We spent Christmas Week in the Bay Area with my wife's family and had a relaxing time (aside from fighting traffic both ways on the 5 freeway). We played cards, exchanged gifts, played Wii and I went fishing twice (once in the pouring rain on Christmas morning) and managed to catch nothing.
My family flew out for New Year's Week, and it was a sprint of activities, but that was a good thing.
Here's the run down on those pleasantly packed four days.
Tuesday - Picked my folks and brother from LAX and had lunch at Islands. Hooray for endless fries. My wife pulled off a spectacular surprise birthday party for me at a Texas BBQ joint in Pasadena that night. Great friends and good food.
Wednesday - We exchanged Christmas gifts with my family, went shopping for clothes worn by
Thursday - Up and at 'em pre-5am for the Rose Parade, which didn't disappoint a first-timer. We headed home for ham, black-eyed peas and cornbread and to watch USC stomp Penn State. That night we drove up to Griffith Observatory along with what seemed like everyone else in LA to check out the view, the museum and the telescopes. Nerdiest docents in LA, but I suppose that is a compliment -- plus, they have laser pointers that could bring down the Death Star. By this point, I was ready to drop. But we hadn't had dinner, so we steamed the tamales we ordered from Alambres on San Fernando, and finished the meal with warm churros, vanilla ice cream and a thick Mexican hot chocolate for dipping.
Friday - Shivered through the tour of the Rose Parade floats in Pasadena before thawing over Souplantation soup and dropping the fam at LAX. Settled in for leftover ham and queso while watching West Wing episodes on my new BluRay player (wow).
Happy New Year to everyone. I hope you have health and peace in 2009.
