What the girls did...

So, you've seen Christy, AJ and me in California for the past month of blog posts or so... You got to be asking what did the girls do this whole time. Well, as I probably mentioned, my parents took the girls to Ohio with them for the week. The house that my father grew up in has been converted into an organic farm (www.pioneerfarm.net) and the farm was having a festival the weekend that Christy and I headed to California. So, most of my dad's family was headed back to the homeplace for the festival and so my parents went as well.

The first picture is of the Pioneer Farm sign. My grandpa's farm was always called Pioneer Farm and so it's neat to see that the tradition continues even though it's no longer in the family. The area where my dad grew up has a lot of Amish and Mennonite. The second pic shows the girl in a little buggy. The third pic is at Warther's (www.warthers.com). Mr. Warther was a world class wood carver and this third picture is in the button house. Mrs. Warther apparently loved to collect and display buttons. This pic is just one of many displays in the button house. The 4th pic is of a train that Mr. Warther did from ebony and ivory. The story of his wood carving is pretty amazing and I encourage you to check out their site.

So, the girls hung out with Grandpa and Grandma Geiser for the week. They swam a lot and had a blast. It's a memory that they'll have for the rest of their lives. Thanks to my Mom and Dad for helping me out as I surprised Christy with her birthday trip!

A Taste of Bosnia

Thanks to our friend Chris Casey for exposing us to this video from Bosnia. I think you'll enjoy the multimedia experience...

More Pics from Cali

Our final night consisted of a lovely dinner at Santa Monca with Ben and Robin and then a nice walk around the area. Santa Monica is beautiful and you just feel good to be there. It gave us a little chance to talk with our friends and just hang out a bit.

After this fantastic night, we knew that the next day would consist of finding the rental car location, finding our way through security at the airport, finding our gate at the airport, and then finding a way to keep AJ happy on a 3 hour plane ride home. The stress of life found its way back to us and we were wishing to spend a bit more time on vacation with our friends.

Thanks again to Ben and Robin for their hospitality and their continued friendship!

Back in the Saddle Again

Just a few more pics from our trip out west. Here's a few more from Yosemite. We loved our time with Ben and Robin and it's hard to believe that's it's been a month since we were there.

I've struggled to get things updated on the blog lately. I hope to be more regular in my posting in the weeks to come. Life's just been interesting lately and extremely busy leading to few pictures and even fewer good stories. Or, maybe my life's been too busy to realize how good the stories have been.

We're ready to return to California for another stay. This time we'll take the girls and spend a week at Yosemite and another week on the coast visiting Disneyland and the San Diego Zoo. That is...when we save up both the cash and the vacation time to afford such a trip. Thanks for checking on us! We'll try to post things a bit more regularly.

Yosemite

9/20/08 China Town / LA County Fair

Saturday of our trip unfortunately was split up a bit as our friend Robin had a workshop that she had to attend as part of our graduate work in psychology at Fuller. So, Ben showed us around Chinatown in LA. We rode the Metro into the city and walked around Chinatown. We were immediately back in Beijing and missed it so bad! Those 8 weeks in Beijing back in 2004 has put a love for China in our hearts. We ate at a great Chinese restaurant that Ben recommended and went shopping in the Chinese markets. We had a great time! Thanks Ben for showing us around little Chinatown!

After Chinatown, we came back to Pasadena to meet up with Robin and decided to head to the LA County Fair. This Fair was amazing with rides that we've never seen before. And, food like we've never seen before. One of Robin's friends (holding the delectable dessert) grew up in a family that has always worked the LA County Fair. This family is always trying to top the other vendors at the Fair for the craziest types of food offered. What you see pictured is a "Mexican Funnel Cake". This cake is so large that if it was a suitcase, you'd have to check it! No carry-ons this size allowed! So, we gathered around the funnel cake like a bunch of lions around a downed zebra and dug in. I'd say about 15 people all partook of the funnel cake and ate their fill. It was nearly a miracle - or it was just a massive funnel cake. This family also offers delicacies such as chocalate-covered bacon and apple fries! The remaining pics are of us, the Blairs and AJ at the fair. Hope you enjoy!

The Getty 9/19/08

All I can say about the Getty is "WOW". Christy and I have been to museums in the past, but this one was AWESOME. Amazing garden pathways complete with flowers never seen by us simple Missourians before. Ben & Robin both took Friday off so that we could celebrate Robin's birthday and see some of the most beautiful creations ever made by God and man. Below you will see a huge "vase" made from rebar with these beautifully thick flowering vines. The circle maze is filled with water which disappointed us a bit as we hoped to get lost for a time in it.

This is just some of the beautiful architecture of the Getty. Amazing sights around every corner of this place!

Artists' paintings included Renoir (Christy's Favorite), Picasso, Rembrandt and many others. Here are some of our pics of two of our favorite paintings.

We'll be posting more from our trip next week! Look for a few posts from the girls trip to Ohio with Grandpa and Grandma Geiser as well!

Visiting Pasadena?

Christy wanted to make sure that I made mention of this. It should be noted that if one is ever in Pasadena, one should frequent "The Kitchen" for some fine Italian food. Great Stromboli! I highly recommend it. And, for dessert, one should make a habit of going to 21 Flavors - a great frozen yogurt place. Though they say it's healthier, I'm pretty sure it's sooo good that you would eat way too much of it and offset the healthiness of the lower fat frozen yogurt. Thanks to Ben and Robin for a wonderful dinner experience that night!

CA Trip Pics - Venice Beach 9/18/08

So, on our first full day of the trip, our wonderful friends Ben and Robin were both busy so we did what every land-locked, beach-deprived Missourian should do - we headed to the beach! Venice Beach to be exact.
As I write this, I realize that I didn't take any pics of the famed "muscle beach" part of the beach or the really interesting "paddle tennis" area. However, you get to see what we really came to see on this day and that's the beach.

Children's feet + sand always = cute pic.

Yes, there were a bunch of sea gulls here, but I liked that this one dutifully posed for me in front of the beach line!



My little Kodak camera couldn't quite get the shot I wanted of the surfers at Venice Beach, but you get to see the shot that I got! I enjoyed taking shots of Christy out here on the beach with AJ with the sailboat in the background.



And, this final shot of AJ as he's about to stuff a handful of sand in his mouth. He didn't like the sand at first due to how it felt on his feet, but grew to like it by the end of the day.

Hope you enjoyed our first full day in California. I know that we did! Look for more pics from our trip in the coming days/weeks. Also, checkout wallyjack.blogspot.com for other pics that our friend Robin is posting! Check out the link to the right!