Christmas Party at Casa Ana 2010

And what a party it was! We had the biggest crowd ever, the most impressive dishes of all time and the beer, wine and champagne was flowing all evening!

Darrell and Sarah

Alex and Judy

Bette, Sharon, Susan and Dennis

Brian and Dot

Cam, Brian and Dot

Carla and Doug

Carol and Dennis

A full courtyard

Crit, Oralia, Rick and John

Darrell and Marv



Barb and Bill

Art and Jaye

Joanne, Liz, Bette and Ron

Kate, Nancy, Barb and Fern

Rick and Pam

Tim and Karen

Carol, Kay and Steve

Maria and Oralia

Dot, Steve and Janie

Maria, Steve, Brian Oralia and Bill

Oralia, John and Liz

Ros and George

Pam resting in the Papa chair!

Steve and I want to thank Doug and Carla, Tim, Karen and Oralia for flying to La Paz to join in the festivities and to all of our guests that made this the most memorable Christmas ever. It was great seeing all of our friends after such a long absence.   I don't know if this one can be beat, but we can try!

Company Arrives!

Best thing about being home, friends and family arriving in La Paz! There is something so exciting about waiting for those doors to open at the airport and glimpsing the first sight of your guests.

Doug and Carla

 

Oralia Arrives!



Tim and Karen Arrived!

Now, let the fun begin!!!!!!!!

Eating and Drinking, Drinking and Eating!

Introduced Rick and Pam to one of our favorite breakfast places, Maria's Cafe.  They have several items on their menu but  Steve and I seem to be in a rut, we always order the same thing. Steve orders Chilaquiles con pollo and I always order their omelette con jamon y queso, very tasty stuff.  It was kind of sad to come back and find that Jorge, Maria's husband had died of lung cancer earlier this year, he will be missed.

Crit invited us to her boat earlier this week for dinner but before we had dinner there was the requisite dock party!  It's funny, it doesn't matter what country you are in, all you need are boats,  friendly sailors on the dock and booze! Appetizers appeared out of nowhere and new friends were made.  What a great life!

Ahhhhh.....La Paz

Well, the wait certainly was worth it.  We arrived Tuesday in La Paz and it is every bit as wonderful as we remembered.  Our first night in town we had dinner with George and Ros, Mike and Jeanette and Alex and Judy.  We had wonderful gourmet pizza, wine and one of Judy's special concoctions for dessert, yum!  Wednesday we spent the day with Rick and Pam, showing them all the great places to eat!  Thursday was really an interesting day, I got to go on my first ever restaurant review!  Judy had this special assignment and invited me to go along, thank you Alex for being sick!  Friday was another great day, Burgers with Brian and Fern and their guest Robin, and Bill and Barb. 

Saturday we had a lovely dinner at Kay and Steve's and Sunday we finished off our week at Subasta, a wonderful fund raising event for the kids of La Paz.  Here are (from left to right) Pam, Sarah and Crit.  Cold beer sure tastes good when you are sitting with great friends!

All in all, it's been a great first week here at home.  Whew, we're tired! 

Return Home Part I

For a whole year we thought about what it would feel like again to come down this road, see our little “Casa Amigos”, and unpack for a three week stay. This is what retirement is all about. We have the warmth of the sun on our faces, the sound of the surf in our ears and are surrounded by all the familiar smells of a fishing village. Life is good!




There are definitely “things” that one gives up when in a place like Asuncion, like finding beef or pork products, butter and non-fat milk but those things can be brought in.

While there are “things” that one can’t find here, you would be hard pressed to find a friendlier village anywhere. There is always a wave from a passing car or a “buenas tardes” from a shop keeper. Children are typically shy but very well mannered. Even the teenagers will return greetings!

As you can see from the picture Steve took, laundry is fun! You can’t help but wonder how clean your clothes are after drying, hung up, on a dirt road!



Soon the road in will be paved all the way in from Viscaino and travel will be much easier. The road is much improved since we were here 19 months ago, although on the unpaved parts we have to crawl because our car is so low to the ground as a result of our habit of overloading!



We had our first happy hour here and met some great people and you won’t believe this, not one photo was taken! Sorry Bill and Bonnie, Jaime, Elide, Camila, and Ed. We will definitely get you next time!



Next stop home in Paz!

Sister Time

Well, here we are in November already!  We headed to Port Townsend to visit Victoria before heading South this year.  Needless to say, we had a wonderful time.  Victoria put together a party while we were there. It was great visiting with friends and neighbors, we saw Steve and Robin  who we hadn't seen in over 20 years, and it was wonderful of Mike and Kim to fly up just to spend the day.  We were happy that Doug and Carla were still in the area and brought Phil and Danette to party with the rest of us, those folks really know how to have fun!   Nate and Sarah booked a condo for us for a few nights which was a real treat, it was located right on the water overlooking Discovery Bay. In one picture if you look real close you'll see Berkely, Victoria's new heart throb!    

Kim and Mike

Nate and Sarah

Sarah, Victoria, Rose

Mike and Doug

Steve, Steve, Ana and Robin

Carla and Victoria

Steve and Doug

If you look close, Berkeley

Danette, Phil and Victoria

Fleet Week 2010

 Fleet Week started with a bang, literally!  Boy those Blue Angels are loud!  I found laying on the deck of Sogno De Oro was the best way to get shots of the planes flying directly overhead but I had to snap the picture fast!  Steeve, on the other hand, could snap a ton of pictues to my one.

Karen was kind enough to ask us to join her on Sogno de Oro, here is our nappin cappin. Karen was able to sneak in a snooze between shows.  We anchored in Aquatic Park for the weekend, it was a little rolly but felt nice to be out on the water again. We had great food, great laughs and kept thinking about all the fun Tim was missing! 

 We waited for traffic to die down a bit on Sunday before heading back to the Marina, a few other boats had the same idea.  It would have been great to be out amongst the great exodus, but this was pretty exciting too! 

 This gorgeous old boat was out and she sure is impressive.  Once we were out of the city and heading down the estuary the crew were up on the spreaders tying down the sails, that was a very cool site! 

Congratulations!!

I remember when we were waiting for Sarah to be born, I remember when Sarah finally came and how excited we were to have a baby in the family again. There were never a lack of arms to hold her! I was so thrilled when we were asked to be Sarah's God Parents. I remember all of the school pageants, plays and events of Sarah's growing up. Well, Sarah has met someone she wants to spend the rest of her life with, someone who loves her and is very special. I had the pleasure of meeting Nate last summer and couldn't be happier for them both. Congratulations you two, see you at the wedding! Watch for more news on Sarah and Nate!

Happy Birthday Papa!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Happy Birthday Marc!!!!

A little late! Sorry son, we didn't forget you. What a great way to spend your birthday doing what you love, traveling the world! May you have many more travels! Happy, Happy, 40th! Wait, you can't be 40!

Happy Birthday Steve!

Yes, this cute little boy is Steve! Happy birthday to my best friend, soulmate and bill payer!

Look Who Came To Dinner!

It was absolutely wonderful to see Carl and Shawna after five years!

Shawna has had so much recuperating to do from a car accident and it hasn't been easy but she has hung in there and she and Carl look great. It took us about one whole minute to pick up where we left off, we love those kinds of friends!

Goodbye 2009!

This is what happens everytime Mike eats too much See's! We took his keys away and made Kim drive because he just can't handle his chocolate!

Hope everyone's New Year is Happy, Prosperous and Healthy.

We celebrated New Year's Eve this year at Gary and Karen's house! We were housesitting and thought "what a better place to have a party than at someone else's house"? This house is great for entertaining, comes complete with pinball and movie theatre! We did eat food, really we did!

Merry Christmas

Christmas at Bernd and Ann's house was a wonderful way to Celebrate Christmas this year. We had traditional Sausage, Sauerkraut, Salad and Garlic Mashed Potatoes. There was an endless supply of delicious wine and that was all before the dessert!

After dinner we waddled our way into the living room where we had drinks, dessert and solved all of the world's problems! Here are Mike, Kim and Steve in the Christmasy Hawaiian shirt!