Fall 2009 California Trip

Ellen and I have just returned from a 37 day visit to California visiting with Jen, Dan, Elise, Thomas and Julia. We have wonderful time. The first 25 days of our trip we stayed across the street from Jen and Dan house sitting for one of their neighbors. This was our second time we have had the opportunity to house sit on their street. This type of arrangement has worked out well for both us and the respective homeowners. We had very comfortable surroundings with provided both Jen and Dan and Ellen and I some alone time as well as the convenience of being “neighbors”. On two occasions Elise and Thomas were able to spend a weekend night with us as well.

During our recent stay we were able to take a couple of side trips. All of us spent four days in Southern California in the city of Carlsbad. This is the home of Legoland a amusement park for children. As you may gather from the park’s name, legos are used in many very creative ways to make movie and cartoon characters as well as cities. It is really quite amazing to see these works which are conceived and constructed by very talented individuals. The trip was the fulfillment of a promise Jen and Dan made to the children when it was that they would be moving to California. Thomas, in particular, has taken to the construction of lego models and has become quite proficient. He received a gift of a 1034 piece lego set which was designed for children ages 9-12 to put together. Thomas, being 5 years old, was quite pleased with himself when he produced this creation entirely on his own. He has put additional lego sets on his Christmas list this year.

While in Carlsbad we also visited Sea World and La Jolla. Each of these days was filled with excitement for the children with the animal exhibits at Sea World and the amazing acts. You never seem to tire of seeing a whale and dolphins jump out of the water and perform various tricks. The kids got to feed the dolphins and seals which was a lot of fun. While playing on the beach in La Jolla we were able to see seals playing in the surf and men and women swimming long distances in the ocean. This was a very memorial trip for both the children and the adults.

I celebrated by 60th birthday during this trip. Julie and Rich and their children were visiting Jen and Dan at the time. So, I had a lot of voices singing happy birthday to me while the candles on my carrot cake that Jen made were burning before. Jen arranged for a sitter for the 6 children and the adults went out to a wonderful dinner. I could not have had a nicer birthday.

Ellen and I ventured up to San Francisco and spent the day at Salsalito and Tiberon. These two cities are on the San Francisco Bay and provide magnificent views of the city from across the bay. We also visited Santana Row an upscale shopping district in San Jose.

Ellen and I have now returned home and are preparing for Christmas gatherings with family and friends. We had decided to decorate for Christmas before leaving for California on October 23rd. So, it was very nice to walk into the house and see the tree up and decorated. Even though there is no snow on the ground, we are beginning to get into the Christmas spirit.

Pictures from our fall California trip can be seen at:


More later . . .