Happy Memorial Day & Thank You For Your Service

A very Happy Memorial Day to all and please don't forget those who have served, who are serving, and who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. We salute you!
Friday morning, May 7th when we went out for our walk we saw that the sand artiste' had finished his sculpture. I don't think there is a more perfect image for Memorial Day.

Jack Daddy's 80th Birthday

May 13th I flew up to Sacramento to surprise my Dad for his 80th birthday. His birthday was actually Friday the 14th and I had planned with Karen (my stepmom) to meet them at his favorite Mexican Food restaurant "La Rosa Blanca". This is the table that they gave me for our birthday dinner.
I picked up a couple of balloons for the birthday boy.
It was really funny because when the waiter Alex saw my dad he said "That's your Dad? I know him!" and the man in the sunglasses walked in. He looked like a hollywood star in those glasses! What else was so funny was Jack Daddy didn't even recognize me. He thought that I was just some random lady taking pictures of customers as they came in. Because he wasn't expecting me it took him a few minutes then he finally recognized me.
We had a nice birthday dinner and again, Happy 80th Birthday Dad!
Like I told Karen, I'll be back for your 100th.

Because I Can't Help Myself....

Whenever I hear the doves cooing I have to find out where they are. This particular Sunday one of them happened to be across the street at the very top of someone's house. I guess that's as good a spot as any to get a date....

Please forgive me.....

My posting today is not in any particular order so just enjoy the pics.
Some day I'll get the hang of this order thing.
But until then.....

The morning of the 8th....at Casa John

Saturday morning I walked into the living room and Miss Delaney sure had taken a shine to Limo Man. She and bear bear were in a good place.
Both of the girls took to their great uncle. That's Walter the Farting Dog in Delaney's hand along with bear bear. Miss Quinn was still in her pajamas.
Miss Quinn takes good care of her little sis!
We had such a good time seeing all the John family. Thanks again for the hospitality and the shiners!

Wine Tasting in Paso Robles

Saturday we went to 3 different wineries and one Olive tasting room. We started out at Silverhorse Winery. What a gorgeous spot! You know when you drive up the hill and there are wine barrels on the side of the road it's gonna be a good day!
Everyone else is walking into the tasting room. Limo Man you're going the wrong way!
An old wagon, a small wine barrel, and wine bottles.....what else could you ask for? (Okay, maybe some wine would be good)
Vineyard sculpture...Lovely
The birthday boy (he doesn't look 60!) and his proud papa giving a birthday salute.
The colors in this painting were just too vivid not to get a shot of.
The Silverhorse logo. How sleek is that?
An old wine press and more wine barrels. I could have taken pictures out here all day!
This is a good looking crew! Limo Man (my wine glass seems to be empty), Jalene (I wonder if Delaney is still asleep), and Miss Quinn (I'm a little bored here people). (Janet, I'm sorry that I didn't get your head in this shot).
I loved this really cool fountain.
This vintage car was shot at the 2nd winery that we went to. Calcareous was way up on a hill with a 360 view of the Paso valley.
The owner's boots for all eternity.
Part of the 4 car caravan tasting some white wine.
Billy Idol, no wait it's Guy Fieri, joined us for lunch. Actually it's Will's dad Darryal. What a hat that is!
This old barn is at our next stop Pasolivos.
Pasolivos specialized in olives, olive oils, and specialty items. They had many different flavored olive oils, and some huge olives stuffed with different things. I liked the blue cheese stuffed olives.
The last winery we stopped at was Whalebone. We got a few good bottles there but I didn't get any shots. I guess I was too busy asking for samples of cabernet. Cause that's the way I roll....

Saturday, May 8th - 60th Birthday Bash

Here we are back at the Manor for a barbeque.
Auntie Marjean is playing with Border and Quinn.
Limo Man loves him some Border time!
Let me see...what can I do with this thing....
Oops, I didn't think that it was going to EAT me!
Papa Steve and Quinn blow out the candles. Isn't that the most beautiful cake you've ever seen? It came from the Madonna Inn and was ever so yummy!
Papa opening his gift from Noni and Poppi.
Well goodness gracious man alive it's a rooster!

Paso Robles

We took the train to Paso on Friday, May 7th and finally arrived about 4:15pm. Limo Man's niece Jalene picked us up and took us back to her casa. We got to see Miss Quinn all grown up and we finally got to meet Miss Delaney. We went over to see Steve and Jan's new home. (I like to refer to it as the Manor. It's so gorgeous!!!) and had a lovely dinner.

Friday Morning, May 7th....Santa Barbara

It's Friday morning and we have a few hours to kill before we get on the train to Paso. Limo Man is chillin' in his Tommy Bahama Mojito tee. Finally the man is starting to relax! After a nice breakfast at the hotel restaurant we decided to go for a walk on the south side of the pier.
We found this really cool park. Come on little, let's see what we can find!Look it's a real live carousel!
And a beached whale sculpture...
And now for the play area. Yep, you just can't take the kid out of the man!
Come down the slide Limo Man!
One of the things that we noticed in Santa Barbara was that they have a big homeless and transient population. Maybe it's because the train station is 3 blocks from the beach. Maybe not. On the way back to the hotel we got this guy still sleepin' it off.
Maybe I'll go wake that guy up. Heh Heh Heh.....
This dolphin sculpture was so cool I had to get a few different angles.
That building on the left is our hotel.
Just an example of the beautiful architecture of Santa Barbara.
Can you believe that's a pizza joint?

Thursday, May 6th in Santa Barbara

Thursday morning we got on the train in L.A. and rode to Santa Barbara. We arrived around 1p.m., walked 3 blocks to our hotel which was right across the street from the pier and the beach. What a sweet sweet spot it was! We walked out on the pier to try to find a bite to eat. We found the BEST seafood restaurant on the very end of the pier.
Of course on the way we had to stop for mugshots.
On the way back to the hotel we noticed "pelican beach" across from the pier and had to get a shot.
These guys were interesting. I don't know if they rented this thing or they were some kind of a crew who were practicing.
Always looking for a buck someone had these little games set up on the sand below the pier.
This guy was a really good sand artist. We asked if we could take his picture and he said yes as long as we donated to the "arts" so we did.
This was the view outside of our room. We were in a separate building from the rest of the hotel. The rooms were recently added and were really nice!
We took a walk down State Street and I couldn't resist getting a shot of this clock. Note to self and Limo Man.....it's happy hour!
We found another great seafood restaurant on our way back to the hotel and had some drinks and dinner there.
That night we took a walk to the restaurant at the hotel to look at the dessert menu and once we hit the sidwalk all of a sudden we saw hundreds of bike riders coming down State Street to the pier. They had on costumes and had their bikes decorated and were riding in "Cyclemania" which is a month long celebration in Santa Barbara for bike riders. It was dark so I wasn't able to get any shots. It was so cool in Santa Barbara that we're definitely going back.