Part 1: I flew from Kona to Portland on frequent flyer miles with Alaska Airlines. John, Alexis and (surprise!) Joanna picked me up at my hotel and we met Alli, Ben and Clark downtown for dinner. Hillary and Daniel joined us in time for dinner, too. It was a noisy Friday night in Portland but it was great to get together. Afterward, we stopped at John's skate church to see all the kids in action. Wow! Saturday morning I flew to Oakland where Rick, Franny and Mom picked me up and we went straight to breakfast.
On Wednesday, Franny took me to see Shrek: The Musical at the Orpheum theater in San Francisco. We went in early enough to walk from BART to Union Square to look at the Christmas windows and do a little window shopping. We walked through the St. Francis Hotel lobby which was decorated for Christmas and did a little shopping of our own in Nordstrom's. The musical was really well done and fun. It started off with Julie Andrews' voice coming over the loudspeaker to warn that anyone not behaving would be toted off by one of the monsters. The kids loved that.
Through craigslist, I'd found a floor loom in Berkeley that I wanted to buy. Long story short, Rick took me to Berkeley to pick it up and then we drove it to Gilmore (yes, really) Looms in Stockton where it was to be packed up and shipped to Hawaii. It was built by Mr. Jack Gilmore in 1972. His nephew and his wife now have the business. We had a nice chat with them and then drove back home to Fremont.
On Saturday, we packed up and drove to El Dorado Hills. We left Fremont early, stopped to pick up Savannah in Pleasanton and then had breakfast at the Black Bear Diner on the way. Grandpa Rick had asked Savannah to count the bears she saw and I think it was either 52 or 54 by the time we left.
On Wednesday, Franny took me to see Shrek: The Musical at the Orpheum theater in San Francisco. We went in early enough to walk from BART to Union Square to look at the Christmas windows and do a little window shopping. We walked through the St. Francis Hotel lobby which was decorated for Christmas and did a little shopping of our own in Nordstrom's. The musical was really well done and fun. It started off with Julie Andrews' voice coming over the loudspeaker to warn that anyone not behaving would be toted off by one of the monsters. The kids loved that.
Through craigslist, I'd found a floor loom in Berkeley that I wanted to buy. Long story short, Rick took me to Berkeley to pick it up and then we drove it to Gilmore (yes, really) Looms in Stockton where it was to be packed up and shipped to Hawaii. It was built by Mr. Jack Gilmore in 1972. His nephew and his wife now have the business. We had a nice chat with them and then drove back home to Fremont.
On Saturday, we packed up and drove to El Dorado Hills. We left Fremont early, stopped to pick up Savannah in Pleasanton and then had breakfast at the Black Bear Diner on the way. Grandpa Rick had asked Savannah to count the bears she saw and I think it was either 52 or 54 by the time we left.
ish for her birthday. After they skated, that group visited the shops nearby. Cindy took Hailey back for her third and final performance, I went back to see the performance again and Mom and Ceil stayed at the house. Sunday night we had a wonderful birthday dinner. Monday everyone headed back for home, Reedley and Fremont. I left the next morning, very early. Rick and Franny took me to the airport at 5:15 am for a 7:45 am flight! Aack! I got home safe and sound and found Bob and Misha in good shape.
