Topanga Canyon

Sarah and I started hiking on Saturday mornings. There is a great website at www.localhikes.com that we've been searching for long mountain terrain hikes. These are pictures from our first hike at Hondo Canyon.  It was just over 8 miles and took us about 4 hours to complete. It was a straight incline up a canyon, approximately 1,500 ft above sea level. As we were hiking up, we were walking through clouds (check out a few of those photos). At the top of the canyon, there was very poor visibility because of the clouds. It was also a lot cooler, thank goodness we brought our sweatshirts in our backpacks. 

Today, we went on a 6 mile hike through Topanga Canyon State Park. I got Sarah an early birthday gift: a trekking pole for hiking. After our first hike we learned that we need hiking sticks for when we are coming downhill so we don't overstretch our muscles. We used them today and they helped so much.  We'll be keeping track of our hikes and we'll be sure to upload more of these beautiful photos of the surrounding area!

Santa Monica

The day after Sarah and her mom went north for wine tasting, I was able to take the day and go to Santa Monica with them. We first walked down Ocean Ave. which is the highway that runs parallel to the ocean (other than the Pacific Coast Highway) and went to a Thai restaurant for some appetizers and drinks. After eating there, we walked down to the Santa Monica pier and had dinner and margaritas at a restaurant right at the very end of the pier. The pier is just about 100 years old and goes approximately 150 yards out into the ocean. It looks a lot like Coney Island or the heart of the Wildwood pier; it has a huge ferris wheel, a merry-go-round, a few other rides, lots of vendors selling t-shirts and art, carnival games, and lots of food like funnel cake, corn dogs, popcorn, etc. Santa Monica is our favorite city here. Definitely.  

Wine Tasting

Sarah's mom recently came out to visit around the last week of February. Sarah was able to take off Friday so she and mom drove to Summerland and Santa Barbara wine country for a few wine tastings; it's about 1.5 to 2 hours north of where we live. These pictures are just a few from the day trip, but we hope you enjoy. I unfortunately had to work a long day on Friday so I was unable to take the day off, but Sarah and I hope to make a day trip up there again soon. Sarah and mom went to three different vineyards throughout the day and brought along a great lunch of cheese, tomatoes, bread, some italian meats and of course wine. 

Malibu & A Baby Shower

Our friends, Kyle and Kayla are having a baby boy in a few days so last month Sarah planned a beautiful baby shower for Kayla--she made gorgeous earrings as a party gift for the girls, she cooked a picture perfect cake, and helped decorate and create the invitations. While the girls were having the shower, Kyle, I, both fathers and Kayla's sister's boyfriend spent the day at Malibu. We walked around the beach and had appetizers and cocktails at a fancy restaurant right on the beach. We could actually see, from out table, whales surfacing and sea lions about 400-500 yards off the coast.  This is, by far, the most beautiful beach I have ever been too! Nothing like east coast beaches!

HO HO HO!!! (continued...)

Over the past few months we've really been settling into our new city.   It's been a while since our last blog, so here's an accumulation of what we've been  up to and some photos to go along.  Enjoy :)

Lets go back to Christmas time.  Momma D came to visit for 5 GLORIOUS days filled with food, wine and lots of snuggle time.  Alex's long time friend Sue also came to stay with us over Christmas & New Years.  Christmas Eve day we got tickets to see A Christmas Carol at the Kodak Theater w/ John Goodman & Christopher Lloyd and it was a lovely show.  We got there early so we could take pictures at the Kodak and on Hollywood Blvd where the stars' stars are and Grauman's Chinese Theater (right next to the Kodak) where the stars' hand & foot prints are.  Christmas morning we opened way too many presents (we were spoiled this year) and ate WAY too much food (7 fish dinner on Christmas Eve - well 5 out of the 7 fish and tenderloin roast with potatoes, greenbean casarole, bacon mac n cheese & a bunch of other stuff, eggs benedict & cinnamon rolls for breakfast - yeah we're out of our minds).  Lets see.... we also went shopping down Rodeo Drive (and by shopping we mean walking by the stores and staring into the windows).  All in all it was one of the best Christmas Holidays EVER!