Cairn's 10th Birthday in Palm Desert

We spent two weeks in Palm Desert in March and during our stay, grandsons, Cairn and Lain joined us for a birthday celebration for Cairn's 10th birthday.  Time was spent shopping for something Cairn would like, stuffing animals, and of course, pool time.  Attached are pictures of the pool time:

 Cairn and Stuffed Tiger

 Lain After Extensive Pool Time

Cairn on the Water Slide

California Desert & Road to California Quilt Show

With the holidays over, we decided to spend some time in Palm Desert and while there visit our daughter's family in Rancho Cucamonga.  While in Rancho Cucamonga, we saw two of our grandsons play in ice hockey games, and we visited the "Road to California" quilt show, since Georgia is a avid quilter.  While is the desert, besides sunshine, we went to the Living Desert and took in  the lorikeet bird exhibit and a cheetah training session.

Attached are pictures of our trip:

 Georgia with Lorikeets

 Hugh with Lorikeets

 Cheetahs on Display

 Georgia at the "Road to California" quilt show

 Beautiful Quilt of the Surf

 Quilt of an Old Truck in Colorado

Grand Prize Winning Quilt

Christmas in Maine

My brother, Dave, and his wife, Debbie, are selling their Brunswick, Maine farm of 38 years and are moving into a condo.  Since this was their last Christmas at the farm, we, along with Hugh's other

brother, Jim, decided to join them this past year and enjoy a "White Christmas".

We got the "White Christmas" and temperatures just above 0 degrees.  The festivities, food, and scenery at the Maine Botanical Gardens with the lights on for the holidays were remarkable.  We also made the required visit to LL Bean in Freeport.

Here are some pictures of our visit:

Christmas Lights at LL Bean, Freeport, Maine

 Hugh and his brothers, Dave and Jim

 The Farm's Barn in the Snow

 The farm house at 251 Woodside Road, Brunswick, Maine

 Light House along the Maine Coast

 Georgia t the Maine Botanical Park

 "Lights Aglow" at the Botanical Park at Sunset

"Lights Aglow" at the Botanical Park at Sunset

Terrible 10th Company Reunion

Every year all of the members of the 10th Company, Class of 1963 from the US Naval Academy get together for a reunion.  This year Rick and Lynn Kleinfeldt hosted the gathering in Dayton, Ohio.  During the early 1900s, Dayton was the center of innovation in the United States.  The most important invention to come from Dayton at that time was the Wright Brother's airplane.  However, it wasn't the only thing.  There were about 16 auto manufacturers in the area.  NCR started in Dayton  and NCR established health care for all of its workers.  This was long before Keiser did for the ship workers in Oakland during WWII.  In fact the US patient office was located in the area due to the number of patient applications. 

AS a day trip, we went to Cincinnati for a visit to the Krohn Conservatory and had a riverboat cruise and dinner.

Here are some pictures of the reunion:

 The Carousel of Innovation at Carillon Park, Dayton

 10th Company Attendees on the Carousel

The Original Wright Airplane at Carillon Park

 Hugh on a Flying Model of the Wright "B" Flyer

Waterfall at Krohn Conservatory, Cincinnati, Ohio

Miscellaneous Summer of 2017 Adventures

The summer of 2017 has been a very busy one for us.  We celebrated our 50th anniversary in July with an almost week long party, took a three week trip in September to Europe, had our daughter's and her family visit for a week in June, and hosted our two oldest grandsons for a week (Cairn in June and Kellen in July). 

In between all of this we were able to squeeze in several other interesting August activities which are pictured below:

 Hugh: Tour d'Organics, 16 Mile Bike Ride in August

 Georgia: Tour d'Organics, 16 Mile Bike Ride in August

 Biking the Truckee River in August with the Browns

Back Stage with the Band "Pink Martini" at Sonoma State's "Green Center" on Georgia's Birthday

River Cruise Down the Rine and Mosel Rivers, September 2017

We met up with our river boat for the cruise in Basel after our week in Switzerland.  The cruise took us to parts of France, Germany, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.  Along the rivers are numerous castles, some renovated into hotels or expensive residences, but most were in ruin.  We toured several the Heidelberg castle in Heidelberg, the Reichsburg castle in Cochem,  had dinner in Satezvy castle outside Cologne. 

We visited the cathedrals in Cologne, Luxembourg, and Trier, had lunch in the casino at Baden Baden, visited the military cemetery in Luxembourg, and visited the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam.  All in all it was 12 wonderful days. 

Here is a sampling of our photos:

 Hugh and his Brother Jim at the Fortress at Schaffhausen

 The Rhine River Falls Outside of Strasbourg, France 

 The Casino at Baden Baden

 The Heidelberg Castle

 One of the Numerous Castles on the Rhine

 Georgia with Her Knight in Armor at the Reichsburg Castle

 The Military Cemetery at Luxembourg with those who Lost Their Lives at the Battle of the Bulge in WWII

 Georgia and I Outside the Bishop's Residence in Trier, Germany

 The Castle Satzvey Outside of Cologne, Germany, Where we Had Dinner

The Rijks Museum in Amsterdam

A Week In Switzerland, September 1-7, 2017

As apart of our anniversary celebration, we went to Europe for three weeks in September.  The first week we spent on our own touring Switzerland, as we had never been there before.  Our tour consisted of three days in Geneva, three days in Lucerne, and a final day in Basel before joining a Tauck River Cruise. 

In Geneva we took a side trip to Gruyeres for some chocolate tasting, cheese making, and wine tasting. In Lucerne, we went on a boat ride across Lake Lucerne, a cog rail trip up Mt Platus, and then came down the mountain on a cable car and ski lift gondola.   After the cable car ride, we took time out at mid-mountain to try their toboggan run.  Still kids after all these years.

Here are some of our pictures:

Fountain in Geneva on Lake Lemon

Georgia and Me at the Botanical Gardens in Geneva

The United Nations Building in Geneva

Georgia in Gruyeres

The Old Church Bridge in Lucerne

Mt. Platus as Seen Across the Lake

The Cog Railroad Up Mt. Platus,  Inclines of 48 Degrees

Cable Car Coming Down to the Mid Point on Mt. Platus