Fourth of July Fireworks

I know it's been quite a while since it was July but there are still some summer stories that haven't been told and I am ready to resume them.  So July was jubilant as my last post said, with Sienna's birthday and our anniversary.  When July started we were in California enjoying the last of our vacation.  It started with family tennis, including Rob this time, and then on the morning of the 4th Rob and I ventured to the beach for breakfast and to get a glimpse of campers on the beach, staking their claim for the fireworks show.  Here we are at Pismo Beach...

Unbeknownst to us, while we were enjoying our morning, Spenser was home with Papa and Papa Rose, in pain and unable to walk.  So we left the sightseeing behind to tend to Buddy.  Unfortunately the rest of our day was spent at the Arroyo Grande Community Hospital where Spenser was poked, prodded, ultrasounded, and made to wait.  As you know he was diagnosed with an undescended testicle, which would require surgery in the near future.  Hmmm.  That certainly changes things.  But it was still the 4th of July so after a bite to eat we drove up the hill in Papa's truck to watch the fireworks. 

Here is Spenser after spending 6 hours in the ER!  He looks great as usual.

Here is our set up to view the fireworks from Papa's truck.

And here is a bit of what we saw.  I'm sure it's much better from the sandy beach of Pismo, but this will do too.

With the diagnosis our plan was to get back to Arizona as soon as possible.  So much for our trip to Universal Studios Hollywood!  Since we needed a stopping point anyway, we decided to keep our hotel reservation for the first night at Universal.  We were still determined to see some sights even if we couldn't enter the park (doctor's orders).  Spenser even met Lucille Ball!

Okay, so she's a wax figure from Madam Tussauds, located in the lobby of our hotel.  Here is a family photo taken in the lobby as well.

Here are the kids at the front of Universal Studios.

And the rest of the family....

Universal has a great shopping area called Citywalk.  Of course we have to snap a photo in front of the guitar and the Hard Rock - because we rock!

And here's another view of the entrance to the park.  Talk about torturous tempting!  There it is, we have tickets - but we CAN'T go in!

Before we hopped on the I-10 to head home, we wanted to see the Hollywood sign. 

If you look really hard you can see the sign over the kids heads and to the left of Rob.

Then it was goodbye Hollywood, hello Arizona.  Spenser spent a few days laying low before seeing doctors and scheduling his surgery.  He handled it like a trooper and after the hardest part of recovery was over, this is how he spent most of his days -

laying in a recliner in his underwear, playing videogames, with all necessities within reach.  That's how our summer ended.  Now that's what I call fireworks!