Farewell Muckers :(

Finally the inevitable happened, and Vince, Christine, Claire and JJ had to wave goodbye to Walnut Creek and make their way south, before Texas and then Germany.  America is soon going to be without their most patriotic family, and I'm not sure what we're going to do.  But the USA's loss is certainly Europe's gain, and Vince has some fun travelling and learning to do in the next 11 months while Christine becomes an expert in German wines.

Vince and Christine were some of the first people we met at Haas when they began throwing big parties in pretty much the opening week.  We arrived at their place, and when Christine suggested that, due to my visa status, I might want to hang out in the Office Depot car park to find some work, and when Vince laughed at a joke I made about American beer which is not appropriate to repeat here, I knew they were our kind of folks.

Three years later, and they have introduced us to shuffleboard, Texas, Hawaii, 4th July, Christmas "ornaments", American sports, PBR...the list is endless really.  More tellingly, there were discussions about the 2nd amendment, and a certain Mika concert, that say more about our friendship's endurance than anything else.

Somewhere in the middle of all this they introduced Claire to the world, who I still consider as my baby that I allow V&C to look after for extended periods of time.  What can I say about Claire?  Given that she's the most photographed and featured person on this blog, you get the picture.  And not content with one gorgeous baby, they followed up with James John!

So yes, it has been a traumatic morning waving them off, and in true and fitting Mucker style I think I'll have a dirty martini before lunch to get me through.  Thanksgiving 2012 has already been booked in Washington DC where, after Germany, Vince has an International Relations masters degree to complete before being the face of the American military as a diplomat in Kazakhstan.  Where, coincidentally, Chevron has just started drilling...

Big girl Claire.

Little man JJ.

First evening drinking with the Muckers - Bear's Lair, Berkeley, Aug 20th 2008

Final evening (for now) drinking with the Muckers - Flemings, Walnut Creek, July 17th 2011

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And how could I not take the opportunity to put even more pictures of cute kids on my blog.  So here are Claire Camille Mucker's greatest hits:

Right at the beginning.

Bottle feeding.

Moving onto solids.

California is not always warm.

Forever Texas.

Pleased with herself.

Scary Clairey.

Aloha from Hawaii.

Alien.

New hat.

Mine's a Merlot.

Little monkey.

Unimpressed.

Gorgeous!