CALIFORNIA, July 24 - August 7, 2011


In past years, we tried to combine our visits to our California family with the annual conference of Avant in Kansas City. This year, David and Becky paid for flights to visit when the kids didn't have school. We were given a warm welcome and treated like royalty!





Verna received a huge bouquet of flowers and nice gifts for her birthday. Becky baked a cake and the girls decorated it.





Becky writes a blog GoodCookBecky.com and served us Austrian specialties such as Rindsrouladen, Knoedel, Rotkraut and Apfelstrudel.













After a week of being spoiled at the Pallmann home in Lake Elsinore, we left for a week's vacation in La Jolle Shores, only a few miles from San Diego. La Jolle is pronounced "La Hoya" as sung in the Beach Boys hit, "Surfing USA". La Jolla is famous for its beaches, underwater caves, kayaking, snorkeling, and of course, for waves that attract surfers from all over.

We visited Legoland on the way to our beach house.





The beach house was designed by a famous architect, Dale Naegle. It is for sale - if you have $3 million to spare! Other buildings designed by Naegle can be viewed on his website.







The German consulate was just across the street.






Our grandchildren took surfing lessons, but we spent most of our time under a sun umbrella.

PopPop did try some Boogie-Boarding, however.






















In San Diego, we visited the Point Loma Lighthouse, the Automobile Museum, Air-Space Museum, and Science Museum.















On our last evening we took in a concert of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra in an amphitheatre near where David works. The orchestra played live accompaniment to many vintage Warner Brothers cartoons. Incidentally, David has finished his fourth computer book, "The Windows Azure Handbook," and he is working on three more books!















What a vacation!