It's been a while

We have come and gone, or more like gone to South Africa for three month and come back home to play with Gavin.

I assume everyone has been following our trip on Patricia's blog, and yes, I know she has not finalized it, and that is still in the works.

We have been busy drooling over Gavin and his adventures and learning the ways to negotiating the world around him.

Gavin and Oma

Now we are searching for a place to live for a while, so we can get all our stuff out of storage and from the different places we have stored them at.

Searching for somewhere decent to live for an affordable price is very challenging here in our area.

I am happy to have Patricia on my side, She is the best researcher I have ever seen, so there is hope for us,

We just celebrated Patricia's birthday, and that gave us a chance to get some of the family together for our 2014 picture.

The family is growing with leaps and bouds

With a bit of luck, I will now be posting a bit more often, so I can keep a record of what I have been doing when I start forgetting stuff.

My father said....

Whenever my mother panicked about us kids not being at home on time or not knowing where we were, my father would say either that we would be home when we got hungry, or that if they don't hear from us, all is well.
So all is well. I know since we are here in South Africa and haven't made an entry in my Blog for the last ten days, everyone should assume that we are having a great time.

As I have mentioned, Patricia arrived on the 15th, and on the 20th, we celebrated my 68th birthday. Our friend Mirjam from Stuttgart, who also lives here for a few month in the year, arranged a nice celebration with some new friends. Everyone, including us, had a great time, and we got a lot of good info on where to go and what to see around here.

We are still settling in, as the house is very comfortable, and our hosts Eva and Bernd thought of everything to make our stay pleasant.

There is a great garden to take care of; I have to check for gopher mounds every day, and try somehow to keep them out of the yard, look after the pool sometimes and do some general stuff around the place.

Bernd left us with his cars, so first thing in the day, we go to the beach for a two mile walk to let the dogs out. Rassie loves to chase the birds - never has a chance - but you know what they say, it's the chase. .........

Patricia is leading Rassie & Tommy on

Then it's time for lunch, and we have the afternoon to play and explore.

Patricia is very heavy in shells at the moment, and I hope it wears off in time, otherwise there will be no room for anything else in our suitcases.

So far, we have had great weather, blue skies every day and temperatures hovering around the mid seventies, although the wind gets up around 35 mph.
Today it started raining, but not very heavily, just steady with temps in the mid 60s.

We have met very nice people and are starting to get a feel for the place, also being told where we can and can not go to be on the safe side, just like in LA.

Wow what a ride

The New Year has started, and I have had almost no time to finish the old one.  I could easily have used another month.
Counting backwards, on the last day of 2012, we saw Nicole and Daireus off to their new home in Denver, Colorado.  We wish them all the happiness and may their dreams come true.

Daireus, Patricia and Nicole

Daireus, Nicole and her parents, Ken and Tracy

This year was Gavin's first Christmas, one of many firsts to come.

OK what am I supposed to do now?

Aariel and Oma feeding Gavin

Patricia is now officially retired.  December 21 was her last day at GENI, and I think she will have fond memories of the many years spend there interacting with all the young people from all over the world.

On her last day, some of Patricia's pictures were projected on all the screens

Patricia in the hot-seat, telling her side of her story.

We spent a few great months with our friends Whitney and Don in University Heights. We discovered it's a bit different than living in the burbs.

Don & Whitney

Then there was Mom's 96th Birthday. We went to see her in Fallon, Nevada, and had a great time staying with Patricia's sister, Barbara, and George.

Pretty good for 96, and it has all to do with genes and lots of walking

The sister act, Barbara and Patricia

On this trip, Patricia wanted to show me San Francisco.  We loved spending three great days there, just hanging out and experiencing the town.

Patricia is in paradise at Britex, four floors of fabrics and notions.

Of course, we do need to take photos for the memories

Here she is, living dangerously

On September 22, Daireus and Nicole promised to spend their life's together, and what a party it was.

They made it

Then there was, for us, the most important event of this century, the birth of Gavin Fischer Paradee, a gift to all of us.  Please note the middle name:>)

Gavin graced the world on September 16, 6 1/2 weeks early.

Arriving at home at last, almost too small for the car seat.

Introduction to the family, he seems to take it in stride.

These are only the last four months.  All in all a busy year, and if you follow the blog, you got most of what happened earlier in the year.
We wish everyone a Happy and Prosperous 2013.
Stay in touch; we love to hear from you.

Flat Land

At the end of September, we went to Fallon, Nevada to celebrate my mother-in-law's 96th Birthday. While we did have a great time, the only worry I had was that I couldn't find the elevation I needed for my goal of climbing 35 floors per day; each floor is 10 feet in elevation.

The road is dead strait with no elevation whatsoever.

Since there are no hills in Fallon,   I had to play out all sorts of scenarios in my mind of what I could do, like finding a two story building and climbing the stairs, or driving to a nearby mountain and so on.

Do this 15 times and you are out of breath or whatever you want to call it.

As it turned out, I didn't need to worry. On my 5-mile walk to the Assisted Living home whom where Mom stays, I found a sports ground with bleachers about three floors high, so all I had to do is walk up them 15 times, and I was done.
The looks I got from the workman standing around was something else.  Even when I tried to explain what I was doing, they were still in disbelief.  I think I can't blame them.

Pretty good for 96!

And we had a great time with Mom at her 96th Birthday.  If anyone asks her what contributed to her longevity, she will tell them, "lots of walking." So I better keep walking if I want to be in such a good shape at any age.

Back in sunny California

Having had a great ride through Nevada, entering California is the best. It always feels so liberating to see the first sign that we are in the Sierras with the beautiful peeks. The scenery is absolutely breathtaking, and it reminds me of the time when I flew to Bishop one day with Michal and Sam just for breakfast. After we stopped at our favorite bakery and got a few loaves of bread, we continued and booked into a motel at Lone Pine at the base of Mount Whitney.
We went to our favorite Cafe Shop and then got a bottle of Australian wine to celebrate our homecoming.

Breath taking landscape

This is why I don't want to live anywhere near snow.

And it looks stunning. What do you do?

There's always this;when its cold outside, one needs to warm oneself.

The Boat is out

Finally after two years, the boat is out of its storage area and Malcolm can now work on it - like paint it and install a new motor, so he can take it out on the water.

Got it out in the rain

Ian and Mal having a beer

After a hard days work, it was time to celebrate Malcolm's birthday, so he can get on with piling another year onto his roaming around this planet.

Ian, Pete, Mal, Luke, Roy & me behind the camera

Happy Birthday, Malcolm

Already 3 days

Wow as time fly's we have been here for three days, and it feels like weeks. That's a good thing.
We arrived here on Tuesday local time and made our way to where we staying by train, ferry & bus, an easy ride even with all our bags.
We took it easy for the rest of the day and went to sleep at about 6:30PM and got up at 7 the next morning.
It was Patricia's birthday here in Australia and we celebrated by visiting the Opera or better said a play at the Opera House.

Funny play we went to see

It was great to go over old territory and I even meet Ann & Ivan, both of whom have been working there since 1973.

Nice place to relax

We found a perfect way to loosing a few pounds quickly 

After the play we spend the next few hours checking out the town and waiting for to go back and see the Opera Mac Beath. You could call us cultured now.

Jon & Linda, and how about my handbag

Yesterday then was a day to see friends, Jon and Linda took us for lunch at Bondi Junction and after that we went to see Liana & Steve and the QVB in town.

Patricia had a great time taking photos at the QVB

The evening Mal went to get some Tai food and we spend the time sitting and talking.

Patricia had two days of Birthday celebrations, one for Australia and yesterday for the US.

Today is easy, we rest and work on the computer, writing blog etc., the weather is not very inviting to go out much.

Tomorrow Malcolm will drive us to Johns River where we will be spending the next few weeks.