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.

Random Pictures

Springtime offers up the best Sunclipses.

Wow, what a building.  Designed by Frank Gehry from the inside out, this houses the Business School of Management at Case Western Reserve in Cleveland.

From any angle, it is
spectacular.

Spring is beautiful everywhere, and in
Cleveland, it has just started.

Bunch of butterflies in the botanical garden

There was a display of the biggest
cockroaches I have ever seen
at the Botanical  Gardens

And where do I find my Patricia?

Patricia enjoying a break in Little Italy
in Cleveland after walking all over the museum area.

We also had a quick look at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

This is why we went to Cleveland:
Yuja Wang played Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto #3 with the Cleveland Orchestra, absolutely exquisite and well
worth traveling to hear.

Aariel working on a project at her school during Volunteer Day.

Gavin as always is a big helper

Opa and Gavin having a rest

after reading. 

Becky and Ben are here for the month
of May,  just to hang out with Gavin
and help out.

Can you say cool dude?

I am on my knees vacuuming broken glass off the lawn. 

The wind was so strong last nite, it blew over a glass top table and broadcast glass over about 20 feet of lawn.

In the meantime, Gavin is helping
with watering.

After we made a rack for dads surfboards

Then it is time to clean up our workshop

Everyone came for the Easter egg hunt.

The grownups are just looking on.

Easter was a total success.

The bunny left lots of eggs.

We also had an Eater egg hunt
at Chris and Corina's place.

Our friend Winnie let us have her Timeshare
in Oceanside for a week.

Gavin was exploring all the empty cupboards
in the place.

Gavin doing his pencil roll with
Oma's help.

Wow, that was a fast tumble.

I wonder if I'll be as big as
coach Dave someday.

Not to forget our years potato harvest.

Last but not least, Dad is teaching his
son how to skip stones on the surface of
the ocean.

I just love this town

Every time I come to old Encinitas, my spirits rise, and I feel very happy.

It's located on Highway 101 about 30 miles north of San Diego, and I have lived here for about 15 years with Patricia. Now we house-sit in different communities nearby.

Today, we walked just two blocks from the highway to the beach, and this is what we saw.

Coming from LA into town

Small shops & restaurants all along the road

Shops that sell just about anything for the tourist 

Tree-lined side streets

Back alleys 

Pacific Ocean north from D street

Beach looking south from D street

The old VW- iconic- needs to be there.

Sunbathing in winter, where else?

Pelicans flying in formation

Beach cottages: ahh, I remember Bondi Beach.

Trash-bins are nicely decorated. 

If you need equipment for a day on the
beach, it's right there.

Don't you just want to go there and never leave?!?!?!

All went well

The transition from one year to another is sometimes a time to think what was and what will be, even though both are useless for obvious reasons.
Despite that, we had a great year and look forward to the coming one.
I spent a short time taking a walk up a steep hill around were we life, just to see if I could still do it.

Now I know there is an easy way to get up there; a kid was showing me,

but I chose the hard way and got a beautiful view looking back.

While up there, I had a good conversation with a potato bug, a totally harmless, normally subterranean creature.

Then it was time to get our act together for the party at Corina & Chris'.
They have an East Coast New Year Party, meaning our New Year starts when New York celebrates, and we can be in bed by 22:00.
Corina and Chris prepared a delicious spread and installed a huge screen in the yard so we could see the action as it was unfolding in New York.

Henry and Patricia 

Friends warmed themselves around the fire-pit or under the heaters.

Corina and Patricia

Then suddenly there were all this other people; no idea were they came from.

And then it was