2015 - July 9th - 12th - Mikayla and Ethan's Summertime at Grandma & Papaw's

Beginning our summer rotation of grandkids for a few days with us for fun times, Mikayla and Ethan were first to come in. We started by picking them up on the 9th of July. After stopping for some lunch on the drive into Lakewood from Murrieta, we stopped at the old El Toro Air Force Base that is now the Orange County Great Park in Irvine. We had heard about the park and thought this was the perfect opportunity to go and see it first-hand.

              
The grounds are beautiful and welcoming. There is an orange hot-air balloon that can be taken up to view a large portion of Orange County that we really wanted to go up in; unfortunately, the wind gusts were a little too heavy and the rides were cancelled for the time we were there. We'll have to go back and try it again on a "calmer" day!
              
We explored the Orange County's Great Park Museum with a lot of the history of the El Toro Air Base with the exhibits of times gone-past.
We thought of Bill Phaneuf when we saw these planes and wondered if he flew in either of the two displayed.
              
              
              
There is also a one-acre growing farm and food lab to explore. The gardens are unique showing how to grow gardens in small urban areas. There was a Pizza and Italian Garden showing various vegetables and herbs specific to these foods and gardens for other niche growings. Looks like a lot of fun!
We had never seen Pomegranates growing but they have them at the Farm & Food Lab Pomegranate Trees!

Another idea that struck us to remember a lot of people including sister Barb and cousin Kay was a garden growing out of hay bales. Both have the property to have large gardens, but we could see them both doing one of these gardens. Whether an urban city home like ours or an apartment or a rural home, this might be a great alternative!
              
All of the Orange County Great Park pictures are in the day one album at this link.

On the outside of the museum under the roof-line we spotted Swallow nests. It seems the Swallows found a good alternative to nesting at the Mission in San Juan Capistrano. Again, a first for us!


Day two took us up to the Hollywood Bowl to start our adventures. Set in Griffith Park, this historic and well known Los Angeles landmark is spectacular. The grounds and the museum are free to explore as part of the Los Angeles Park system.
We explored the Museum and learned the history of the Bowl and the great performances that have taken place in this venue.
The Beatles performance on August 23, 1964 is surely one of the biggest events to ever have taken place. We're sure that this meant more to us than to Mikayla and Ethan, but they enjoyed it never-the-less! Plus they have the bragging rights to tell their Dad what they saw, as the Beatles remain Eric's all-time favorite group! Just imagine, $3.50 to see them in concert!


We were then off and stopped at our famous LA original, Tommy's Burgers for lunch!
Our next adventure lay in the Griffith Park Hollywood Hills at the Hollywood Sunset Ranch for our two hour horseback ride. Grandma's back can't take that, so it was Papaw with Ethan & Mikayla while Grandma waited! We had a terrific guide that ended up to be our personal guide for just the three of us as no one else came to our time slot.

              
After the ride, we went to the Fred 62 Diner that Auntie Carrie had recommended last year after our ride with Kendall and Jordan. Ethan and Mikayla enjoyed the diner just as well as their sisters had! For all of the Hollywood Bowl and Sunset Ranch pictures, click on this link.


On the 11th we headed to Simi Valley to visit the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. We had a nice drive on a beautiful day to start this adventure. There is always lots to see at the Library, learning and enjoying.
              
              
              
              


All of the Reagan Library photos can be found at this link.

We stopped at Brent's Deli in The Valley that we discovered last year on our return trip from Canada and The Redwoods Parks. The Deli has outstanding array of choices for everyone! We truly enjoyed this mid-afternoon lunch!
              
Sunday after church services at our Shepard's Grove Church we had a great lunch for all four of us at our favorite local Mexican Restaurant, Don Jose's. The spare time from these days also included swimming at the Mayfair Park pool and watching an assortment of DVDs in the evenings. It was a great vacation time for all.