San Francisco Bay Area - Part 1

At the very beginning of January, our family traveled to the San Francisco Bay Area.  We gathered together for the blessing of my youngest grandson.  Not only did I bring my wife and two youngest children, but my son and his family were coming from Dallas.  This meant that I would have ALL of my kids...and ALL of my grandkids in the same place!

My oldest son and his family arrived a couple of days before us. This was the first meeting between the grandsons...the first cousins in our little family:

 Being held by his uncle

We arrived on New Year's Day, and spent the morning celebrating Christmas together. It's not hard to believe that we had a blast together:

My oldest son takes great joy in creating gift tags that are....unique.  Here's just one example, of a gift for my wife:

"To the nice lady who made our Dad look like a human..."

Instead of stockings for each person, we consolidated everyone into one large stocking for each family.  They were pretty big:

We used my grandson to help you with the scale ; )

We gave my oldest grandson a fire truck - as he loves to push trucks all over the house.  Added bonus: it lights up and makes lots of noise.  Just as long as we don't keep it at my house ; )

We also have a tradition that we started last year.  Each of the members of the family draw the name of another member of the family.  They have to "make" a present - something that can't just be purchased at the store.  It can come in a variety of forms, but requires a great deal of thought.  It's been a great experience...and I've witnessed a new level of creativity from my family.  This year, my youngest son drew my name.  For a gift, he designed a "perfect day" that he and I could do together.  Isn't this an awesome gift:

After exchanging presents with each other, we decided to take the kids outside to play in the California sunshine.  My daughter has a playground near her place, so we all packed up and went to have fun:

While the kids were playing on the slide, the youngest member of our family decided to entertain everyone in his stroller.  We managed to capture many, many adorable pictures of J:

This picture just melts my heart.  My two youngest and their nephew.  They absolutely love playing with each other...and I hope it stays this way for a long, long time.  Don't you just love the aunt and uncle hanging onto their nephew?!?

That evening, we took the whole family to a Teppanyaki restaurant.  This form of Japanese food was popularized by the Benihana restaurants in the 70s and 80s.  We managed to put everyone at one table:

It was fascinating to watch G-Man as he was mesmerized by the cooking techniques.  The chef was very kind and was talking to him the entire time.  He even tried some food that he normally stays away from.  G-Man wants to go back to this restaurant!

L is a huge fan of rice, so a Japanese restaurant was a perfect choice for her.  She went after the sticky rice with enthusiasm:

The next day, we had some free time, so we decided to take some of the family to the beach.  I grew up in this area of the country, and I really wanted the little kids to see a different environment than they're used to.  We traveled across the Peninsula, to Half Moon Bay:

It was a gorgeous day.  It was sunny, while still a little bit chilly.  We found a beach that was deserted - a perfect spot for our family:

My oldest son and his awesome family

I played "chicken" with the ocean...and the kids all loved it ; )  How often to you get a beach all to yourself, on a beautiful day??

My oldest grandson L, had the best time playing in the sand.  He's a typical boy, and just wants to throw sand into the air!

He took off running, towards what looked like a small pond.  There were seagulls lined around it.  It's a little deceptive, as it's still sand.  When you get close the the water, you can actually sink below the water-soaked sand.  You'll see me do exactly that in this video clip...

After lunch, we decided to take the kids to some tide pools, so they could see more wildlife.  We decided on the JV Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, in Moss Beach.  What a great choice.  The entire area was simply gorgeous:

I just love his curiosity...wanting to explore ; )

What a fun picture that my wife took (below).  This little family, hand-in-hand, just looking out into the ocean.  Man, I'm a lucky guy to have them as part of my family!

That's it for Part 1.  Join me in Part 2, as we gather all of the extended families together, and finish with the blessing of the newest grandchild!