Birthday 17

Sienna's 17th birthday came and was joyfully celebrated with friends and family.  On Friday after school, she brought her girlfriends home for food and frolic.

 

The decorations began at the front door and moved into the formal living room with the 'birthday table.'

 



 

Her cake was very rose-y.

 



 

Presents are always fun to open!

Harry Potter gifts never disappoint!

 



 

And here's the big surprise!  Papa and Papa Rose surprised her with a visit!

 

Happy 17th!

 

Carlsbad, California

After UCLA we loaded up the car and headed down to Carlsbad, California, just north of San Diego.  We were meeting up with my cousin Maphis and her family.

It was quite a beautiful place as the following pictures suggest.

 

The entrance

One of the pools

 



 

The grounds



Life-size chessboard

 



 

Golf Course

 



My lovelies

 



 

The girls

 



 

More grounds

 



 

My cousin May and her little guy, Aris.

 



 

Lovely vacation!  Now back to reality and the HEAT of home!

 

UCLA

After our night in Hollywood we rested up for our next morning date with my other cousin Lydia.  She was picking us up to show us her alma mater - the UCLA Bruins.  Lydia has lived in LA ever since attending UCLA and has been one of the many actresses trying to make it in Hollywood, waitressing at night, hoping to land auditions during the day.

 

She's done some pretty cool work.  Here she is on the set of Grey's Anatomy.

 

 

On the way to UCLA she drove us through Beverly Hills -

 

and Bel Air.  Fancy!

 



 

Then we hit the hot spots on campus.

 

 

Of course we had to also hit the tennis stadium -

 

 

and the bookstore for some swag.

 

On the way home she showed us the Sunset Strip, famous for heavy metal bands.

 

The Viper Room.

 

The Rainbow Room.

 

 

We also saw some famous hotels.

 

 

It was a nice time, chauffeured by my great cousin!  Thanks Lydia!

 

 

 

 

More Family & Then on to LA

Family was the theme of this trip, and Sienna and Spenser got to meet an uncle they have only heard about.  My mom has two half-sisters and two half-brothers:  Debbie, Diana, Dennis, and David.  Pictured here is my Uncle David, who lives in Arroyo Grande as well.  We all met at a local pizza joint for dinner, and then went home to visit longer.  All the other siblings live elsewhere in rather far away locales, so we couldn't meet them all, but at least now they know Uncle Dave.  He's really cool.

 

My mom was just in awe over this guy. Quite a height difference there.

 

 

The next morning we started our slow trek back to Arizona with Los Angeles being our first stop.

My cousin Ramona's house was our destination and home for the night.  She lives in the heart of Hollywood and in close proximity to everything.

 

Our first stop was the very trendy Grove.

 

 

Right next to the Grove is the famous Farmer's Market.  It had amazing food and in such varieties!

 

 

After the market we headed to the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

First stop was Mann's Chinese Theater.

 

 

We had to find our favorite actor's hands and footprints!  Here is Sienna holding the hands of Daniel Radcliffe,

 and me touching foot and hand with Robert Pattinson!

 

There were lots of performers to take in

 

and stars everywhere.

 

 

The Jimmy Kimmel Studios

and the cool movie theater El Capitan.

 

We were tired after hitting all those sights!  So thankful to have a cousin to show us around and to put us up for the night!  Many thanks to Ramona and my Uncle Richard and Aunt Barbara!

 

 

 

 

Summer Activities

Another activity Spenser enjoyed on our summer vacation was golfing.  In addition to the golfing, he also apprenticed his Papa as a marshal on the Dairy Creek Golf Course.  Here he is reporting for his shift.

 

Spenser assisted Papa with the maintenance of play and adherence to the rules.  He also learned how to drive a golf cart!

 

Here are the kids and Papa scoping out a campsite at Lopez Lake.  The kids were SO excited about going camping!

 

 

Here they are at the lake marina, competing in pool -

and ping-pong.

 

The lake is severely low, as California is gravely lacking water and rainfall, but we still found a scenic place to picnic.

 

Here is Spenser, playing in a tree.

 

We brought along a guitar

 

for ambience and the feeling of playing in nature.

 



 

 

Unfortunately, this happened, so camping was cancelled. 

 

 

The kids helped unpack the truck while Papa was in the hospital, so that when he came home, he could just focus on resting.