Hi Guys

Hey, I know I owe a lot you you email, but I wanted to update you on what is going on.  Mom, Dad, and Helen are here for the week and we have been having a good time!  Eric and I picked them up from the airport in San Diego on Christmas Day.  We got lost on the way home from the airport a few times, especially while looking for a McDonald's, which wasn't open anyway!  I took them to Vista Point overlooking the valley at sunset.  It was really pretty.  We ate here with Naomi because Thomas was working and we didn't burn anything this time!

Tuesday we rode the Tram to the top of Mount San Jacinto.  Mom, Eric, and I took one of the desert view trails around the top of the mountain and saw some spectacular views.  I started getting dizzy on one of the trails because it is such a sheer drop off.  I kept thinking about vertigo, which our tour guide at the Grand Canyon told us happens when you look down and lose your depth perception.  I got away from that precipice real quick!  Anyway, the Tram rotates 360 degrees on the way up and down,  which if it doesn't make you sick, is really fun!  We went out to dinner at Wally's Desert Turtle, which was owned by a guy who had a chain called the Velvet Turtle.  I really didn't want to know what his fascination with turtles was!

Wednesday we went to the Palm Springs Air Museum.  My Dad is a nut about war planes, and they had a very nice collection, which they actually fly at least twice a month.  Then we went to the Palm Springs Desert Museum, which had this cool exhibit by Duane Hanson.  He sculpted live subjects out of fiberglass and acrylic and they looked so real I expected them to start breathing!  We went to eat at the Elephant Bar, which has a safari motif, and has these cool elephant ear shaped fans above the bar that swish back and forth.  I wish I had a pic of them!

Anyway, today I took them to the Living Desert, which I think I've talked about already.  It's a wildlife and botanical park.  We went to see the animals mostly, and actually got to see the cheetah this time!  I found out that the Disney illustrators came to the Living Desert to sketch the meerkats and warthogs, then drew Timon and Pumba from them for the Lion King!  Pretty cool, eh?  We went to Eric's restaurant and had the most exquisite meal, and to our surprise it was all free!  There's a fire pit outside the restaurant where you can warm your toes after dinner, if you ever decide to go.  It was so good!

Well, I will write more about my adventures with my parents later.  I am about to kill both of them but it is also nice to have them here!  Helen is staying with me, so at least she gets a break!  Hope your holidays are wonderful!