California, Here We Are!

This is the first chance I have had to sit down and see if I could post on the blog since arriving in sunny California. It is still early here. The troops are all still asleep...except for me, of course.

We arrived on time and without a hitch on Sunday. (Well, there was a tiny hitch in Indy where the curbside computer said we didn't have flight reservations, but that was resolved INside, thankfully.) The flights (Indy to Minneapolis and Minneapolis to San Jose) were smooth, and the children were good as gold. I called Megan from the plane as soon as we were on the ground. She and Denis were almost to the baggage claim area where they were to meet us. The kids were happy as little clams to see their mother and soon-to-be stepfather. Robin curled up on Megan's lap on a bench and cried as we were waiting for the bags to come. I lost it....had to leave the company to go dab my eyes. I don't think anyone has any idea how all of this has affected the child, but all was well thereafter.

Megan and Denis's apartment is nice but really small. We had it trashed in no time!

Everything is beautiful and in bloom here....gorgeous flowers everywhere. We hadn't been in the apartment for ten minutes before the children wanted to go swimming in the pool...so we did that. Denis swam with them; I watched; Meg went back to the apartment to finish the dinner she was preparing. The children's Aunt Rhoda (their father's sister) was coming to visit. She is such a delightful person! She arrived; we had dinner; then Denis went to the commons area and hid plastic eggs--so the children had an early Easter egg hunt. It was a really pretty day!

After Rhoda departed, Ryan and Denis stayed at the apartment to play video games while Meg, Robin, and I went across the street to a park/pond area and fed some greedy ducks, a few Canada geese, and a lone Muscovy duck with a disability. By then, it was getting dark, and the children and I had been up for MANY hours. Everyone got in their jammies to watch a movie--except for Grandma who got in her jammies and fell asleep!

Monday, we packed a picnic lunch. After dropping Denis off at work, we drove to a spot in the mountains to eat our lunch, then went to Big Basin State Park to see some redwood trees. I lived in southern California as a kid, but the redwoods don't grow down there...so I'd never seen the big trees. Oh, my! They are HUGE, majestic, and certainly something to behold! Many of them are hollowed from fires--but still standing. We walked the Redwood Trail and enjoyed the day, then drove along the Pacific Coast Highway and stopped at a beach. It was WINDY and quite cool, although the sun was shining. The children picked up "treasures"--one of which had to be thrown out because it was unidentifiable and rotting. Back on the road, we stopped at Pigeon Point Lighthouse to take some pictures, then headed back to Sunnyvale via Half Moon Bay. We saw deer, birds, and unbelievable flowers. I had quite forgotten how ruggedly beautiful the coast is... By the time we got back and collected Denis from work, it had already been a very busy day. The boys played video games, then Megan loaded our pictures of the last two days onto the television from her computer. We had some good laughs at the pictures, then gratefully conked out for the night.

Yesterday was another heavenly day with sun and temps. Denis had to be at work a little early and would be a long day for him. The rest of us drove to San Francisco. Our first destination was the Golden Gate Bridge (and gift shop, of course). Then we headed to Fisherman's Wharf--or rather, Pier 39. SF certainly is an interesting city for us flat-landers to visit. Parking one's car on the hills becomes a routine of "curbing" the wheels, parking in gear, and using the emergency brake. I still have to wonder how many cars run off in that city!

At Pier 39, we observed sea lions sunning themselves on some abandoned docks, ate lunch at Bubba Gump's Shrimp Company, took a boat ride past Alcatraz and under the Golden Gate Bridge. The kids rode a carousel. We walked around looking at all of the sights and sounds, then started back for Sunnyvale. Meg had only been to SF twice. I was quite impressed with her ability to get us around without really knowing where she was going. The GPS helped a little, I guess, but we didn't always do what "Linda" told us to do. When we got back to the apartment, it was 7:00 PM PDT (which would be 10:00 PM EDT, which is the time my body is on) and we were tired. Still, we have had very little by way of bad behavior on the kids' part.

Today, we have a list of things to do, but none of them entail traveling. We are just going to relax and enjoy the day! It is overcast this morning. Can't see the Santa Cruz Mountains because of that. Maybe the sun will peek out later? I hope so. The kids want to swim...

We are having a great time!