"Quick" Train Outing to Santa Barbara

It was Jamie's last free Saturday for a month, and a group of motorcar ("speeder") operators were doing a little joy ride to Santa Barbara and back on Amtrak before their Board meeting, so why not, let's go! Matt and Jamie took Matteo and AJ. Track work prevented us from leaving SLO on time (40 minutes late). Why they couldn't be done in time with their overnight efforts eludes me, but hey, we were on the train! They were out of hot dogs. WHAT! No AmDog! We only had about 20 spare minutes to get to Santa Barbara in time to catch our return train. And a tree fell across the tracks near Goleta. That took care of that. We ended up having about an hour in Santa Barbara after all. While we arrived late, the northbound Starlight (our fall back return train) was late, too. With some fancy footwork by the SB station agents, we turned our 10-ride tickets into Starlight tickets (not usually allowed) and headed on home. The good news was the kids got a dining car experience and a chance to check out an Amtrak observation car. A mere four hours late, we finally got to SLO, dropped off our four boxes of railroad books, and headed home. All the pics are here.

Kidspace Children's Museum

Papa, Nana, Matteo, and AJ took a little jaunt to Pasadena to visit the Kidspace Children's Museum (right next to the Rose Bowl). It was "Free Museum Day" in LA. We all had a great time (despite Matteo being under the weather). And, of course, it was AJ's "best day ever."

All the pics are here.

The Rocks

Serafina was part of the cast of a Cal Poly student film entitled "The Rocks." Today was the first day of filming (there may be another filming day). They did Serafina's shots first and we were outta there in 40 minutes! She played "The Child." They shot the film at the top of Terrace Hill in SLO (not far from French Hospital). We'd never been up there before, quite the views all around. We'll let you know if the film ever becomes publicly viewable.

Quick "Am-Trip"

We took advantage of some leftover tickets to enjoy a Grover-SLO-Grover Surfliner trip with some of the kids, including a walk down to Mitchell Park in SLO. All the pics are here. P.S. It was the first weekend the Surfliner Cafe was carrying Stone's new IPA: Tangerine Express. Life is grand.

Christmas Time 2016

We had much going on...

December 23rd Christmas Adam Party: photos

December 24th Christmas Eve in Nipomo: photos

We had a Kansan couple with us all week. December 25th: photos

December 26-30, the four of us enjoyed Cambria and Pine Mountain: photos

Christmas at the Atascadero Zoo

Despite the temps at 30 or below, we thoroughly enjoyed a little adventure to the Atascadero Zoo to see the animals receive their Christmas presents. And the visit to Denny's following was pretty fun as well. Judy wasn't there, but they did have chocolate milk! All the pics are here.

Gingerbread Houses

Our wonderful babysitter organized this activity. You can tell whose is whose if you think about the ages and personalities... They fit!