February is always a bit of an exciting month in our house. Both Verity and Abigail have birthdays, so there is always lots of planning to be done. In England the weather in February is a bit of a drag, but in San Diego it really is a rather glorious month. Not too hot, but pleasantly warm enough to do whatever one wants to do. And, even though we miss the February half term holiday in England, it turns out that President's day often brings some kind of alignment of a school/work holiday. So Tim and the kids had a four day weekend over Valentine's Day, and Tim is usually pretty adamant about using his time off to do something Deliberately Fun.
So, after doing the wish fulfillment vs. constraint analysis, we decided to go to Hollywood Blvd. I had no real interest in going but it did seem like the sort of thing that one should do at some point if one lived in Southern California. So here are some pics:
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| View through the car window of Hollywood Blvd |
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| The very odd Highland shopping center |
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| More outlandish buildings of the Highland structure |
We ate at the 1950's diner, Johnny Rockets. Nothing too fancy on the menu. Old fashioned hamburgers and malted milkshakes. As it should be!
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| Johnny Rocket's 1950's diner - pretty cool! |
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| My 1950's inspired burger |
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| Lots of malted milkshakes! |
Then it was off to see the stars on Hollywood Boulevard!
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| Orlando Bloom's star! Pirates of the Caribbean, Lord of the Rings - finding his star was a must! |
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Julie Andrew's star - enough said!
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But I actually think we were all more mesmerized by the handprints and footprints in the concrete. I think that seemed a bit more personal than the stars.
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| From Dorothy herself |
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| Another Mary Poppins star - the one and only Burt! |
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| One of the oldest inscriptions there, from Jimmy Stewart in 1948 - amazing! |
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| And something a bit more modern ... Harry Potter. |
Sadly, Abigail was with a friend on holiday in the mountains, so our singer/actress didn't get to come with us to the land of the stars. But she still had a very nice 18th birthday a few short days later.
Her 18th birthday was on a Monday. Monday's are crazy days in our house, so we did the Bleakley birthday breakfast and presents in bed thing on the Sunday morning so everything was nice and relaxed.
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| The birthday girl awakening from her beauty sleep! |
Ok, the breakfast was just me having too much fun in the kitchen. Poached smoked trout on a bed of watercress and asparagus, topped with a gently fried egg, with the best hollandaise sauce I have ever made on the side (Abigail loves hollandaise). Also homemade pain au chocolate, a rich milk/egg bread studded with lots of dark chocolate pieces, topped with butter and orange marmalade. Finally, a dish of strawberries with balsamic vinegar and mint.
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| The birthday breakfast |
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| The birthday girl! |
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| Concentrating hard on opening all those presents! |
Abigail always asks for the full works for her birthday dinner, so it was the pork roast, applesauce, red cabbage, roasted kale sprouts, etc. And for dessert, the ever-popular chocolate truffle cake.
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| Quite a lot of candles on that cake! |
I wonder if I, as the mother, am expected to say something at this rather important milestone. I suppose the main thing to say is that this 18 years has been one incredible ride. Love means something so much richer, and deeper, than I ever knew before Abigail came along. We drive each other crazy, but we are also joined at the hip. This world is a better place because Abigail is in it, and I am honored to be her mother.
