November 2018 – California

We visited California to spend Thanksgiving with Jo and the children.  Our arrival was 2 days after Oliver’s 13th birthday and Jo had arranged that we should all go out to supper at Henry’s Hi-Life BBQ Joint and Steakhouse that was ranked “Number 1″  in San Jose. It seemed fairly chaotic as we entered the bar area and had to place our orders before being allocated a table. When we were called forward for our food we entered a lovely dining room with great atmosphere and fantastic food.

We were joined for the meal by Jo’s partner Chuck and his ten year old twins, Ruby and Sam. It was a really nice family occasion.

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As a consequence of the awful wild fires in Northern California, the air quality in San Jose was terrible when we arrived and many schools were closed and all outdoor sporting events were cancelled.  Jo still had to work until Thanksgiving eve so we spent our time packing up some of Jo’s stuff ready for a move into a new home with Chuck and his children at the end of the month. We were able to see their new home  -  it is in a lovely area and has very large rooms, large garage and drive as well as a big outdoor kitchen including a fridge!

For Thanksgiving we were invited to join Chuck’s family at the Pajaro Dunes Resort on the coast between Capitola and Monterey where they had rented apartments for a family gathering.  We were immediately made welcome by Chuck’s mum, his sister and brothers, their partners and children and soon felt very much part of their family.  It was very clear that Jo and her children were already well and truly part of Chuck’s extended family. The photo below (just prior to our Thanksgiving meal) is of all the family except for Gerry and the brother taking photographs!

I have taken cut outs from various photographs to show, Jo and Chuck, Alexander, Oliver, Sienna and Ruby and Sam

 

The smog that had greeted us on our arrival San Jose gradually dissipated over the next few days and was followed by heavy rains, the first for some months. Once the rain stopped Pajaro Dunes looked very beautiful.

On the Saturday morning before we returned to San Jose, Jo took Annie, Gerry and Alexander to Capitola pier and Oliver to the adjacent surfing beach.  Gerry was given a new fishing rod by Jo and the children as a belated birthday present so he and Alexander were able to spend the morning fishing.

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Gerry thoroughly enjoyed the fishing catching 15 fish of various sorts.

The only commonality was that they were quite small.  You can just make out one of the smaller fish in Gerry’s hand.

Alexander, however, may not have caught as many but he certainly had the biggest fish.

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We returned to Pajaro Dunes to say goodbye to Chuck’s family and then returned to San Jose on Saturday afternoon.  Jo, Alexander, Oliver and Sienna also returned and we spent the rest of the day and Sunday morning packing Jo’s kitchen into boxes ready for the move. Chuck, Ruby and Sam came over to say goodbye before we left to fly home that evening.

Jo and Chuck seem so right together and the children also get on amazingly well. We are sure that they will be a very happy family once they have completed the move and settled in to their new home.