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| Our days were busy visiting all our favorite places. One was our old Marina, Port Royal, where our friends Curt and Monica live on their new boat, with their three children, Clare, Hanson and Malia, and one on the way! Phoebe has known Allison and Clare since she was a baby, as I took mommy and me classes with their moms. The water was much colder than Malaysia, but that did not stop the children from swimming. The Sivert's old boat, Mother Goose, is a work boat with a one man submarine on it that Curt and his father built. The new boat is a palace, Monica loves having all the space and a full size refrigerator. |
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| Walking from the Marina we headed to one of the childrens favorite restaurants, Ruby's diner, for dinner. The crew from s/v Rocket joined us, Kary, Sally, Kappy and Seneca, a family we sailed with through Mexico. The weekend we were in town was the Santa Barbara to King Harbor Yacht race, which their dad Carl was participating in with Rocket. After dinner it was off to our yacht club, Port Royal, for a cocktail party. Jack, one of the directors of PRYC and Stacie watch the sunset on the deck, while the guests arrived. |
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| Redondo Beach, California, July 2008 |
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| Our adventure continued from Tucson to Redondo Beach, California, where we lived for 10 years before we left to sail around the world. Arriving at LAX we were greated at the airport by Carla, Alexandra and Nicholas. Carla was our neighbor and bought a new house shortly after we left. That evening she hosted a happy hour with all the girls and children. Phoebe and Drake loved seeing their friends and it was wonderful to see how they have all grown. Much Kendall Jackson Chardonnay was drunk while remembering old times and discussing new. Jim and I were supposed to meet Amy and Didi in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, where they traveled with their three children. However, I was in Arizona at the time. Fortunately they had just returned home in time for the party. |
| Sally, Erika, Carla, Emma and Amy |
| Phoebe, Makena, Alexandra, Soleil, Shea and Ashley in front. |
| Amy and Didi |
| Brian, Erika, Drew and Quinn Robinson |
| Gianna, Shea, Makena, Ashley front row, Allison and Phoebe in the back. |
| Gina, Emma, Erika, Denise, Lesa, Sally, Carla and Amy. |
| Soleil, Phoebe, Alexandra and Ashley |
| Allison, Phoebe and Clare |
| Allison, Gianna, Clare and Hanson |
| Malia and Drake |
| Hanson jumping off |
| Monica Siverts |
| Gianna, Allison, Phoebe, Clare, Kappy, Sally and Seneca |
| The Rocket crew |
| Jack and Stacie |
| Mark, Conner and Linda Gowin |
| Sue, the editor of Latitudes and Attitudes magazine, came with her husband Mike. You can view many of the articles we wrote that she has published by clicking here. Jim and I used to crew on Bob and Val Cole's boat Priorities. They gave us the opportunity to learn and expand our knowledge of sailing and racing. PRYC hosted our going away party and it was wonderful to see the same people tonight. I wish Jim would have been there to share all our stories with everyone. It was wonderful to see everyone, but I only had a short time with individuals, that I wish I could have spent longer with. It is nice to experience, that some things never change. What was interesting is everyone asked the same questions: 1. Was it everything I expected? yes, and more! 2. Where is the scariest place you have been? LA.... actually no where. |
| Sue and Mike Morgan |
| Val cole |
| Dave and Michelle Krzmarzick |
| John, Drake, Matthew, Sally and Jo |
| Chrildren making funny faces |
| The Fleischers, with Matt Clements kneeling, friends of ours from the UofA |
| Phoebe, Gianna and Cole |
| Samantha, Jaimie, Phoebe and Isobel who were all Brownies together. |
| Jana, Jaimie's mom, Karen Thomas and Amy, Cole's mom. |
| Drake's best mate, Luke Krzmarzick. |
| PRYC went above and beyond, hosting all our friends. Pat and Anne did a fantastic job at bar tending on a work night! We forget that people work Monday to Friday while cruising. The following morning we enjoyed an American style breakfast then it was off to the beach. When we go out to breakfast in Malaysia we have roti cinai, which is a fried bread served with dahl and curry sauce. |
| John and Greg |
| Pat, Emma and Anne |
| Sally (Greg's wife), Jo (John's wife, and Denise (Allison and Gianna's mom. |
| Blake and Joe |
| Denise, Karen and Emma |
| Living on a boat we never get tired of going to the beach. Of course, we had to go to our favorite spot in Santa Monica Bay, Rat Beach. All the children's friends joined us. We had a full day of boogie boarding and sand castle building. Josh Grossberg from the Daily Breeze met with us for an interview. Every December, since we left, he has written a front page article about our voyage. If you click here you can see the last three. Keep your eye out for the next one. |
| Lori, with two of her three sons, Joel and Eric. |
| Mark, Linda and Conner Gowin |
| Ann, Stanley and Evelyn. |
| Clare, Andrea, Phoebe and Isobel. |
| Beach babes, Clare, Phoebe, Alexandra, Samantha, Isobel and Maddy |
| Phoebe with her God Father, Jack |
| Lesa, Michelle and Denise |
| Bruce and Roseanne Tennant with their children Wil and Lana. |
| Greg, Scott, Pat and John |
| The third and final evening our neighbors, Erika and Brian Robinson, hosted a party. The people who bought our house remodeled the kitchen and it just so happens that our old bar is in the Robinson's garage. It brought back many memories sitting and drinking margaritas there. The Taco Guy was serving your choice of beef, chicken and pork tacos fresh off the grill, delicious. Our house looked the same, except all my lovely flowers and roses were dead, as well as the grass. The running joke is when we get back to America we will be able to buy it at the original price we bought it. Another wonderful evening with great friends. I think at this time every one was ready to get ride of me after three late nights of partying. The last day we went to our favorite Mexican take away, El Burrito JR, and took it to Veteran's park. The children ran around and got their energy out before our next flight, 11 hours to London, England. Thank you everyone for making our stay so special! |
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| Dave, Bob, Pat, Lori and Hugo |
| Denise and 7 month pregnant, Monica |