Retirement Party

We got a chance to attend Emma's retirement party Saturday night located in Alhambra in some banquet hall in a park which was surprisingly nice & serene overlooking a pond and golf course.

Lots of people were there to celebrate with food and dancing. We had a great time.

Chocolate and white cake. Yum!

Here we are.

A better view of the pond/lake.

It was fun to get out without the kids and socialize with adults. :) You know what I mean!



This song came on the radio which is great from back in the day but true in how time passes you by. You need to seize the day! :)

Also Tyler needed a photo of himself for art class. He needs to make a self protrait so he actually agreed to me taking a picture of him. Usually there is grumbling and reluctance when mom has her camera out but he was very willing and receptive. This is the one he chose. :)



I had to fix his hair. Honestly, this kid could care less but I'm trying to get him to.

JPL tour

As usual, I'm behind in posting. School has begun and things have started to settle down. SoCal has been experiencing a heatwave for about a month now so it's wearing on me. Last summer it wasn't very warm at all so I suppose this is payback.

I haven't even knit that much except on my Cookie A sock club Solfars which are from June(?). I'm on the toes so I hope to have them finished by tonight.

But I'm getting ahead of myself again....here are the photos I took on our last summer field trip to JPL. If you ever are in the area, be sure to try and book a tour (weeks in advance). There is an open house every year but it gets crazy crowded. Not as many areas are open to the tour but if crowds are not your thing then I recommend the tour.









Really fascinating but the kids got a little tired since the tour is about 2.5 hours long with some walking in the hot weather. Overall, I think they had a good time. :)

While I was away...

with the kids in Hawaii, Hector took off to see his brother Carlos in Las Vegas. It was a super short trip but he managed to see their anime convention, visit with our friend Mark & have dinner.

At the anime convention.

Some serious cosplay action

Catching up with an old friend.

Mark has a nice setup while working in Vegas.

and a really nice view.

This was Hector's adventure in a very short weekend. More pictures in my Flickr set.

horsey dance

I know this video has been out for a while but since some local people in El Monte got in trouble for filming their own parody of this video so I have to post it. The music is catchy and I have no clue to what he is saying except, sexy lady and gangnam style. The dancing it pretty funny too. And the skinny guy in the yellow suit reminds me of Vector from Despicable Me. 

Lagoon video

Here is the video of the lagoon where we spent a few days enjoying the water and sun. :)

SUP video

I forgot that I shot some video while in Hawaii. Here is Josh paddling in the lagoon at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Now that I know he can do it, we can try it out in California.  :)

Quiet

Today is the first day of school for both boys so it feels a little quiet around here. It was pretty hectic so I don't have the usual first day of school photos but picture it in your mind's eye.

Actually I did take some of Tyler who doesn't look thrilled and Josh just looks nervous. I don't know if they want to relive those exact moments.

But we did have fun counting all the different things we did this summer...

1. Taking the Metro to downtown LA & seeing the Walt Disney concert hall and city library.
2. Going the the Getty Villa
3. Going to the Arboretum
4. Going to the OC Fair
5. Travelling to Indio
6. vacationing in Hawaii
7. JPL tour
8. numerous trips to the beach and pool

By taking account of all our activities, Tyler said, "Wow, we did do a lot this summer!" Yes kids, I worked hard to keep you busy and entertained this summer!

I'm looking forward to next summer.