Pops John Visits

It took us seven years and two grandchildren to get him over here, but Pops John finally dropped in on us here in wine country for a few weeks. The kids are going to miss him horribly when he leaves tomorrow, Lilia is not going to know what to do without someone to play “Trash” and “Serious” with in the backyard! We made the most of Sonoma County during his visit as well as venturing into Napa to show him the Calistoga mineral springs in Calistoga.  Carol was kind enough to watch Max a few times so we could venture out with Dad and Lilia, one morning we scored some beautiful weather at Shell Beach, spending hours exploring the tide pools at low tide.

Healdsburg concerts in the plaza occur weekly on Tuesdays from May until September, the kids love all the people and music so we ventured to town one evening to show Dad some local culture. Max always makes friends easily at the concerts, crawling through the crowd and dishing out big smiles to all the oldies.

Francis and Suzanne drove up from the city for a swim and dinner during the middle of Dad’s stay, the four of us made a late night trip to the cocktail bar at Medlock Ames while the kids were sleeping with Grandpa. Credit to Francis for all the photos below!

Carol, Greg and the JAMERS hiking group were nice enough to abduct Dad for the day during the middle of his visit for one of their monthly hikes, they explored the Marin Headlands above Muir Beach near our old stomping grounds in Tiburon. I have ridden the trails were they hiked many times and some of them are quite steep, I expected Dad and his wonky hip to complete the flat sections of the trip and spend the balance of the hilly route waiting in the pub for the rest of the group. The old man impressed me (and I think himself a little!) by powering through the whole route!

I’m not sure if it was intentional but Dad’s stay coincided with my birthday so Carol, Greg, Gail and Randy came up for dinner to celebrate. I have a feeling that after all the fun he seemed to have with the kids on this visit it won’t take Dad another seven years to come back. I also have a feeling that he’s going to sleep for about a week when he gets home after keeping up with Max and Lilia for three weeks!