The Update, Part 1

So it has been a while since I posted something new. I have been working like a dog and haven't had much time to do anything else... That doesn't mean that I haven't been doing anything though. I have been incredibly busy. As such, I haven't been emailing anyone or surfing much lately so all have been neglected, not just my blog.

What has been going on in the last two months? Well, I'll tell you!

Thanksgiving in So Cal

This year was a year for having Thanksgiving with the in-laws. They live in Orange County near Huntington Beach so Louis and I made the drive down to southern California. I amazingly had 5 consecutive days off which was really nice. We drove down on Tuesday evening and hit moderate traffic. It could have been (and has been in the past) much worse. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency in Huntington Beach. Very nice resort with great views of the beach/ocean. Our room was facing the ocean but had some palm trees in the way of any real view. Wednesday we went to Disneyland with Louis' parents. I am in general a Disney lover - always have been. The four of us started with the California Adventure park. This is a pretty cool park with different regions that coincide with the different regions in CA. They have a place that looks like parts of SF, a carnival/boardwalk area that looks like Santa Cruz, a Hollywood backlot area, a winery, and an area that has a mountain with a waterfall (right up my alley!). We caught a couple of shows did a little window shopping and were off to a part of the area in between the two amusement parks called Downtown Disney. You don't have to pay to get in this area. It has a lot of shops and restaurants. We all headed for the ESPN Zone restaurant for a cocktail and an appetizer. Good food, good drinks, and several huge TV's. It was a pretty cool place that looked a lot like a Las Vegas sports book. From there it was all about Disneyland proper. I really wanted to see the Christmas Parade so we found a spot and waited for the parade to start. Christmas and Disney? To me lots of fun, to Louis hell. We didn't stay long in Disneyland, pretty much all we did was see the parade and ride Pirates of the Caribbean. Thursday, Louis' dad cooked us a delicious Thanksgiving meal. We didn't end up opening and working on the traditional Thanksgiving day puzzle, but Louis' brother did make it over for dinner and it was nice to see him. Friday was spent driving around Irvine. We caught a movie at the Irvine Spectrum and had a bite to eat. Dinner that night was at a cute little Italian restaurant that Louis' parents are fond of. The trip ended on Saturday with the drive home. That left Sunday to unpack, do laundry, and catch up on some rest.

As I mentioned before, I had been working so much that I hadn't had a full weekend to myself so it was nice to have five days off in a row.

More story to come, please check out The Update, Part 2.