Weekend in San Diego

Karen and Peter drove down from Albany, CA last Thursday. We drove to San Diego together, by way of The Getty. The Getty visit was short, but beautiful as always. They currently have a very interesting photography exhibit that shouldn't be missed.

We had two important goals. First was to visit the newest grandchild in the family. This is Aydin William. He is quite a charmer. You will see, if you click on the link above, that he has a new and exciting method of crawling. This is best shown in the quick video of him tripping over his grandmother's foot. That part was sad. Poor Sandi. But he is very fast in his unique three-pronged crawl. I could go on and on about his adorableness, but the pictures will show that.

The other important goal was to visit with Jeff and Sandi. We haven't done that in far too long. Jeff thought it would be fun to play tourist for a day and explore Cabrillo National Park. He was right. It was a miserably hot day, but the breezes at the shore brought the temps down to the 80's. Nice. Is it my perverse nature that likes the picture of their backs best of all? It just seems so relaxed to me. We had a wonderful day.

We also saw Aydin's father play wheelchair lacrosse. There is a little video of this in the link in the second paragraph above. It was over 100 degrees. These guys are dedicated. Bill is totally dedicated to helping others in wheelchairs improve their confidence (and whacking and bludgeoning skills) through this sport. I guess the whacking and bludgeoning is just an added bonus. Bill's been so good at helping others regain their confidence through fishing and skiing and other activities. It was a lot of fun to see these young men out on the court.

We ended Karen and Peter's visit by going to the Norton Simon in Pasadena. I decided we needed to mimic some of the sculptures. I love the Degas ballerinas and bathers. Karen obliged my request by imitating them. I'm not sure who did the one I copied. It just looked like a contemplative baboon to me. Peter got the best. That is Rodin's Balzac. He did a very good job on that one. I'm glad we got to bookend family with two great art museums.

With luck, we won't wait another 5 years for the California branches of the family to meet again. Next time, I vote for a visit during a different season. Maybe we can visit in cool autumn and then go to Julian to pick apples. Maybe.