Jen 'n' Ryan: It just keeps getting better.

Sorry for the lack of updates, retired life is just sooooo busy, I'll try to recount our latest adventures/activities.

We enjoyed spending time with Amy before she flew back to Taiwan. We went out to eat at Pancho's and had way to much to eat, after much deliberation we decided not to go with her to Taiwan, not sure what we would do with our dog, maybe next time. We had a lot of fun and was sad to see her go. Jen was excited to find out that some of Amy's family follows our blog. So to those of you - HI! Jen is glad to know that someone is reading.

On Saturday John, a friend of Marilyn's, took us sailing on his 40 foot Hunter. Sylvia, Doug, Marilyn, Jen, Sissy and I enjoyed a wonderful time on the boat. Thanks John for a great day. Nothing better than some good reggae, good company, and a sail boat!!! Then when we got back to Marina Del Rey Doug made us all an excellent dinner. I got his recipe for pototoes. Thanks Doug, it was great.

Marilyn & Jen

Doug & Sissy - Chillin

While we were in LA, we decided to purchase a couple of sailboards. No big deal - found a couple on Craigslist about 70 miles away and they were real cheap!! So we decided to go get them. The seller met us at the front of a gated RV park. I knew something was up when his mullet was purple and he looked to be about 65. So we are driving through the RV park and I see a woman who is wearing a beige shirt...No Wait!! She was completely NAKED except for a belly bracelet. Then we pass a guy in a golf cart wearing only a smile. We arrive at the sellers house and then he says to us "In case you haven't noticed. This is a nudiest colony." (UMM yeah I think we noticed. Thanks buddy.) I told him we had, and I jokingly told him about our trip and that I wanted to go get our camper and stay there awhile. This immediatly excited the guy and he started undressing Jen with his eyes. Needless to say we quickly paid for the boards and left. As we were leaving we drove by the tennis courts, where four guys were playing tennis with nothing on but their tennis shoes. You don't see that everyday. (Wish we hadn't seen it that day.) Then at the gate was a sign posted reminding us that there was no nudity beyond that point.

And another sign that we just had to take a picture of.....

Us in front of the HollyWood Sign although its a little hazy

We got to go to our very first symphony, which Jen really enjoyed and for me it was okay. I will

say I was glad that I didn't have to dress up. There was an old man playing the saxophone which was pretty impressive for his age. His shoes were about 4 sizes too big and he had to scoot his feet when he walked. kinda funny.

Wild fires still burning in the background of Marina Del Rey

We also went to the Sawdust Art Festival, which is an huge art show at Laguna Beach (Thanks Aunt Tess for the Tickets.) Jen really enjoyed it, as for me - I was in heaven. I had beer, live music, and was the only guy in the place!!!

We went back to Aunt Tess's house and had lunch again; Uncle Charlie and Aimee came too. We went through the photo albums and heard some old stories about when Jen was little. Thanks again Aunt Tess for a nice time.

One of the blurred days in LA we went to the play Wild Boy. Very interesting play, minimal stage props. Very talented actors.

On another day we rode bikes to the Santa Monica boardwalk for the free concert. We didn't stay late but we enjoyed the bike ride and the sunset.

Sunset at Santa Monica Pier

On Friday August 28th we decided to go to a Howl at the Moon in City Walk. So we take the subway at LAX and go to Union Station to have dinner, then off to City Walk. We get there and the performers are excellent, but a little different from the other piano bars we have been to. We stay till about midnight then start winding our way back home, get back on the subway. We get to our first stop where we have to change trains. Opps in LA they close the subways. So my mom starts talking to these two kids with Green hair to see if they can help us. I think they were just as lost as we were, but one of them was trying to help us. Unfortunatley we were stranded at downtown LA. Not much help. So we walk up to the street to the bus schedule to see what we needed to do to get home. That is when my mom met Reggie, who had been with Jonny Walker since he got off work at five and was trying to get home to Long Beach, but had missed his bus. (Did I mention that it was now 12:46PM?) So Reggie goes on to tell us which bus we need to take. So here we are downtown LA on a Friday night listening to a drunk black man, surrounded by homeless people, in the middle of the night. Life is Great. So after about 45 minutes or so Reggie decides we are at the wrong bus station and that we need to walk down a couple of blocks to another bus station. There they are shooting a movie across the street (pretty cool) but nobody else is at this bus stop and as far as Jen and I can tell no buses. So now it is about 2 am we see all the bars close and the drunks going home. Still no bus. Finally one shows up and we get on it. But the bus driver decides that Reggie is wrong and we need a different bus so she drops us off at another station and tells us our bus will be there in about 45 minutes. Finally we have had enough and hailed a cab, 50 dollars later and some broken spanish we make it back home. The evening was an adventure to say the least.