I'm Baaaaaaaaaaak

After spending a very fast week in Southern California.......I'm back. I spent the week with Michelle, Karly and Lauren and we had a blast!

I got there on the 24th about 1130 and hung out until Michelle got home. She was able to get off early and so, after getting a shower and settled, we were off to do a little shopping and get some early dinner. First order of business...get a sewing machine, which we did and throughout the week, we put it to good use several times. We had dinner at the Claim Jumper, a must do, and then walked through Aaron Bros. Then we went home. Michelle had to work on Friday and I had plans to go to the International Quilt Festival that was being held at the LB Convention Center. I walked the festival for about 7 hours and loved every minute of it--TONS of new ideas swimming around in my head. After my 7 hour stroll, I headed home and waited for Karly and Lauren to get home. Michelle had tickets to go to the Dodger game on Friday evening and so Karly, Lauren, and I walked to Taco Bell for dinner. On the way, the girls took me to a store, that used to be a house, to show me some really fun things. The whole bathroom was in the process of being tiled with moasic glass tiles. Tub, floor, walls, yes, the WHOLE thing! I wish I would have had my camera with me.

Saturday we just hung out, did a little shopping and we lunched here---

Another must do

On Sunday we went down to Dana Point to see Grandpa McCleary. We had lunch and a nice visit.

OK, so you have to turn your head to see this one the right way...sorry, but I don't know how to turn them. As you can see...Karly is up to Michelle's shoulder and Lauren's not far behind. I also took a picture of the rag quilt and pillow that I made about 3 years ago for Grandpa for Christmas.

My willing and able assistants

Another head turner

Jeremy was waiting for us when we got home and so we visited for awhile and then he had to go.

Monday Karly, Lauren and I went down to the beach (Long Beach) that's about a block from where they live.







Anyone need sunglasses???

A close inspection of the bubbles coming out of the sand

Tuesday was another hang out day. Karly and Lauren worked on their samplers that they had designed and started earlier in the week, we went for a walk, had a picnic, played with their scooters, and after Michelle got home from work we went to Lauren's soccer practice.

Wednesday was Belmont Shore/Seal Beach day.























We left home about 0930 and got back about 1730. A long day to be sure, but again, we had a blast! Karly and Lauren took me to Powell's, a candy store on 2nd St. You talk about a kid in a candy store...wow! We also made a stop at Jamba Juice and Fern's Garden (good thing I didn't have more money with me). When we got to Seal Beach, MacDonald's was the first stop. One of Karly's friends from school was there along with her dad and brother. We had lunch and then headed over to my old residence so I could take a picture of the house. I was quite suprised to see that, although 95% of the plants that I had planted were gone, there were still a few. I guess they didn't want the maintence (they have a Ginko Tree trimmed like a shrub--YIKES!!!). Then it was off to the bead store, which I'm very sad to say is no longer there. In fact, most of the shops that used to be there are no more:( Oh well, we had more stops to make. Next on the list was ...the Sea Shell Shop, a favorite. This was where Karly and Lauren chose to spend their money. Karly added to her mermaid collection, and bought a couple of other items. For Lauren, it was a dolphin statue, and a turtle made out of shells. With smiles on their faces, we headed for the pier. I had told them that we would collect some shells while we were there and that the shells that they would find at Seal Beach would be different than the ones they found at Long Beach. We beachcomed from the pier to the jetty, taking pictures along the way. Then it was time to head back. We got home just before Michelle did and then got cleaned up. Michelle made chicken enciladas for us that night. BTW...we need that recipe to be added to the Kitchens 2 Kitchens blog...yummmmmmmmm!!!

Thursday we worked on more projects. Along with the samplers the girls were working on we started, and finished, sock monkeys. We also made a stadium blanket to sit on at soccer practice.

Karly and Lauren with the samplers that they designed and stitched.

They made these into little pillows

I wish I had a better picture of them so you all could see what an AWSOME job they did!

I had a wonderful time and really enjoyed spending as much time as I was able to with Karly and Lauren. As I was on my way home, it dawned on me that I had been able to spend more time with just them than I ever had and I loved every minute of it! Thanks Michelle, Karly, and Lauren for a great vacation!

Here's a few more of the over 200 pics that I took:

The Long Beach Arena

A bike club out for a Saturday morning ride along the beach

My California Girls

THANKS!