treat!

Here are some of the photos of this wonderful week.

Madi and baby Kendra.  Madi loves her baby sister

Madi watching a movie while Kendra sleeps!  Some of you will recognize the blanket! : )

Daddy comes home!  Jacob got home on Sunday evening and got to meet his new daughter for the first time!  I love this family photo!

Lindsay and Madi

Kendra June - isn't she adorable?

At the fair!  On the rides with Auntie Hailey

Climbing up to come down the giant slide!  Madi loved this one!

Off on the airplane ride!

Valarie and Lindsay - this was exactly one week since Kendra was born, and Lindsay looks fantastic!

Face painting!  Madi wanted a dinosaur on her face - probably because she has discovered the "Land Before Time" series that her Mom used to watch when she was young!

We visited all of the animals at the fair, and Madi loved the goats.

Hailey at the fair, doing "stall duty"

Lindsay, Cathi and baby Kendra

Patience and Jordyn thought that Kendra was pretty special, too!

Patience, Madi, Kendra and Jordyn

Lindsay and her girls, at the fair

Matt and Kelsey at the fair.  Kelsey also took Madi on some rides

And now I'm back home, but we will soon be going north again so that Lee can meet his new great granddaughter!

Welcome home, Kendra June! 

Jim's visit, Mark & Alisha, and Pacific Voyagers, Part 2

Jim had this week off as vacation, so he came up for a short visit.  He arrived Monday afternoon, and we went out to dinner that night to celebrate his up-coming birthday.  We had dinner at a new restaurant in El Granada - Flavors.  The sign on the restaurant says that it serves "California Comfort" food - and "comfort" is code for huge portions!  But the food was wonderful, and we each brought home a doggie bag with enough food in it for another meal.

On Tuesday we went into SF, as the Pacific Voyager canoes were going to anchor at Hyde Street lagoon, where you could see them close up, and even go on board.

Mark and Alisha and their dog, Tricky Woo, are staying at Mark's brother Eric's house in Pittsburgh, so they drove over and met us at the lagoon.  The canoes were about an hour coming in, but, one by one they sailed through the small inlet to the lagoon, sails wide open.  It was quite an amazing sight!  The five canoes came right up on the beach, and, after filling out a consent form (they are filming for a documentary) we were allowed to board the canoes.  We took turns going onto the various canoes.  They were from New Zealand, Cook Islands, Samoa, Tahiti and Fiji.

The crews on the ship were really nice and answered lots of questions.  Being on the canoe confirmed my suspicion that they were WAY too small to have made that voyage!  But, make it they did!  They will be heading south to Monterrey, Long Beach and San Diego, where they will be until they make the reverse trip in July next year. 

We were SO fortunate to be able to see and board the canoes - truly a once in a lifetime experience!

After touring the canoes we went to Chrissy Field where we had a great visit and picnic lunch.

Tuesday night we went to dinner for Lee's birthday at another restaurant in El Granada.  Imagine El Granada having restaurants!!  This time it was Cafe Gibraltar, a Mediterranean restaurant with great food.  Another wonderful dinner!  I did quite well with all these celebrations - I didn't cook at all!

Jim left on Wednesday afternoon to go home.  We got a picture of Rex in the car with the "Shih Tzu on Board" sign that Mark and Alisha had given him in his birthday card - perfect!!

Happy Birthday, Jim!!

The first canoe to sail in - this one is from NZ and you can see the Maori flag in the back

Getting beached - you can see the poor crew member in that very cold water!

The second Canoe is in - this one was from the Cook Islands

The Samoa canoe is in!

The New Zealand canoe - you can see how small that little house is!

The Maori carving on the New Zealand canoe

More carvings, and the tiller

Carvings around the door.  This little house is where all the cooking is done!

The Fiji canoe

Mark and Alisha aboard the Cook Island canoe

Jim on the Cook Island canoe

Lee on the New Zealand canoe

The Samoan canoe.  Each of the canoe hulls contained 8 bunks - cozy, huh?

Mark, Alish and Jim, with the Fiji and Samoa canoes behind them

All five canoes in the distance

Picnic at Chrissy Field.  It wasn't very warm, but at least the sun was shining!

Jim & Rex, Alisha & Tricky Woo, Pat and Lee.  You can see fog creeping in, covering the golden gate bridge - typical San Francisco summer day!

Rex and his "Shih Tzu on Board" sign, as they get ready to go home

There!  This works better!  I think that the sign is a pretty good likeness for Rex!

Happy Birthday, Jim!

Thanks to Jim, Mark and Alisha for a great day in San Francisco!

 

Treasure Island and it's treasures...

After seeing the Pacific Voyager canoes, we did a bit of a wander around Treasure Island, with a picnic lunch.
 
Treasure Island is in the middle of the Oakland Bay Bridge, to the north.  It was originally constructed to house a worlds fair.  Since then it's mainly been a military base.  San Francisco is going to re-purpose the island, and develop it as a residential and recreation destination.  The island could use a face lift, but we enjoyed our time there, our lunch on the waterfront with the San Francisco skyline as a back drop and were amazed at the enormous sculpture located near the waterfront.

We can't wait to see what Treasure Island evolves into.

The new bay bridge, under construction

This is the plaque for the sculpture you are about to see

The "bliss" dancing woman

It's hard to tell from the pictures, but the wire statue is HUGE!

For some perspective, here's Lee with the bliss dancer

Several different views of this amazing sculpture!

The scenery for our picnic lunch - Life is Good!!

The Pacific Voyagers

Here again, are the sailing canoes of the Pacific Voyagers - these crews and double-canoes sailed from Auckland, New Zealand, to San Francisco, CA, with stops in Fakarava, Nuku Hiva and Hawaii.

They sailed from the Auckland Harbor on April 19 and arrived in San Francisco on August 2nd.  And we just happened to see them sail under the Golden Gate bridge - thank you, Maree and Kate!

The canoes were housed at Treasure Island, and an open house was held on Saturday to greet them.  On Sunday they were having an "official" sail through the Golden Gate, but, we saw the real thing!

We went to Treasure Island on Saturday, August 6, and saw the New Zealand canoe, up close.  They are incredibly small, and I can't imagine being on the open sea, with just two canoes and a platform under me!  There were 27 crew members on this small space!

Here's the website if you would like to learn more about this incredible voyage:
http://www.pacificvoyagers.org/

The NZ canoe was giving free rides to anyone who wanted one, but the line was very long, so we didn't take advantage of it.

It was great to see all of the people who came out to welcome and support the crews, and there were many performances from local Polynesian groups.

And, a bonus - it was sunny and warm!

The wakas (canoes) sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge

The New Zealand waka in the background, full of people having a ride, and a smaller canoe, also giving rides

The Te Matau a Maui - New Zealand

Picking up another load of passengers - you would think that the crew would be tired of that canoe by now!

A group of kids doing a traditional Samoan dance

More Samoan dancers

A couple of crew members from one of the canoes performed as well - I guess that they had lots of time to practice!

What an amazing event!  We are so pleased that we were able to see these canoes and learn about their incredible journey.  They will return home in 2012 - maybe we'll be able to see them sail back out under the Golden Gate.