Trip To Cali

May 10 2006 012
Originally uploaded by Granik Family.

Well we've just returned from our week-long trip to Southern California. It was a ton of fun. I thought a week would be such a long trip, but it flew by so fast. Each day was packed with stuff...
We flew in to LAX on Tuesday afternoon and drove straight down to San Diego to Connie and Richards beautiful new condo on the waterfront. We arrived in time for dinner and an evening of catching up.
On Wednesday Roger, Connie, the girls and I went out for lunch and then to the beach in La Jolla. Zofia had a great time playing in the sand and she got to pet a snake, which she talked about for the next three days, saying, "saw a snake yesterday!" Then that night we all went to dinner at Ruth's Chris Steak House accross the street from the condo. Even Sarah Unger came and it was really great to see her, even for such a short time.
Thursday morning we dropped Connie off at the airport as she headed up north to help Grandma move and help my dad in the restaurant during my mom's absence. On our way to L.A. I got the brilliant brainstorm to call on the Allens, the parents of one of my best friends, Kristin, who happen to live in Carlsbad. I called Kristin to get her parents' number and happily they were home and didn't mind us stopping by without warning! Then we continued north to Cousin K.K.'s house. She lives in a gorgeous house up in the Glendale hills. The fact that she opened up her home to us really made the trip fantastic. Not only was is way more comfortable than a hotel would have been with two small girls, it was so much fun hanging out with her and meeting her fiance Jeff. I was glad to be able to meet him, since we plan on going to their wedding in Jamaica in July.
On Friday we went to Joey's graduation, which was amazing. There were so many graduates, each department had their own ceremony, and just Joey's had a ton of people. It was a long ceremony, but it was great to see Joey graduate. That night the whole family went out to dinner and had a great time. Zofia was very tired and a little cranky, but she hung in there until we got to the car, which was after nine o'clock. Sadly, our camera broke right around this time, so we have no more photos of the rest of the trip, at least from our camera.
On Saturday we had brunch with my friend and former boss Claudia, who happened to be in town even though she now lives in Hawaii. It was really a great bit of karma and so nice to see her. Then that night I made my lamb stew for K.K. and Jeff and we just sat at home and chatted into the evening.
On Sunday we went to church with Ron and his family. It was my first time visiting a gospel church and I really enjoyed it. Being there on Mother's Day made it even more special. Then we all went out to lunch and Zofia got to know her cousins Ronald, Brandi and Colin a little better. She sat in between Roger and Uncle Ron and flirted with Uncle Ron the whole time!
On Monday Roger went out condo hunting with Joey and then we went to our favorite old Sushi place from when we lived in LA. Then we did a little shopping and went to dinner with Joey and Doug and then went to see another condo.
This morning we awoke ridiculously early for our flight home and now we are all pooped. Whew, sorry to bore you all with all these details. Bottom line is - a good time was had by all!

Click on the photo to see the rest of the pix from our trip.