another lovely Christmas week of "jeans and sweatshirts weather" in California, Part 2

Since we had to spend eight nights in California in order to catch my dad's family's gathering at the beginning of the week and my mom's family's gathering at the end of the week (whereas six nights is usually our preferred length of visit), Bryce and I announced as soon as we bought our plane tickets that we were going to take a "personal day" midway through the week. Believe me, it's the best thing for everyone involved. Eight nights is a long time to be away from my boys and the good night's sleep afforded by being in our own bed.

So the morning after our first night at her house, Mom dropped us off at a Metrolink station. We took the the train to Olvera Street, which is just across from Union Station in downtown L.A. It was a lovely day. We walked, shopped, gawked, ate, drank, and were generally very lazy. I would have been happy with only the train ride, but I also got to spend an entire afternoon daydreaming about the possibility of one day decorating my home with Mexican dia de los muertos-themed folk art. For now, I'm settling for the cute dia de los muertos-themed skirt I bought in one of the shops there.

Olvera Street has a special significance for us. Back when Bryce and I had just started dating, I took him to Olvera street for his 20th birthday. That was 10 years ago. Now we are 30, and have been married for going on nine years. I neglected to take many pictures of our "personal day" at Olvera Street, and this is the only shot I saved.


I still remember standing in front of that painting together when we were 20 years old. We were astonished by it, adored it, and wished we could take it home with us. Now it is partially obscured by an ADA-compliant elevator. The painting is next to a stairway, and the ADA elevator is built over the part of the stairway that is nearest the painting. I'm all for fulfilling the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, but this made us so sad. We are hoping that whoever runs/owns this building intends to relocate the painting in the near future. Buy why not do so before the elevator gets in the way and makes the job of moving it much trickier?

We agreed that when we got home, we would try to find out if there is someone we could write to in order to express our support for moving the painting to a location that allows it to be shown in all its glory, perhaps even an online petition or something like that (yeah, we really love this painting). But our sleuthing has yielded little information other than the name of the artist (Luis Becerra), its title (Libertad), its subject matter, the year it was painted, and the fact that it was sponsored by Lawry's Foods, Inc.

The remaining three days of our visit were a whirlwind of activities and good togetherness time with Mom, Bobby, Ryan, Jhurene and the rest of the gang. For example, Bryce showed mom's dog Sammy who is really the top dog.


The highlight of the mom-half of our California visit was, not surprisingly, Christmas afternoon and evening at Aunt Jeannie's house, because that's when I get to see the extended family.

This candid shot of Grandma and Grandpa W. was my favorite photograph of the week.


Grandma and Grandpa with all their grandchildren and great-grandchildren:


And then with the grandchildren's significant others added:


And hey look, here's a picture of me and my cousin Kristen!


Apparently, dark hair is very popular this year.

Here's my Uncle Mike getting good-naturedly tortured by twins Gunner and Jack, the newest and most thoroughly entertaining additions to the W. family.


Gunner and Jack's dad, my cousin Donnie, is a pretty good pool player.


But he didn't make it to the final round of the annual Christmas pool tournament this year. Someone who most of you know did, though. More on that in another post...