Great Weekend! (Scott)

We kicked things off with a little miniature golfing action on Thursday night with Mom & Dad Pool. It was my first time ever keeping score. Scott was a master -- he says he's going to quit his job and become a miniature golfing champion. Ashlee, despite her claims to be athletically inept, came in close second. I smelled the joint up, but I did have the only hole-in-one! It was the ugliest shot ever -- I hit the ball way too hard, it shot down the course, passed the hole, hit the fake rock at the end, and then gloriously ricocheted back for the point. Edie started out strong, but sort of petered out -- I think it was because halfway through the game she got her mind stuck on the promise of dessert at Chili's -- she was talking about molten lava cake for a while.

Friday we met up with Mom Riggins and Grandma Donna for a late lunch. A few hours later we met back up with the Pools for a little celebratory dinner at Benihana's -- a close friend of ours just took a job in D.C. and she leaves next week. Then immediately after we drove over to Grandma & Grandpa Guenzler's house, where we continued our little weekend of fun with some homemade fruit pizza for dessert. With our stomachs blissfully full, we rolled ourselves to bed.

We kicked off Saturday morning with breakfast in Malibu and then we spent the rest of the morning and the early afternoon walking all over the Getty Villa -- it was pretty awesome. For those of you who don't know, J. Paul Getty was this oil tycoon who struck it rich in the 1930s and spent much of his life collecting great works of art. To share his collection with "the people," he built a replica Roman villa on a choice piece of real estate across from the beach in Malibu and he stashed it with his best pieces. Eventually his collection got so big, the Getty Trust had to build another museum site -- the Getty Center -- further up the 405. We visited that one last week.

We ate a late lunch, so we skipped dinner and met back up with Dad Pool to catch the new Disney movie Up! at South Coast. Simply put, we give the movie two thumbs up and we heartily encourage all to see it. It's even in 3D! After the movie we were feeling a little peckish and Grandpa Jon had just the treat -- gourmet ice cream from Strickland's in Irvine!

Well, that about wraps up our weekend so far. Tomorrow we're doing breakfast with the grandparents and in the evening Ashlee and I will be having our last date night before Mongolia -- we've got dinner reservations at Maggiano's, our favorite restaurant and the place where I proposed. It's the simple things...

PS - Although Ashlee has a soft spot for animals, I think if she had a weapon she would have killed the poor mockingbird who thought it was a good idea to serenade the neighborhood at 4:30am this morning.