First stop (after my initial quick pit stop in SFO/Oakland for my grandkid fix..!!) was in Peoria, IL to visit family and friends that I have not seen in a while... As usual, whenever I stop in Peoria, we always try to have a party at Alexander's Street Steakhouse... This trip was no exception...
Grade School & High School Buddies - We go waaaaay back...!!
Scott Turley, Don Gries, Me, Scott Hogan
Scott and I enjoying a cold beer... One of many... Incidentally, I get to see Scott's brother Pat here in the Philippines on a fairly regular basis as he travels here on business (he lives in Singapore)...
My brother Jon and Scott...
Jack and his son Schuyler
Donnie telling some lies.... Scot just takin' it in... Haha...
Don and my daughter, Liz (Kate for all you Californian's)
My wonderful sister-in-law Lisa with Craig Doerr standing behind her...
Getting ready to leave... Don and Amy saying good bye....
And now Scott and Carla... It was a great time and I always cherish the good times that we have here... So many of my friends always seem to make an effort to join this party... Thanks to all..
After Peoria, I then flew out to NH with my daughter to visit with my son Adam and soon to be daughter-in-law Lauren...
I had a chance to meet with some friends from Novel Iron Works... Here is Sean and Rebecca... We had a nice time at Bratskellar - one of my all time favorite Pizza joints on the Seacoast... Thanks to Jen, Ann & Steve and Tracey & Rick for joining the party...
The view from my son's place... Not too shabby, especially if you are a surfer...
And here I am... Gettin' my ink cherry popped....
The end result... For all you knotheads out there, this design is from Brian Field's work...
Can't wait to visit the Seacoast again for some more ink work...
Spent a night partying up in Portland with my buddy Lars...
Adam and Lauren's dog, Joel just loves to snuggle... Here he is with Liz as she gets ready to start the day....
One of the big events that we had while I was visiting the Seacoast, was a 30th birthday party for my son... My cousin, Bertie and her husband Lincoln, were gracious enough to host the gathering... I was not able to get a picture of Linc on this trip as he was the one that took all of these party pix... And what a good time he had doing that... Here is Adam and Bertie... BTW, the theme of the party was "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"....
The birthday boy at the grill...!!
Bertie and Adam with the goods....
Bertie and Gina Smith - an old family friend...
Bertie and friends...
Adam and Mikey eating cake...
The Birthday Boy..!!
Is it time for Champagne yet..??
Lauren and Adam
Brother and Sister... My pride and joy..!!
Here I am, cookin' up a batch of my special steamahs...
Dave and Liz Roche
Party in the driveway...
Father and daughter... Awe....
Gemma and Tiffany
The girls - Gemma, Lauren and Liz
Here is one of Gemma posing...
Liz and Glen and Denise Smith - our first friends from the Seacoast...
Lars and Bertie..
Mike and Lars...
Mikey with a teenage mutant...
Lauren
Glen and I
Well, you know me and my cigars... It just doesn't get any better...
Mikey relaxin'...
Here I am with Gemma...
Liz with the Griswolds (our name for the Smith family)
Tiffany
Web and Deb Kohlhase - Adam's future in-laws... And what great fun they are...
Dave, Zach and Liz Roche...
OK, the party is over....
After the fun time in New England, my daughter and I headed back to Oakland to spend some time with her family...
And here they are... the stars of the show.... Maddox, Marley and Lucile...!!
Maddox loves his Easter basket..!!
Matchie just chillin'
Whenever I visit we have some things that we always seem to do... Ferry rides are one of those of things... Here we are with the Bay Bridge in the background...
Liz and Joon - they are always so photogenic...!!
Mother and daughter...
Beer drinkin' buddies - even if it is only 10 in the morning..!!
And here is the entire Kim family...
And all good things must come to an end... What better place than the Rainforest Cafe - another one of the "Must do" things when Grandpa comes to visit... Til next time....
The grounds were clean and neat, with nipa huts all over...
Very lush....
Plenty of room for lots of people (we had the whole resort to ourselves)...
The rooms were set back from the main area...
Here is Angie and Dan walking on the black sand beach
A view out to the ocean...
Enjoying lunch... Note that the microphone is always close at hand for videoke...
Greg, me and Mike...
Rhis, Joseph and Jhon...
A serious game of pool...
Team building games, the proverbial sack race....
Racing for the touch-off...
Out on the reef on a banka (or out of a banka)...
Wave to the camera...
Fresh fish on the grill.... Almost all BBQ's involve whole fish on the grill... Sure glad I love fish..!!
Lots of great, traditional Filipino food...
Mike and I enjoying the afternoon...
Night begins...
Smiles are contagious about now....
Grace and Norman...
Mauit and Angie
The girls take a late nite dip in the pool...
Conci has the floor....
Tristan and Mye...
Everyone is having a good time....
Some serious drinking going on here....
There is still brandy left....
I don't think this pool is ready for swimming yet..!!!
The drive home thru typical southern Luzon landscape....
