A Valentines Day Getaway

Lynn and Jamie had a little Valentine getaway to Santa Barbara. And we made some fun discoveries. Tre Lune is quite the breakfast spot in Montecito, so much so that we first met the wedding party of the century there. We would run into them a few more times by the time the wedding occurred at the Biltmore. After breakfast we tried to visit the Casa de Herrero, but they were booked. We stumbled onto the Mount Carmel Church instead and had fun exploring that a little while, then on to the Butterfly Beach. Nice walk in the fog. Our next stop was the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden (Lotusland was not open). From there it was back to Montecito to enjoy a mid-afternoon "lite menu" at Bella Vista, a restaurant in the Four Seasons Biltmore - which is where we once again caught sightings of the wedding party. We had a little time to kill before the play off State Street, so we cruised the Paseo Nuevo area. The play, "I Am My Own Wife," is a unique piece of theater, a one-man show playing 30 characters, telling the story of a man who survived Nazi Germany by looking like a woman. Lynn thought the title "Between Two Lions" (Russia and German) would also be appropriate. The Ensemble Theatre Company facility is very nice. Sunday morning we took a stroll on the pier and cruised about half of the Art Show along Cabrillo. We capped off this Santa Barbara cruise with lunch at the Lure Fish House - OMG! Very fun place, excellent food, can't say enough about it. Get there early, they don't take reservations. There was a significant line at 11:30am on a Sunday when they open. Fortunately, it's a fairly good size restaurant. After lunch we headed home to join in the Valentine festivities at the Compound.

All the pics are here.

Matteo and "Pops" Take Santa Barbara

Matteo and "Pops" took the train to Santa Barbara and enjoyed a day of: Sambo's for breakfast, some time at the aquarium on the pier, a Land Shark tour, more time at the aquarium, lunch at Moby Dick's (on the pier), ice cream, and the duck pond behind the merry-go-round! Jon joined us, too, for most of the mid-day stuff!

All the pics.

Montana de Oro

Fun boy-trip to Montana de Oro today.

Pics: http://www.jamie-foster-photography.com/160123-Montana-de-Oro/

Sonora/Robob

Lynn, Jamie, Sam, and Serafina ventured forth to Sonora for a quick visit with Papa Robob and Candace. Pics: http://www.jamie-foster-photography.com/160116-Sonora/

Sandy and "Wimpy"

Does she think she's hiding? Or just snuggled up to her bestest pal. Jamie had a similar stuffed dog when he was a kid, named Wimpy.

Music Man Portrait

A few months ago, Lynn and Jamie attended a French Hospital fundraiser and won an original portrait in the silent auction. The artist uses a photo you give her to get started. Danielle and Lacey have just started a music studio (Mini Melodies) and were looking for artwork to hang on the walls. Well, how about a painting of Marian (Lacey) and Amaryllis (Serafina), real-life piano teacher and student, to grace the halls of the new digs?! Ta da. If you'd like to contact the artist: sandra2paint@gmail.com

Here's the photo, which Danielle took!

New Year's Day 2016: Surfliner to the SB Zoo

All the Compound dwellers (except Sandy) hopped on the early morning Surfliner to Santa Barbara for a visit to the Zoo! We've done this trip many a time, but never with eleven people! Nothing like an AmDog on the way, some breakfast (we tried East Beach Grill this time, which at a busy time didn't work so well for a large family and was pretty expensive for mediocre food), the zoo, and Enterprise Fish.

The day's photos.

That's about how Jamie looks on a train, too.

Playing "Red Light Green Light" waiting for the shuttle.