Indio, California: I know we were just in Los Angeles, but we had an unexpected three-day trip back to the City of Angels because the kids asked us to help out for a few days as 1) Lisa had a class 2) their usual sitter was out of town 3) Hello - STAR WARS!
Of course, we said yes... so after only two nights back to our campsite, our Jeep returned to Los Angeles Wednesday afternoon to help Lenny and Lisa... i.e. babysit our adorable grandchildren.
Some serious building go on with the Hanukkah Duplo. This would go on for several days. Building. Unbuilding. Rebuilding. Updating the building. Adding animals to the building.Wednesday evening, we all went to Griffith Park to ride the Holiday Railroad - lights have been installed around the usual loop to entertain riders and the price in the evening has climbed to a drastic $4. Lisa and Lenny met another family - their daughter, Coco, is at school with Leo - so the kids could enjoy the ride together.
Lisa, Lucy, Coco and Leo
It was fun. It was cold. Leo, Coco and Lucy loved the ride.Bubba and I were on baby duty Thursday. Lisa had class and Lenny worked all day and Lenny had tickets to the new Star Wars movie with Lisa's college classmate, Ryan.
Ryan spent all of Thursday watching the past three Star Wars movies at the classic El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, then met Lenny across the street for the premier of the new Star Wars film at the famed Chinese Theatre. Their tickets were for 10:30p (seriously way past Lenny's bedtime). Lenny and Ryan sat through previews, ads, etc., then the movie... so Lenny arrived back home in the wee hours. Lenny loved the film, but was lip-zipped to any details. He did say the film was not violent and felt Leo could attend without subsequent nightmares. Was that a spoiler?
Friday was the third time we have been able to attend Leo's school annual holiday program - and Leo's last year at the preschool. Last year, Lucy was just an infant at Leo's show, and two years ago, Leo was a blonde, curly-haired only-child singing Feliz Navidad.
This year, Leo is super-experienced at his pre-school and the leader of the pack. Where he may have mumbled a few years ago, now Leo had command of the song and command of the microphone.Watch out World.
Leo's class sang Happy Christmas (John Lennon) and they were spectacular... but I am a very prejudiced Bubbe.
I also feel the prettiest Mom and daughter were in the audience. Again, very opinionated.Lisa made her version of Cafe Yumm! bowls for our dinner Friday and we watched The Martian after the kids went to bed.
Though we hated to leave our gorgeous grandbabies, we brought our grand dawg back to Indio with us.
Reese will be hanging with us for a while. A little R&R away from a four-year-old and a toddler will do him good - and we always enjoy a little one-on-one time with Reese (now 12 years old).Ordered weeks and weeks ago, Dave and I were so happy to see that the Oregon "O" we arranged for our rooftop satellite TV dish had been installed while we were away.
The "O" is white during the day... but at night a green light illuminates the decal to a glorious green.Perfect.
Until my next update, I remain, your back-in-Indio correspondent.