California: Part I

We spent 9 days in Southern California beginning two Saturdays ago. As the days led up to our trip, I kept watching the weather. I was absolutely astounded when I learned that it was going to be RAINY for at least the first half of our trip. It NEVER rains in SoCal! I thought for sure that the weather would change as we got closer and closer to our departure date. I was wrong. We had a rainy and cool stay in SoCal, but we didn't let it stop us from having a great time.

We got into LAX around 10:00PM local time, which meant 1:00AM EST. By the time we got our luggage and our rental car (or the Baker Bus as we called it), it was close to 2:30. My parents were starving so we did a run to McDonald's. By the time we finally got into our rental house, it was close to 4:00AM Boston time (1:00AM PST). Eliot was a TROOPER!! I cannot sing his praises loudly enough! He was so good! He took about a 4-5hour nap on the plane and was just fine for the rest of the time. He was awake the whole time we were looking for luggage, getting our car, stopping for food, and getting settled into our house. He was SO GOOD!

Exhausted, and thrown off schedule, we spent the next day grocery shopping, local sight seeing, lounging around, and trying to catch up on sleep.

This was the view from our front door

I noticed several small snails tucked away inside the greenery

Monday was our first real day out. I looked for some indoor entertainment since it was still raining. We went to the Aquarium of the Pacific and we had a really fun time.


The hot tub was another big hit. We had our very own salt water pool and hot tub overlooking Orange County. It was unbelievable! (Still sorting photos so hopefully, I'll post one of those photos in the next post). Eliot would have spent every minute in that "poo" if he could have.


Look at that view behind my mother! The photo doesn't do it justice and at night it was even more gorgeous!

New Lens, New Pics!

I've been searching Craigslist for months looking for the right price on this one lens (a canon 70-200 IS f/4L) . (Note: it's not the lens I really want, but it's a great lens until I have the funds necessary to get the Mac Daddy lens). Yesterday, I saw the post for a great price. I emailed the guy, sure that I did not get it (it had been over an hour since it was posted). He emailed me back and said that I was the second responder, but since the first guy tried to haggle with him, the lens was MINE!!!! AHHH! YES!!

Last week, I helped my sister buy her very first DSLR (also from Craigslist for a steal (and from a very nice man as well)). Today, my Dad had the day off so my sister, father, Eliot & I all went for a nice photo walk around Horn Pond. We had such a nice time. Of course Eliot loved it, there was lots of see-- dogs, bugs, people, and ducks (he even got to secretly feed one duck!), but I think that the adults had just as much fun (if not more) playing with our toys.

Here are some photos with my newest love :)