Major Catchin'UP

December 2008 Gathering of the clan:

darling daughters fresh in from Hawaii and Chicago, complete with beaus,

We even had an Alaska contingent --Sylvia and Lucy came down for the occasion. I was so excited to have everybody together. It happens so rarely. We rode the steam train at Roaring Camp in Felton one day.











Since this was in December, Santa was up at the top of the ride. It was chilly--especially for Angie and Mike just in from Maui.

















The next day we all wandered around Carmel, then ate at a nice restaurant there that Deb knew about.

We had this whole dining room to ourselves! We celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas and my birthday all in one during this brief 4 days. We went to Margaritaville the night before Josh and Liv, Mike, Sylvia and Lucy flew out.

During this visit, Josh asked Gary for his blessing to marry Liv--unbeknownst to her. So all of us gradually were let into the secret and we started waiting to get a phone call from her after that, telling us that she was officially engaged. It was a delicious anticipation that was set in motion.


Angie stayed on a few extra days and we went with Gary, Deb and Parker to the new SF Academy of Sciences with its Rainforest Exhibit and lots more. This is the living roof of the place.

happy, happy birthday, baby

My Livie was out for a visit just before her birthday during the end of September and the beginning of October. She is now the age of the 10th prime number..... I had to say that cause Al Kelley mentioned prime numbers three times during his father of the bride speech on October 4 and I thought that it was very cute. It was great to have Livs around for several days this time. Incredible to reflect how thirty-one years ago my life was transformed by her arrival. I remember holding her in a rocking chair once, after she was about a month old, and imagining how if a bear were to suddenly come (into the living room, I guess) and threaten her, I would jump up and face that bear. Weird image to suddenly get while peacefully rocking a sleeping infant....? So here is one of the shots of little Liv, who my obstetrician said ought to be a Gerber baby or something, she was so adorable. Can't you just see her personality already?

Aloha All Ovah da Place

A magical week in Paradise. That's pretty much what it was like at the end of August when me, momma Sylvia and sister Lucy escaped to Maui to hang with Angie and her fella and get to know her new family. That would be her Insta-Family, three lively blond tykes Nini, 3, Paytn, 5 and Shea, 7 years old and all little fishes at heart. We all three braved the waters to go snorkeling and it was wild out there. Lucie saw her turtle and Sylvia was right in there with us every step of the way. We saw bunches of different fish, those amazing boisterous colored fish in the reef. We saw the dancin hula girls and boys. We went to Hana and stayed at a very nice place for a day with the whole passel of us. While we were in Kihei we stayed at the uber-fancy Grand Wailea, which I couldn't even imagine. I had this quaint thought that I would hate the excess, the manufactured luxury of staying in the king of Maui's resort hotels but it was pretty asem. Meaning awesome.