fun in the sun in southern california!

As much as we enjoyed our time in the desert and the gorgeous red rock landscapes, we were very happy to arrive at the coast! We've been enjoying Southern California since middle of last week, catching up with family and friends. We've spent some time with John's very special grandma - the kids call her G.G. (for Great Grandma). She's recently moved into a beautiful facility for active seniors with a pool as well as so many other amenities. We've loved visiting in the courtyard, swimming, and having dinners with her.

4 Generations - G.G., Bruce (John's Dad), John and the kids

Last weekend was spent reconnecting and getting to know John's Uncle Neil and Aunt Carolyn in San Diego.... what a fabulous weekend! The kids swam in their pool, we had a picnic on the beach in La Jolla, saw lots of seals and enjoyed the ocean, did a bit of thrifting, played games, ate lots of fresh fruit and other good food and LAUGHED! We were all so sad to leave!

                                   The billboard behind them says "Brave men run in my family"!

Little Miss "9 going on 19"! She had so much fun dressing up in Neil and Carolyn's girl's old costumes and beautiful shoes!

On the way home from our lovely weekend, we stopped at Venice Beach.... what a gong show that place is! Super busy, people hawking everything imaginable, a freak show, a drumming circle on the beach, ice cream, lots of people on bikes .... a little bit of everything.

The kids in front of the drumming circle on the beach. Some of these folks were groovin'!

Another neat place we spent an afternoon was at the La Brea Tar Pits near downtown Los Angeles. This is an area where tar (asfault) bubbles out of the earth and as far back as 40,000 years ago, animals were trapped in the pits and their bones were preserved amazingly well in the tar. Thousands of animals have been excavated from the pits here - mammoths, sabor tooth cats, giant sloths, dire wolves and many other prehistoric creatures. The pits are now in the middle of a city, but the tar continues to bubble up.

We drove home through Beverly Hills - always a fun drive - with a side trip down Rodeo Drive.... just because! Beautiful streets lined with palm trees, and fancy cars everywhere... including this Bugatti. (The most expensive car in the world.) Ahhhh.....only in Southern California!