Kathleen & Paul Smith's RV Travelblog

10/02/09 - Birthdays and Why We're Still in Fremont!
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Some few years ago we began a tradition to taking a birthday-celebrating grandchild out to lunch. Just the birthday child and us.

Because of our travels, and not always being in the same place nor near the birthday person, we have not always been able to take the celebrant out for a special lunch.

Ellen, the youngest of Kitty's and Jamie's offspring has been told about this tradition, and in fact, has seen it when we visited Paa Mul and took Ellen's older sister, Caroline, out for the traditional "birthday lunch", but even though she is about to celebrate her 6th birthday, Ellen has never had her grandparents "take her out"- just Ellen and us.

Not long ago Ellen asked her grandmother about the tradition, and she was assured that surely that would happen to her this year.

As it has turned out, our days have not been as free as we supposed they'd be. Work on our apartment has kept us in Oakland from morn to night, seven days a week, and we see little of the children. We've all been here since late August, and still have not had the time to really visit with the children - let alone observe the traditional "birthday lunch". But it's been on our minds.....

This year, and for Ellen, we are changing from a "lunch" to a "dinner". The Hopcia family plan on heading for Wisconsin this Sunday or Monday, and from there they'll head for the Yucatan Peninsula. So it was decided that last evening (Oct. 2nd) Miss Ellen would finally have her "night out" with PaPa and TaTa for her birthday (in anticipation of her actual birthday, which is October 9th). We took off work on the apartment early and were back in Fremont to pick up Ellen and take her out for her birthday celebration. She was waiting for us, and was relieved that her special time with PaPa and TaTa had finally come!

Ellen likes shrimp in garlic butter sauce and pasta. There are many restaurants in the Bay Area who specialize in fish, but every day when we drive to Fremont from Oakland we pass a place that has made us curious. It's called "Arts Crab Shack". A check on the Internet revealed that they also serve shrimp as well as a variety of meats and fish. So we decided to take Ellen there. She was able to order the shrimp and pasta just the way she liked.

We mentioned to our waitperson that we were celebrating Ellen's birthday, and at the conclusion of the meal she was presented with this enticing dessert. She was delighted!

After our meal we headed back to Fremont, but made a stop at the "Dollar Tree" - a real treat for Ellen, as she loves shopping in the Dollar stores! We picked up a few items that interested her, and something for her siblings. PaPa stayed out in the car and was happy to have a little time in which to get in a few quick winks!

So we wish a happy pre-6th birthday to Ellen! (And wish we could be in Wisconsin to celebrate with her.)
Today, Saturday, Paul Jr. met us at the apartment. He had stopped at Home Depot on his way to Oakland where he rented a tile cutter. He had high hopes for the day - wanting to get the tile down in the bathroom and in the office/laundry room as well as getting the tile cut for the kitchen counter top.

Had our son the workers he has during the week (Christina and Jamie) his expectations might have been achieved. As it turned out, we now have tile on bathroom and office/laundry room. The cast iron sink that has been in the kitchen since antiquity, has been removed (in a manner only Paul Jr could muster), the new stainless steel sink fits in the "hole" and it is the hope of the three of us, that the kitchen counter and sink replacement might be realized tomorrow.

Son-in-law, Jamie has been such a tremendous help to us during the week. The family is much too busy with preparing for their long trip, yet Jamie insists on helping us most of the weekdays. He has mastered the art of fixing anything electrical and last week became proficient in mending sheet rock and making the patch all but disappear! He really has been a joy with whom to work and we so greatly appreciate all he has done for us in this huge construction job we have undertaken. How just adding French Doors has developed into a full-scale re-make is something neither of us understands.

So, after the kitchen counter tops - what else has to be completed? Well, we need to pick up a new stove for the apartment, need to repair a kitchen floor, need to install toilet, sink and cabinets in the bathroom, need to install baseboards all through the house, need to install new folding closet doors, need to fix the front steps, need to fix the front door, and get new door hardware for one door, then need to rehang all the doors we've taken down for the flooring jobs. Which brings up another "thank you" to Paul Sr who has spent the last two weeks on his knees, installing the wood flooring. He's done a GREAT job on making the living/dining room and both bedrooms look like a million dollars with their new floors! We need to do a little outside painting and finally, we need to finish some facing on the patio walls.

Tomorrow, when I read this, I'll remember a few other job that need to be completed before we, ourselves, head south.

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