The B&B is open

John and I had some visitors at the Inn this week. My friend Allison called it our California Bed and Breakfast which I liked. We do like to cook breakfast and have only 1 extra bed so it is a very accurate description. Anyway, John's good friends Eric and Michael came to visit and as a special bonus brought their wives Alina and Jamie. I refer to Eric and Michael as John's friends but we are all 6 good friends so this was kind of like a fun couples vacation which happened to take place at our house. Eric and Alina flew in to Orange County on Sat. and John went to pick them up, they have been here before so this was all old news to them. Michael and Jamie flew in to San Diego and rented a car for the week and drove up. Since we had like 2 hours to kill from when E & A got here and when M & J would get here Alina and I went to the beach and Eric and John went to get lunch. We were only down at the beach for like an hour but almost immediately Alina was red, never good. She had applied sun block but it appeared to be doing very little blocking. We met the guys back at the apartment and feasted on many fried treats and burgers from A's. It was probably the best burger ever, it reminded me of Fat burger. M & J arrived and unloaded and then we all headed back down to the beach. While we laid out John gave Vessels some surfing lessons and even though he didn't master it that day he didn't get killed either so that is a win in my book. By the time we went back down to the beach Alina was sporting some serious redness. In fact the imprint of her bathing suit bow was white with bright red outlining it. That might persuade some people to cover up but not Alina. After the beach we all had dinner at Avila's which is always a hit with Mexican food.
By the next morning Alina's redness had gone to a new level, apparently a painful one. Since we had another beach day planned we had to make some special arrangements. First we went to brunch at Beach Garden and sat right in front of the ocean and enjoyed a great meal. Then we rented a surf board for the day and bought an umbrella for Alina to sit under at the beach. Since Alina's husband is a doctor he called her in a prescription for her sunburn so we made a quick pharmacy stop. Then we headed to Doheney because there were smaller waves better suited to beginner surfing. Alina took her spot under the umbrella and also wearing a long sleeve men's button up shirt, typical "I got sunburned the day before" style. John attempted to teach Michael surfing and I think there might have been a half stand up at some point. I brought my wetsuit and boogie board thinking I might want to get in the water but after seeing Michael come out of the water freezing and cut up from rocks I decided today would not be my day. I couldn't have asked for a better beach weekend with our company. That night we had a big cookout. John smoked chicken, ribs, pork shoulder, and corn on the cob. He also grilled peppers and squash. I was in charge of sweet potato fries, assembling the BBQ sandwiches, shucking corn, and other small prep. We also enjoyed some pesto appetizers that we got at the farmers market that morning. Needless to say we had a ton of food and made a huge dent in it. I also made John's favorite dessert which is a chocolate trifle recipe from allrecipes.com. The dessert is sinful enough but I also add extra crushed candy and Carmel and an extra box of Reese cup brownie bars. It is enough to immediately knock you in to a sugar coma. Since we are all old now we don't party all night, we are lucky if everyone is still awake at 11. If you are wondering where everyone was sleeping the answer is all over the place. J & M in the bedroom with E & A using the couches. I think Alina got the short end of the stick in this deal since she had the small couch, who needs to stretch out right. I have to say that they have been great guests. They have kept their stuff confined to their room, washed dishes, and cleaned up all their messes, my criteria for good house guests. Monday all our guests went to Seaworld and Hash House in San Diego while John and I worked then we had a night of eating all the leftovers since our fridge was so full of good food. I made some candy popcorn for them to take to Yosemite and John got all the camping gear packed up. Tuesday thru Thur. all our guest and John headed to Yosemite so I threw myself a pity party since I had to work. I actually made a meal for a church family Tuesday night and then baked 3 different treats all using eggnog on Wednesday night. I wanted to get the eggnog out of my freezer and free up my Tupperware that was holding it. I made eggnog sweet bread, eggnog fudge, and eggnog cookies dipped in white chocolate, I consider them all pretty delicious but they all taste about the same. All those recipes were from allrecipes.com too.
Everyone returned Thur. night in fairly good condition. John and I are both working today but I am looking forward to a farewell dinner at Sonny's tonight. Tomorrow we take E & A to the airport and then we are going to see Kristy's new place in LA! I have a feeling we will be put to work, I am sure Kristy and Mom are ready for a break. I will put some pictures up from last weekend on Monday, I forgot to bring the camera today.