Family Vacation
We’ve been back for almost three weeks and it’s just a little bit late to be posting stuff about our vacation, but we had such a wonderful time, it would be a shame to go without chronicling it. For those of you who follow me on Twitter and Facebook, you already saw what we were up to in real time. You already know we traveled there on July 4th and about our trip to Pacifica where we ate Gorilla Barbecue (made with real gorillas-NOT). You already know about the fireworks in Berkeley and brunch with the Summers at Berkeley’s first “green” café. You know that as much as I love my new grand-dog, she stinks when she rolls in another dog’s poo! And the blackberry picking trip and the Eucalyptus trees… and that was all before Molly arrived (with her parents of course)!
It was a terrific visit. It was so good to get away from the busy-ness of life and just relax. Berkeley itself is such a great place to visit. In some ways it’s like stepping back to another time for me. It’s a walking friendly city and not so friendly for driving. Erin & Justin live just a couple of blocks from UC, downtown and the BART. I absolutely loved walking around town. Jeanie and I enjoyed brunch at a little cafe one morning where Handel’s Water Music reminded us to relax, we were on vacation. We strolled through shops and bookstores. Such a relaxing, fun time.
I read a whole book! It felt so good to read a fairly sizable book in a week. Galileo’s Daughter was a stirring account of Galileo’s life including much about his run-in with the Church, but also about his relationship with his family–especially his oldest daughter, (many of her letters to her father still exist). The story of his life, the scientific and historical setting was fascinating. The stirring came from my own experience and how his story reminded me of my own. I’m finding that the importance of reading for me is not so much from the “lessons” I learn from others, but from the stirrings I feel and explore based on the reading. Galileo’s experience was tremendously important in history, but it is history. I am alive today and I’m no Galileo. I don’t want to be Galileo, but his story stirs me in many ways. Those stirrings are about the way I am “wired up”. The more I explore and reflect on those stirrings, the better I’ll understand who God has made me to be. (The phrase I just wrote rubbed me the wrong way, so much so that I almost re-worded it. I made it sounds like it’s all past tense. As if the work of creation is done and my role is merely to figure out the puzzle that is me. I believe that I am uniquely equipped to be the best Jim Anderson I can be. The more I understand who I am, the more effective I will be. But at the same time, I’m still a work in progress. I’m still being influenced every day by the world I live in. I still have a lot of growing up to do.
When the Ogrens arrived we did some touristy things like visiting the sea lions at Pier 39 and driving up to Muir Woods and the Marin Headlands. Mark’s brother Jake and his new bride, Ashley joined them and they headed to Napa Valley for a day trip. While they were gone, Erin and Jeanie went off to get their toes done and Justin and I walked around town. I talked about my stirrings from the book and Justin shared some of his thoughts. I felt like the two of us connected on a whole new level, which I enjoyed tremendously.
Molly was a real princess. We had so much fun watching her grow. She has just learned to clap. Danae said she was imitating us because we would clap and call out, “Yeah… Molly!” which made her clap. Actually, what I think she was learning was manipulation. She learned that by merely touching her hands together, she could turn these big people into silly clowns. She enjoyed her first carousel ride and her first swing on the playground. If they gave out awards for best traveling baby, she would have won hands down. 
Be sure to check out the photo of her sleeping on the plane in the slide show!
I think all of us would agree that this was just about a perfect trip. The weather was cool and sunny and the dispositions were mostly cheery. We spent a little more money than we intended, but that’s to be expected on a vacation. I hope you enjoy the photo slide show below. It was so hard to narrow down the hundreds of great photos to a somewhat manageable size, but it was worth it.
Jeanie and I just returned from a trip to San Francisco and Berkeley, the new home of our daughter, Erin and her hubby, Justin. We had a great time and a few adventures; some planned and some not so planned. I am learning that the unplanned adventures are where growth occurs… or not. These are the places where it is possible to 
This was the theme Jeanie and I chose for our first cruise. We just returned yesterday and I can sum up my feelings by saying, “If you have never been on a cruise… try it.” This is Royal Caribbean’s Enchantment of the Seas. It was great to just be able to wander around the ship and find out what was what. Eat when we wanted to without worrying about paying for it. Live music throughout the ship. Few rules and few decisions to make. We could just let go and not worry about what will happen next. The crew addressed all of our questions in plenty of time to get where we needed to be with what we needed to have.
On Tuesday, for our first excursion, we took a trip in a glass bottom boat out to a live coral reef to see the fishies. Here we are out on the front of the boat. That bridge like thingy sticking out of the boat probably has a name, but I don’t know what it is. Standing out there, the wind was blowing in our face, the boat was bouncing in the waves and we were going pretty fast.
After the aerial trek, we had a good lunch and hiked to the other side of a hill where we got setup for cave tubing. We took a short hike around to the other side of a hill and jumped into the cold river into our tubes. The water carried us into the cave, which was completely dark except for the lights we had strapped on our heads. At first, Jeanie and I got swept off the wrong way and went through a bit of a drama getting back on course. Our guide, Leroy, was a champ at saving us and straightening us out. I really enjoyed him. He has a great outlook on life. As we floated through the cave, he was singing “Don’t worry, Be Happy”
Back on the ship that night after dinner, the dining staff all danced through the dining room. This is me doing the Macarena with our waiter, Kirat and our dining companion, Rich. Rich and his wife, Theresa were assigned to our table each night and we enjoyed getting to know them. As veteran cruisers, they gave us lots of tips. Rich taught me to order everything you want when the waiter comes. He said, “They only take your order once, so order everything you want at that time. Two or three appetizers and even two meals. Try it all.” I took his advice and had some excellent food. The ship also had a buffet, but I didn’t like the atmosphere as much.It was too much like being at the feeding trough.
Yet another first for Jim was climbing the wall. At the stern of the ship (that’s the back to those of you who have never been on a ship ) was the rock climbing wall. I had never done anything like that and wasn’t sure I could do it. The guy that went before me gave up about half way, so I was even less sure when I started. About half way, I saw why he gave up. The handholds got smaller and further apart. I stopped, tried a few different positions and finally got past it. At the top, I rang the bell and looked back for this final photo by Jeanie.
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