The holidays

Brian, Heather, Peyton and Kamdyn arrived about 12:30 am on Christmas Eve. After a family flag football game, the guys came home and got ready for the biggest event of the year: Christmas Eve at Uncle Ron and Auntie Colleen's. The kids had napped, the food had been prepared, the presents were wrapped... As is our tradition and always supported by Ron...our family will gather at 1102 Palm every Christmas Eve...you are always invited. He starts off by planning a meal making day where whoever can make it can come and help prepare the Christmas Eve fare. The lasagne were good and all a little different: we had Philippina lasagne, wheat, lasagne, and even one monagrammed with Rick;s initials. Before dinner, we had the annual Christmas prayer by Giorgio and a welcome from our host. AFter dinner, the kids (Brian to Andrew) reprised the play that they did 16 years ago. Then Mary and Joseph were 4 and 5, but everyone kept their same roles. We added a few more roles for the little ones who all played sheep and angels. It was hilarious (a very dramatic Angel Gabriel, a french sounding Joseph, shepherds who were keeping warm by drinking beer on their watch, and kings who brought more practical gifts like diaper bags and camera bags instead of gold, franchinsense and myhr (sp)). After the play and a quick song led by Colleen, we were greeted by Santa (aka Uncle John). He was a bigger hit than the last couple of years, but only for Peytin, Tyler and Haylee. Then the presents were distributed. Reminded my of my childhood Christmas Eves. The presents were all wonderful and thoughtful, but the one that stands out is the Millbrae Fire sweatshirt...why, you say, we all have several. Well, Ron had "Nono, always remembered" put on all of our shirts between the axes and on the little ones, it says "Ollie's angels"....special. After a quick dessert and cleanup, we were off to midnight mass. It was a special night for all.

More pics of Andrew's party

andrew turns one

Joe and Jody hosted a Halloween First Birthday Party today for Andrew Oliver. Everyone had a great time watching the parade of children dressed as all kinds of cute characters and adults dressed in all kinds of fun garbs. Andrew enjoyed his jello with whipped cream non-cake, and made an appropriate mess.

Ron's birthday dinner

Every time Arlene, Ron, Rick or I have a birthday, we remember the fun times we had with Dad going to nice restaurants, spending time with siblings, spouses and Dad. But when Dad became too sick to go out, we had dinners at one of our homes hosted by one of us. After Dad passed away, we vowed to continue the tradition. This year Ron and Colleen hosted Arlene's birthday in January, Rick and Renee hosted my birthday in April, and I took on Ron's this week. Since I was working on Wednesday and wanted to do some crockpot cooking, I told the group that we were doing a Western Themed party and everyone had to come dressed as their favorite western character. Rick won the award for the best costume. He came dressed as Hoss Cartwright and brought along Hop Sing to help in the kitchen. We had classic chuck wagon pot roast, corn bread (OK, it was Marie Callendars...but I did cook it), Lola's unbelievable soup, beans and dump cake with ice cream. Rick brought over a game. We divided into teams and tried to identify all of the cowboy families of the 50;s and 60's TV seasons. As usual, Arlene won. Then we set up the camera and set it to take our family portrait.

My baby turns 25

Doesn't seem possible that 25 years ago tomorrow at 5 pm, john was finally born. After waiting 2 & i/2 weeks past my due date, the Doctor decided it was time. Dad took care of Brian and Joe and took them to Spires for dinner. After dinner they arrived at the hospital to see their new little brother with spaghetti sauce everywhere. John was born a petite 9 lbs, 11 oz. Brian and Joe were great helpers.

We celebrated by having a few of John's friends over for dinner. Giselle's parents brought John's requested pork chop entre, Joe barbequed some steaks, and Mom made a lopsided ice cream cake.

The Lindquist Sisters

I was not able to post pics when I wrote about them a week ago. So, here you can see them at work. This last weekend in Michigan they took 3rd...their highest spot of the season.

San Francisco tour with Renee and Tom and Jackie

When I found out that Tom and Jackie Gengler were going to visit from so Cal, I asked Renee if she would give us a tour of the city that she knows so well. She graciously accepted the challenge and off we were on Saturday morning. We started at AT&T Park, went to the financial district, view the beautiful victorians, people watched on Haight Ashbury, bought fortune cookies on Ross Alley, stopped to see the meandering buffalos, the windmill and the horse stables in Golden GatePark, went down Lombard Street, ate lunch at the Cliff House among other things. If Renee had ordered sun, it would have been better, but otherwise it was perfect.

Tom and Jackie were able to catch up with Joe, Jody and Aiden, and meet Andrew on Friday night. On Saturday night Ron, Colleen, and Gino, Bob and Arlene, and Rick and Renee ate over and we all caught up.

Sunday morning they were off again. It was a quick, but fun packed visit. Hopefully they will come by again before another 9 years go by. Thanks Tom and Jackie.

Katie and Tracy come to visit

About a month ago, Heather called to ask if I would mind hosting her friends who play on a National beach volleyball tour. As you know I always like to have company so I agreed. I didn't realize that it was the weekend after Truckee so I was not very organized, but they were so gracious I didn't feel so bad. They came in on Thursday afternoon. John picked them up from the airport and when I got home they took me out to dinner. On Friday, the tournament started so John took them up to the City (pier 31). They won their first game, but lost the second. That put them in the contenders (losers) bracket. They took the train home and raved about the ease of Cal Train. But Saturday was a different day. They won their first match in 2 games. They did the same in the second match and said that that was the best they'd played in a while. John and I had a great time sitting in the sun watching the games. By the 4:00 game, the weather had started to get windy and colder. They played well, and stayed close but could not get the edge. So, it was over. But they took 7th overall (24 teams). When we got home, John was craving a hamburger, so we went out to dinner. We fought over the bill - John had it, but Katie threw her card at the perky little waitress and told her to "get lost". Thanks Katie and Tracy, we had fun! They are off to Michigan next weekend. If you are on Facebook and are interested, you can keep up with them: Lindquist sisters.

Vacation in Truckee

On Wednesday Rick and Renee and Donny picked me up at work and we drove up to Truckee. The weather was OK if you sat in the sun, but not as warm as we all would have liked. We had hope for the next day being warmer. That night we had dinner at my cousin Juliane's cabin with her family. There were about 23 of us.
On Thursday, it was FREEZING, so we decided to postpone swimming and took a 2 mile walk to Juliane's cabin. We picnicked inside her cabin. No, 2 miles doesn't sound like much until you realize that we had a 3 year old, a 2 year old, a1 year old and a 9 month old. We did get a ride back. The boys all had a starting time at 2:30...about the time it started raining...yes, raining. That night was our night to cook, so us girls were preparing while they sloshed through the course. We had about 28 at our cabin that night. We had to bring tables inside to allow everyone to stay dry and unfrozen. Our theme was "happy birthday" celebrating Brian and Renee's special days.
The next day, Brian and Joe's family went to the pool. They had to stay in the water to keep from freezing. They were bound and determined to go to the pool although it never got above 58 degrees that day. Rick, Renee, Donny and I decided to go on a hike...recommended by brother Ron's family. It was lots of fun, a nice hike, climbing rocks and taking lots of beautiful shots. That night, we were off to my sister Arlene's family cabin. The count was up again...this time to about 48...everyone was starting to arrive for the big reunion on Saturday. The Chone flag made its appearance at this party. The chone flag was made about 15 years ago after all of the cousins organized the Royal Order of the Chones. Space limits my explanation of this association. You will have to ask one of the boys...yes, boys...no girls allowed.
On Saturday morning Uncle Bob invited the boys to ride in his fishing boat. But they were happy to just go and throw as many rocks as they could get their hands on into the lake. That day we were anticipating the reason for our trip to Truckee. My Dad's Fraschieri step brothers/cousins have been gathering for many years in parks and backyards. This year we decided to meet in Truckee. It was a good move. About 60 of us gathered at Ron, Dave and Uncle Al's families' cabin. What fun we had! Yes, more food, lots of reminiscing, and a huge picture of everyone at 3 lizard rock. Thanks to everyone who made the time so special.