Margaret and I drove out to nearby Half Moon Bay Harbor before 4 p.m. on 28 December 2009, and watched the charter fishing boat, Huli Cat, come in with a load of 11 fisherpeople and 3000 pounds of Humboldt squid. We watched the huge squid, 25-45 pounds each, being unloaded, some of it for scientific research. We learned a lot about these squid, a tropical animal with an abnormally huge population in this area and making its way towards Alaska. Some of the reasons are natural, some may be due to global warming. Their life styles and possible impact on other sea life is being studied by the man we met. The squid isn’t the tastiest of its breed, but is an excellent and plentiful supply of cheap protein. The squid live only 18 months before they reproduce and then die. See Squids4Kids and http://www.reelreports.com/humboldt-squid-below-san-francisco-11508.html where you can see a tiny picture of our captain too. We learned that these squid are great for dissection purposes in high school, even the ganglia are easily visible. Ok, now I am sounding like Mom. Pelicans flew overhead. These were the first of things which we experienced which Mom and Dad would have loved.

The boat was finally washed down and we boarded for our exciting ride out the harbor. After a slow start because crab line was being dropped, we went up to 13 knots and up and over the waves. What a thrill! Dad would have been in his element! We thought our brother JohnE, who could unfortunately not make it today, would have loved this ride too. The boat turned to one side and then the other as it fought its way over those tremendous waves, well, tremendous enough for a calm day! Hold on tight!!! One of the crew of two chatted with us to keep us distracted, sort of! This was not a ride for little ones, and most people would have had to hold on to the side, wondering if the next crash and roll would take them with it. Soon, however, we were past the breakers and could bring out the camera again.

The timing of our somewhat belated trip was perfect! The lighting, the weather, the rainbow, the sunset – how symbolic, the seals resting on the buoys, the waves and their rooster tails near Maverick’s Point, even the surfers out there catching waves. By five o’clock we had reached the sea across from the tide pools at Moss Beach Mom so loved. And there we idled.

The chatty crew member cut open the plastic bags containing the powdery ashes of our parents. He told Margaret how to dump them overboard and I photographed. They entered the sea so quickly from the bag, but we watched them as they floated upon the water a while longer, drifting away.. Margaret poured some Big House Red into the sea as a libation, to toast the physical remains of Mom and Dad as they joined with the sea. Then Margaret took a box of Mom’s sea shells and drift wood collection and tossed them gradually back into the sea. Will I find the driftwood swan on the beach in a few days?

The skipper gunned the engines and twenty minutes later we were back in the slip as the moon rose over the harbor, the return ride over the waves more harmonious than the ride out. We joined Chris and Carlos in a harbor restaurant for dinner, the kind of place Dad would have felt comfortable in, especially with the good beer to quench his thirst.

Adios, Mom and Dad!

Anne C. Ruecker

Fran has been suffering from late stage Alzheimer’s for many years now and we’re glad that she could pass on surrounded  by her family.  We all loved Fran very much and will miss her.

Chris is still volunteering at the school.  This year he is doing the weekly psycho-motor class.  What’s psycho-motor you ask?  It’s PE.  So that’s a funny train wreck every week.

Carlos likes it.  It’s “pretty good” and “cool”.  I think recess is still the best part for him.

One funny thing is that teachers all go by their first name (different than in kindergarten).  Miss Thea is our teacher, and I sometimes teach in Miss Linda’s class.

Elementary school has become such a profound part of our lives that it impacts everything we do.  Our social circle, schedule, and conversation all revolve around these people who we (mostly) didn’t know two years ago.

We did many things, and had great fun, but the highlight of the trip for Carlos was staying at a Courtyard Inn with a nice pool.  Go figure.

How did we go?  We went as God intended and drove down the 101. We headed to our hotel in SLO just to get us used to driving together.
Pretty soon we settled into a routine — we would talk until we got bored, and then Carlos would watch videos on my phone until I couldn’t take the noise anymore, and then I would listen to the radio for a while until Carlos was bored with my selections.

Once we got to the hotel we ran to the store for the few things we forgot and then goofed around the pool until dinner and bed.  We stayed up far too late watching cartoons on the hotel TV.

We headed down to visit Uncle J. and Kim in Ontario.  We spent a couple days there — pool, mini golf, etc.  They were starting school so we went down the 15 into San Diego.  It’s been a decade or more since I went through Temecula and the scenery has changed pretty drastically.  It used to be just empty stretches down the 15 and now it’s developments with enormous house, Walmart, enormous houses, Best Buy, enormous houses, Walmart, repeat.

Lunch at Trader Joe’s and then we went to my parents’ new house.  I’m so proud of them that they bought their own house.  Woot!  The house is pretty neat, it has this older galley kitchen with a stove that pulls out and a huge backyard.  They are saying they want to keep the fake grass in the front yard though. Big mistake.

We did the normal San Diego routine of the Zoo and Sea World.  My Mom couldn’t really deal with changes at Sea World.  It has gone from this great non-profit to a straight-up amusement park.  But with fish.  Carlos and I loved it though.  We’re starting to have the same schedule — only stay for a while and then go back to the pool or house and zone out for a while.  After a few days of that we kissed them goodbye and headed out.

We did stop at the Point Loma national park where the Cabrillo Monument is and tide pools are.  Carlos had been a real trooper through the whole trip and I gave him a Nintendo DS to play Super Mario Bros. on.  I was worried that he wouldn’t be able to play it by himself, but he had absorbed enough from Allie and Adam that he played it no problem.

We still did a lot on the way back.  Stayed the night in Anaheim at a hotel with a nice pool.  Visited with Dean for lunch, when to that nice park in Irwindale, stayed with my brother again.  Most of that is a blur.  We were lucky enough to visit with Celeste and her parents and spend the night.

Back up through San Luis Obispo and then home to Marghie and the dogs.  Hurray!  Carlos played Mario the entire time.

After we went to Seattle, we headed over to see the cousins in Pullman, Washington.  Margaret’s cousin, Fran Powers, and her husband, Art, and son, Lee, live in Pullman and we spent a few days with them.  Lee is a little younger than Carlos and we had great fun in Pullman (a small city surrounded by rolling hills and wheat fields).

It was lovely to have Carlos be the older kid for once.   Usually he’s following the big kids around, but this time he was the big kid.  One nice thing about Pullman was that we were able to take the obligatory trip over to Idaho so that we could say we’ve been to Idaho.

On our way to Pullman we flew into Spokane and spent the morning there.  We went to Riverfront Park and went on the 100 year old (!) Carousel and this gondola/skyride thing that took us out over the river rapids (or falls, not sure). While we were hanging there checking out the falls we saw a marmot (or was it a beaver?), easily the highlight of the Spokane trip.  (Actually, the falls were spectacular with the spring flood, our glimpse of Idaho was geologically and historically significant, and I am thrilled by any carousel — mtd.)

We rented a house with a lovely water view

And Pike Place Market

And the Naguchi public works

Had lunch in the Space Needle

As well as the (very very short) Monorail, The Conservatory, The
Museum of Flight, and we got to see Elliot too. M, R, A, and A stayed
and went on the Boeing Tour also. Mike says it the Boeing tour was by
far the best thing they say. Thanks Mike.

We had a great time

]]> http://familyblog.sokitomi.com/2009/05/02/seattle/feed/ 0 ctdean http://familyblog.sokitomi.com/2009/04/04/pippi/ http://familyblog.sokitomi.com/2009/04/04/pippi/#comments Sat, 04 Apr 2009 22:20:26 +0000 ctdean http://familyblog.sokitomi.com/?p=189 ]]> We went with a slew of Kindergartners to see Pippi Longstocking: The Musical!  (I think the real name is just Pippi Longstocking.)

We went to school at the normal time, collected our group of kids, and crammed ourselves on the bus.  We headed up to the Palace of Fine Arts, filed in (and had a snack while waiting in line), sat down, and the show started.  Perfect timing by the teachers.

Carlos and Adam-from-school seemed to like the show well enough.  I’m not sure how much they really followed, though.  When I asked them what they liked they were tied between the disco ball light show during one of the musical numbers, and the bowing end the end.  “They were really good bowers”, said Carlos.  So they were.

We headed back on the bus and got to school just in time for lunch.

First time on a school bus.

We put it up and it was the ugliest thing ever. It did not go with our neo-shaker all natural and wonderful kitchen and living room.

I took my pliers and went to work to remove the existing frame. I and the the now completely blank piece of whiteboard went to the local framing shop and got them to frame it. Ching Ching!

They did a great a job and we put it up in the corner and it looks wonderful.

(The frame cost more than the whiteboard.)

P.S. The “security” picture hangers the shop recommended did add  a lot of stability to the board.

Today we had cupcakes at school and a quiet family dinner at the local Italian restaurant.