Dear Nicole

Dear Nicole,
Julie and I are having lots of fun during her visit.

I picked her up from the airport on Friday. It only took 5 loops around the airport! We drove to In N Out Burger - a California must. We split a burger and frieds and a Mr Pibb. I got her stickers. I let her sit in the sun - but told her that it would be the last time I would permit it (I love the spots).

We came back to my apartment and talked (intense, i know). Went to the supermarket. It was lots of fun. The theme for dinner Friday night was Asian food - so we got two types of Asian beer (we were in charge of drinks) and some soda. We got ourselves ready for dinner and then walked to my classmate's apartment. The dinner was 8 students - all of us are joint masters students - Julie, and the host's brother. we had a really good time. The talk wasnt too Jewish...

We came back and passed out. something about Julie being in another time zone.

We got up Saturday morning and drove down to the Wild Animal Park in San Diego. There was some traffic but it took us less than 2 1/2 hours. We had SO much fun. It was very hot out so I drank a lot- Julie didnt. We saw lions and tigers and giraffe and deer and flamingoes and birds and ... I played in the kids jungle gym - we took a pic of Julie pretending to drive us in a truck! It was a lot of walking but it was worth it. Then we took the Safari ride which took us through the living areas of some of the animals. Julie was excited when we saw Ivan the Giraffe up close. I was fairly impressed by the size of his penis! We learned about the animals and their natural ways. When a deer flicks its tail, it means that it knows you are there. A male ostrich mates with many females and then they all lay their eggs together - and then the male takes care of all of their babies when they are born!

The drive home was long and boring and we were very tired when we got back. I did some homework, she did some word puzzles and we were out by 1030 pm.

This morning we got up and went to the Beverly Hills Farmers market. we got peaches (white and donut) plums strawberries apricots kiwis string beans corn and kettle corn. And lots of freebies. Next we headed over to the La Brea Tar Pits. They are in the mid-wilshire area - right near where I worked all year. A central part of LA. It seems that excavation has revealed an abundance of fossils that were worth showing us. Beneath the ground lays big areas of tar. La Brea means the tar in Spanish. We saw lots of animal fossils and played around. We also bought chocolate eggs with "fossil" candy inside. Pretty damn good.

Next we stopped by my friend Jenny's house to pick her up and we went up to the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Mann's Chinese Theater. The former is where the stars are - the latter has the cement with people's hands. It was fun to see - - lots of tourists.

we came back - i did work and julie made us dinner - Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup and Corn on the Cob. YUM! Now I'm supposedly doing work and she is doing more puzzles.

I dont want you to think I've been doing that much work - I'm not that silly.

Julie is having lots of fun. I am keeping her properly entertained. This will all change tomorrow when I have class from 830-5. She is coming to school with me. She'll play on the computer and come to one class. Otherwise she's on her own for a lot of the day -but then we are going to the Dodgers/Braves game. Same plan for Tuesday. But I have breaks between the classes when I can entertain her. Also, she has fun things she can do - like go to the Museum or over to USC to play in their book store. so im not really worried about her. She's good at entertaining herself.

Anyway - I saw you were looking at my blog so I wanted to update you.

I'm really sad that your parent's store closed. I was really taken aback. But that's life I guess.

Well, I'll talk to you soon - or not. I'll come up and visit when I get back from LA. I miss all of you!

Happy 4th.