Robin & Family Visit: Wed–Sun

Wednesday, June 9th: Fairyland
So far in during the visit all our activities and amusements had taken place in Livermore. (Whoops, not quite but almost. We bowled in the nearby town of Dublin, but Livermore does have a bowling alley.) We planned a mid-week trip about 40 minutes away that required two cars. We were going to Children's Fairyland in Oakland located on Bellevue avenue. Robin was eager to relive her memories from when she went there as a child. Per Wikipedia

Children's Fairyland,U.S.A. is an amusement park, located in Oakland, California, on the shores of Lake Merritt. It was one of the earliest "themed" amusement parks in the United States. Fairyland includes 10 acres of play sets, small rides, and animals.

Due to COVID-19, Fairyland had divided its operating hours into two shifts, morning and afternoon, with the purpose of reducing crowd size and allowing for mid-day cleaning. Pathways were narrowed or made one way to promote social distancing. We stayed at home in the morning, lounging in PJs and reading books, generally kicking back until time to leave.

When we'd arrived at Fairyland, Frank and I had parked farther away then Robin and Jeremy did so we had farther to walk to the entrance. Autumn and Isaiah had to come out to meet us. No adults are allowed in without a child. Them's da rules!

Once inside, there were bubbles to chase, hills to roll down like Jack and Jill, and tunnels to race through like the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. There were all sorts of places to sit such as flowers and horses.

But nobody sat for long... unless they were on the train! They used precious park time waiting in line but it paid off since they were lucky enough to make it onto the second to last train ride of the day, in the second to last car. Grandpa and Robin rode with Autumn and Isaiah. Jeremy and I waved and took pictures. 

The PA system was repeatedly announcing that it was time to exit the park. We took an exit route that went through Wonderland again. The tunnels there were a fun adventure that the kids did not want to miss. Although Alex was not with us, I took a picture of the White Rabbit for him. I posed Robin in front of a huge pocket watch, the phrase running through my mind ,"We're late. We're late. ...for a very important date." Frank preferred to have his picture taken by the Red Queen. Notice even her mouth is heart shaped. Then a park worker offered to take a photo of the Frank and me posed on either side of the Jack of Hearts. The mustache, not the hairdo, gives him away as the Jack of Hearts. The adults had fun, too. Where were the kids? Hopefully with Jeremy.

We were at Fairyland for half a day. We used the time to explore and did not stop for a food break. I never did asked Robin what she remembered from three or so decades ago. The kids did indeed have fun but the fun did not end once outside the park. There were awesome trees to climb on the shores of Lake Merritt. Autumn and Isaiah were just two of the kids who found that grove of trees irresistible.

Thursday, June 10th: May Nissan Park, Lunch Out
The park we learned about when we were at Sunset park was called May Nissan Park and it was truly amazing. An aerial view from the website of Landscape Structures, the park designer, shows it to be quite extensive. On the right is a play area surrounded by a circular path, with maze type games, game-board type pathways, and a typewriter keyboard. Toward the left is the more vertical type play structure, again surrounded by a circular path, where we spent most of our time. The big red and blue flower structures provide shade. The second photo is an enlargement of the left side and rotated 90° clockwise.

It is difficult to tell from the aerial views but the surface, is not flat. It is fill with lumps and bumps and primary colored polka dots that are mini hills. The area is covered with a soft rubberized surface for safety. The following photos are taken from where Robin and I sat in the cool shade and could gaze in several directions to watch Autumn and Isaiah. While we were here at the park, Frank and Jeremy were tackling an electrical project at home, installing some motion sensor switches. They were to join up with us later for lunch.

After about 1½ to 2 hours at the park we went to eat lunch out. Eating out was Autumn's request. She liked the food I had stocked at the house, but she wanted to "pick from a menu". We ate outdoors on the main street through downtown Livermore. Parking spaces had been blocked off and the dining space expanded so more customers could be seated outdoors due to the pandemic. It was novel to the kids to be sitting at tables and chairs in the street, beyond the curb. And Autumn got her wish to pick from a menu. Known for their dips, Mario's French Dips still has a kid friendly menu.

After lunch we went for a brief introductory visit into a game, toy, and music store called Mozart, Einstein, and Me – subtitled Gifts of Music, Science, and Art. I promised Autumn and Isaiah we would take them for another longer visit to the store the next day. They had limited time because Robin, Jeremy, and the kids were due that afternoon to visit the parents of the Robin's best friend throughout high school. Mary and Robin had been maids/matrons of honor at each others wedding and Mary's folks still live in Livermore. Autumn and Isaiah went willingly, each clutching a small shark's tooth souvenir as a token of the promise to return the next day.

I love this store because of its unique high caliber gifts. True you will not find LOL dolls or Marvel action figures but you will find clever games, books, and manipulatives typical of the store in a science museum. There is a lot to take in but when we returned for our repeat visit,  Autumn and Isaiah each selected a Squishable as their primary toy of choice. These selections would not have been my first choice on the intellectual side but they certainly appealed on the tactile side. Neither of them put down their plush pug or furry avocado for the rest of the visit, slept with them at night, and hugged them tightly on their travels and flight. Autumn wants a dog and Isaiah's favorite color is green. Perhaps that explains their choices? What else can I say? I an not certain about the finalized names but I think they were Chocolate and Greenie.

Friday, June 11th: Quilting, Games
Robin brought out with her from Oklahoma a Christmas quilt she has had been working on for years. She had pieced and appliquéd it, layered it with batting and backing, but had yet to quilt it. She wanted to use my HQ Sweet Sixteen longarm machine for the job.  So we got her started on it Friday. It was only two days before she would leave. She was determined to make progress on so as not feel foolish for having hauled it out here and back for naught. It would not have been for naught. I got to see it. So she laid out her quilting plan, chose her thread colors, donned some grip-fingered gloves, and got started. Friday night was supposed to be date night for her and Jeremy but she gave him doe-eyes and asked for a raincheck so she could quilt instead. Jeremy acquiesced, knowing well from experience the siren call of a sewing project in process.

We played games throughout the visit, not just on Friday; I just happened to plunk in the discussion of them on this day in Friday's post. Skyjo was a new one to Robin and Jeremy but it was quite popular even with the kids. In fact, when their return flight was delayed by 1½ hours, Robin, Jeremy, Autumn, and Isaiah plopped themselves in one spot in the airport and played, keeping everyone amused for the duration. Jeremy was wise to have packed it in his carryon. Otrio is a glorified three dimension tic-tac-toe. The addition of a wooden board and smooth colorful plastic rings enhances playing pleasure by making tic tac toe a tactile experience. Autumn often beat me at Otrio. Pride in my granddaughter's cleverness, outweighed the sting of my bruised ego.

 

I bought AZUL because of the beautiful playing tiles and great reviews; I'd even sent a copy of the board game out to Jeremy and Robin. They had never played it before but Frank and I have with local friends. Apparently, however Frank and I had missed part of the instructions and were playing it wrong. Jeremy, an eagle-eye for directions and an extremely skilled game player, pointed that out to us. Whoops! We stand corrected. There was one point however about scoring methodology that Jeremy interpreted differently. A heated discussion ensued. Whew! Exhausting! We are a family of stubborn people! Or as Frank would state it, "It is not being pigheaded, it is having great tenacity of purpose."

Jeremy carried the game Space Base out from Oklahoma with him, excited to play it with us, certain we would really like it. Robin claims it looks like a slot machine and if I squint my eyes and imagine, I can almost agree with her. On the right I have shown five of the twelve positions called docking ports, each player has on his own game board. Docks are numbered in relatively large black numerals in the gray region near the bottom of the board. On each space ship card is the dock number to which it is assigned, printed in the white diamond in the upper right of the card. Beneath the gray region is a section to score coins (yellow), planets (green) or ships (blue) A player scores both on his turn and the other players turn according to the values in the red or blue central section – a nice feature that keeps the player engaged at all times but also means he has to keep paying attention. Point criteria cards are drawn, collected, and amassed above the board cards. It was a lot for Frank and me to learn. Have your eyes glazed over yet? The artwork is beautiful but Frank and I struggled with the rubrics. Jeremy, Robin, Frank, and I played the game once. With four players and our steep learning curve, it took a while – over two hours if I remember correctly. I would like to try it again when we visit Oklahoma. I feel that we dampened Jeremy's enthusiasm as to how much we would love the game, so I needed to remind him, "You can teach old dogs new tricks, but they take longer to learn." We will try again. It is a game of strategy, not merely chance, and Frank and I were too overwhelmed to even begin to know how to strategize, let alone muddle though our turn and do it. Frank and I need a do-over. Obviously we lost, big time.

Saturday, June 12th: Date Night, Pizza, Frogs
Robin finished the quilting on her masterpiece. She only needs to bind it when she gets home.  A closeup shows two examples of Christmas trees through the centuries. I look forward to reading her blog post about it once completed. Her blog is called RobinLovesQuilting (RLQ). Now her blog also includes a lot of knit clothes she has made on her serger, her latest creative passion.

Jeremy and Robin were free to go out on their dinner and date night, now that the quilting goal had been accomplished. They went off to exciting downtown Livermore, which is really quite hopping on Friday and Saturday nights. Autumn and Isaiah had their wish of pizza for dinner, home with Grandma and Grandpa.

When Jeremy and Robin returned home they were greeted at our front door by a small gathering of frogs that had journeyed up from the creek bed behind our house. I wasn't aware the frogs would travel that far or climb so high. I knew we had lizards, but not frogs.

Sunday, June 13th: Goodbye Hugs and Departure
Their flight back, from San Francisco through Denver, was scheduled to leave late morning, unlike their flight out from OKC which had left at the butt crack of dawn (6:19 am). 

Autumn is prepped to leave. Have sunglasses, mask, and pug, will travel.

Isaiah and Autumn gave me tearful hugs. Autumn muttered "Grandma, I'm going to miss...wait for it... Snoopy." Then they dutifully went to stand by their luggage for a photo. Notice Isaiah is chomping down on one more Svenhardt's pastry. They are not available in Oklahoma so I sent home with them as many as could be distributed throughout their suitcases. 

Autumn waited outside on the sidewalk, watching the car being loaded and saying a heartfelt goodbye to Snoopy.  Even Snoopy looks forlorn as he watches the car being loaded.

We took some final photos by the front door, in the car, and of the car about to pull away, with Robin blowing us a kiss. Frank is driving them to the airport.

Frank got his final hugs at the airport when he dropped them off. And there they go with luggage and masks and Squishables. Hope to see Jeremy, Robin, Autumn, and Isaiah again real soon, not just virtually but in person for some real hugs, games, sword fights, and pancakes, again!