A Visit With Mom

My mom left this morning after a 4 day/5 night visit. I was so glad to see her! Here are the highlights of what we did while she was here. She got here in the wee morning hours on Thursday, so after sleeping in a bit, we went to a Danish shopping district in the nearby city of Solvang and bought a few things – including ice cream and fudge of course! That night, we went to San Luis Obispo, which is a college town about 30 miles north of here, as they were having their weekly Farmer’s Market. Every Thursday night, they block off a whole street for various restaurants, farmers, musicians and special interest groups to put up little booths/kiosks around the area where you can buy fresh fruits and veggies, breads, flowers, and regular food sold by local restaurants. The central coast is famous for their “BBQ tri-tip”, so I tried some of that. All in all, it was a pretty fun time and I’d take visitors there again in the future – plus, it was trick or treating night there, so we got to see all sorts of kids in costumes. Very cute!

Friday, we went to Avila Beach (about 20 minutes north of here) and ate at The Custom House, a restaurant right on the ocean where Jason and I ate with the pastor and his wife while we candidated back in July. We walked along the pier and saw several sea lions swimming and poking their heads above the water. It was a windy day, but sunny and nice. On the way home, we stopped at the Avila Barn for pumpkins and a few other goodies; it’s very overpriced, but a cute place to shop for fruits and veggies, pies, gifts, candles, etc. That night, we went to the youth Halloween party at the church. It was an 80’s theme night, and some of the kids really got into it. As I was tight rolling my jeans, I couldn’t believe that I used to think that looked cool! Anyway, we bobbed for apples, played glowstick dodgeball, ate food and watched movies. Good turnout, fun time.

The next day, we toured some new homes in the area - they were outrageously expensive. They were your average 3 BR, 2 or 2.5 bath and they started in the mid-$400K's on up to almost $600K. After that dose of sticker shock, we got some lunch at “Stinky’s Grill” and then decided to go to the free air show at the nearby Vandenberg Air Base. It was so windy! But there were some neat exhibits and flying stunts that were pretty cool; it was a nice way to spend the afternoon. Sunday was church, shopping, tennis, and Family Feud :) … and the X-Service at night. We couldn’t believe the low turnout there was because of Halloween! I had no idea trick or treating was such a big thing for older kids to do around here. It was a nice cozy youth group though, I didn't mind. Anyway, I dropped mom off at the shuttle at 4 a.m. this morning so she could make it to LAX in time for her morning flight home. Thanks for coming mom! I had a lot of fun!