Christmas with Celeste...

Happy December!!  We kicked off the holiday season last night with Celeste!  We had dinner at It's Italia in Half Moon Bay and then went to a local holiday production at our little theater group.  

The food was fantastic, the performance was amazing and more importantly it was wonderful to share it all with Celeste!

Happy December to all!

Jim's visit for Thanksgiving...

Jim and Rex had two weeks off for vacation in November so they came for a visit!  The weather cooperated beautifully - we had mostly clear sunny days although it wasn't particularly warm.  Oh, well - it is November!

We didn't do a great deal, although we did manage to go for walks just about every day, which Rex thoroughly enjoyed, as did we.  We packed picnic lunches and off we went - great way to while away an afternoon.

We did drive into San Francisco one evening after dinner to see the lights.  It was quite amazing - the city is all decorated with Christmas lights and the huge tree at Pier 39 was lit.  The city was a-buzz with people, out and about, shopping, etc.  We also drove across the bay bridge to Treasure Island.  While we were there we went to see "Bliss", the huge sculpture of the woman who we have posted on our blog before, as she is lit up at night.  Quite amazing, but not photographic! 

We enjoyed looking back at the cityscape from Treasure Island.  It was a clear, calm night and lights twinkled on the bay.  We also enjoyed the new LED "running" lights that were recently installed on the bay bridge between SF and Treasure Island - quite a light show!

Jim was here for Thanksgiving and we had a "group effort" dinner with lots of the normal Thanksgiving fare and some things that weren't so traditional but just as yummy!

Jim and Rex adapted to the "retired" lifestyle quite well and I'm sure that it's going to be a shock when Jim returns to work on Monday!

Thanks, Jim, for spending your vacation with us!  It was great to hang out with you and Rex and just relax!
 

Our walk up to the lighthouse

Great place to have a picnic! 

Another beautiful day on the coast from the coast side trail at Miramar
 

Our visit with Kelsey, Zebadiah, and Keziah

Our newest great granddaughter, Keziah Lucille Zaharris was born on October 27th to mom Kelsey and Dad Zebediah.  She weighed 6 pounds, 2 ozs. and was 18 inches long.

This week we made a trip to Tacoma, Washington, to meet her and spend time with Kelsey and Zeb.

We spent most of Wednesday with them and totally enjoyed our visit.  Keziah is just adorable!  Kelsey is doing very well and the three of them are an adorable family.

We had seen lots of pictures of Keziah on face book, which is wonderful, as well of pictures of her with her mom and with her dad.  But we hadn't seen any pictures of the three of them, so we offered to do a family photo shoot.  We got some great pictures, as you will see.

After dinner we left to make our return trip home, but we will see them again in December.  It will be interesting to see how much little Keziah has grown by then.

Thanks Kelsey and Zeb for a wonderful visit and for sharing your precious little bundle of joy with us.  We love you all, lots and lots!
 

Great grandma and Keziah.  Our great grandchildren call us Gigi and Papa.

Gigi, Papa and Keziah
 

Kelsey, Keziah and Zeb
 

A great family shot
 

We liked this one a lot!
 

And this one, too.  What an adorable little family.
 

Gigi, Keziah and Kelsey
 

Isn't she adorable?  She looks like a collector doll!
 

Papa, Keziah and Kelsey
 

And another shot of this beautiful little girl.

Welcome to the world, little Keziah!

Visiting Donna and Dad at Palm Beach Gardens

We usually travel to New Jersey in October to visit with Donna and her Dad.  Donna's birthday is in October so it's fun to celebrate with her.  Additionally, the colors in NJ at that time of year are awesome!

This year, however, Donna and her Dad were planning a trip to West Palm Beach where her Dad has a house where they spend their winters.  She invited us to visit them in West Palm, so of course, we said YES!

We flew from San Francisco to Atlanta, where we got the last two seats on the airplane!  We were in middle seats in different areas of the plane, but we were ON!  It was tougher out of Atlanta but we managed to get the last flight out of Atlanta and arrived in West Palm Beach at about 11:30 pm.  We were so happy to see Donna at the airport!  And also very pleased by the lovely warm temperatures at that hour.

Donna's Dad has a house at the PGA National golf course, a lovely home right on a waterway.  The house has a lovely screened in back porch (no bugs!) where we were able to sit and enjoy watching the birds, clouds, fountain on the water, airplanes and just enjoy the gorgeous weather.

We did some touring around the area.  Donna and Dad took us to Jupiter Beach where we walked on the beach and found sea shells.  We took a drive to Stuart Island and had a great lunch there before another beach walk.  The beaches there are beautiful.

We also visited the Breakers - an historic, iconic old hotel in West Palm Beach.  It was just beautiful and we enjoyed wandering around inside and out.

We had lots of yummy Italian food, both at home and at some wonderful restaurants.  We had lots of time to visit and catch up and just blob.  Lee and Dad went to the gym - Dad is 92 years old and they spent an hour on the treadmill and other equipment.  Dad's Parkinson's is well controlled  with medication and he's very active.  It's good to see!  We hope that we can be like him if we get to be 92!!

Thanks, Donna and Dad for a fabulous week and being able to share your little bit of paradise in West Palm Beach!  Love you both, lots!

This is the development where Donna's Dad has his winter home

At Jupiter Beach - we got a kick out of this "antenna"

The lighthouse at Jupiter Beach

Donna and I at the beach

On Sunday Dad took us to the club for a fabulous brunch!

They serve New Zealand wine!

The waterway on the golf course

Lots of palm trees and fountains around the golf course

Pat and Lee at PGA National

Donna and her Dad, too

We thought that this Bentley parked in valet parking was quite impressive!

The sandhill cranes that visit the back yard several times a day.  They demand bread quite loudly!

The Ibis usually accompanied the sandhill cranes on their rounds in case they were able to get some bread, too

A blue heron in the shallows

Riviera Beach on Stuart Island

Donna and Dad on our beach walk

And Pat, too

Riviera Beach

Donna and Pat and the surf

The Breakers Hotel

The entry way to the hotel

Truly a grand hotel with a beautiful interior

One of the many guest lounges

Manicured gardens

The back of The Breakers - right on the breakers!

Visiting Grover Beach...

Jim had a week of vacation in October so we decided to go down and share it with him and Rex of course!  Grover Beach has beautiful weather and we enjoyed another week of summer!

We took lots of walks, and enjoyed being out and about.  We visited the harbormaster at Port St. Louis and made the final arrangements to have a plaque installed on a bench there for Dad, something that we have been working on for a long time.  Dad loved spending time at the harbor there, watching the fishing boats coming and going and we thought that this would be a great place for a memorial for him.

We also spent a day in Cambria.  This little coastal community does a Scarecrow contest every October and it was great to see all of the very inventive scarecrows all around town as well as at Moonstone Beach.  As you will see, many of them were not your average "scarecrow", but very creative and impressive.

We took a long walk along the boardwalk on Moonstone Beach, which was a first for Jim.  The sea was blue as was the sky and it was a great day.  Then it was home, where Jim fixed a great bar-b-qued tri-tip!  Yum!!

It was great to hang out with Jim and we really enjoyed our visit!  Now we are looking forward to having he and Rex come visit us for Thanksgiving!

At the Gopher Glen Apple Farm in See Canyon where we got some great, freshly harvested apples!

Lee and Jim at Gopher Glen

And Lee and I as well - can't believe that we missed Rex in these pictures!

On the way to Cambria and the Scarecrow Festival

This is not a real man - it's a scarecrow!

This one, too.  All of the businesses and civic organizations participate in the contest, it's obviously a big deal in Cambria

Lee and "Willie"

And where's Waldo?!

The tin man

Raggedy Ann and Andy

This group of "scarecrows" was amazing - the wheels on all of the bikes turned and it looked like they were actually riding

This group of notables was along the main drag

Pretty amazing!

Moonstone Beach!

Jim, Pat and Rex along the boardwalk.  Rex now has a stroller that he can ride in when he gets tired out.  It allows us to get a longer walk and him to still be a part of it

Panorama of Moonstone Beach

We loved these teddy bear topiary at Avila Beach!

We went into San Luis where they were assembling the big pumpkins for the official weigh-off.  Some of them were just huge!

Thanks, Jim, for letting us take part in your vacation - we had a great time!