I was so excited to pick up Ektor at LAX last thursday that I arrived over an hour early. I thought I might be able to read somewhere while I waited for him but the airport was too crazy and the neighborhood is even worse. So I just sat in my car on the outskirts on LA and counted down the minutes. When he arrived we drove back home and started our preperations for our mini-vaca in Arizona. As you know, my grandmother passed away on the 16th so we were driving back to Arizona to attend her memorial service. Here is a couple pictures of the last few days.

Siamon likes carrots:

Here is a pretty ugly shot of me cooking for my Grandma's service on Saturday. I was making banana bran bread and carrot bran bread. Both of these recipes have no sugar, use only egg whites, soy milk, and bran. The banana one turned out excellent, the carrot one was not so great. But I think everyone enjoyed them. The sugar was substituted for by honey, great idea Epicurious.com! As you can see, Siamon loves to be around me. He just follows me around all day.

Friday, Cesar Chavez day (only a holiday in wonderfully liberal California), Ektor took his behind the wheel driver's test. Waiting in line:

Ok, now its his turn. Can you tell how serious he looks?

I know I am acting like a proud parent with the camera, but just look at how great these pics are! Here is the instructor getting in the car:


And he passed! Of course he did, I taught him well:


We were already packed for our road trip so after the DMV we hit the road. Check out who is behind the wheel:


I love alternative energy sources! Here are the wind turbines in Indio, California. Acres of these babies spread the land of this very windy desert city. My dad once made a comment that they were a waste of space, I think that the real estate options in Indio are not very sought after as it is. If you have ever made the drive to CA from AZ or vice versa you know exactly what I mean. This place is desolute, dry, and hot as hell.
And then we spotted dinosaurs in California = pit stop!

Ektor thinks the T-Rex has bad breath. Thats what hundreds of years of extinction do for you Ektor!


Ah, I got a little too close:
The long neck giants have HUGE legs:

But I love them anyways. Notice the Sprite in my hand. I really hate drinking carbonated sugar but I was a little hung over from too much wine with Maggie the night before. I love having a designated driver now!


Pictures of Ektor and I all dressed up at the memorial service to come...