Posts
All Comments
We have a number of friends who work at Google (Mountain View, CA, Santa Monica, CA, and New York City). While in California, we met up with Neil Vachharajani and Chris Sadler, friends from grad school who work at Google. They treated us to dinner in one of Google's dining halls and showed us around the Google campus. We couldn't help but snag a photo of Phil on one of the Google bikes available for getting around from building to building.
Two of Phil's good friends are getting married Labor Day weekend. There are a number of events going on during the week, so we came out to California for the entire week. Phil is working from the EMC office in Santa Clara, and Julie is telecommuting from our hotel room. We have the weekends and evenings scheduled full of visits with family and friends.
On Saturday evening, we met up with Julie's cousin Sandi Steich and Julie's mom's cousin Susan Walton.
Sue & Sandi
Sue moved to San Francisco in the 1970s and does a lot of music education programming for children.
Sandi, David, Heather, Nathan, Josh, and Jake have lived in California for the last 16 years. David's the other person with a Ph.D. (electrical engineering) in Julie's family and works at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Susan showed us around the Bay View Boat Club where she is the grounds keeper. Then we got a driving tour of the Mission District, where there are lots of murals on the building walls.
Mural
After dinner, Sue took us on more of a driving tour up and down the hilly streets of the city, including a trip down the windiest street. We also drove to the top of Twin Peaks to get a great (but cool and windy) view of the city.
Twin Peaks
View of San Francisco from the top of Twin Peaks
Sue, Julie, & Sandi
Then we drove to Sandi's house to spend the night. We visited with David and Jake for a while in the evening. Since David and Phil do work in similar areas, they get the chance to talk about what they're working on to someone who understands.
On Sunday, we visited more with Sandi, David, Jake, and Josh, and briefly saw Nathan and met his girlfriend. Nathan's turning 21 tomorrow! Phil and Jake had a good time playing video games, especially Lego Star Wars. Although Jake crushed Julie at most games, she managed to beat him at Wii bowling.
Then David, Sandi, and the two of us went to brunch at Wente's, where Heather works. She waited on us and treated us to a fantastic multi-course brunch. The food was excellent! Thanks Heather, David, and Sandi!!
David, Heather, & Sandi
Julie, Phil, David, & Sandi
Julie's dad and grandmother share the same birthday. Since this year was Dad's 60th birthday, we decided to all go to Florida where Grandma lives so that the whole Jones family could celebrate Dad's big birthday and Grandma's birthday together.
Aunt Lois and Uncle Paul live with Grandma near Ocala, Aunt Betty drove down from Virginia, Julie's cousins Richard and Alicia and Alicia's son Trevor drove down from the Jacksonville area, we drove down with Mom and Kevin, and after a motorcycle trip across the country, Dad met us in Florida.
The Jones Family:
Front: Julie, Dad, Grandma, Richard
Middle: Phil, Mom, Aunt Lois, Aunt Betty, Alicia
Back: Uncle Paul, Kevin, Trevor
The birthday pair: Dad & Grandma
Grandma and her 3 kids: Dad, Aunt Lois, & Aunt Betty
The Jones' and their spouses:
Mom & Dad, Aunt Lois & Uncle Paul, Aunt Betty (Bob didn't make the visit), & Grandma
The birthday pair, the Jones grandchildren and great grandchild:
Julie, Phil, Dad, Kevin, Richard, Grandma, Trevor, & Alicia (Richard's daughter Andrea lives in Mexico, so she didn't make the visit)
Kevin, Julie, Phil, Mom & Dad
A Jones family get together is never complete without lots of games of Canasta. Grandma still has it too. Her team was winning until she let Kevin take over her spot.
Our good friends Missy and Brandon had a baby girl, Adalyn, on August 3. Here are a few photos they took.
Adalyn
Missy, Brandon, Adalyn, & Evan
Adalyn getting ready to come home from the hospital
Big brother Evan and his new sister Adalyn
Today we went to visit with Missy, Brandon, and Evan and to meet little Adalyn. We also had a nice time visiting with Missy's parents, who were there to help out around the house.
Grandma loving her new granddaughter
Phil holding Adalyn - she looks like a tiny peanut
Julie holding Adalyn - she doesn't look quite as small here
Julie, Evan, Adalyn, & Phil
We had fun playing with Evan!
Evan and Phil playing trains
Phil helping Evan ride his tricycle
While we were there, Brandon gave Adalyn her first bottle, and she slept contentedly in the swing while we ate dinner.
Brandon & Adalyn
Adalyn in her swing
We went down to Washington, D.C. for the weekend to celebrate Phil's sister (Amy)'s 25th birthday with Amy, her fiancé Brent, and Phil's parents.
We also helped Amy and Brent do some wedding planning and met some of their friends who will also be in their bridal party.
Preston, Amy, Julie, Phil, John, & Brent
For Amy's birthday, Phil's parents rented a boat that we took out on the National Harbor. We had a great time.
Timothy, Julie Amy, Brent, Dad, Phil, Mom, Preston, John, & Jamie
Phil, Dad, Mom, & Amy
Captain Phil & Julie
