ben's surprise

Karuna set up a surprise birthday dinner for my old college chum, Ben. Andrew gets the 1st hug

I got to sit next to the birthday boy

I couldn't believe my good fortune when Suzan agreed to let me wear her bracelet

she has names for all the cats featured on the bracelet - that's Fredo on the left

She's had it for 20+ years and only wears it on special occasions!

as if we didn't have enough to eat already, the burger made an appearance

after walking close to 10 miles in flip flops the day before, I was in need of the hot tub

Oscar's selfie after he shot the hot tub pic

Poppy was only an infant when I saw her last. Now she's jumping off the top turnbuckle

Oscar put the Beastie Boys on the record player

and the dance party began

 

I got the full flute treatment

we all rode bikes down to the Mar Vista farmer's market

father & son

Poppy put away a lot of horchata

on the search for bargains and something sweet for dad

the mash up

I was hoping the CARWASH from the movie was still operational.

It's long gone, but we went to the intersection to scope the scene

and that's about all there is to see... a whole lot different in the 70's

then we went to the GONZ signing at Pizzanista - we weren't prepared for the line.

so Ben & Oscar took off to their prior engagement and I braved the line.......