|
TRIP TO GALT AND SAN FRANCISCO JUNE 4, 2008
This was a short trip to visit Richard's family in Galt and then go to San Francisco to visit Robert's family. It started with a very nice flight to Sacramento, where Richard met us.
Arrived at Richard and Kathy's delightful home
Richard purchased 12 small bushes as we rode from the airport and he was anxious to plant them.
This was all just bare dirt when he started, and now we see his lush lawn, trees and plants. He loves working in the yard.
These are Kathy's minature donkys that roam the back pasture.
they come to the fence for some attention or treats.
The bushes are all planted, and should provide a nice informal privacy barrior.
He has these beautiful willow trees that move freely in the breeze.
The pergolla was built for Monica's wedding, and has been a delightfull relaxing spot since.
As you can see, the ground gets very dry during the summer months here in the Great Central Valley, and requires careful watering.
Now we go inside to see what is happening therer. Here we see Christina making a gift for a friends baby shower. It is a clever arrangement of diapers to simulate a wedding cake.
And or course, here is Memphis in his Great Grandma's loving arms.
He was very good during our whole 2 day visit!! He sure is a fine looking young man!
Now it is Andrea's turn to hold the baby. Rob and Andi drove from San Francisco on friday to see the baby for the first time, and to take Marie and me back to their home.
Robert has been training for a major bicycle team race called "RACE ACROSS THE WEST that starts next Wednesday in Oceanside, CA and finishes in Taos, NM. KeepandShare.com is one of the race sponsors, and is supplying the racing team's uniforms. He gave one of the uniforms to Richard, who is modeling it here.
Richard and Robert ae now in Richard's office where they are working on some os the improvements to KeepandShare.com. It brings back fond memories of how, as children, they would work closely together on their play projects, such as building elaborate forts or bridges with their sets of blocks.
I think he may be thinking of the big race!!
I love that very large screen that he uses to increase the total display space.
we gather for a delightful lunch on the pergola. there is a very pleasant breeze wafting up from the San Francisco bay.
Rich and Andi
Robert and Richard
Kathy and Christina
And here is this cool dude with the dark specs. The sun was pretty bright, and these glases protect his eyes.
Andi and the Cool Kid!
Now Marie gets her turn
He feels right at home!
They sure look like they have a real bond.
He is so cute.
We are all enjoying fine conversation.
Now is Andi's turn again!
well, it was about time to hit the road to San Francisco.
It was a pleasent ride, and we unloaded and started to relax. This is a view of the front/side of Rob and Andi's home. with the gorgeous Rhododendron.
Here is a view from the back yard.
Ian and his best friend, Andrew started their big film project yesterday, and today thery are shooting scenes in the family bathroom. They are inside, but the hallway is crammed with the extensive equipment they have rented, borrowed, etc.
Lots more is stashed in the livingroom.
After a while, they finish the shooting for the day and pack it all into their van.
Ian taking a break and some refreshment before we all went out th dinner.
It is now Saturday morning in the Rose Garden area of Golden Gate park, where we all are attending the 8th grade graduation cerimonies of Synergy School, where we will cheer as Rose graduates. The setting is delightful, and the weather superb.
The choice was to bring your own folding chairs, or sit on the grass.
I am always amazed at the size of some of the trees in the park. Enormous.
Marie and Ian's girlfriend Genna.
My favorite grandson, Ian, sure has good taste!
Cute couple
Zoom in.
Now he is wearing the sunglasses.
Now here is the guest speaker for the graduation cerimonies, none other that Ian Carr, who graduated from the same school 6 years ago! We all enjoyed his speech very much, and are very proud of him. Now, if your artistic taste is offended by the rather poorly framed photo, I plead that it is very difficult to see what is happening in a crowd when one is visually handicapped. But I thought th is did capture some of the excitement of the event.
If this appears better framed, it is because I cropped the heck out ot the original photo. But doesn't he look poised and confident and handsome! You bet!! He did have some good advice for the new graduates based on his rich experiences since he graduated.
GO AND READ IT -- IT IS VERY GOOD!
We are anow listening to teachers extole the merits and acheivements of each of the 24 people in the graduation class. Ian is staying to hear what they will have to say about Rose before he and Gemma rush back to the filming that is going on as this is occurring.
As I undersand it, one of the members of the faculty is chosen, coerced, or fights to give the brief talk for each student. Here is Rose, standing in her beautiful white dress, listening to a nice summary of her acheivements at Synergy School.
This procedure went on for quite a while, but, with such beautiful setting and weather, who could complain. And, just look at those trees.
I can't capture the whole tree with my little camera, but you get the idea.
Here is the adjacent rose garden
Now there was a great pot luck lunch for all.
And I went back for some seconds!
Robert looks great in the KeepandShare.com team shirt.
Her is sweet Rose in her beautiful white dress that she wore to the graduation. As a special treat, she had a pedicure and manicure yesterday - see how pretty the feet are!
Now, lets get closer.
Isn't she gorgeous?? I love this photo
and this one. What a sweetheart!
These are very eye -catching when in full bloom like this.
Rob is tuning up his bike in prepatation for the race.
He is back from a test ride and reported that all is well. He then started all the packing for the trip to Southern California tomorrow to start final race preparations.
Early on Sunday morning Marie and I loaded our stuff into the station wagon, along with all of Roberts race gear. But when we pulled out of the driveway on our trip south, there were two extra passingers, Rose and their sweet little dog, Phoebe. We are to drop them off at the location where Ian and his crew are shooting. I think this is the fourth day of shooting and they expect that there will be at least 6 more. Phoebe is one of the main actors in the film, and Rose is her handler. Here we have arrived at thesite of the shoot, which is outside a house here in the Sunset district.
This is a super special high tech camera that they are using.
The young girl is the main star of the film. It is entitled: Goodbye Bear"
that is Ian's car, which is also a prop.
We had a wonderful ride down to PV with Rob, and it was followed by dessert at Nancy and Dan's. Here we see Tom showing off his shirt.
The next day, Monday was when our home became the base camp for the race team. By bed time there were 7 of the 9 person team and crew there, including this RV that was rented by Rob as the main suport vehicle during the race.
Marie inspecting the RV
Marie is getting the keys and instructions about how to drive the station wagon, which will be left here for about 10 days
The team is packing and tuning the equipment.
The 5 racers starting out on a one hour checkout ride on our local streets.
Rob and your's truly
It is 6 am on Tuesday, and they are just about ready to depart for the starting point for the race in Oceanside, CA
And there they go
This is Sean, one of the crew, who is driving this SUV to the airport to pick up the last team member.
Good Luck all.
The keepandshare.com team has made a photoblog rich with delightful photos and narration at
| 
