Vivian is One!

It just seems impossible that a year has passed since Vivi was born.
But it has and so it was time for a party.

There were eight kids there in all - seven age four and under.

So it was a riot.

Of course the star attraction was the birthday girl, who loves to wave.

She spent some time with Aunt Stephanie.

And Grandmom Sullivan.

So let's sing and have some cake, eh?

 

 

And better yet, how about some presents?

Vivi's twin cousins, Izzy and Olivia, wanted SO badly to help with the gifts.  So they brought them to Niki in waves.....

While their sister Grace ( who claims to be nine!) sat demurely by. 

I think this turned out to be her favorite gift.

With cousin Grace.

More gifts.

And food.  This is Reese, a neighbor and daughter of friends of Jeff and Niki.

The always riotous piñata.

They were hardly hopped up on sugar at all.

SLO

I was greeted with specially picked gifts before I even got my jacket off!

Oranges, if you can't tell.  Four of them.

Picked right in the back yard.

After the day trip to Hearst Castle and the afternoon at the State Gymnastics Championships, we enjoyed an wonderful dinner at the always excellent Cafe Roma.

We spent Sunday just hanging out in the sun.....

...and then the kids (and Ed and Pam) made ice cream!

Everyone got to crank.

This is next door neighbor, Holland

And Emerson

And all three girls.

The ice cream was Mint Oreo Cookie and it was fabulous!

The next morning, Mom and I went out to Morro Bay for breakfast outside with a gorgeous view.

A great visit.

Alex at the State Championships

I have wanted to visit SLO for a long time and when Alex qualified for the State Championship meet AND it was being held in SLO, that was the perfect opportunity.

The meet consisted of six events and each participant performed in each event.
The events are:

Vault
Floor
Pommel Horse
High Bar
Parallel Bars
Rings

Alex's team has three members, which makes competing against other (larger) teams pretty tough.

The first thing I did even before the meet began, was to drop (and break) my camera.
Spectators are not very close to the competitors, so the fact that I was reduced to my iPhone camera seriously compromised my ability to photograph the competiton.

Here is Alex on the High Bar from a distance.

Great job, Alex!

I was able to get closer to the Rings.

Wow!

And two other scores that I managed to capture.

And then it was time for the results.
To everyone's very pleasant shock, Alex's team took second place!

Even better, Alex placed 10th overall and earned a spot at Regionals in Reno!

In fact, all three team members are going to Regionals.  Pretty impressive, I'd say.

San Simeon - (Hearst Castle)

I arrived in SLO last Thursday evening, which gave me the entire day Friday with my mother, while the rest of the SLO Readings were at work and school.

One place I have always wanted to visit is Hearst Castle and this was my best opportunity.  The rain that I apparently brought with me from the Northwest had mostly stopped by Friday morning so we jumped in the rental car and headed north to San Simeon.

The "castle" sits 1600 feet on top of a hill, so you drive to the visitor center and take a bus up to the main castle.

There is one main structure and three guest buildings.  They are:

Structure	Square Feet	Bedrooms	Fireplaces	Bathrooms	Sitting Rooms
Casa Grande	68,500	38	30	42	14
Casa Del Mar	5,350	8	5	6	1
Casa Del Monte	2,550	4	3	4	1
Casa Del Sol	3,620	8	3	8	2

 

Since we took the accessibility tour, we were limited to the first floor.  Still, there was plenty to see.

The Assembly Room (living room).

Refectory (dining room).

Billiards Room, with a billiards table and a pool table.

And the Theater.

But my favorite parts of our tour were the pools.

The outdoor pool.

And the indescribable indoor pool.

 In the first photo of the indoor pool, you may be able to see a caterer setting up for a party being held that night.  There was a bar set up at each end of the pool for a screening of the film "Citizen Hearst", which was being shown to the Hearst family and some invited guests.

Apparently not us.

But these folks.

Lots more to read here.