Ma and Pa's Blog

 It’s not easy being home — 70′s yesterday to teens today

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Today we visited Vincent Lugo Park in San Gabriel.  It’s also referred to as “Monster Park” because of the concrete structures (slides, jungle gyms, etc.) built in the ’60s in the form of various land and sea creatures.  Sebastian had a great time (as did we watching him), and he’s ready to return already.  Fortunately, it’s an easy trip by bus, and he will return frequently, I’m sure.  That’s all for now.  Time to start saying “goodbye” . . . darn it!

Today was a stay at home day, which we enjoyed very much.  We played, and talked, and cooked, and ate together.  Here are a few pics.

Today we (Ma and Pa) had some play time on the roof with Sebastian. We watched him ride the scooter (see video here), played some hide and seek, and went on a bear hunt. Then we went with Jeff, Anna-Marie, and Sebastian to lunch in Little Tokyo and on to Griffith Park to see lots of steam locomotives at “Traveltown”. We wrapped up by driving by Jeff’s office to see it. It was another fun day. Here are a bunch of pictures –

Today was a quiet day at home.  We did exchange the rental car due to an unpleasant odor in the heating-cooling ducts.  The replacement is a very cool Jeep Compass — not so roomy, but ever so much more pleasant to ride without holding our noses.  Thank you, Enterprise.  We had a nice dinner at California Vegan (spring rolls and Pad Thai with tofu).  Then we returned home and had the cake that Sebastian and Ma had baked and Sebastian had decorated.  He said “I can’t wait to eat that cake!”.  It was very tasty.

Today we visited Point Vicente, which Ma had read was a good place to spot whales.  After a couple false starts, we found access to an area behind the Trump Golf Course.   There we were able to view tide pools, watch parasailing, AND we spotted a whale.  From there we drove to Long Beach and had a great dinner at Kings Fish house.  It was another fine day.

Today we visited the Getty Center and the Lake Shrine. Both are beautiful places. The Getty is an amazing group of Art and Museum galleries plus gardens. The architecture and the views all around are really awe inspiring. The Lake Shrine is a retreat for meditation. It has many tranquil areas surrounding the small lake. Being so close to the frenzy of L.A. makes it even more remarkable. Here are a few snapshots

. and a brief video.

We had a fun day today. We went to Pasadena for lunch and visits to Vroman’s bookstore, a toy store, and the park. Sebastian got a couple matchbox cars from Ma and a much treasured collection of sticks (twigs from which he plans to build a cabin) from the park. He also had great fun playing on the fire engine at the park — with his new signal light and fire extinguisher from Stephanie and Ben. Some pictures follow.

Mom, Chuck, Marty & I took a day trip to Newell, WVa to visit the Homer Laughlin factory.  It was a beautiful day (sunny and 50 or so degrees — in Ohio — in January!!!).  There was an interesting factory tour, AND Marty found the yellow and red mugs she’d been looking for, AND everything was 25% off!!!  A real red letter day.

We stopped near Beaver Falls, PA (actually somewhere between Raccoon Township and Beaver Falls) for lunch at Applebee’s, then we headed home.   Everyone seemed to enjoy the day.

A few snapshots follow.

Bob and Dan model their new Christmas hats. Â Nice, very nice, no? Happy New Year!