Another big day.  Today, Liliana met Dan’s family–his sister and her husband and kids, and Granddad Rich and Grandma Janice.  Rich has avocado and orange and grapefruit trees in the backyard–ones I’d like to transport to Minnesota!–and Liliana joined him in picking them for our breakfast.  Granddad peeled some for her, and she got a kick out of spitting out the seeds.

Liliana’s UCLA shirt in the picture is important.  I’m a UCLA Bruin.  Dan’s family is USC, straight through, until they get to Dan, so it’s always a joshing point, although I do have to concede that USC won the game last Friday night.  Rats!

Little L. met her cousins, Josh and Ally, for the first time.  Don’t she and Ally look a lot alike?  Amazing!

And here’s Grandma Janice.

Uncle John.

Getting snuggles from Auntie Beth.

We had a wonderful morning.  We had breakfast together.  We sat around talking, Liliana trekking in and out of the house, insisting that we all join her in visiting the honking goose next door.  Oh, she was mesmerized with that goose!  “Quack, quack,” she kept saying.

That evening, we had dinner with our friends the Kanters at the most marvelous new restaurant in Glendale called Palate.  We sat back in the wine room…and ordered a plethora of small plates and appetizers and wine to share.  What exquisitely yummy food.  We met the chef, Octavio Becerra, and I hope he’s not offended that I called his food yummy.  It’s the word-of-the-hour right now, since I have a two-year-old.  Highest compliments, indeed!  [And can I just say that it’s so nice to be able to enjoy a fab dinner with great friends–who also like to eat and drink and be merry!?]

Here they are–Shanti and David Kanter!

Liliana and Kainoa had a babysitter at the house, and I know they had a splendid time.  They were dancing before we left…

Then they sat to watch Wall-E, which Liliana hadn’t seen…and they were going to have ice cream sundaes later.  Liliana thought Kainoa was the cat’s pajamas, as you can see here.

We kept wondering what Liliana was thinking, meeting so many people, and in such rapid succession, but she seemed happy.  She seemed ready for whatever came down the pike.

So, aside from extreme tiredness, we had a beautiful, fun-filled day.