New Year's Heave

Happy New Year to all! The Thompson's have gone, but our little "Bed n Breakfast" is still happily full with the Applegate's, who have come out for a little visit. The title of this post is in homage to my good friend, "The 24 hour New Year's Stomach Bug" which knocked me down for the count in a lot of gruesome ways on New Year's Eve... Not too much fun!

But... Before all that unpleasantness... the holiday was going pretty well!

On the day after Christmas, we saw the Thompsons off and went up to the OC to visit with our friends from Oregon, Brad & Janelle, and their large family who were down for a visit. We marshalled together 3 SUV's to take their family and us (4 adults and 6 kids for those of you who are counting at home) over to Balboa Island - Home to carousels, frozen bananas, skeeball, and some really nice beaches. Good times with the kids. Best moment - Watching in amusement as the older boys g0t launched into the air with the bungee swing... Worst moment - Watching in horror as the youngest boy, 6 or 7-ish, threw a frisbee and whacked an old lady in the head that left her near catatonic.... She recovered and no lawsuits were filed. Must have been some residual Christmas charity. Here are some pics of the day!

Launch!!!


Cute Grace on the cute little 3-car ferry across the Harbor


All those ski lessons finally ... well, ok, NOT paying off...

We also got to see Kat's Great-Aunt and second cousins on this trip, which was a really nice addition. Just a day trip, though. We headed home and got ready for my folks who were coming to town.

On their first full day, Mom and Kat went shopping at a new mall while Dad and I checked out the birds over at San Eligo Lagoon. We had a nice dinner down at a restaurant on the Harbor, and then drove through the light display at the Del Mar Fairgrounds

Next day we went out to Sea World. That place is tons of fun! We had never been there , primarily due to the stiff sticker price, but I have to say it is worth it. Thompson's helped us alleviate the hurt a bit with a present of a season pass, too! - I love my In-Laws!!!

So, anyways, after a day of dolphins, whales, penguins, and walruses plus some ten-thousand visitors, I got really sick. Did put me in the right frame of mind to watch no less than 5 football games over 2 days... At one point, I think the fever got to me and I started hallucinating that I had an announcer and a color commentator talking about me and my lethargic state, "Ohhh, nellie... This guy looks to be out for the count!" "That's right, Keith, I haven't seen anything move so little since we had that trainer with the tree sloth at the studio..."

But thankfully, I have recovered and am looking forward to a much better day of touring about towards the desert with Mom and Dad tomorrow... And THAT'S what is news with us!