June 27, 2005

• Last Wednesday Serra and I joined Brian and his YM at the Ventura Pier for some fishing.  It was windy and cool and nothing was biting.  Everyone had a good time munching on hot dogs and snacks and trying out different bait anyway.  SV’s foot caught on one of the pier boards early on and she sported a nice lump on her forehead for a few days. 

  
  

  Friday afternoon I dropped SV at her cousins for a 24 hour visit.  I proceeded to Calabasas to retrieve Brian hoping to be off by 1pm.  Due to some complications at the office we didn’t get off until after 3pm.  We were scheduled to be in San Diego for a reception for Pepperdine alumns at 5-6:30 and then on to the Padres game at 7pm.  We were stuck in bumper to bumper traffic most of the way down and it ended up taking us 6 hours.  We pulled up to the ballpark only to find parking a difficulty.  We pulled up to the closest lot to the park to ask directions to a paid lot as it was passes only at the ones we had seen.  The attendant patted Brian on the shoulder and told us to enjoy the game saving us nearly $20 in parking fees and putting us right across the street from the entrance.  Things were looking up.  As we entered the park the padres were up 4-0.  By the end of the game they were down 14-5 (I think) either way we seemed to be the bad luck they didn’t need.  We still enjoyed the atmosphere though.  It is a great park.  We walked around for a while and then headed back up the coast to Dana point where we had reservations at the Marriott.  We ended up with a $300 room for $75.  It was obvious that the guy at the desk was not thrilled about giving us the room at that rate since they were practically full and knew they might be able to hold out a bit and get a better deal for them.  In the end we luckily ended up with a no-smoking/King.  One never knows what you will get when you reserve on Priceline.  They had 9-10 weddings scheduled there the next morning and the place was hopping.  It was a beautiful location and we were sorry we couldn’t stay longer.  Maybe another time. 

  
  

  We stopped at a local diner for breakfast and were off.  We stopped at the office long enough to make sure Dad was not in any need of assistance then to Camarillo to pick up our Serra.  It was her first time staying the night away other than the surgery and reports were that she did fine although sat up in bed hours after the other kids were snoozing away.  “Not tired”  she said, and only asked to go home a few times.  She had a great time though and was visibly exhausted from playing so hard.  She was sleeping soundly in the car with in 5 minutes.  (Thankyou Gary and Liesl for taking on our extra and allowing us our first time away since long before the boogus came along) 

  
  

  We stopped in Santa Paula to check on Mo.  (Assess the damage)  I had done a fairly good job of Mo proofing but he always surprises us.  The towel on the oven was buttoned on and he managed to pull the oven open and mess up the drying fruit leather a bit.  The down stairs closet he somehow managed to open.  (I must not have closed it tight enough)  There were shoes strewn about and a few were slightly chewed on but not damaged overly.  Serra’s water colors were chewed up and some of the paint was smeared on the carpet and her plastic watering can was chewed up nicely.  (It was outside)  So we re-Mo proofed and took off leaving Mo quite bewildered as to why he was being punished so.

  
  

  To Santa Barbara.  We dropped Brian off at the RV show where he took over for Martin.  I went down the road a few miles with the V and we hit the zoo for an hour.  We took advantage of the year passes in January and so we can just pop in when ever we want for no extra charge.  We saw all we wanted to see and watched some wedding preparations going on.  V is obsessed with weddings and getting married and so to see a girl all decked out in a white wedding gown made her day. 

  
  

  We headed back to the RV show to hang out with Brian until he was done and ran into Charlene Teidimann, an old Calabasas neighbor from childhood.  She works for her Dad now in Ventura selling Toy Haulers and works all the marketing for him.  She seems to be doing really well.

  
  

  Sunday was our Stake Conference and since we don’t believe in coming at 5am for the padded seats we always sit on the hard ones in the back section.  Brutal in my current condition.  (The tailbone injury still gives me grief as well)  I had to take a half time walk with Serra more for me than for her.  The speakers were great though and the V well behaved.  The rest of the day was mostly spent napping for me.  (catch up from the weekend) Brian took Serra out for a small bike ride and we watched a movie.  The weekend is over and next weekend we will be gone. 

  
  

   

  
  

  Serra’s first fishing experience.  Still talks about how there were NO FISH

  
  

  

  
  

  Everyone holding up thier catch.

  
  

  

  
  

  Our view out the hotel window.

  • 5:29 pm
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