March 28, 2010
Finally I am finding a little time to update this blog! Since we have been at Park Sierra, we have been dealing with many of the issues that non-RVers deal with on a regular basis. One of the big issues is arranging and attending medical appointments to deal with some of the health problems we are developing as a result of advancing age. Happily, we are fairly sure that we do not have any life-threatening illnesses. But it is finally time to deal with some things we have been putting off. So last week we had two days of appointments and this coming week there are three more; such tings as mammograms, dermatology, lab tests, an x-ray of my hammertoe, etc. I won't bore you with a complete list....
When we aren’t at Kaiser, we have been either socializing with our many friends here, or trying to deal with rig organization and repair. After 13 months on the road, there is a lot to deal with! Additionally, there are still some preparations we need to do to get ready for our April transatlantic cruise. On April 11 we will join many of our friends from last year’s Around the Horn cruise on the Independence of the Seas to sail from Ft. Lauderdale to Southampton, arriving on April 25. Then Elaine and I will fly to Barcelona where we have rented an apartment for a week. We hope to visit some places outside the city too, such as Montserrat. On May 3 we fly back to Florida and then will catch another flight back to CA.
Before arriving back here, on March 21, we spent about 6 days at Jojoba Hills SKP Park in southern California, near Temecula. Our good friends, Dick & Carol Schneider, and Joe & Carla Calwell have lots there, and we had may delightful social times with them. Here are a few pictures of some of the events:
Dick, Carla & Joe:

Elaine & Carol:

For St. Patrick's Day we drove to Darran & Marielle's in San Diego where Elaine and Darran fixed a great corned beef meal.

Marielle's sister Meg, and her husband Ben, also came, as well as Darran's good friend Brian, his wife Jen and their baby McKenna. Here we all are at the dinner table:

It has been a LONG time since we have been around such a young, and cute baby, so we enjoyed holding her:

Brian & Jen and McKenna:

Meg & Ben wearing some of the beads we got at Mardi Gras:

Darran & Marielle like to play with McKenna:

Of course, we needed a picture of the Moms with Darran:

One of the delights of visiting Darran & Marielle is that they live about 2 blocks from Mission Bay in the Pacific Beach section of San Diego. So we love to walk on the pedestrian walkway around the bay:

After we returned to Jojoba, we enjoyed a lovely cocktail party with Joe & Carla on their new lot, and old friends George and Madelyn also joined us.

Later we had a delicious dinner with lots of friends held down at the Ranch House. Here is a picture of Elaine with Vicky & Terry Webb, who also have a lot at this park, but are Boomer friends of ours from our summer at Lake Kachess:

A few days ago, we drove to Merced to see my granddaughter, Paige, who was home for quarter break from college. We all went to lunch together at Applebees, then did some thrift store shopping before dropping her off at her boyfriend Christopher's house. He took the following picture of the three of us. Too bad Paige's eyes were closed!

It was great to see her and she is not only doing well in her classes, but also at her job as assistant manager at a retail store called Pac Sun. We are very proud of her and miss the days when she used to be able to stay with us for one or two weeks at a time.
Here at Park Sierra, there have been lots of Happy Hours and dinners but we haven't taken many pictures of these gatherings. The weather has been sunny and nice but we are due for some rain starting Tuesday night. Hey, maybe I will finally get the taxes done!