Cabo San Lucas

The girls get a whole week off every February. We decided to take a cruise to Cabo this year.

But first, mani-pedis!

It was pouring rain as we walked up the gangway and posed for a selfie.

The first night on the boat the adults ate at the steakhouse to celebrate Terrell's birthday. 

The kids ate at the buffet. 

We got a balcony room for the first time. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of the view.

It's not easy for me to spend money!

The kids made a friend who spent the whole cruise with them.

There wasn't a whole lot for the kids to do on the boat, or I should say there wasn't a lot they wanted to do.  A hefty amount of money was spent at the arcade, however, collecting rubber duckies which we could have bought for about 20 bucks.

On the second night, we went with all the kids to dinner. Anna did Mia's and her makeup.

The kids all ate their main dish and then requested to leave.  😂

We had only one port of call, Cabo San Lucas.

For our excursion we chose a sailboat ride. We took a boat to a boat to a boat.

Here's the whole group except for Tru who couldn't get up on the deck with his wooden leg so we got a picture of him in the seats.

We sailed by the famous arch of Cabo.

We weren't able to sail at first because there was no wind. 

After a couple of hours motoring we stopped at a bay and almost everyone got in the water.

We happened to be there for the migration of the humpback whales.

The photographer on board had a telephoto lens.

We did not see the whale this clearly!

There was a beautiful sunset on the way back and enough wind to sail!

During the two days back to Los Angeles we relaxed, played cards, went to some shows, ate and drank.

On the last night we requested the presence of our children at dinner again. 

They stayed for the whole thing!

We had a blast!

Super Bowl Sunday

 We started having Super Bowel parties in Colorado, where we had a much larger house!

We have continued here in a scaled down fashion. 

But there's always a ton of food!

Bob won the football pool for the first three quarters and Sheri for the end of game. 

Keeping it in the family!

We decided to embrace the media's obsession with Taylor Swift and played a game: $1 for a guess as to how many times Taylor Swift would be shown in the stands or in a commercial. Winner take all.

Eleven was the magic number and none of the sightings were in commercials!

Tyler and Arek tied on that one.

It was a fantastic, on-the-edge of your seat game. 

We were all sad that the 49ers didn't win but they gave the Chiefs a run for their money!

Beauty and the Beast

 Anna's drama class put on a rendition of Beauty and the Beast last week. They did two shows on Thursday and two shows on Friday. She stayed in her bed pretty much all Saturday as she was exhausted.

She had several parts in the play. Here she is one of the narrators.

She dances and sings as one of the villagers in two scenes.

She brought the milk bottle prop from home.  I told her they didn't have plastic lids in those days and she said, "It's just a middle school production, Mom."

And she dances and sings as an eating utensil (her least favorite costume) in Be Our Guest!

The players.

Final bows.

These guys came to the final performance. 💝

The drama class has been a good fit for Anna this year. 

They are like a family and she made instant friends as a new kid at the school this year.

Congratulations, Anna. You did great!

Random January 2024

I don't have too many random photos for January. 

Some of the buttons popped off our couch so I took the cushions back to South El Monte where we had it recovered. Since it was 2/3 of the way to the arboretum I decided to do a little bird watching right afterward.

I didn't know great egrets could be found this far inland.

I also saw this rare bird which has only been in California for a few years. Previously it was only found in Florida. It's the red whiskered bulbul. Not sure why bird names are so weird. This picture is from far away but it's a very unique looking bird as seen in the internet pic following.

We still watch Kinga every Thursday and love it. Right after I took this pic I turned around and she tried to climb over the back of the couch. I scared her a bit when I shouted NO!!!!! 

But it's a good three foot drop on the other side and she stopped short when I yelled.

Anna made it onto the Principal's Honor Roll for last semester with her straight A's.

I was surprised when I saw "winter tomato" plants for sale at the nursery in October. I never heard of winter tomatoes. But here we are. We already ate one. This one in the photo should be ready in about a week and there are four more. I'm really enjoying growing some of my own food and thinking about expanding to a second planter bed.

January 2024 is a wrap.