This last week has been really fun with my sister Laurel visiting. We've been going out, catching movies and eating great food and having a nice visit together. Her husband Justin joined us for the 4th of July weekend, and it's been a blast. We went to the Hollywood Bowl on the 4th, for fireworks accompanied by the LA Philharmonic. It was a test of David's strength however, as this year the theme was the 50th anniversary of the LA Dodgers, and David is a Giant's fan. Apparantly, that equals a night of torture listening to songs about the dodgers and ripping the Giants, so he was a trooper, though he had to start yelling in protest at certain times. The fireworks were awesome, and we got to experience Randy Newman singing "I Love LA" to the mockery of all. All in all, a great time.

Yesterday we went to the Griffith Park Observatory, something I've been wanting to do for a long long time. It's a beautiful drive / hike up there, and you can see the whole city from the top. The building is gorgeous, and the exhibits very beautiful. There's a giant golden swining pedulum that hypnotized me with it's lovliness. I was especially enamored with a wall size Periodic Table of Elements that lit up - little boxes with little elements inside! Our favorite was a show in the domed theater; you lay back in the reclining seats to see an incredible movie on the celing about the history of astonomy and the billions of galaxies of stars we are barely a speck in, and you feel so very small. I was intrigued by Mars, a planet that once supported oceans and a living environment now reduced to dust and barren cliffs. It scares me, thinking of how we abuse earth's atmosphere and how it will probably happen to us as well.

After we left the observatory, we went to Father's Office in Culver City for dinner. We've been waiting a long time to try it, and Justin especially was excited to try their amazing famous ketchup-less hamburgers. They were all we'd dreamed of, and we were all delighted with our selection from the wall of 60 beers on tap. I tried the Old Speckled Hen, and it was smooth and creamy and I loved it. David got one that was dark and smokey and tasted like bacon.
It was a great conclusion to a really full weekend. Laurel and Justin will now continue on to Las Vegas and I'll see there there next Saturday!