if i could think of three lines
so im back from california...i have all kinds of fun stories and pictures that i will eventually post when im not so lazy. i must say this was by far the most alcohol-tastic family get-together i can remember.
hmm, im not feeling so lazy so perhaps i will recount the trip now. i got up at 4:45am (ungodly) wednesday the 22nd. our flight from cedar rapids to chicago was supposed to leave at 8:30am which meant that we needed to get to the airport at 7 or 7:30ish which meant that we had to leave by 6:30 at the latest to pick up my brother from his apartment. in order to have time to wash my hair and have hot water i had to get up before everyone else, hence the ungodly time of getting up. everything went fairly smoothly until we actually boarded the plane. aparantly there was some sort of mechanical problem that the airplane people couldn't figure out how to fix FOR AN HOUR. so we sat on the runway for a freaking hour. i was very tired obviously and so during this waiting time i laid my head on my sister's shoulder, who was sitting next to me. somehow, in a way that i still can't explain, my sister for some reason opened her mouth and her gum fell out....INTO MY HAIR!!! i didn't move at all, but when my sister(from now on, Liz) tried to pull it out, it was stuck hardcore. (remember that episode of the Simpsons where Lisa gets gum in her hair, yeah it was that kind of situation. i walked around for the rest of the day with a significant amount of gum in my hair.
eventually the crew figured out that all they had to do to fix 'the problem' was shut down the airplane entirely and then restart it (you know, like when your computer freezes), so finally we took off.
the cedar rapids delay caused the us (me Liz mom dad mike jon) to miss our connection flight from chi-town to L.A. so instead of leaving Ohare at 11:30am, we got a flight at 5:00pm. very uneventful afternoon spent in the airport. finally got to LA at 9:00ish there time (11:00 here). picked up the rental car, drove for an hour to Redlands (near San Bernardino, home of my aunt Stacy and Uncle Joe) briefly said hello to joe, stacy grandpa and grandma before going back to the hotel and crashing. (my other aunt and uncle [Lita and Tom], and thier kids [stephanie and charlie] were already asleep at the hotel). slept like a baby.
the next two days with the family (14 of us in total) were spent doing touristy things. thursday morning we went to the J. Paul Getty Museum, an art museum up in the hills around LA (one hill over from Bel Aire) The arcitechture of the buildings (it's actually several buildings that make an art museum complex sort of thing) and the gardens are art in and of themselves, nevermind the actual art inside.
after a morning and afternoon at the museum, we headed over to Santa Monica to check out the Santa Monica Pier. got there just in time to catch the sunset over the Pacific. very impressive.
the next day (thursday the 23rd) we went to the Joshua Tree National Park. saw some various cacti, wildlife, rocks, other plants, and such. got to climb on some Jumbo rocks which was quite enjoyable.
the next day was christmas eve, didn't really do anything. hung around joe and stacy's house, ate a lot, enjoyed the company of my delightful family. christmas day, we had a fantastic breakfast which, among other things, featured stacy's famous christmas tree bread, the most amazing baked good ever. seriously, it's sooooo good. opened presents...after everyone else was done, grandpa and grandma still had presents left (they always get more). grandpa turns to grandma and says, "it's just you and me, babe." he thought it was hilarious, she wasn't as amused...god my grandpa is cool. chilled for the rest of the day. played some scrabble, you know. steph, liz and i actually just sat out in the sun in the backyard for a while. i've never gotten to do that on christmas day. during christmas dinner (and for the rest of the trip) those of us at the kids table played an amazing game of 20 questions to entertain ourselves. objects in question included, but were not limited to, a meatball sandwhich, a plastic lid, and a paintcan. (is it smaller than a breadbox?)
the day after christmas, sunday, (is this boxing day? i don't really know) the whole family headed over the this hotel called The Mission Inn to have brunch at the restaurant there. it was by far the most ridiculous meal i've ever participated in. they make it a point to keep your champaigne glasses full (except for me, sparkling apple juice is what i got) this brunch buffet for 14 ended up costing just under $550 (grandpa's treat). the Mission Inn is pretty cool in and of itself. it's a pretty stunning building. it's where richard nixon and his wife got married. they also have the chair that was specially made for president taft when he stayed there, out in the lobby. (taft was umm....big-boned, for those of you that didn't know.) that night us kids plus tom and stacy watched 'monty python and the quest for the holy grail.' always a good call.
monday everyone else flew home, but my family stayed an extra day. in the morning we went to the tar pits in los angeles. yes, tar pits. there are these pits of tar in the middle of LA where thousands of years ago lots of animals that are now extinct fell in, and were preserved. it's a museum and stuff...mostly my dad wanted to go, so we obliged. it was actually really interesting. then we went to santa monica to shop....really cool place. downtown reminds me of a cross between the pedmall in iowa city, the boston comons, and michigan avenue. lots of really cool stores and all that good stuff.
so yeah, then we flew home today. no delays or gum-in-hair this time. so all in all it was pretty sweet. my family rocks so we always have a good time even if there isn't anything to do.
cousin stephanie, sister liz, and myself at the getty museum (overlooking Los Angeles)
me, stephanie, jon, liz, charlie at the getty museum
one of the getty museum buildings
getty museum main gardens
a monet painting, there were also van goghs and el grecos
the sunset from the Santa Monica Pier
same sunset, a few minutes later
These are just a bunch of cacti/scenery pictures from the Joshua Tree National Park:
These are all from 'Jumbo Rock' in the Joshua Tree National Park:
my brother jon
me
uncle tom, jon, steph
still at joshua tree
ghost boat coyote?
i think so.
chillin' on christmas day(steph, aunt stacy, me, liz, grandpa, cousin charlie)
my sister and my grandpa in a ridiculous hat he found in the shed out back
Dr. Shasta (think dr. pepper, but waaaay classier)
the family (minus uncle joe) in front of the mission inn
liz and i in president taft's chair (he was a large man, you see.)
steph and liz in taft's chair
a ridiculous picture of my brother mike and my dad's hand that i accidentaly took while trying to figure out how the timer on the camera worked
the whole family in front of joe and stacy's house
hmm, im not feeling so lazy so perhaps i will recount the trip now. i got up at 4:45am (ungodly) wednesday the 22nd. our flight from cedar rapids to chicago was supposed to leave at 8:30am which meant that we needed to get to the airport at 7 or 7:30ish which meant that we had to leave by 6:30 at the latest to pick up my brother from his apartment. in order to have time to wash my hair and have hot water i had to get up before everyone else, hence the ungodly time of getting up. everything went fairly smoothly until we actually boarded the plane. aparantly there was some sort of mechanical problem that the airplane people couldn't figure out how to fix FOR AN HOUR. so we sat on the runway for a freaking hour. i was very tired obviously and so during this waiting time i laid my head on my sister's shoulder, who was sitting next to me. somehow, in a way that i still can't explain, my sister for some reason opened her mouth and her gum fell out....INTO MY HAIR!!! i didn't move at all, but when my sister(from now on, Liz) tried to pull it out, it was stuck hardcore. (remember that episode of the Simpsons where Lisa gets gum in her hair, yeah it was that kind of situation. i walked around for the rest of the day with a significant amount of gum in my hair.
eventually the crew figured out that all they had to do to fix 'the problem' was shut down the airplane entirely and then restart it (you know, like when your computer freezes), so finally we took off.
the cedar rapids delay caused the us (me Liz mom dad mike jon) to miss our connection flight from chi-town to L.A. so instead of leaving Ohare at 11:30am, we got a flight at 5:00pm. very uneventful afternoon spent in the airport. finally got to LA at 9:00ish there time (11:00 here). picked up the rental car, drove for an hour to Redlands (near San Bernardino, home of my aunt Stacy and Uncle Joe) briefly said hello to joe, stacy grandpa and grandma before going back to the hotel and crashing. (my other aunt and uncle [Lita and Tom], and thier kids [stephanie and charlie] were already asleep at the hotel). slept like a baby.
the next two days with the family (14 of us in total) were spent doing touristy things. thursday morning we went to the J. Paul Getty Museum, an art museum up in the hills around LA (one hill over from Bel Aire) The arcitechture of the buildings (it's actually several buildings that make an art museum complex sort of thing) and the gardens are art in and of themselves, nevermind the actual art inside.
after a morning and afternoon at the museum, we headed over to Santa Monica to check out the Santa Monica Pier. got there just in time to catch the sunset over the Pacific. very impressive.
the next day (thursday the 23rd) we went to the Joshua Tree National Park. saw some various cacti, wildlife, rocks, other plants, and such. got to climb on some Jumbo rocks which was quite enjoyable.
the next day was christmas eve, didn't really do anything. hung around joe and stacy's house, ate a lot, enjoyed the company of my delightful family. christmas day, we had a fantastic breakfast which, among other things, featured stacy's famous christmas tree bread, the most amazing baked good ever. seriously, it's sooooo good. opened presents...after everyone else was done, grandpa and grandma still had presents left (they always get more). grandpa turns to grandma and says, "it's just you and me, babe." he thought it was hilarious, she wasn't as amused...god my grandpa is cool. chilled for the rest of the day. played some scrabble, you know. steph, liz and i actually just sat out in the sun in the backyard for a while. i've never gotten to do that on christmas day. during christmas dinner (and for the rest of the trip) those of us at the kids table played an amazing game of 20 questions to entertain ourselves. objects in question included, but were not limited to, a meatball sandwhich, a plastic lid, and a paintcan. (is it smaller than a breadbox?)
the day after christmas, sunday, (is this boxing day? i don't really know) the whole family headed over the this hotel called The Mission Inn to have brunch at the restaurant there. it was by far the most ridiculous meal i've ever participated in. they make it a point to keep your champaigne glasses full (except for me, sparkling apple juice is what i got) this brunch buffet for 14 ended up costing just under $550 (grandpa's treat). the Mission Inn is pretty cool in and of itself. it's a pretty stunning building. it's where richard nixon and his wife got married. they also have the chair that was specially made for president taft when he stayed there, out in the lobby. (taft was umm....big-boned, for those of you that didn't know.) that night us kids plus tom and stacy watched 'monty python and the quest for the holy grail.' always a good call.
monday everyone else flew home, but my family stayed an extra day. in the morning we went to the tar pits in los angeles. yes, tar pits. there are these pits of tar in the middle of LA where thousands of years ago lots of animals that are now extinct fell in, and were preserved. it's a museum and stuff...mostly my dad wanted to go, so we obliged. it was actually really interesting. then we went to santa monica to shop....really cool place. downtown reminds me of a cross between the pedmall in iowa city, the boston comons, and michigan avenue. lots of really cool stores and all that good stuff.
so yeah, then we flew home today. no delays or gum-in-hair this time. so all in all it was pretty sweet. my family rocks so we always have a good time even if there isn't anything to do.
cousin stephanie, sister liz, and myself at the getty museum (overlooking Los Angeles)
me, stephanie, jon, liz, charlie at the getty museum
one of the getty museum buildings
getty museum main gardens
a monet painting, there were also van goghs and el grecos
the sunset from the Santa Monica Pier
same sunset, a few minutes later
These are just a bunch of cacti/scenery pictures from the Joshua Tree National Park:
These are all from 'Jumbo Rock' in the Joshua Tree National Park:
my brother jon
me
uncle tom, jon, steph
still at joshua tree
ghost boat coyote?
i think so.
chillin' on christmas day(steph, aunt stacy, me, liz, grandpa, cousin charlie)
my sister and my grandpa in a ridiculous hat he found in the shed out back
Dr. Shasta (think dr. pepper, but waaaay classier)
the family (minus uncle joe) in front of the mission inn
liz and i in president taft's chair (he was a large man, you see.)
steph and liz in taft's chair
a ridiculous picture of my brother mike and my dad's hand that i accidentaly took while trying to figure out how the timer on the camera worked
the whole family in front of joe and stacy's house