Fitness, Food, Fire, Flitting, Fun, and Flights for Fathers' Day Visit

Thursday June 12th and Friday June 13th were busy days. Jeremy, Robin, and Autumn went out to breakfast and a play date with some local friends on Thursday. Frank and I got to dote on Vivian briefly between feedings while Carrie took advantage of a couple exercise opportunities. Friday early afternoon both families strolled to downtown Livermore and later dropped by to visit other Livermore families they each knew.

Fitness: Carrie went for a mid-day run Thursday while Frank and I watched Vivian. She was able to find a pilates class on Friday. I applaud her post-preganancy dedication. I was never so disciplined.

Vivian was content with Frank while her mom Carrie went for a run.

I, too, enjoyed some happy time with Vivian.

Food: Thursday afternoon Carrie, Vivian, and I took a ride up to Black Hawk Plaza and visited Draeger's Market. It is about a half hour drive northwest of Livermore and the route meanders through some scenic hills.

The drive to the upscale Blackhawk Plaza with its renowned culinary store Draeger's
was as enjoyable as the stroll around the outdoor mall area

Ducks, water features, and expansive landscaping are
signatures of the ambience of Blackhawk Plaza in Danville.

Carrie is a great cook and is into watching cooking shows and so I thought the gourmet market was a low key outing that might interest her. As an example, here is their extensive assortment of olive oils.

The olive oil selection is vast at Draeger's Market.

It is ironic, but after looking at all that food and those gourmet morsels, I was too lazy to cook Thursday. We ordered some party pans from Strizzi's, Wood Grilled Chicken and Rigatoni Bolognese.  Vivian was quite pleased with herself during dinner, perched in her table side bouncy chair that had been assembled for her the night before.

Hey! This is fun!

Fire: After dinner on Thursday Frank and I took a brief walk of the scorched area from the fires that had begun  at ~7:50 pm the previous night. We learned that about four acres had burned and that over sixty trees needed to be cut down because the glowing embers within could not be extinguished. You could hear the incessant sound of the chain saws and see the omnipresent fire trucks passing by.

I found it fascinating how a narrow walking path could serve as a fire break.
Even more incredulous was how a dry twiggy bush could remain unscathed
amid a surrounding sea of charred black.

Throughout the next day fire trucks patrolled.
Firemen cleared debris and watched for other flareups.

Flitting: Charred grass outside our fence line did not get in the way of Autumn enjoying some outside time in our backyard. She flitted about just about as fast as the humming bird Jeremy caught in motion sipping at our agapanthus flowers.

Autumn was fascinated with the arched bridge we have in our backyard. She raced back and forth,
back and forth, forth and back, over it many, many times.

Jeremy caught this great photo of a nearby hummingbird. Can you spot it in the very center of the photo?
The blur of its wings reminded me of the blur of Autumn's feet!

Our front entry looked like stroller central as both families set out for a downtown walk.

Ready for a walk!

Vivian is dressed to the nines.
Anybody remember that song by the children's group Parachute Express?
Polka dots, checks, and stripes are in fashion... polka dots, checks, and stripes. Yipes!

Outside time was also followed by reading and bath time.

On Frank's last visit to Oklahoma, Autumn would not sit in his lap and was very wary of him.
This trip she thinks Grandpa is a really OK guy!

Playing in water in a bath tub or in large containers out on our back deck
– Autumn is one happy camper.

Fun: Late evening all of us (except Dan and Maxine who had yet to arrive) perched on the king size bed in the master bedroom to talk and visit toward the end of the day. Trying to get all folks looking good at the same time is quite impossible. I'd bought a new camera and we snapped many photos in a futile attempt to get everyone looking forward and smiling simultaneously. Then we accidentally took a video. This image is actually a frame capture that minimized the number of faces wearing distracted, unflattering, albeit funny, expressions. The entire  scene reminded me of the John Denver song, Grandma's Feather Bed.

Grandma's Feather Bed
It was nine feet high and six feet wide and soft as a downy chick.
It was made from the feathers of forty 'leven geese, took a whole bolt of cloth for the tick.
It could hold eight kids and four hound dogs and a piggy we stole from the shed.
We didn't get much sleep but we had a lot  of fun on grandma's feather bed.

Flights: Dan flew up from Orange County late Friday night. His one and a half hour flight had been delayed several times (longer that its total duration) but he made it finally and Frank and I went together to pick him up from Oakland airport. On our drive home from Oakland airport with Dan, sometime after 10:00 pm, my sister forwards me a text message she received from Southwest Airlines. My sister had been scheduled to arrive at 2:00 pm Saturday. Due to "weather" or circumstances beyond their control, Southwest had cancelled her flight out of Chicago. Strangely enough, the weather into Chicago must have been under their control because the first leg of her flight had not been cancelled.  

Had she already gone to bed, Maxine would not have known about her flight cancellation
in time to rebook and arrive before Vivian and Autumn had already returned home.

This timing was meticulously planned so that she would get to meet both of her grandnieces in one trip to northern California instead of one trip to southern CA and a second trip to Oklahoma. As soon as we got home from the airport I jumped online and researched her other options. In order to fit her "meet the grandnieces window", one last flight remained, but she would need to leave for the airport within the next couple of hours and not go to bed at all. Trooper that she is, she woke her husband Bob and that is what she did. Though technically not a red-eye flight, she did not go to bed at all Friday, since she had to get to the airport by 4:00 am and it was already 2:00 am in North Carolina by the time we sorted it all out and booked her a different flight.

In looking Southwest Airlines up on Wikipedia I found this amusing history of their slogans. A few previous slogans have been "You're Now Free To Move About The Country", "THE Low Fair Airline", and "Just Plane Smart".

I like this alternative to a lawsuit. The money goes to a good cause and not to lawyers!

SWA's current slogan is "If It Matters to You, It Matters to Us". Not the way we planned it but Maxine did get here in time to see every one, six hours earlier on Saturday, 10:00 am instead of 2:00 pm. Her bags flew free, and there were no additional charges for her fare.