Ah, we're back...

It was a pretty good visit. On the way up we stopped in Santa Barbara and dropped off some paper samples at 3 stores. Jim bought some new pants. We got to SLO late in the afternoon. That night the adults went to dinner at a pretty nice restaurant. The quality of the food wasn't quite up to the price we paid. We tried to avoid sitting next to Dad but it didn't work out. He plopped himself down next to Jim and made a nuisance of himself all through dinner.

When we got back to the Leece's we had the adult gift exchange. Good stuff this time. Jim and I came home with a nice little patio table and a bag of Starbuck's coffee stuff.

Before we left for dinner I had everyone gather in the kitchen, which is where Dede and David have their cd player. I told everyone about Debbie and Bob's thoughtful gift of some cash a few weeks ago. To thank them Jim made a cd of Little Space Girl that he found on the web. This was a record that Debbie and I had when we were really little. When I first heard it I was whisked away back to my early childhood so I knew Debbie would really get a kick out of it. I was right, she loved it. Everyone else was mildly entertained. Dede and Stacey weren't even born when we had this record. Drew remembered it a little. Still, we all enjoyed listening to it and it was a special moment for Debbie and me.

The next day we all went to see King Kong. Too much CGI for me. I just didn't buy it. But it had its moments.

That night we had Mexican food at Dede's. The rest of the evening was spent just hanging out. Very pleasant and mellow. Scotty got out his Poker set and a big clump of adults and kids had a rousing game. I enjoyed listening to them, especially B.

This morning everyone got going early. Jim and I stopped in Pismo Beach to have breakfast. We were intrigued by one restaurant that claimed to have the best clam chowder (they even had a plaque saying they had won this year's competition) and they were advertising a lobster omelette as one of their specials. Sounds good, right? Well, the clam chowder had chunks of raw celery and half raw potato in it. The lobster omelette was a clump of overcooked lobster, a slab of half rubbery half-melted swiss cheese covered with eggs. It was horrible. I asked the waitress of they had some kind of cream sauce or something I could pour on it to try to improve its rubbery dryness and she brought me some Worchestershire sauce and some green tabasco. She was a bit of a dope. Jim's ham and cheese omelette was way too salty and the ham was substandard. It was one crappy breakfast. I gave them some negative feedback on one of their "How Are We Doing?" cards.

Traffic was pretty heavy going through L.A. but we finally made it home. Debbie and Bob had some friends coming for a quick visit and we all went to dinner at Original Joe's. Jim and I tried again to avoid sitting with Dad but alas, we failed. Jim actually had to get up and leave for a while just to get a break from Dad's meddling and barking orders at the waiter. He really is getting to be more and more obnoxious. I think everyone else was oblivious but Jim, Stacey and I had really had enough. Oh well, at least the food was good. It made up for my icky breakfast.

Lindsay had a nice visit with Chelsey. They made a gingerbread house. It's kind of a tradition with them. Tomorrow Paige and Rory are going to Knott's Berry Farm. A Christmas tree customer paid for his tree with 2 employee tickets so we're giving them to Paige. The last few months have been difficult for her. So tomorrow she's going to have a fun day with her boyfriend.

Ah, this is what I've been waiting for. Post Holiday Happy Time. No pressure. Well, less pressure anyway.