Summer Vacation - Day 1

4:55 p.m. 7/21/2013

Waiting for take-off

Brothers messing around

 And we're OFF! 9 hours 30 minutes flight from SFO to Heathrow, UK! Dick, Taylor, David Nash  David and Vasi Thathiah and myself are on board a flight of British Airways.  We arrived with plenty of time to relax, enjoy lunch at the Firewood Restaurant here at SFO to help make time fly! We are all feeling good and excited.  Prince William and Kate had their baby boy at 4:25 pm today, as we are sitting here in the restaurant, we see this on CNN very exciting time for England. No name yet, we'll all have to wait and see! We all bet on the name - Taylor WON!!

It was funny when we came on board.  The stewards and stewardesses have the English accent!
We had a delicious dinner!  We had a choice of pasta or beef.  Since I don't eat cheese anymore, I got the beef, Dick and everyone else got the beef.  Taylor got the pasta.  It was a mexicanish flavor beef, rice, beans with corn.  It was so yummy.  Also, a salad and roll!  I don't quite know HOW this happened but David T was able to get some champagne from the stewardess! We had red wine with our meal and topped it off with champagne! Our dinner also came with a strawberry cheesecake!  Do you know the story of Taylor and cheesecake? Ask me some time!  Anyway....he took a taste of this one and liked it! He finished his piece! First time for everything!
They were having technical difficulties with the movies for awhile so we've been enjoying my book, 'The Covenant' by James Michner.  Taylor has been listening to his music and playing a game on his iPod. The movies are working now and Dick is watching 'Identity Thief'. David and Vasi are in the row behind us.  Sitting next to Vasi is an 80 year old lady that is totally sprawled across two seats, on her back, with her dentures nearly falling out I'd her mouth! Oh no!! I wish now that I took a pic!! David N. is sitting behind David T. on the aisle.

A few hours later......

Well, that was a useless night of sleep!  Both Taylor and I were WIDE awake while the entire plane SLEPT!  It was miserable!  We kept looking at each other, taking our fingers like a gun to our heads, pretending to cut our wrists, head banging the seats - anything to get to sleep! Nothing. The best news was that in the middle aisle of 4 seats we had only 3 people so I could curl up on 2 seats.  It was so comfortable, but do you think sleep would overcome? No.  I said so many prayers, counted backwards from 100 a few times. Nothing.  I think I finally got an hour and same with Tay.  The rest of the party was DEEP asleep for hours!  I even asked the stewardess if she had any suggestions and she said drink hard liquor! No thanks!  I took a percogesic too!  Oh well.  We must adapt and overcome!
It is 77 degrees and clear when we land in Heathrow. Ready to land! Here we go!

And then.....NO! Apparently there is a really bad thunderstorm in Heathrow as we got down to really?.....less than 1,000 feet? Then, up we went!! We didn't land at the time of 11 a.m.! We had to fly another 10 minutes to Stanstead! We had to refuel, that took some time.....now, we flew back to Heathrow and are waiting on the plane for the stairs to arrive so we can depart this plane. Unreal.

Before the trip, David Nash said, "You won't hear a peep out of me!" so, every now and then we look at David or he looks at us and says, "You won't hear a peep out of me!" haha

Tay and I are happier....with all of this waiting for the stairs and refueling, we were able to sleep more!  Feeling a little better, but our plan to go to Windsor Castle today will now change since we are so late arriving.....3:30 p.m. After customs!

We arrived at the beautiful hotel. We had to wait a few minutes for Uncle David and Tay's room to get ready, then we met up at 5:00 to head into the city. We were able to get rooms at this hotel because David's cousin knows the owner very well. Even got the "family discount"!!

Waiting in the lobby....waiting for the room. EXHAUSTED - but READY!

NICE bathroom

We took the train from Terminal 5 at the airport since we are staying at the new Sofitel Hotel at the airport.  We purchased our daily train passes online and they arrived a few weeks ago in the mail.  Smart move! We are ready for these next 3 days using the train! We got off at Picadilly Circus and found a place to eat - Garfunkels - outside up under the patio! Perfect weather but poor choice of restaurant.... It was just OK.

Riding the tube!

Coming out of the tube!  STEEP!!

Just walked out from the underground, first pic in LONDON!!

Oh yeah....it's true what they say about those cute red telephone booths......Don't open the doors! They stink! 
Horribly!  

Tay and David got in another snooze while on the tube and was feeling better.  We are all very tired but HEY, we are in London!  Most of us had fish and chips.  David T had chicken and Tay ordered spaghetti and meatballs! He liked it!

 We left the restaurant and walked to Trafalgar Square, took some pics then walled to Buckingham Palace.  Took pics of Nelson's column in the square and Admiralty Arch. Lots of people and news reporters waiting on the arrival/any news on the new baby boy!

Trafalgar Square

Trafalgar Square

The walk down to Buckingham Palace from Trafalgar Square.
(Vasi looks so little! HAHA)

We recalled the times we've seen the street on the news! Pretty amazing and impressive.

Made it to Buckingham Palace. The Queen wouldn't open the door when we knocked! Shoot!

On the way back to the Underground, we passed through Hyde Park - a large open field. People were enjoying the evening sunset, hanging out.

Nice and peaceful.

We hopped back on the train at 9 p.m. in Hyde Park and headed home. I'd say we took full advantage of our first day!!

Didn't take long....we were all DONESKI!

The train is fairly crowded with people from all around the world.  I thought SF was an International city!  Nope.  London has it beat!  

Turning Fabulous 50 Part II

Oh, I remember it well.....turning 40 years old. I was living in my condo on Yosemite Ave., working at Malibu Boats, loving life and living it to its fullest. Andrew would stay with me the 1-15 of each month. When he would depart, I would go on a cleaning frenzy......mainly 1) to release my anxiety of having to depart each other and 2) so my house would be clean for the next 2 weeks. On July 17, 2003 I put on my bikini, turned the music on really loud, sipped Smirnoff Ice and dance/cleaned the day and night away. I remember thinking, THIS IS HOW to celebrate the last day of being a certain age!! Since then, I enjoy making the last night, before turning another year older into a memory!

Before living permanently in San Francisco I put on my Bucket List to swim in Aquatic Park, located near Ghiradelli Square! Last week Dick and I ran a different route and ended up on the pier at Aquatic Park. We saw soooo many people swimming and kayaking, it spurred on the thoughts of checking this off my list! What perfect timing! What better way to start my 50's off with a SPLASH!! Hey, if Jack LaLane celebrated his 70th Bday by swimming from Alcatraz pulling 70 boats all linked together, I can overcome my fears of attacking sea creatures, cold water and crazy currents!!   I started researching how to do such a thing and found numerous blogs and helpful information on the Internet....and discovered the Dolphin Club is located next to the Aquatic Park. For $6.50 you get access to their beautiful swim club, locker rooms, showers and sauna! So on the 17th I rented a special swimming wetsuit from the Sports Basement for $25 for the week!The people were so nice and helpful upon our arrival! 

Many STUDETTES!!

My locker - #82 - It was a great year!

I think I'm ready!

Let's get this thing on!!

Almost on!

READY!

So, as I went swimming out, I passed two elderly men. They were telling me to be aware of the 'aggressive seals'!! GREAT!! That made me quite cautious! I left the small opening between the two piers and made my way West. I was so frustrated! The waves were coming at me and I just could  not get a good swim or rhythm going. Finally, I gave up and did a breast stroke out. I planned on swimming out to the second buoy. The pic below shows the second buoy and ME swimming to it!

I kept looking around for those seals! When I made it to the buoy, I looked to the shore and saw Dick waving at me so I decided to swim to the shore and check in. I gave him my fins and headed back in, knowing the swim back to the entrance will be easier now that the waves were now at my back. I was able to get a good swim on!! But, as I looked down into the water, my mind played tricks on me and I was seeing evil, aggressive seals!!! I saw piranha too!!! CRAZY! I had to keep telling myself that I was not seeing these things!! I tried relaxing and take it all in. I was finally doing it!!! Everything online said to start out with short swims and slowly expand the time. I felt GREAT when getting out! CHECK!!! I met up with Dick, he took my wetsuit and then he went on a run while I relaxed in the sauna and took a shower. I met a very sweet girl in the sauna and we talked about the club and swimming. She swims from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Bay Bridge - 7 miles every year with a group of swimmers - WITHOUT a wetsuit! She says she never wears one!! YIKES!! She also told me that the earth gets most of its oxygen from our oceans and the most purest oxygen sits right on the top layer of the water. As we swim, we tilt our heads to the side and as we breathe in, we are scooping this finest layer of oxygen off and into our working lungs. She claims that is why everyone that comes out of this park has energy and youthfulness!!! It is the fountain of youth!!! hahaha!! 

Will I return? YES!!! The Dolphin Club offers, for beginners, a class on How To Swim the Park and I will definitely take the class. For now, I am happy to have done it and look forward to expanding my knowledge on open water swimming and conquering my fears of the creatures of the water!

Turning the FABULOUS 50 Part I

People who really know me.....know that I enjoy celebrating the night BEFORE I turn another year older, instead of celebrating the day OF turning another year older! It also, just so happens, my 'sister' Vasi's birthday is the day before mine!! So, David always chooses the restaurant and tells us to 'dress up'!! This year we went to the famous, old time San Francisco restaurant Fleur de lys. It was very dark, quiet, cozy and a FOOD FRENZY! EVERYTHING was absolutely AMAZING! So, of course I took many pictures of the FOOD!!!! HAHAHA!!

 First course was, of course, soup and salad! Yes, the spoonful of salad and thimble of soup! 

 The Martini was delish!

 Complimentary hors d'oeuvre

 Dick's second course - scallops

 My second course of halibut in the front and David's crazy dish in the background

 My main dish.

Shredded lamb on the bottom, lamb steak on top.

Lamb meatball in the middle. Don't you love those peas!!!?

DELISH!!!

 Dick's dessert resembling the milkshake, hamburger and fries!

 A tart

 The special edible white chocolate edible sign with 2 macaroons underneath the sheet and a candle glowing beside a wafer.

 Delighted

 Joy

 Blessed!

Chef Hubert Keller came to our table and chatted awhile. VERY IMPRESSIVE indeed!! We had a photo taken but the room was too dark and it didn't look good. You'll have to take my word for it that we met him and he actually walked us out of the restaurant - maybe because we were one of the lasts to leave!!! We had a wonderful night - never to be forgotten!

Let's wrap up 2011!

Sheesh, where has the time gone? I just never get any free time to blog anymore! Weird!! I really don't know where the time goes!! Yea, we've been busy, but seriously....

So, I think I'll just get up to speed, close the chapter on 2011 with a few favorite photos and brief descriptions since the last post in October!

OCTOBER

Our most exciting news of the YEAR is probably watching David and Vasi's baptismal. Yes, that is right. They turned to God and is acknowledging Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. There son Brad was baptized as a 9 year old with a friend in school and he was 'renewing' his vow. A very special day and we'll remember it always. Happiest part is (Lord willing) we'll be able to grow old and be friends/family in eternity!! SWEET!! Thanks be to God for bringing them to our family.

HALLOWEEN

Our little Alice in Wonderland aka Kae - age 3....with her little dog! haha

Our ROCK STAR Slash aka - Taylor age 13.

Some poor soul! hahah

Soccer!

Tay's Mom/StepDad took the pics.

Thanksgiving in November

So thankful for the Whitesides! We were able to enjoy Jennifer's FINE cooking skills, Justin's warm hospitality, baby Annabelle's adorable personality and even their friend from CA Shaz, for our Thanksgiving Dinner in Chicago!

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we attended a long time friend's daughters wedding in a suburb of Chicago - Glenview. Here is where we met 'The Royal Family'. They were an adorable family from England and we quickly became friends with Colin, Hilda and their 2 sons Nic and Anton.

Soooo British!!

Day after wedding party. What a spread! These people know how to throw a party!!

Down stairs was just your typical 'media room'. SWEEEET!

The Thanksgiving Dinner crew got together again to enjoy a little bit of GERMAN in downtown Chicago. Nothing like a little bit of Mulled Spice Wine to warm us up! Yes, that is a baby peeking out of Justin's chest!

December

In December we had the GREAT honor to be invited to the infamous No Name Lunch Bunch Christmas Dinner. This was the group of retired men that Dick's father created 30 years ago. Each month they meet at two different restaurants for lunch and take turns hosting the day. Each December, they take turns hosting a special dinner and the wives are invited to attend. Since Bill and Jane were unable to make it this year, Dick and I (including David and Morri) were asked to attend. What an honor!! We could not refuse this invite. The invitation, the decorations, the meal, the company were absolutely elegant and FUN!! Yes, FUN with a total of 25 guests, most in their 80's, some in there 90's! What a hoot! The evening started with the arrival of guests, most women wearing some type of FUR, light horsd'vores, drinks and music! In the corner a keyboardist and singer, singing Christmas songs. The meal was fantastic - main course - New Zealand venison - that was truly amazing! I had the privilege to sit next to a retired Methodist Pastor. He and his wife enjoy visiting San Francisco and we had a lot to talk about!

This photo was taken when we picked up our other 'date' around the corner.

Yes, a black tie affair!! :-0

The TABLE!

TRADITION! We live and learn! On our way to Walgreens to pic up our Christmas cards....THOUSANDS of SANTA'S!! EVERYWHERE!! I guess every 2nd weekend in December, it's what SF does!! Kind of like St. Patty's Day, people wandering all around, drinking, going bar to bar. Must remember this for next year!! I wanna see Dickie Boy in a Santa Suit!!

Next up, our 5th year wedding anniversary 12-23-11. Always a surprise destination and evening planned by my hubs! Secret destination dinner this year? The beloved THREE SEASONS! We had one near our home and they closed! :-( So, we drove to Palo Alto to eat at the other location! YEAH! Never been here before. GREAT meal, then an evening stroll down their beautiful downtown area.

This pic is blurry, but I love the LOVE in his face so had to post! :-)

For Christmas, Erika made delicious Tamales for dinner. Kae and I explored the backyard and

had many tea parties on Christmas morning. I love every moment with this little girl, and thankfully, I think the feeling is mutual!! :-)

Headed down to Visalia to be with brother David and 'outlaw' sister Morri. LOVE this tradition of the hats! Annual photoshot!

Good-bye 2011. It's been a life changing type of year with the passing of some special people. But, we will do our best to continue to allow their legends to live and grow within us - with God's help. We are thankful for everything we have and everything we are, in Christ's holy name.

Rock On 2012!!