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.

Another great week

After spending a few days in the high desert in Anza, Aariel and Gavin joined us for a day, so Gavin could continue his mission to explore the planet.

Then we made our way back to Carlsbad via Ramona were we visited Patty and Jorge in their new home on 100+ acres of gently rolling hills. The timing was perfect. They invited us for a Thai lunch and then to their house. As a new house, it needs landscaping which is right down Patricia's alley.  Based on previous conversations, Patty & Jorge asked her to draw up a plan for what plants could go where to keep it as native as possible.
Then it was time to head to our new housesit in Carlsbad at Lore & Jerry's place where Jasmine & Jasper were waiting for us.

We settled in pretty quickly as this is the fifth time in this house, and we know the ropes and looked forward to a relaxing weekend.

Starting the new week, we had Tracy and Ken, Nicole's parents, over for a tapas and wine and great conversation.  On Tuesday our friend Glen joined us for some good SNL humor.

Wednesday was Gavin-day again; we do miss the boy when we are not there for a few days.

The big task this morning was to take care of a blocked drain in the laundry. The plumber made a huge mess, of necessity, but the reward is that the water is now flowing again.

We have needed some nice chairs in the backyard, and they have finally arrived in boxes

 to be stained and assembled; any volunteers?

After all the parts were painted,

they needed to be assembled, and I was very lucky to have a specialist on hand.

 As a reward for a great job, it was time to visit the park where we encountered a school bus, Gavin's new word.

 This gave us the perfect opportunity to practice some new skills

Now it was time for Oma & Opa to hand over the reins to Mama and Papa for the weekend.

Friday was an evening reserved for having longtime friends Tom and Sandy over for drinks, and I had a little too much of the grape juice.  But we had a great time talking about old times and times to come, as Tom is just getting started in his own beer brewery in San Clemente.

Looks like we are fully booked out, as on Saturday, we had arranged to spend time with Ashley and Peter at Sun Harbour Marina in San Diego on Verena & Michael's boat, which they are in the process of selling.

This was the last blast on this boat, and a great time was had for a fitting finish for our week.

It's the time of Year

Once again it is Christmas, and the family is together for a time to play and have too much to eat.

Ross and Connor, Ryan's Brothers, Patricia, Michael with
Gavin not paying attention, Aariel, Ryan, Nicole and Daireus

It's great to celebrate this time of year and even better, from my point of you, to do it in the sun; it's 80+F degrees.
As it turns out, it's all about Gavin.

Uncle Daireus reading from the new book while it is still in one piece

Uncle Ross is getting all the attention

There is a new bird in town

Nicole and Daireus

Mama and Papa trying to have a rest

Just being cute

Getting ready to do the washing

Let's see if I can get his attention this way

Someone has to do some work around here

Oops, I guess this is it for today then.