Category: vacation

The MUCH anticipated birth of Staci’s little boy happenned early morning on April 1st. Kelly had come up a week before so she could be sure that she was here for the birth. After a couple of  false alarms and even a birth inducing Preggo Pizza from Skipolini’s, Staci finally went into labor on the last day of March and had her precious little boy just after midnight. Mom dad and baby all doing fine.

After letting things settle for a week we made the trip to Sacramento to see the little bundle of joy.  Needless to say, Colin is one cute kid. Healthy and strong and HUNGRY little boy.  Barb Kelly and I all got our “Colin time”  while spending some special time with Staci. Shane was sleeping most of the time we were there. Wonder why?!  Staci said that Colin is still not on a good schedule and only sleeps 3 hours max.

No doubt that Colin likes grandpa Flaherty the best!

Where has all the time gone. I’ve been super negligent in my blog postings and I’m starting to hear it from the girls. Now would be the perfect time for me to write updates about life’s goings on around the Flaherty house now that Kelly and Kate are both moved out.  Then stupid Facebook came along and tried to circumvent the ebb and flow of my postings here at jimsjoint. No  longer was I giving thought the 4 faithful readers that flock to this blog for Flaherty news.  I was over on facebook “liking” things.

So I’m not liking anything over there any more. Keeping it on the down low and focusing on what really counts. La Familia!  One good thing about not posting here lately is that not too many people click over to jimsjoint anymore, and I think that’s the way I like.

I’ve got a lot of catching up to do so I’ll just start with February. What a GREAT month it turned out to be. Kelly came up on Feb 5th to attend Staci’s baby shower. She stayed up here almost the rest of the month and watched Mali and Bruno for us when we went to visit Kate and Frank. It was so nice to have Kelly home, if only for a while. It was just like old times. She’d watch TV in her room and we’d never see her.  Seriously though, we did get to spend  quality time with our first born.  We got a good ten days with Kelly before we started our (17 day!) vacation.

I had a birthday in the middle of the month. On the saturday before my birthday,  Barb and I were going to spend a quiet night.  Go out to dinner then watch a movie at home.  On the way to Cabrillo Park Cafe, Barb said to stop at Vicky’s so she could see her new hair style.  The detour turned out to be planned.  It was actually a mini surprise party for ME!!   In the tradition of sweet heart doubles bowling,  we went bowling!  I don’t know if it was the spur of the moment thing, the spirit of competition,  or the 3 jack and cokes, but I was on fire!   Barb and I bowled our hearts out and ended up winning the two game match.  Despite fierce competition, team Flaherty came home with the much coveted championship bowling  pin. Thanks to Team Vandy and team Downing for a fun filled night of billiards booze and bowling.

On my actual birthday, we cruised over to Marie and Ron’s with our pups so they could have a mini reunion with Guiseppe.  It was fun to see the dogs all playing together, just like old times.  Thanks for the birthday cake Marie!

Feb 15th we said goodbye to Kelly and the dogs. Caught an early (6:45)  flight out of SFO (thanks for the ride Kelly)  and jetted to Atlanta,  short layover and then a hop to Jacksonville North Carolina. One of the smallest airports I’ve ever been in. Three gates.  Either way it works for us. We picked up our rental car (2011 chevy malibu) and GPS’d it to Kate and Frank’s house in Hubert.

Side note – Kate had been in Okinawa for 18 months and in that time we only got to see her for about ten days last August when she came home to elope with Frank. 

Side note #2 –  Now remember,  Kate and Frank, although married almost six months, had only spent 7 days together when they said “I do”  back in August.  She got home from Okinawa on Feb 5th.  After only a few days together (lord only knows what they were doing), her and Frank took their truck (and a trailer) on a nice (12 hour?)  drive to to meet his family down in Florida.  Now that Kate was finally home and her and Frank were together, Frank’s family wanted to give them a wedding shower and introduce Kate to the family. They had a great time there,  met everyone,   got plenty of great gifts, and eventually made the drive back to Hubert, this time with a truck full of shower presents AND a bunch of furniture that Frank had for the house in the trailer.  The next day, we show up!  Only saying this to point out that these two are newlyweds in a very special way.  They fell in love but had to stay apart for a very long time.  Now they are literally back together two weeks,  should be honeymooning alone on some deserted island  being all lovey dovey.  I guess they’ll get their “alone time” after all the “family time”.

  Kate and Frank have a nice, newer, 3 bedroom house about 20 miles from the Camp Lejeune main gate. Only a few miles to the back gate!  We stayed up late that first night just talking and visiting. Playing with the dog and going through a suitcase of Kate’s stuff that we had brought from home. Little bandit wouldn’t get our of our suitcase when Kate was going through her stuff.

We spent most of our time just helping them get their new house together. Plenty of trips to the grocery store, Wal Mart, Target, Petco and even a few thrift stores. They received so many nice gifts when they went to Florida that they really didn’t need anything for the kitchen.  We helped out with some little things around the house.  Barb even bought a dog bed and dog house for Bandit! 

One of the days we were there we decided to go to Camp Gieger to see where Kate and Frank were married. I officiated as they renewed their vows.  Also took some time to cruise around and see where they met and where they lived while at MCT. 

While Kate was in Okinawa, her and Barb had been talking about getting matching tattoos. Barb had been wanting to get an angel on her shoulder, so one morning, her and Kate went out and got tatted. They came home a few hours later with very cool matching angels on their shoulders.  Now me and Kelly have to get matching ones.

Frank’s family came up on Friday for the weekend so we got to meet Tonya and Frank Sr,  as well as Frank’s little brothers Matt and Ryan. Oh, and little dog named Dinky.   I cooked enchiladas Saturday night and Frank Sr made a beef roast on the BBQ Sunday night.  The Lee family are good people.   Tonya and Barb became fast friends. I think they are secretly plotting Kate and Frank’s future.

We had a beach day on Monday. Since they live only 5 minutes to the ocean, we turned north on the highway and headed to Emerald Isle.  Looks like it would be a great place for summer vacation. On this sunny and windy winter’s day it was perfect for walking Bandit on the beach and taking some great pictures.

By the time Tuesday rolled around we had already been in NC for a week and were leaving next morning.

It was so good to see Kate happy. She spent a lonely 18 month in Okinawa and now FINALLY gets to spend some time with her husband. Her and Frank are perfect for each other.  I know that Frank will take good care of our baby for us.  We are happy and proud of both of them.

Next morning it was time to say our  goodbye’s and begin the long trip home. Four hour layover in Atlanta and a 5 hour (DANG HEADWIND!) flight home. Kelly picked us up at SFO and we were home. Stayed up late into the night telling Kelly all about our trip.

Two week vacations are the best!!!!! Check out all the vacation pics here

What a great day we had on Sunday.  We had purchased these tickets a couple of months ago because it sounded like it would be a fun day.  Eddie Money, Loverboy, Night Ranger, Greg Kihn band and the Turtles, all rocking and rolling in the wine country!

We started from home early. Left our house around 8:30am  and met Ron and Marie at the Flamingo Resort  Hotel in Santa Rosa at around 10:30.  Ron and Marie were spending the night so we had a short snack by the pool while they waited to check in.  

*side note* – the Flamingo is where we spent  part of our honeymoon  back in 1985. Memories!

Off to the concert around 1130. Only 12 miles from the hotel, the setting couldn’t have been better. The Venue was  Bruce Cohn’s winery in Glen Ellen. The stage, nestled at the bottom of a little hill with rolling vineyards as the backdrop. Wow. 

We got there a little late and were able to catch the end of the Turtles’ set as we were walking into the place. It was already very crowded!  Seem all the good spots were taken with only “full sun” spots left. UGH! So we are standing at the top of this hill and we figure out that if we just stay put, the sun will soon dip; behind that big tree right there and we would be golden. And we were! We laid out our blanket and within a few minutes we had it made in the shade!

The music was great. Greg Kihn?  Was Greg Kihn. Loveboy? Awsome and LOUD!  Eddie Money? An icon (61 years old) !  They played all their hits and then some. Did some great covers too. Night Ranger doing Ozzy Ozborne’s “Crazy Train” was my favorite!  Rock and Roll baby!!  Loverboy was my favorite band of the day.  Eddie Money seemed to just be going through the motions but won me over in the end.  It was all good. All good.

It was a fun crowd. Since this was a charity event, the tickets were on the pricey side, so it kept out the old time rock and rollers and put us smack dab in the middle of  the beautiful people!  Mostly older and mellow. But all soooooooo good looking!  Us included !  Lots (and LOTS)  of wine being drunk.  People were  mildly (to falling down)  drunk, or stoned, or both.  We had a great time just people watching.

 The food was fantastic !  We tried some pulled pork sliders and chicken waldorf salad sliders that were yummy. Calamari and fries were oh so good. Thai egg rolls? Ahhh So good!!   The girls shared a bottle of  B R Cohn wine. Ron and I stuck to beer, and all was well in the world.

The sun dipped behind the hills as Eddie Money was finishing his set. By 7:30 we were heading back to the car, vowing that next year, we’d come for both days! Woohoo!

Did a great ride on Saturday. Barb and Diane had planned this one. Diane invited  Ben, so it was a mini-reunion of our 2004 Lake Tahoe ride,  as well as many other rides that we all did  together. We all met at the park and ride lot at Page Mill road and 280. Saddled up and it was off to follow Ben. He was most familiar with the area so we were golden.  About 14 miles out to Canada road and the Pulgas water temple. Soooooo many riders out on this beautiful California summer morning. Although there were tons of riders out on the road, when we pulled into  the water temple, we were the only ones there! The gates were closed to car traffic and only a slightly hidden pedestrian gate was open. We slid in and spent about 30 minutes resting up and enjoying the peaceful beauty of the place where Yosemite water ends its hundreds mile journey to Crystal Springs reservoir.

The ride back was great, took the “back way” back through Portola Valley and shady tree lined streets of any town  U$A.

Yesterday was one of those favorite kind of days. Morning bike ride with the boys. Coffee at Starbucks. Home to shower and ready for the day. Shop for dinner. Chill.  Cook dinner. Eat dinner. Chill.   Hot tub.  Bed.  Ahhhhhh!

Somewhere along the way yesterday, I decided on carnitas for dinner. Was going to keep it simple though  . Bought a nice pork tri-tip and semi-slow cooked it on the bbq. Low and slow baby!  30 minutes at 350 on each side and you’re in heaven.

While the meat was cooking I sliced up a maui sweet onion, red bell pepper and four jalapenos. Tossed them all in a little olive oil and into a low/medium heat saute pan.  low and slow  baby!!  Cooked these babys way on down  – until the maui sweets were golden and the jalapeno was burning my eyes.  Burning so much in fact that I started to think that maybe one jalapeno would have been enough.    

Carnitas tacos – thin sliced, slow cooked bbq’d pork – sauteed onion and peppers – salsa verde – cabbage with rice vinegar drizzle. Dinner is served!!

I didn’t even put a jalapeno in either of my tacos, because  I knew that the onions and red pepper had absorbed all the heat from the jalapenos.  I was a littel scared!   Barb, of course, got full jalapeno on each of her tacos.  I must say, this Irishman can make a taco. That first one tasted sooooooo good. Something about that crunchy cabbage, warm tortilla and spicy bbq’d  meat that tantalizes the taste buds. Oh, and did I mention that my lips were on fire?  Somebody call 911!!   As hot as my lips were, it didn’t matter.

 Taco #2 please!! 

So yes, it was a good dinner. My lips only burned for about 45 minutes and all was good in the world. After a while it was off to the hot tub to let all the troubles of the world melt away.  What a beautiful night it was. Stars out. No clouds. No wind! All good. So Barb ane I are enjoying an evening soak like usual, when the tips of my fingers started to burn!   I’m thinking “WTF!?” then realize that it was the jalapeno coming back to haunt me yet again!! The heat of the hot tub created some reaction with the jalapeno oils that were somehow still on my fingers.   Holy Shmoly!!   My finger tips were on fire!!!  SOMEBODY CALL 911!!!!!!!! 

So obviously there is some rule that I didn’t know about when it came to cutting jalapeno peppers. Do you have to put on asbestos gloves or something?  

Anyway, my finger tips only burned for about 45 minutes, then I was good to go.

 Man!  What a great dinner!

Today was a day  twenty-three years in the making.    Kelly, our first born,  was receiving a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications from California State University East Bay. Up early to be ready for the 9am commencement ceremony up at the CSUEB campus. Kelly was out the door right around 7am.  Staci and Liz met up at our house and we were on our way around 7:30.

Got to campus, parked, and got some good seats in the bleachers. I brought the stadium chairs so we were golden.  Excitement was filling the air as the place started to fill up. A beautiful warm and sunny morning. Windy too!

Around 8:30, the music started and the parade of students began.  In they came, and came, and came, and came, and came. Seemed like the procession would never end. The only thing longer than the procession was the speeches by the “dignitaries” and whatnot. SNOOZER!!! One cool thing (that got to me) was when they asked the graduates to please stand if they were the first in their family to graduate. Little bit of a lump in my throat when I saw Kelly stand up, turn around and look up at us.  Another cool thing was that we got to share some of the day with Kate. She was up and working the graveyard shift in Okinawa, so through text and phone cam, she got to participate a little in a very special day for the Flaherty family.

 Finally, they had just begun to  start handing out diplomas, when an announcement was made that  the staff and dignitaries would have to evacuate large tent on the field due to high winds. So, after a short 30 minute delay, we finally got so see what we came for. Each grad would come up and receive a diploma, have their name and major announced, then pose for pic with the dean.  When our girl finally stepped up and we heard  ” Kelly Nicole Flaherty – Mass Communications”,   THE CROWD WENT WILD!!!!    Well, our crowd did.   As she was walking back to her seat she waved up to us and we applauded her.  I smiled,  Barb cried, and all is well in the world.

Our week in Tahoe has come and gone!  One of the few years that we weren’t in Tahoe for 4th of July. We were looking for a more serene and quiet week this year.  And we found it.  We invited Sheri Carruthers and family  for a “relaxation vacation.” Checked into a nice two bedroom on the 5th floor with lake view. Spent the week in kick-back mode. After a combined $300 (boy can those Carruthers eat!) grocery shopping trip, we were ready for our vacation!  We met team Downing (who were up there for a quick weekend)  on Sunday for a nice hike out at Rubicon Point. I’ve always wanted to do this hike,  on the west side of the lake between Emerald Bay and Meeks Bay.  The trail skirts the side of the lake and provides stunning views. Its also the part of the lake where its 1000 feet deep right off shore.  Just beautiful.

The rest of our week consisted of grill’n and chill’n. We ate like kings!  We slept in everyday! We did a beach day. We drove around the lake one day. Did the Heavenly Gondola one day. We spent  quality time with Sheri, Becca, Taylor and Matt.  All good people. Matt loved Tahoe so much that he spent the bulk of his time trying to convince Sheri to move there.  We missed them when they left on wednesday. We went on a stupid timeshare presentation on Wednesday afternoon, then spent pretty much all Thursday hanging out in the condo. We packed up and said goodbye to Tahoe on Friday afternoon. The end to another great Tahoe vacation.  Check out the pictures by clicking here!

  Kate has been in the Marines for 10 months now. In Okinawa for over a month.  We miss her so much. Communication back and forth is hit and miss. The 16 hour time difference makes it even more difficult. We continue to go by the “no news is good news”  motto.  She is in our thoughts and in our prayers daily.

 Kate gave me a dog tag that I wear proudly. Every Sunday to church and several times during the week.  The “Hero’s Prayer” is etched into the back of the dog tag.

“Lord,  I ask for courage…. To conquer my fears.  I ask for strength….. To protect others. I ask for protection…. Over my family and friends. Through it all be at my side.”

Kate is our hero!

We dropped Kate off at Oakland airport on Wednesday morning. She had stop-overs in Las Vegas and Albuquerque on her way to Dallas.  Arrived Dallas 9:30 PM (thanks to “papa ” Fraley for shuttling Kate to the hotel and getting her settled). 6am flight brought her BACK to San Francisco for a short layover (don’t ask why she couldn’t just leave from SFO, thats the military way) before she got on the Boeing 777 for a monster 12 hour flight to Osaka Japan. Short layover then another two hour flight to Okinawa.  According to my calculations she just landed in her new home (for two years anyway) a couple of hours ago!!

So where the hell is Okinawa anyway?  Its 6400 miles across the pacific. Its 900 miles south of Tokyo and part of the Ryukyu Islands. Its about as far away as one can be. If you look at the little speck on Google maps, you will see what I mean. She is just as close to Taiwan and China as she is to Japan.  They are on Japan Standard Time zone, which is 16 hours ahead of us. As I write this its 8:02AM Friday in Cali and 12:02 AM Saturday in Okinawa.

The weather?  Tropical. Yahoo weather shows the high is 88 and the low is 81, everyday! 

Sounds good to me!

Now we wait for that first call or email.