Walnut Creek, California

It's been a while since our last post. Did you miss us? We arrived at the house of son Matt and family on April 11th. This was after waiting for the truck to be repaired for a loose fuel line. I picked up the truck at 3:00pm and headed toward Walnut Creek, California. We got there about 6:30pm, a lot later then we usually travel. Matt had measured the driveway and said we would fit. I had my doubts. When I saw the width of the opening, I really had my doubts. The only thing that saved me was the width of the road in front of the house. It took me about 10 minutes of adjusting to get in, but I made it. A little trimming off of a few limbs and we were good to go. The great thing is the fact that there is a electric breaker box at the corner of the house right behind the trailer. There was an old range breaker that I swapped out for a new 50 amp breaker, than installed a 50 amp plug and hooked up the electric. The water hookup was right next to the electric. There is a sewer clean out in the driveway right next to the trailer. We could not have asked for better.

It has been about 2 years since our last visit. The grandkids have grown up so much. They have recently leased this house so it was new to us. The house has one more bedroom, is on one level, and has a much larger kitchen and yard than the last one. Matt likes to cook so this kitchen suited him just fine.

We have been kept hopping since we arrived. Jack (4 in July) and Katie (almost 29 mos) need lots of grandparent attention. They love to visit our house. They must miss the stairs in their old house because they love climbing ours. Katie likes opening and closing the front door. Jack likes playing cooking with my utensils and my fruit basket. They like our house mostly, I think, because everything is closer together and seems like a playhouse.

Their house is near the park, library, grocery etc via car or the hike/bike path so there is lots to do when we are not playing with them at home. We arrived in time to celebrate my 60th birthday with the family. We were also here for Easter. This egg/candy hunt took place at one of the nearby parks.

One morning Katie made a train out of chairs.

This was not really an egg hunt. It was a bunch of candy and a few dozen eggs scattered in a circle. Kids just walked in and started picking them up.

Two cuties

Grandma, mom, kids waiting for the fun to begin. Grandpa took pix, dad was working.

Found some!

Katie looking.

At home both kids love to swing. Neither can swing themselves yet so guess who gets to push.

Easter Sunday we had a real egg hunt at home.

The following Monday both parents had a day off so Jack and Katie went to Wee Care for the day. We all headed to Napa to pick Matt and Beth's wine of the month and do a little tasting.

We visited several wineries and tasted several different kinds of wine. Wine country in Napa is beautiful so we enjoyed the scenery between each one. We ate lunch at Fish To Go, visited one more winery just for the view, and headed home.

Some mornings Matt works and Beth takes the kids to child care at the gym, or visa versa. When this happens we have several hours to ourselves. Sometimes we go for a walk and find some geocaches along the hike/bike trail. Sometimes we take a bike ride. Sometimes Duane works on a project and I read. Today we headed to the city of Martinez (10 miles away)to tour the John Muir National Historic Site.

We toured the big house built by his father-in-law. The Muirs actually lived in a smaller house on the grounds until his mother-in-law died then they traded houses. A little walking trail connects the two houses and gives views of a few small orchards, a remnant of the once 3600 acre farm.

John Muir's study.

The Muirs had a Chinese cook who ruled in the kitchen.

After our tour of the Muir site, we headed to the Martinez park and fishing pier. This was a joint reclamation of waste space by the county and the city. The county restored the salt marshes and the city built a multi use park with sports fields, playground, restrooms etc. The sun was warm but the breeze was chilly so we spent a few minutes taking pix of the bay then headed home. Martinez is a nice little town with lots of antique shops, locally owned business, and small eateries. We didn't take time to tour the town, but are sure our friends the Weavers would love it. Back home we played with children until 6. Then the sitter arrived and we headed out for dinner and conversation. We stuffed ourselves for a couple of hours at a nice Italian restaurant, then stopped for ice cream before we went home. In the evenings we often play games like Mexican Train or Muggins dominoes or Hands and Feet or other card games. We change partners around every couple of nights. Tonight Duane and I beat Matt and Beth at Hands and Feet.

We have been enjoying ourselves here the last couple of weeks visiting, playing with children and grandchildren, eating like pigs. We will be sad to leave on Monday morning. Meantime we have a lot of swinging the grandkids to do.

Enough for now,

Louise and Duane