Visitors, Round two

The blog got a little face-lift compliments of Mike.  It's looking much prettier, I must say.  Good job, love!

The following Saturday after Sarah and Jon left, Mike's parents and sister (also named Mandy Marie...eerie, isn't it?) arrived in Orange from Ossian, Indiana.  They rented a condo in Oceanside, California which is approximately an hour south from where Mike and I live.  Mike and I went to stay with them initially in Oceanside on Saturday night and then I headed back to Orange on Sunday.  Mike was scheduled to work the next few days so he stayed in Oceanside with his family to save time on his commute (Oceanside is only half an hour from Mike's hospital in Poway).  I had a nice time with the McAfee's on Saturday and Sunday walking the beach and the pier with Rose (my mother-in-law), going out to dinner, relaxing by the pool, and catching up with all of them.  Mandy and Rose introduced me to the game "Draw Something" on the iPhone and I discovered how truly terrible I am at art (I stuck to my "Words with Friends" game after that).

 I had to head back to Orange Sunday night since I was back to work on Monday but the rest of the family was able to do some fun things during their week off.  They took a scenic train ride down the Atlantic coast to San Diego and then to the Mexican border one day.  On Thursday they headed to Carson City to be in the audience for "Wheel of Fortune".  It turned out to be a long day; they schedule 3 game shows during the afternoon taping of a show!  Friday was filled with touring Hollywood and Beverly Hills with their tour guide "Danny Ray".  Apparently, Danny knows a lot of big shots in Hollywood, I'm told.  Mike and Rose decided they should be friends on facebook with him immediately.  Dave (Mike's dad) discovered that the stars of one of his favorite shows "Storage Wars" has a thrift store/ consignment shop only 3 miles from our apartment.  Friday morning he was able to see the store and meet Jarrod's sister who helps run the shop called "Now and Then".

Friday night the family had to check out of their condo and came to stay at our apartment.  We grilled out in the patio area of the apartment and sat and chatted the night away before coming inside and watching the movie "Awake".  Saturday didn't leave much time before the family had to take off for their flight home.  We were able to have a home cooked breakfast together and then lay poolside for awhile before finishing our day with lunch at Olive Garden.  Mike and I enjoyed our time with his family and felt more at home here in California having their familiar faces around.  We hope we can see them again soon. 

I admittedly didn't take any pictures.  All of the pictures from this post were stolen from Rose...with her permission, of course.  Enjoy!

Pretty Mandy by the sunset

Overlooking Hollywood Hills

At the condo, all of us engrossed in our games.

A celebrity's house...not sure who's...

Wheel of Fortune Studio

One of the squares in the Walk of Fame. Look how
tiny her hands and feet are!

Visitors!

Sarah and Jon at Torrey Pines State Park

We had our first visitors this past week! Sarah Romberg and Jon Gibson, two of our good friends from Chicago, came to visit us for a week. Mike went to Purdue with both of them and I got to know them as Mike and I were dating. They are a few of our favorite people and we were very excited to have them out in Cali with us.

Sarah and Jon arrived late Wednesday night and stayed until the following Wednesday.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take off any time from work (or rather, I didn't feel like I should ask for any time off yet) so Mike was responsible for the majority of tour guide duties.  Thursday the group headed out to take in a few beaches.  They started out at the infamous Laguna Beach followed up by Thousand Steps beach, a nifty, secluded little beach that requires you to tackle what feels like 1,000 stairs before you can reach it.  I've been told the trek is definitely worth the exhaustion, though, and is a gorgeous tucked away spot full of great photo opportunities.  The group was able to spot a few starfish in the tide pools here and Jon was taken out by a gigantic wave at one point, as well.  Luckily, he survived and was only a tad bit wet after :)  Regrettably, Sarah has the only photographic evidence of this event.  I have yet to visit this beach but hope to get the chance in the near future.  Lunch followed at a waterside restaurant in Newport Beach.   I met up with the group that evening at home for dinner (we made Susanna's spicy fettuccine recipe- yum!) and had a relaxing evening catching up.

Santa Monica Pier with a shot of the back of Jon's
head

Friday consisted of exploring Santa Monica Beach, Muscle Beach, and Venice Beach with lunch at the one and only "In and Out Burger".  The group's consensus was that Venice Beach was a little on the sketchy side; homeless vendors spotted the beach selling trinkets.  Luckily, Mike was talked out of buying any "up and coming" rap artist's CD.  THANK YOU, Jon!  Friday night was spent grilling out, having a pre-birthday birthday celebration for Jon, and soaking our feet in the hot tub.  We made it out to a few of the local bars in downtown Orange that night with some additional friends and had a couple of drinks mixed in with a little dancing and ended the night with a game of "Guesstures" back at home.  It was a good end to the week!

Seals on the beach at "Children's Pool"
in La Jolla

Look closely and you can see the baby seal lying next to
 her mama.

We spent the weekend in San Diego and La Jolla. We started out at Torrey Pines State Park.  The park had lots of walking trails and really amazing views. We headed to the beach afterwards. The highlight of the trip for me was seeing the seals on the beach in La Jolla.  The beach was given the name "Children's Pool" for the reason that children played in the water directly beside the seals.  It was neat to be able to be that close to a wild animal in a natural setting like that; I'd only seen seals in zoos before this point.  There were several baby seals mixed in the bunch, too!  We also explored Balboa Park in San Diego where we ate on the patio at "Prado" and then checked out a few of the gardens including the Rose Garden (there weren't very many roses blooming at this time of the year), the Cactus Garden, the Japanese Friendship Garden (from a distance since it appeared that part of it was closed off), and the Botanical Garden/ Building.  There are tons of museums in Balboa Park, as well as the San Diego Zoo, but we decided to forgo those on this trip since 

Walking the pier in Oceanside

View from our hotel room in San Diego

Mike was scheduled to work that evening and wanted to get a nap in before work.  We headed to Oceanside on Sunday afternoon where Jon and Sarah stayed for several days exploring the nearby areas on their own while Mike and I worked.  They were able to do some outlet shopping and wine tasting at a winery in Temecula.  This arrangement worked out nicely for Mike, too, because he was able to sleep at their hotel during the day after his night shift and didn't have to drive the long commute back to Orange.  

Waiting in line for the Conan
O'brien show

See them in the audience?! :)

The group came back to Orange on Tuesday and went to the Conan O'Brien show that afternoon in Burbank.  Jon was able to get tickets in advance and they ended up having excellent seats.  All 3 of them ended up on TV for several minutes since the lady sitting in front of them was one of the people selected to play a "Name that Tune" game during the beginning of the show.  Who knew they'd go in as normal folk and walk out as celebrities?  ;)


Overall, we had a great time hosting and were happy that we were able to have that time spent together.  This weekend Mike's family arrived from Indiana.  They are staying for the week in a condo in Oceanside.  We'll give you an update soon on their visit.  Goodbye until next time!

Hummingbird at Torrey Pines

View on the cliffs at Torrey Pines

Thank God Mike survived his "fall".