Our cousins from Tucson have been with us for the past week. Mama P met Linda and Gene in Parker and we all drove back to Ca. together. Gene has been in construction his entire life so the intent was to have him do some things for us around the house. We have no problem taking advantage of any friend or relative that has a talent we can use. Actually Gene enjoys being taken advantage of but his is more of the "fantasy" version. You can only imagine his disappointment when he realized he was to be a beast of burden instead of a "Boy Toy".

As with most plans, ours changed on a daily basis. With the exception of Mama M, we are all retired so, like a bunch of teenagers, we try to avoid anything that resembles work. The first day, we decided to head to L.A. and do the tourist thing. Our youngest, Brooke, surprised us by changing her work schedule so she could spend the day with us. We picked her up and went to Hermosa Beach for breakfast at Scotty's Cafe. Due to road construction, we had to park a couple of blocks away but the day was so nice we did not mind the walk. We put Brooke in charge of taking care of us since she is still young and not prone to mental lapses. She failed her first test by allowing us to miss the walk signal twice because we were distracted by the sights and our conversation. Of course we can't blame Brooke too much, after all she is Blonde.

When we returned to the car we found and unpleasant surprise ******* a parking ticket!! Not one of us noticed the sign posted on the parking meter that stated " No Parking on Thursdays" even though we were all crowded around the meter putting in coins. We again decided it was Brookes' fault since we all have poor vision.

We put it behind us and headed to Rodeo Drive. We walked all over the place gazing at things we couldn't afford, did not like or could not fit into. Gene spent most of his time gazing longingly at the plethora of luxury cars passing by on the street. Linda found a few things she could not live without but really now, isn't that what life is all about???

We left Rodeo Drive and headed to Grauman's for the ritual hand/feet comparison. It had turned quite a bit cooler as the afternoon passed but that did not stop Linda from laying on the sidewalk next to the star for Michael Bolton. Most of the time, I would make fun of people that do that but since she is my cousin how could I do that. I will always defend her right to make a fool of herself in public because I love her.

We also stopped at Farmers Market where Brooke bought a Caramel Apple that was so big it had it's own Zip Code. While we were there we picked up a hot drink at Starbucks. Mama M, Linda and Brooke walked to the Grove where they checked out the American Girl shop. Evidently one of the sales ladies mistook Brooke for a 15 year old and was critical of her mother for allowing her to drink coffee at that young age. She was shocked that Brooke was almost 21. Evidently this sales lady does not pay attention to what is going on in the world as most 15 year olds today have children already. Mama M took it as a compliment that she looked young enough to have a 15 year old. Oh yeah, it's all about Mama M !!

We ended up at the Grand Luxe Cafe. Their food is always good but their Benoits are the best. Around the end of the day Stacey called. When she asked us what places we had been to we couldn't remember!!! We thought our Ace in the hole would be Brooke but sadly, she had contracted the old age disease of CRS because she could not remember either.

Of course a day in L.A. would not be complete without a driving incident. On our way to the freeway, a *&%#@$!! driver cut across us diagonally causing Mama P to slam on the brakes, lay on the horn and spew a length of profanity that continues to this very day when the subject comes up.

Okay, gotta go. We have had our walk for the day and I need to take a shower and get ready to meet some friends for lunch. I will Blog more tomorrow about the rest of their visit.