2001
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I think I took more pictures than this, but I can't find any others. Most of these are from our outing to the big trees. It was yet another fun New Years celebration.
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We took a trip to Europe this year to see our friends Inge and Juergen in Germany. We made a brief, but very fun, stop in London on the way.
Our visit to London was brief, but fun. We took the tube everywhere and wished it was as easy to get around in the bay area. We saw a few of the big sites, visited the British Museum, saw a couple of plays, and before we knew it our time was gone.
We then went on to Inge and Juergen's home in Guenzberg (about half way between Stuttgart and Munich). Inge's parents very graciously let us stay in their home while we visited. We got there just in time to celebrate Inge's birthday. We had a great time around the house with Angelika and Sonja but also went on a couple of outings. One day we went to the nearby town of Ulm which is birthplace to Albert Einstein. Inge's niece Barbara came with us and was a great guide. We also spent a day near Füssen where there are several castles. We went on a couple of local outings in the countryside. The Danube is within walking of their home. Joe had to head home after a week but Mary stayed on for another week which included Carnival. The kids had great outfits and a lot of fun.
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In March Mary and Edith went to visit Olive and Dick. Besides a chance to visit, this was an opportunity for Mary to get a bit of family history from Olive. Mary took a few pictures while they were there.
At the very end of the month Mark came out for a brief birding trip. This is the second year they've done a birding trip like this. Last year it was in May.
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At the end of April our aunt Nan and cousin Laura visited us. Laura ran in the Big Sur International Marathon on Sunday April 29th. Despite a knee injury and a formidable uphill course she finished with a smile on her face. Edith, Mary, and Nan were there at the finish line also with big smiles on their faces.
Laura and Nan came in on Wednesday night. We travelled to Mom and Dan's on Thursday and spent a couple of days there. We visitied the "big trees" in King's Canyon on Friday. On Saturday we drove to the Big Sur area and spent the night. Laura was up at 4AM on Sunday morning and the race began at 7. After Laura's triumphant finish we all drove back to Mary and Joe's. On Monday everyone left for home. What a great time we had together!!!
Take a look at some of the pictures we took along the way.
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Towards the end of July we got a visit from Mark, Janice, and Ally and Dan. They all stayed for a week and we had a great time. It looked like a Subaru dealership since Mark and Dan both recently bought white Outbacks and we have a green one. There was a reasonable amount of birdwatching and some unexpectedly good whale watching at Bodega Bay. We had a couple of BBQ's, went on several outings, and generally had a fun week. Several new guitars were purchased and Joe forced everyone to watch a TV show in HDTV. We did manage to take a few pictures along the way. Take a look. As usual, these are smaller and lower quality than the originals. If you want an original image let me know and I'll send it to you.
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On August 11th we had the pleasure of attending the wedding of Johnny Borra and Michele O'Brien. It was a great ceremony and a great reception. Pat Martinez performed the ceremony and Beth sang a song during the ceremony. We took a few pictures of the happy couple and the other revelers.
Later in August we managed to slip away for a 4-day weekend in Morro Bay. We spent some time visiting San Luis Obispo and did a little Kayaking. We stayed at Gray's Inn which is right on the water. I brought my telescope thereby ensuring completely foggy weather for our entire stay. Here are the pics.
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In September Mary took a rafting trip through the Grand Canyon. She had a wonderful time with a great group of people. Here is the first set of pictures. Here are some more pictures that were scanned from photos sent by various people. There is also a transcription of a journal kept by Jim Hodge. It contains more pictures. Ed and Irene put together an album of their photos. Mary scanned some of them and they are available here.
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Mary's nephew Aaron has been living in Japan and he sent us some pictures of a climb up Mt. IshiZuchi. I've added his comments below each picture.
At the beginning of October we adopted a dog from a local shelter. They had named her Annie as in "Little Orphan Annie". They found her in a park in Mountain View. It took them six weeks to catch her! They think she was abandoned and had probably been living in the park for a couple of months. She's very shy and pretty cautious around people. She's also quite sweet and seems to be pretty smart. The best guess is that she is around 7 years old and is a terrier/something mix. The most common guess is that she is a terrier/border collie mix. We took a few pictures of her while she was still at the shelter.
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We had a very nice Christmas this year. We started off with a traditional dinner at Nonna's house on Christmas Eve. On Christmas morning, Mom, Dad, and Nonna came to our house for a little breakfast and some gift opening. Later we went out to the baylands for a walk with Pat Bassett and our new dog Annie. That night we wen to Mom and Dad's house for a feast. Check out the pictures from Christmas day. Domenic Merlino also has a bunch of Christmas eve and Christmas day pictures on his website.
Our annual Neighborhood holiday party was postponed this year. Mary got a bad cold and just couldn't shake it in time. Instead of happening on the 20th, we had it on the 27th. It was a lot of fun as usual and a good chance for everyone to see each other. I even remembered to take a few pictures this year.