December, 2012

We spent the first part of December in Caleta Lobos. I enjoyed a week of sewing dress up clothes for Max and Karissa. I ended up with a pirate outfit and a “Super Max” outfit for Max complete with capes. I was able to make 2 princess outfits for Karissa with capes and 2 tutus. Rog designed a super Max “M” for his superhero tunic. It was a lot of fun and I hope they like them. Once the sewing was done, I was able to clean the boat and prepare for Bernard’s arrival from New Caledonia. Rog had a windless day to touch up some of the deck paint and we were ready to show off.

Back to La Paz, we met Bernard at the bus station on the 11th when he arrived from Cabo. We got him to his hotel and made plans to meet the next morning at 8am. Rog and I were at the hotel at 7:45 and, at 8:30, we were getting a bit concerned when he didn’t come down to the lobby to meet us. Bernard had not been feeling well when we left him the night before and I wasn’t sure if he was ok. Turns out he had forgotten to make the time change from LA and he was an hour off. We went for a cup of coffee at Burger King and met him at 9am. He spent most of the day on the boat, taking pictures and measuring and chatting. He didn’t seem to want to go out for a sail, so we spent the whole time at anchor. He helped us take the boat into a slip at Marina Cortez (my absolute WORST EVER docking experience…I lost 2 of the 3 lines I threw and finally asked Bernard to throw a line…meanwhile, the wind was blowing the boat further and further from the dock) Once secured, he left to take a nap and look at his pictures, returning 2 hours later for a late lunch and more poking around. We said farewell at about 5pm and were absolutely spent.

We could now focus on our trip home and had 2 days to prepare the boat and pack. Saturday morning we had everything ready and left the boat at 10:30 to catch the 11am shuttle to Cabo San Jose airport. We were using Virgin America this time and were flying out of the new terminal that was just completed. Piece of cake. Immigration was right inside the terminal and we were at our gate an hour before the flight left at 5:15. It was a pretty empty plane so we could spread out. We were really impressed with Virgin. More leg space, individual entertainment terminals at each seat, and a friendly crew. We got to SF at a little after 7:30 and headed to the rental car building where we picked up a Ford Focus and headed north. Eric and Michelle were at his company Christmas party in Auburn and got home about 15 minutes after we arrived. Had a nice chat with Betty, Eric’s mom, while we waited. Then we chatted with Michelle for another few hours. Thus started 3 glorious weeks with family and friends.

We had our usual wake-up at 7am every morning by Max and were able to walk him to school a couple of mornings. Michelle was able to work in the classroom a couple of days since we were there to watch Karissa. It took a few days to acclimate to the cold temps and the wet stuff. Ryan loaned me his huge bear slippers and I was finally able to get my feet warm! Added to that, Eric loaned me a rice bag that a neighbor gave him for Christmas. It is a flannel bag approximately 8” x 24”. You throw it in the microwave for 3 minutes and then you can snuggle with it and keep warm. Delightful!!! We would heat it up at night and put it in the bed before we got in to warm up the bed.

The week before Christmas, we helped make fudge and cookies, took a trip to Meadow Vista with Ryan and stopped in to see Micki and Brian, finished shopping, made final touches to the dress up clothes, ordered supplies for projects on the boat, and did our usual tour of Christmas lights. The new traditional Christmas Eve at the Blooms is an outdoor hot dog roast and we all bundled up and took hot chocolates out to the huge bonfire that Eric had set up. This time we enjoyed the pond and waterfall Eric had just finished as a backdrop.

Then we headed inside for Max to read ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas”. The next morning, Ryan and Beth joined us at 7am and we had breakfast and presents until close to noon. At 2pm, we headed over to Ryan’s for Christmas dinner. We brought the deboned and stuffed turkey and Beth made a great spread. Micki, Brian, and Marilyn joined us for a relaxing afternoon.

The week after Christmas, Hawkinsons came by and we met up with Remaleys and Nordstrums at Sizzler with a surprise visit from Spud and Will Rogers. Great to see old friends. We finished our running around for miscellaneous items and played with our Christmas toys. Max and I had fun charging around the house in capes and Karissa found out that Gams made a pretty good horse.

Rog helped Michelle remove the fluorescent lights from her kitchen ceiling and replace them with LED can lights. Then they sheetrocked the old opening and Michelle taped, sanded and painted. Awesome job and it made a huge difference.

We watched “How To Train a Dragon” with Max. He was a little bit frightened of the dragons and didn’t want to watch any more when Hiccup went to kill Toothless, but we got him through it and by the time it was over, he loved it. Good thing, since our date together was going to be seeing the live Dreamwork’s production. Max wanted to be surprised on this date, so he didn’t know. We showed him the online website with pictures of the dragons and the next day he told Michelle that he would like to see the play when it came to town. Lucky for us! So Jan 3 arrived and we headed out for our date at about 4pm. We stopped at Mountain Mike’s for pizza, then got to Sleeptrain Arena an hour early for the show. We were able to park right up front and then waited about 10 minutes for the doors to open. We were teasing Max, wondering if we were there to see a sleeping train or maybe try some beds. When we got inside, he quickly realized what is was all about when he saw the souvenir booths and signs. We found our seats and then took a walk around until showtime. When the lights came up for the start of the show, I think Max literally jumped off of his seat in excitement. The show was awesome and enjoyed by all 3 of us. He was pretty tired, but managed to stay awake until we got home.

Before we knew it, it was Jan. 5 and we were packed and ready to drive to SFO for our noon flight. Tearful goodbyes and icy windshields…off we went. Got to sell this boat so we don’t have many more of these tearful goodbyes!!