New Year in LA

New England in the winter is lovely . . . for about 3 weeks. Then the snow and frigid temperatures get a little old! With that in mind, we didn't hesitate in accepting an invite to LA to see my parents, step-sister and family. Heeelllooo 78 degrees and sunny! What fun! Here are a few snaps of the clan. Enjoy!







Cousin Amelia:


Cousin Kate:






The very cheeky cousin Sarah:


. . . and last but not least . . . the one and only Lydia:


The gang:


So the scenery is amazing once you leave LA. A quick drive up the PCH, some goofing around on the beach and lunch with the 'Bikers' at Neptunes Net.



aaaah . . . we all snoozed on the way home. Great day guys. Thanks!


Saw this old car on a stroll around Palms. Looked like a very typical LA scene.


You can't go to LA and not go to Santa Monica Pier. Great people watching!



The perils of taking pictures of random strangers. Not sure the guy on the right was too happy. Say cheese :)


And to end the afternoon . . . several rounds on the carousel. Lydia loves carousels. Think she has probably racked up about 150 hours on carousels around the country.


Last day, and a late afternoon stroll on the beach.


Just had to throw these last images in. My parents have somewhat of a reputation for making cocktails that are so potent your hair will fall out! Now I like a drink or two (being a Brit), but not even I could finish one of these! So I chucked the rest in the fuel tank of the rental car to get us back to the airport :) This is my wonderful step-father teaching little Amelia to mix cocktails. Nice! Needless to say, she wasn't allowed to sample any of them.


Thanks to Mary, Brendan, the kids, mum and Ivor for a great time. Miss you guys! FYI, after getting the delayed red-eye back to Boston we walked out to pick up the car . . . . it was 6 degrees!! My sun-tan literally fell off right there!