Day 7 - August 2006 vacation

A vacation for me entails a flexible get-up time. With our group, the time for getting up has been really flexible since some of us would get to bed at 9:00 and others might not get in until 1:00 in the morning. I take advantage of getting to bed by 9:00 then acting like I had stayed up until 1:00 so I need to sleep in at least until 8:00.


Today, no one stirred until after 8:00. We then did our usual dividing up into small groups to go swimming, sightseeing, or enjoying some of the resort activities. One of the sites visited was the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve, just a couple of miles from the resort. They have an interpretive center as well as a driving tour around the bay.

At the end of the day we had treats for everyone. Some enjoyed it more than others.

Day 6 - August 2006 vacation

One of the really important things we've learned in our vacations and travels is that you should never try to keep groups together that are larger than 4 or 5. It's all right if people happen to get together in groups larger than that but short of using military discpline it is impossible to keep the larger group together while sightseeing, shopping, or just taking a trip to the beach. Actually, cell phones have made breaking up into small groups while coordinating vacations even easier.

Fortunately, a group such as ours consisting of several small family groups allows itself to be broken into smaller units, each with adults and children, so that no one needs to feel left alone and none of the very little ones is left unsupervised.

This morning one-third of our group left really early to spend the day at Disneyland, while another third walked down to the beach, and the last third lounged around the resort or began packing for the trip home. Our initial store of food was getting rather depleted so we also had to visit the local grocery store for resupply.

Most of us ended up this evening at a beach party in Long Beach. Friends and neighbors from the Long Beach 3rd ward were there to meet and greet while we had fresh boiled corn, hamburgers, salads, and treats of every kind.

Pooh Flint's house on the beach.

Manning the grill.

Forking the fresh corn from the boiling water.

Steaming hot corn ready to shuck & butter.

Children's treasure hunt. The chest has been found!

What's left of the treasure after kids have taken handfuls.

Day 5 - August 2006 vacation

The wonderful thing about a location such as Newport Coast is that you're close to many attractions but not so close that you get the problems associated with that attraction. For example, we're only a half mile walk from the beach but the resort isn't on the beach and doesn't have to deal with beach parking. We're only a few miles from Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, or Sea World but far enough that we don't deal with the traffic from those attractions unless we actually visit them. And, of course, there are all the attractions sponsored by the resort itself such as the swimming pools, the playground, and King Neptune's grotto running activities full time for kids of all ages.

Today our family split several ways with some going to Knott's Berry Farm while the rest of us enjoyed the resort activity center then watched the koi being fed their every other day rations. No, watched isn't the correct word - we helped feed the fish. Some of us (Grandma Revabeth) showed everyone how to sniff the water lilly blossoms which is supposed to give the sniffer long life and happiness (or just a high).

Later several of the group trooped down to the beach to get a little sand between our toes while others of us trooped through IKEA to find some child friendly cups and dishes. Let's face it, everything around here is an adventure.

Day 4 - August 2006 vacation

The Marriott resorts has both Friday and Sunday check-in times and it just so happens that the two times that we've reserved four units for the same week, they've assigned us two units for Friday check-in and two for Sunday. We thought that was a weird way to do things the last time but have since come to see it as actually an advantage, at least the way our family has used the units. For example, slightly over half the family who will be attending our reunion this year could arrive on Friday and the rest couldn't make it until today. Most will need to leave by Friday with only a couple of us staying until next Sunday. So the split times really works for us.

Today we welcomed my sister Revabeth, her husband Keith, two daughters, and four grandchildren. That brings our total contingency to 16 adults and 16 children. And when we're all in the same unit it is controlled (barely) pandemonium. Today was a great time for all the cousins, both adult and children, to get reacquainted with each other.

For some it was a little more tiring than for others.

Day 3 - August 2006 vacation

We packed almost everything into this day. From the communal breakfast at the start of the day to the family get together in the evening following Perry's baptism. We had planned on having pancakes at our suite and have even given keys to our suite to the family in the second suite. Then we forgot and locked our door with the security latch. So while we slept later than we thought we could, Richard made a grocery run and got breakfast going in their suite.




After breakfast we took off towards the beach, half of us electing to walk since it's only a half mile walk, and the other half electing to drive down, since it's a half mile walk. In either case the toughest part is the last .2 mile down the bluff to the beach. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the water, the sand, and the pleasant sunny day. Richard found some sand crabs to entertain the kids. But they had plenty of surf and sand to keep them busy building castles then watching them wash away.

I came back to welcome our two young adult couples, Steve & Lisa, and Philip & Jenny. We enjoyed a pleasant dip in the pool while waiting for the others to return. Some of us enjoyed a pleasant afternoon nap while others played with a construction toy that lets you build things with coins.


For the evening we drove to Long Beach for Perry's baptism. The missionaries had agreed to open the building and fill up the baptismal font but they were almost too late. It was a nice family-oriented ceremony. After the baptism and light refreshments by Perry's Thatcher grandparents, we met at Jessica and Jon's for supper, more conversation, and a demonstration by Philip of his new Poweriser toy. He really can run with 9 foot strides and jump over 3 feet in the air.

Day 2 - August 2006 vacation

We got up this morning, had a lovely breakfast at the Homewood Suites hotel then headed south. Staying in Bakersfield really makes the drive so much more bearable.
Usually we hit Los Angeles in the middle of rush hour but this time we got there in mid-morning. We stopped at Costco to load up on some of the food we'll need for the week. It really put a strain on my poor SUV to load in two shopping baskets of groceries when it was already full of our luggage, beach gear, and supplies for arts and crafts activities. We managed finally.

The Marriott Newport Coast Resort was expecting us but since we were about half an hour early for check-in we had to wait to get our rooms. We were more than a little concerned that the groceries weren't going to enjoy sitting out in the car but at least we didn't have any ice cream to melt all over things.

Once we got one of the rooms, we loaded up all the groceries on two luggage carts to transport it all to the room. We were momentarily stymied because our room was down a flight of stairs from the parking lot and our building doesn't have an elevator. The building next door does have an elevator.

Jon and boys were first to arrive. Lee and his kids came shortly thereafter. By the end of the evening we had 8 adults and 8 children sharing our two suites. We'll get two more suites on Sunday as well as several more people. Needless to say, this evening was controlled pandemonium as we attempted to feed everyone in the one suite. It was only because they didn't all arrive at the same time that the whole thing was possible. We ended the evening with a birthday pie for Perry's birthday today.

Day 1 - August 2006 Vacation

I don't know what kind of Internet access I'm going to have on this vacation but since we're going to be in relatively civilized country, I thought I'd at least try to blog every day something about the vacation.

We actually got a jump on our vacation by a day since Carolyn had an assignment in Bakersfield. She's conducting an educational session for some of her providers - something to do with the finer points of the law and its interpretation by the state for child care providers. Because she has this today, we would either have gotten a late start tomorrow heading to Southern California or an early start today. By getting to Bakersfield, we'll have half the distance to travel tomorrow and, hopefully, travel through Los Angeles in the middle of the day rather than the middle of rush hour traffic.

We're staying in the beautiful (and apparently fairly new) Homewood Suites in Bakersfield, a hotel that caters primarily to business people during the week with free breakfasts and light dinners. Tonight, they'll be serving BYO (build your own) tacos and trimmings. Yum. I can hardly wait.

Stay tuned.

Looking forward to retirement

As the summer wanes and the days get shorter, so does the time before my retirement. I'm looking forward to the greater flexibility in my schedule if not my pocketbook. But I can certainly enjoy the thoughts recently sent to me by my oldest brother Bernell.

Question: How many days in a week?
Answer: 6 Saturdays, 1 Sunday

Question: When is a retiree's bedtime?
Answer: Three hours after he falls asleep on the couch.

Question: How many retirees to change a light bulb?
Answer: Only one, but it might take all day.

Question: What's the biggest gripe of retirees?
Answer: There is not enough time to get everything done.

Question: Why don't retirees mind being called Seniors?
Answer: The term comes with a 10% percent discount.

Question: Among retirees what is considered formal attire?
Answer: Tied shoes.

Question: Why do retirees count pennies?
Answer: They are the only ones who have the time.

Question: What is the common term for someone who enjoys work and refuses to retire?
Answer: NUTS!

Question: Why are retirees so slow to clean out the basement, attic or garage?
Answer: They know that as soon as they do, one of their adult kids will want to store stuff there.

Question: What do retirees call a long lunch?
Answer: Normal.

Question: What is the best way to describe retirement?
Answers: The never ending Coffee Break.

Question: What's the biggest advantage of going back to school as a retiree?
Answer: If you cut classes, no one calls your parents.

Question: Why does a retiree often say he doesn't miss work, but misses the people he used to work with?
Answer: He is too polite to tell the whole truth.

The power of perspective

A friend sent me a collect of pictures from sidewalk artist Julian Beever. I think his art is nothing short of amazing. It's just a shame that it is so temporary. There probably aren't too many art galleries which could host a show of his. It becomes even more problematic when you realize that the art is best seen from a specific viewing location. A few inches one way or another and the picture gets all messed up.

Looks like the real thing, doesn't it?



I couldn't understand why so many are just walking by and then realized that 1) it takes a long time to do these paintings so people can't stay there the whole time; and 2) from any point other than the camera, the picture just isn't going to look as interesting.

It looks like people are avoiding the hole in the sidewalk but they're just as likely to be avoiding the chalk/paint that Julian is using.


Can you tell which man is real? Which bottle?

What does a treasure hunter do when his metal detector indicates something smack in the middle of the road?




Looks like he's really up to his knees in the hole, doesn't it?

The artist appears ready to join the young lady in the pool but...


... the pool doesn't look so refreshing from the wrong perspective.


Sometimes the right viewing spot isn't even enough. You have to look at the picture upside down. That is really disorienting.


Here's a good model of the earth with the artist standing on top of it...

... and the view from the side.

Finally, a couple of dramatic rescues by superheroes.



Remember Julian Beever. You can see more at his web site: http://users.skynet.be/J.Beever/index.html