So Cal trip, at last!

 

Amy and Jamie welcome us to the Village! You will notice that they are wearing warm clothing, as we conveniently imported refreshing Oregon weather all the way to Southern California.

Last month (yes that does make it sound like a long, long time ago, but really time has flown since then, so it's not) we drove down to see "the kids" in Los Angeles, their families, and Mike's Dad, Hank, in La Jolla. Amy, Jamie and their son, Felix, Patrick, Em, and their sons, Finn and Jack, and many of their friends and Em's sister and brother-in-law, live in Los Feliz Village. Los Feliz is not to be confused with Felix.

OK, got that? -  Lots of people who know each other living in one large apartment complex where the kids can run feral, no cars to worry about, a swimming pool, and a little park complete with barbeques and picnic tables. Sort of like a commune, without the existential angst. Or any over-arching "philosophy." Just a nifty way for families who like spending time together to do so. And, we'd like to add, a great way for visiting grandparents to get to see everybody in a relaxed and natural environment. Which makes it sound like a safari park, but it's not.

A friendly spotted dragon smiles - Oh, wait, that's not a dragon, that's Jack! And he's having a picnic dinner at the Los Feliz Village park with his family, aunts, uncle, cousin, and grandparents. No wonder he's so happy.

Em and her equally adorable sister, Bell, at the park/picnic area.

 From there we all went to La Jolla to see Hank. It was warmer and sunnier! We spent time on Saturday at the beach:

Beach boys.

Amy and Felix arrive.

Finn, left, and Jack got buried quite a few times.

While Finn did marine algae research,

Jack observed, kindly holding his grandpa's hand so Mike wouldn't be concerned about all the waves crashing in.

Jack did venture off from Mike, getting in some algal research of his own.

Sunday was Father's Day, and we had a bunch of Dore lineage fathers there for the event - four generations of males, in fact!

Finn on Patrick's lap, Hank, Mike with Jack, and Jamie with Felix. A handsome and happy band of fathers and sons, all a-Dore-able and a-Dored.

Finally, a stop at the playground to run off the ya-yas and then back to LA.

Mike unleashing his Ya-yas.

Felix doing the same.