CAMPING at McGrath State beach park! The last leg of our California Riviera vacation!

Enjoying the company of great friends while celebrating Tam's birthday. Isn't Sebastian adorable???

My Dad's old Lantern and a cool Sunset in the background.

Gotta love those self timers!

Tamara, Pierre, Sebastian, Diyogi, James and I went camping for 2 nights at McGrath State Beach Park in Oxnard. We celebrated Tam's birthday there on Friday. It was fun and Pierre brought the boat and we went sailing the next day. My Dad and Hahn gave us a brand new 8 person tent (2 room)! We had campfires each night and had smores too! Camping is like Golf- it gets in your blood and you want to go again really soon!

Goodbye Alex & Abby

It was nice week with Alex and Abby here. We were sorry to say good-bye to them yesterday.

California Adventure- more vacation pics

Stock Car Racing!

Crazy Father/Son ponytail duo

Crazy white guy walking around with a full native american headress?????

Jimmy posing with a tractor

A crazy blue grass band

Turkey Stampede

loved the livestock

When I lived in Oxnard, I LOVED the Ventura County fair. I always told James about how cool it was so we decided to include that as part of our trip. We got to see turkey races (they put food in a remote controlled car and the turkeys chase it around a track), and pig races, lots of cool exhibits and even stock car races (James' favorite). The people watching was incredible also. We spent ALL day there and it got so cold after dark. The fair was awesome and I think Jimmy would love to go back!

Alex and Abby Enjoy Kauai

We showed Alex and Abby the usual "hot spots" on Kauai and had a nice lunch at Keoki's Paradise. After lunch, spent the afternoon at Poipu Beach and they even got to see a sea turtle that came on shore to rest.

Alex and Abby Visit Kauai

Alex and Abby arrived on Saturday and Alex got to meet his niece, Hayden, for the first time.

The Beach, the beach and more........

Moonscape over Mountains- pic taken from our room at Hyatt Westlake

Sailboat pic taken from the beach in Santa Barbara!

Moonlight over westlake

Random surfer at Manhattan beach

Santa Barbara!

Chillin in Santa Barbara

Suffice it to say that we went to the beach A LOT. We love the beach. It's relaxing and a great place to see wildlife, find shells, see celebrities (Jay Leno), get a tan, have a pic nic, etc. We had a lot of beach time and I have a sunburned, peeling backside to show for it. But I wouldn't trade our time at the beach for anything.

Wednesday- Wine Tasting in Santa Barbara!

The Front of Bridlewood

Peach Orchard at Buttonwood- YUM, 2 peaches= 1 pound!!!

The Beautiful entrance to Bridlewood

Gainey- bottles of wine as far as the eye can see!

Grapes we reached up and grabbed (we tasted them too- a little sour)

We trekked up to Santa Barbara and went wine tasting in the Santa Ynez Valley and Las Olivos. We hit some very nice wineries and tasting rooms. Gainey, Buttonwood, Bridlewood, Carina and Lincourt. There were too many of them to go to them all so we decided this was a place we must go back to. Here's some pics! The Buttonwood winery also had a peach orchard adjacent to it. We bought some of the BEST peaches I have every had.

Tuesday- Beach Day

Tuesday was designated as our Beach day and Dinner with Anne day. We had a looooong day at the beach where, unbeknownst to me, my backside got very sun burned. But we did see a film crew and Jay Leno very close to where we were.

Dodger Game baby!

Monday- James and I got up- at breakfast at a Denny's Style place called Norms (see the sign). Then went to the beach and just enjoyed the day. Then we checked into the Hyatt Century Plaza before heading out to the game. Pierre picked us up and drove. THANK YOU PIERRE- we had so much fun with you! The Dodgers played the Brewers. It was a great game and almost pulled off the win but fell short in the 9th inning. James had never been to the best stadium in the nation until now. He got a Dodgers hat and sported it nicely. We had Dodger dogs and saw a nice sunset. It was awesome and one of my favorite parts of the trip.