Wednesday, October 28, 2009

France 2009

As usual we made our annual pilgrimage to Cannes in the south of France to spend some time with Kaj, Anneke and Tsabo but also to take in those lovely Mediterranean rays and the deep blue azure waters. And as usual, there were no disappointments, just wonderfully copious amounts of wine, cheese and other delicious foods, sailing, beach time, pool time, restaurants, warm waters, perfectly humid temps, fireworks, late evenings and even later mornings. If there was anything negative then the culprit was a lingering cold that I picked up on the way to Sweden. Most pictures are worth a thousand words, these are worth a million and summarize our trip quite nicely. Enjoy!!

Approaching Nice airport

Welcome-drinks on the terrace

Tsabo

Pool time fun

Pool side fun

Animals talking

Mmmmmmmm

Bidding farewell to the sun

French road signs.....exciting

Pegomas

Cannes

Le Suquet

Kaj & Anneke

Restaurant fun

World championships in fireworks

Taking out the bateau

Cannes harbour

Vigilantly searching for that elusive wind

Good times

Lunch on the Mediterranean

Enjoying another day on the water

Hello Frog

Hello winch

Heading back in.....

....carefully

Saturday morning.....

......market......

.....in Cannes.

Until next time.....au revoir

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Lost Balls Wins!

Lost Balls (sans Peter and EP)

While we have made it to the finals many times, we have always fallen short....until now! Lost Balls are officially the 2009 Sausalito Fall Bocce Ball Champions! There was a little bit of controversy, a little bit of sweat, and of course a lot of trash talk, (a special shout out to the Wombats who can dish it out as well as they can take it!) but I am happy to report that the Nielsen Trophy for Bocce Ball Champions is back home where it belongs!

Unfortunately Peter has been under the weather, and EP was taking a class, so they were not able to make it to the court to show off their mad skills (which contributed to the aforementioned sweating), but they got us this far, and we were able to pull it together to bring the trophy home! For now, we will be basking in our glory, but will be anxiously anticipating next season.


A moment with the winning ball

Team Boccelism getting in on the action. We really wanted to play these guys in the finals.

A close up of the trophy (believe it or not, I was not the one who had it engraved)

One last kodak moment for the mantel.

Then we were off to Rob and Devon's for a little post bocce celebration....

Bob having his moment with the trophy

Brett and Kelly (Brett clearly basking in his glory)

Bonocore enjoying the sunset

Devon enjoying Bonocore enjoying the sunset

Brett taking his moment

Rob and the boys from Boccelism

Peter from Northside Bombers (the team we played in the finals) showed up with a magnum of champagne for the winning team. Not sure how he knew that 2 of my favorite things are winning and champagne. Thanks Peter!

And of course, Paulie

A friendly hello from one of my favorite furry friends

I think Rocky was ready to go home. Also another favorite furry friend.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Magnus & Johanna's Wedding

The main reason for our trip to Sweden this summer, other than to see family and friends of course, was to bear witness the joining of brother Magnus to his girl Johanna. The actual ceremony took place at the church in Hovås, which is the neighborhood where we grew up, at least during the times when we did live in Sweden. In fact, that church has now not only seen the wedding of Magnus and Johanna, but also, my baptism as well as my brothers, along with their confirmation (for some reason I had my confirmation at some sort of 3-week golf camp in central Sweden).
The day ended up being perfect with a beautiful and short ceremony followed by a reception and dinner at a very quaint old reception hall, near the harbor inlet to the city of Gothenburg. As always there was plentiful amounts of drink, food and dancing. The pictures beneath tell the story.

Hovås Kyrka

Parents and step-parents gather together for the first time for all to see

Sting-wannabe entertains the couple to-be with Fields of Gold

A bunch of Nielsens looking at some other Nielsens

Introducing Magnus and Johanna Nielsen

Smiles and relieved looks all around

The local paparazzi showed up to capture the moment

The couple surrounded by parents and in-laws

Monkey's mom with her Monkey

In deep and serious conversation in regards to how much booze will be consumed at the recepetion

The church, again


Off to the reception

Finally, Champagne

Anneke and Pappa Kaj with his brother and sister-in-law


The Frog

The Monkey and mom

Seating arrangements

The happy couple

Pappa & mamma

The cake was explosively good

T with uncle Bengt

Sneaking outside for cigars

Johan's Lisa and aunt Ulla

And then there was dancing....

...lots of dancing...good times, good times.