Ending 2016 on a High Note

If you've been following the cradle project, you know we were aiming for completion by December 7.  We met the deadline with room to spare, and even did a bit of traveling in November to visit friends in San Diego. And I had enough time to finish a short history of my family going back several generations.

(Note: Click on any photo to see a larger version.)

Finished cradle ready for our grandson

Tree ready for our special gift

Stanton Malinoski Ohlrogge arrived December 7, 1:42 PM weighing 7 lbs 13.3 oz and measuring 19.5 inches.

Gram with Stanton at the hospital about 6 hours after his birth

Gramps with Stanton a couple of days later

Here are two of my favorite more recent photos of Stanton:

At 5 days old

At 8 days old

Christmas Eve

The week before Stanton's birth: I had a two-fold reason for my family history project - the anticipated birth of our grandson and the desire to send a special gift to my sisters and brothers this year.

Title page from the completed 25 page booklet

Going back in time a bit more: Stanton's parents-to-be and both sets of grandparents-to-be were together on Thanksgiving Day.  The Ohlrogges were visiting from Michigan.

Thanksgiving Day - 12 days before Stanton's due date

Just before Thanksgiving, the six of us went to the Cirque du Soleil performance Luzia in San Francisco - a first for Erick and me. 

The big tent

Inside in the lobby area

The stage, pre-perfomance

The stage during part of the performance

Going back even further to mid-November: We had a good visit with our friends the Pandes in San Diego. I took so many photos that I needed a separate blog post for them.  You can see them here: http://erickson-malinoski.blogspot.com/2016/12/visiting-our-friends-to-south.html

Speaking of highs, the Oakland Hills never fail to enchant us.

We end the year with these words:

Take care of each other.

Wishing you all the blessings of the season.

Visiting Our Friends to the South

In mid-November Erick and I took an extra-long weekend and flew south to San Diego to visit our friends, the Pandes.

View of Balboa Park from the balcony of our friends' condo

Topographical map of San Diego bay

The Hillcrest/Bankers Hill area where our friends live is in the upper right of the map. We visited Cabrillo National Monument with them (lower left), the Maritime Museum on the waterfront (to the right of the South Island), and Balboa Park (upper right).

View of the bay from the Cabrillo National Monument lands

Erick and the Pandes at the visitor center

Cabrillo statue - In 1542, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo of Portugal stepped into history as the
first European to set foot on what is now the West Coast of the United States

Lighthouse

The lighthouse lenses

Along the trail to the tide pools - Pacific side of the park 

Checking out the tide pools

Along the waterfront at the Maritime Museum: Tall ships and the USS Midway

Star of India was built in 1863, a full-rigged iron windjammer ship.
After a full career sailing from Great Britain to India and New Zealand,
she became a salmon hauler on the Alaska to California route. 

Another of the Museum's ships

On our way to tour the USS Midway

USS Midway (CVB/CVA/CV-41) was an aircraft carrier of the US Navy, the lead ship of her class. Commissioned a week after the end of World War II, Midway was the largest ship in the world until 1955, as well as the first U.S. aircraft carrier too big to travel through the Panama Canal. She operated for an unprecedented 47 years, during which time she saw action in the Vietnam War and served as the Persian Gulf flagship in 1991's Operation Desert Storm. The USS Midway was decommissioned in 1992.  (Source: Wikipedia)

Waiting for the tour of the "island" - control center

The island

View from inside the Island

Carrier deck views 

Down below in the engine room

Another day of perfect weather, and we were off to see Balboa Park after breakfast at the Bassam Cafe - the first "real" coffee house, European style in California.

Bassam Cafe 

We got to see quite a bit, but not all of Balboa Park before it was time to head for the airport and our flight back to San Francisco.

Dome near the park entrance

A few of the buildings 

Dr Seuss Christmas tree

Artists' areA

Cactus garden

Rose garden

Japanese garden

A San Diego sunset