After my week and a half at sea I stopped off in LA to hang out with friends for a week. I figured if I had to go through crappy LAX I might as well stay for a bit. It was awesome to be back in town after nearly three years! Strangely enough I never liked it as much when I was living there as I did when I returned this time....??? My most nostalgic moment being back in LA...my second evening in town after a late yoga class I decided to stop off at the Ralphs supermarket in Marina Del Rey...my old stomping ground. Not the big Ralphs just a couple blocks down, but the one tucked into the highrise condos. I used to shop there when I lived in LA. I stopped off to buy cereal and milk for breakfast, not knowing that I had booked into a full service 'bed and breakfast' at my friends Katie and John's place in Hermosa Beach...haha. They treated me to tasty healthy options every morning...DIY oatmeal with bananas and almonds, none of that prepackaged crap, yogurt cereal and fruit bowls, and what I think was my first experience with Cream Of Wheat? Hey Mikey, I think he likes it! Anyways just walking through the supermarket aisles in my yoga shorts and flip flops felt sooooo comforting and familiar. I never knew I had missed it so much until that moment. Everyone says that you need to live in LA for years before you can find YOUR neighbourhood, your niche, your lifestyle. I was on borrowed time when I lived there so I had my routines but I don't think I had my own life. Being back this time on 'vacation' I think I was able to quickly settle into my own little world, even if only for one week.
So I spent the week going to yoga classes at my old studio, eating lunch at Baja Fresh (hahaha...yes, we don't get much good Mexican food here in NZ and I've had cravings for a Fajita Burrito for years!), visiting friends at all the CG Animation shops in town, cruising Samy's camera store every other day, hiking Solstice Canyon in Malibu (top photo) and just generally wandering around. I got to visit my friends Sacha and Joanne and their two one month old twins Luca and Holly. Sacha pictured above with Luca...sadly I wasn't able to grab any family shots...next time.
On my last Sunday in town we hung out at Hermosa Beach. Katie and John live about 4 houses away from the beach, and David lives about 2 blocks down the beach...rough life eh? They try to play beach volleyball on weekends. I'm not a big beach volleyball dude, so I just hung out people watching with my camera. We were on the beach next to these guys. That's Dante the human skipping rope. Cute little guy. No matter how much they did to him he just kept laughing and smiling and asking for more. He was getting some serious air on the blanket and towel tosses! He'll probably grow up to be an Astronaut or Pilot. Dante's mom Lydia was kind enough to permit me to snap these photos of him and also to let me blog them. In return though I'll be sure to email her copies of the pics :)
This little guy was just hilarious. I almost missed it as I was facing the other direction talking to someone else when my friends yelled at me and pointed him out. He was playing baseball with his dad and older brother...I guess it got a little boring for him and fancied just walking around with a bucket on his head instead...
The main reason for the entire cruise/vacation...Mom and Dad's Golden Anniversary and quality family time.
February birthdays.
Mom, Alessa, and 'Ma' (aka Marissa with two "S"es from South Philly).
Monte Carlo night and one crazy Canadian (Guelph, Ontario) Cruise Director.
Dave gets close to some BVI 'ass'...err..I mean a mule...
I THINK this is looking towards the Caribbean side of BVI? I can't remember...I'd suck as a tour guide.
...it's a tiny sailboat...click the image to see a slightly larger version.
...budding photographer...it must run in the blood :)
Picking up the kids from school! ...ummm...sorry we were late, we went to the wrong school up the road. Justine, Malia and their teacher.
...mmm....curry goat...
...so it's an easy walk up the driveway to your house eh?
Balcony with a view.
...haha...this expression makes me laugh every time :)
Malia chatting up Thomas.
Building sandcastles and then trying to build defences around them to protect from the waves...
...oops...
haha...everyone noticing the little Supermodel.
Mom getting eaten by a wave.
Antigua.
D'yam tief ah try fi steel di intahnet signal.
"Excuse me Sir...are you paying for that?"
