Settling in at Home at Last

What a real joy it is to watch a new family unfold and the old family expand!

Here's tiny Ela getting to know Bumpa and Mima...and visa versa.

Surprise...We Have a New Grandson!

Yep, here he is, Barney McKinney the second! We just got him this morning. He's an auburn-colored purebred Labrador. (The color's not too evident, but he's rare.) So, we decided to name him after our first and favorite, Barney. Hopefully, with careful training, he'll be as fun as old Barney was. (Fearless, great watchdog, smart and obedient.) He has a nice pink tongue and bad breath and when you pick him up he grunts, like all healthy pumpies...

The other folks, of course, are Gianni, with lil' Ela, and Mima Grandma...

Last Leg of the Trip-Albuquerque!

After an overnight by train from LA to Albuquerque, Aria and Sasha met us at the station and we drove to her house. As you can see, Mima is in Grandma heaven!
We were anxious to see how Julie's typical Costa Rican dresses would fit on Mariana and Anisa. They were perfect! These girls, (especially Mariana--see video below) love to show off.
Here's Mariani showing us some of her latest moves. (She's taking ballet lessons, of course).
...and more moves. This girl never stops. What energy!
Daddy James, showing off some of Sasha's adventures on the camera video feature.

We took many walks around the Pyburn's neighborhood. (Now the house is for sale and they've moved to Boston!)
The Mirkoviches and Caldwells all showed up at Aria and James' place so we captured them all in a rare photo. (That's Glenda in the middle of the couch with her little Felipe. They are visiting Violeta and Philip for a month or so from Honduras.)
James' mom, Patti, comes over a lot to hang out. Now that James, Aria and Sasha are in Boston she and her husband, Pat, are trying to work out a travel plan to visit.We bounced back and forth from family to family all during our stay. Here, with Glenda, Felipe and Violeta (with James in the background). Anisa was getting a hand slurp from Felipe, with Lisa looking on...Mari grins with her pink cheeks and Tia (auntie):
Another couch gang. This time at Philip and Violeta's place.Anisa and Mariana with little cousin, Celeste, on their new bunk beds
The three of them were showing off their Halloween finery:And I'm glad I was able to catch this little scene of Mariana's coquetry...she's something!


This is a shot taken at a Baha'i celebration at the Baha'i Center in Albuquerque. On the left is Patrik Nkoaga (from Cameroon--Carolina's husband), and a new friend, Jim Warrior, who just moved to ABQ.

Another LA Connection

Besides our fun day touring Julie's old digs in the City, Tony Schmitz and I were able to tour Andy DelCampo's jet engine parts factory near LA. Andy is an Aerospace Engineer who has a cushy job which he loves, and he invited us to see all the amazing equipment which makes reality out of the Blueprint designs he works on. This is high precision stuff--and massive!

The day we were able to go was a day off for the workers, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to make the tour. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take any photos because some of the jet engine parts are on order from the U.S. Government.

We were amazed to see huge ovens which heat up the Tungsten steel ingots to thousands of degrees, and giant hydraulic presses which apply 8000 tons of force to punch the steel into flared conical shapes. Some of these parts are about a meter across when they're finished.

We donned hard hats and toured even the bilge areas beneath the machines to view the hydraulic systems and giant pumps, pipes and electronic controls. Thanks, Andy, for a great and interesting tour!

Then, on our last day in the area, we had a few hours to visit our friends, Kathleen and Grant Neie, who came down to CR to visit a few months ago. Kathleen (previously Stone) used to live in CR and is close to Kitty and Tony Schmitz. We just met Grant recently (see CR post on his great Boogie Board). He's been a surfer most of his life and is also a collector of cars.

Here's Julie being greeted by one of their doggies:and Kathleen making us some tea...
And Grant's neat toys: The oldie is a 1927 Buick! The sportster is one of the original Mini (Morris) Coopers which are now being built by BMW. Grant noted that I'm a car fan and let me drive the Mini around town for awhile. Cool machine! He also offered to let me drive the old Buick, but I remember my 1931 Model-A Ford and suspect that this jobbie would be even a bit more difficult to drive that that one. It has a hand-operated spark advance and gravity-fed fuel tank, etc. Thanks Grant for the great tour! Kathleen and Grant were great hosts. (I even got a Reiki treatment from Grant, who is a nurse by profession.)

New Post is below (Out of order)

Note that the post on our LA visit appears below (scroll down) because I had been working on it much earlier and had saved it as draft, so when I finally posted it it showed up out of order.

Back to the California History

Backing up a bit (I had to order up my photos which are into the hundreds now!) we spent a very important family day with the Lerner family who live just South of San Francisco.

Ken and Leslie are precious friends and they were able to organize a family get-together in our honor. Ken's wife, Lauri, and his son, Aaron, were there, plus their lively mom, Shirley, their sister, Carol, along with Carol's son Daniel. (Daniel came to visit us in Costa Rica a couple of years ago.)

Here's Mom, Shirley, with Leslie working on the stove.
Ken and his son, Aaron are unforgettable characters. If you need comedians, they're at your disposition...
Not to forget, Quincy, Ken's constant companion on his daily health walks (he's the pooch receiving the smooch).
Julie and Daniel in a moment of dialog...
All at dinner. (Lauri is next to Ken and Carol next to her.)
A man of endless talent, Ken entertained on the piano (he plays guitar also--both completely by ear--he sometimes uses his fingers as well)...While the Bumpa and Mima enjoyed the peacefull melodies...

Back in Costa Rica

Hi everyone...

I know you're wondering what's up with the posts! Sorry, about that. As soon as we arrived home we flashed over to David and Gianni's to see Ela in real time! From there we've been unloading --not only the stuff from our suitcases but from our saturated brains from such a full and adventuresome journey for almost two months!

Then fixing broken lights, leaky showers, changing burned out bulbs and fixing roof leaks, and generally getting back in the groove of life around here.

Plus we've had a number of treasured guests who want to hear all the details of our adventures.

Now I'm off to the Sunday devotional gathering this morning. I'll get the pictures organized and bring the blog up to date as soon as possible, so please hang in there with patience!