Way-Back Wednesday

I have been helping Tutu (my grandma) organize all her photos.  It's great to be able to spend time with her each week and look through photos from the last 60 years of our family's lives.  In doing so, I have come across photos of my dad, which I have never seen.  It's great to see how my dad interacted with my mom's side of the family and how much love every one had for each other.  With my dad no longer here, I am so thankful that Tutu has preserved these pictures and has asked me to help her make sure they live on.  These are some of my favorite pictures we found from way back...

Aunt Janette, Aunt Anne, Papa, Tutu, Dad, Mom & Aunt Linda. 1974

Dad, Aunt Anne & Mom

Aunt Linda, Dad (looking so handsome) & Champagne!

Dad sharing a present he received.  Love his smile here!

Soccer Fever

Soccer is not a sport that I watched or knew much about.   I tried out for soccer at age 5 and remember not liking all the running and ended up crying on the field after 1 lap!   My mom picked me up and carried me to the car; partially to stop my crying, but mostly so I didn’t dirty my cleats that she wanted to return. Wow, the mindset of a single mom!  Looking back, I wish I gave soccer a chance and also wished my mom pushed me to not give up. 

I never gave much thought to soccer until our trip to Costa Rica last year.  After exploring Costa Rica, we ended our trip in the capitol, San Jose, so we could be close to the airport.  On our way to our hotel, we noticed red soccer jersey’s and the country’s flag being sold on every street corner, and locals walking thru traffic, between cars to sell this merchandise.  It wasn’t until our driver told us that a critical soccer game was occurring later that night between Costa Rica and USA.  We got so excited, we started planning where could watch the match to root on USA, and even contemplated looking for tickets to the game.   We decided to go to a restaurant for dinner, suggested by the hotel host, and watch the game while eating.   The restaurant welcomed us “Americans” and offered a free shot for every goal that the USA made.  Sounded fun.  Then we learned how passionate Costa Rica was about soccer.   It’s their livelihood, their everything!  Seeing how much passion they had made me tingle inside.  We decided to eat and leave the restaurant just before the game started…taking shot in front of these grand fans seemed a tad rude, especially since we lacked the same soccer passion.  

Walking a couple blocks back to our hotel to watch the game, we instantly knew when Costa Rica made a goal.  Every car in the town had their radio at full volume, you could hear the announcers yelling “GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLL…” as if it were coming thru a public PA system, car horns were honking for minutes on end, and store owners were jumping and high-fiving.  It was like we were at the stadium.  The excitement was infectious.  We knew this country scored against ours, but how could we resist celebrating the joy with the country we were in?!?  It left a lasting impression on us both.  Costa Rica did win the match, advancing them as a qualifier in the World Cup. Here is a video and article recapping the game and showing the Tico's celebrating.

Now, as the World Cup approached, we found ourselves watching many games and really enjoying the sport.  It was great to watch USA play, to see how far Costa Rica made it, and to watch Germany win!  I never watched the World Cup in the past, but really enjoyed the comradery it brings and happy that Costa Rica introduced it to us!

Reminiscing thru Germany trip photos from 2003 - the new World Cup Champs!

Germany celebrating their win

Museum of Jurassic Technology

Roof Top Garden

Wanting to explore Los Angeles more, I was excited to come across a fascinating museum called The Museum of Jurassic Technology, in a tour guide book.  As I looked at reviews, which varied from “absolutely delightful” to “confusing & creepy”, I was instantly convinced that I had to see for myself what the oddity was with this museum that has been around since 1988.  A review on Yelp explains the museum as such: This odd "museum" is worth seeing at least once.  The entire building can best be described as a single modern art installation -- an oddly disturbing rendition of a madman's visualization of a historical museum.  Faux-serious in every aspect, but completely entertaining.  You'll be talking about it for hours afterwards."

The entrance to the museum is so quant and cute.  It’s an old house that kind of reminded us of Amsterdam homes.  It was a lot smaller than I expected, but very cute and invoked curiosity upon entering the front door.   After paying, we walked in the exhibit with anxiousness and were confused right away.  The exhibits were interesting, but one had nothing to do with the next.  The small trailer park models and the movie with no plot made me feel like I was in a twilight zone. It caused our minds to pause and question reality – which is one reason why we go to museums, to stretch our minds.  One of my favorite parts of the museum was an exhibit by Henry Harold Dalton called Micromosiacs.  This artist created microsope slides of beautiful scenes, created entirely with scales of butterfly wings.  It was simply amazing to see his work and learn how he made the slides in 1829.  My other favorite part of the museum is a tea room deck on the top floor.  After completing the museum, you can sit outside in a beautiful rooftop garden and enjoy complimentary hot tea.  It was a peaceful and enjoyable way to end the museum visit.

Entrance to Museum of Jurassic Technoloy

Going to this museum with no perceived ideas allowed us to really enjoy what it had to offer.  We definitely were talking about the oddities of this museum for several hours.  After the museum, we walked a couple blocks to a street lined with restaurants, and found Public School 310, which looked fun and had outdoor seating.   We really enjoyed happy hour here, the pub food, the ambiance and sharing a table with other patrons.  We ended up spending just over three hours at the restaurant chatting and cracking up about the museum.   It was a very fun day in LA with my number one!   It’s bizarre that I found this museum in a guide book intended for people who are visiting Los Angeles for vacation.  As I mentioned in a prior post, I am yearning to explore LA more often.  After this outing I am even more excited to see what “tourist” things are available in our own backyard.

P.s - Photos and cell phone were not allowed to be used at the property.  Signs were posted everywhere!  But, I was determined to take some photos since it was just so pretty.  I have to say that all the photos in this blog were by me and my nervously shaking hand...I'm pretty proud :)

  

 I was able to snap a quick photo of the staircase to the rooftop garden

Roof Top Garden Entrance

Peaceful and Tranquil Garden

...more of the garden...

Enjoying my hot tea

Beautiful white doves adorned the garden

I love how peaceful this is. I just wanted to do yoga right there!

Snapping quick photo of us before we get caught.  No photos allowed!

Public School 310 for dinner & drinks after museum

Table bottle water feels so European.  Love this pub feel.

Favorite food at Public School 310. Ahi Tacos. $6. FANTASTIC!

Carlsbad, where it began...

We love spending time with family in Carlsbad.  We just got back from a short 2 day trip there.  Jerry has grown up coming here every summer with his family, and I simply fell in love with the small beach community.  This is why we chose to get married here 5 years ago.  Carlsbad brings out something special in us and we get to re-live our wedding memories.  We were not able to stay for 4th of July this year, but got to spend a lot of time with our favorite people. I am happy that we have the opportunity to return to the place we got married each summer, spend time with family, and enjoy the amenities of Carlsbad Village Inn.