April photos

Vacation

Newport OR, annual Labor Day cousin vacation. 

Seaside

                                                 

It's become a tradition, two siblings and their families meeting for one last summer frolic. We meet in the middle, in the state between our two homes. We line the kids up, noticing the growth spurts and hair cuts, the new faces they make now for the camera. We spend long days at the beach, reading and digging in the sand and inching out into the water as far as our frozen feet will let us. 

We play piles of board games, we play guitar, we settle into this borrowed home in these last days. Gotta bottle it up and make it last, gotta hold summer in your palm like one more fragile sand dollar. Until it's time to fold it all up, shake the sand out, and head back where things are waiting. Routines and lunch boxes. New teachers and closed toe shoes. 

And that daydream- of a beach house, and a few extra days, and the last taste of the season. 

L.A. part three- the rest

I know it seems like I've been talking about our trip forever now, but we packed a lot in. We went tromping around China town and Olvera street, which is the oldest part of L.A. and where you really get immersed in Latin American culture.  Unity got a new dancing outfit. We all got our nails done. (The kids think this is a special thing that only Los Angeles natives know how to do. I haven't changed their minds about that.) 

We got to spend lots of time with my dear friends Amanda and Nelia and a little time with their partners too. Those girls make me laugh like no one else, and I always love every minute with them. 

Soaking up some last bits of sunshine, it's hard to leave. See you next time L.A. 

L.A. part two- The Last Bookstore

While on our trip, we visited one of the most beautiful bookstores I have ever seen. So much so that I have to devote a whole post to all the pictures I took there. I could have stayed all day. 

It's called the Last Bookstore, and it's in downtown L.A. 

                                    They sell both new and used books and have lots of comfy couches to hang out and peruse. But, they also have all this amazing art, made out of book, all over the place. Like this flying typewriter and these book birds.

                                  A tunnel made of books that leads you to the $1 room.

                                  Where the books are shelved by color.

                                    The rows of covers and title pages to old paperback that covers the top of a wall.

This mirror shaped book space that I adored. 

An upper floor with art studios and a huge crochet creation on the walls, plus some kind of metal tentacle.  

Yes please!