That Weekend Where Jennie and Inga Visit

As mentioned in the previous post, my sister Jennie and my niece Inga came to California for around ten days. There reason for coming is because Inga was selected to be an extra in the Tom Hanks movie Charlie Wilson's War. More details can be found on Jennie's blog.

Jennie and Inga had the weekend free of shooting, so they came down and spent Saturday and Sunday with me. I guess I should say some of Saturday, because they got a VIP pass to Universal Studios Theme Park. I've been in LA for seven years and have never been to the theme park. I've been to the gaudy Universal Walk where nobody should ever visit. The theme park itself wasn't awful. It's no Cedar Point, but it's not a bad place to take the kids.

There is one area that has cannons and such to fire these foam balls around. Nothing in the place worked so everyone in there resorted to simply throwing them at complete strangers. It seemed a little odd that this is one place where you can hit a stranger in the face with a ball and they won't want to beat the shit out of you.

The rest of the night was spent in El Segundo. Jennie and Inga met bobby. Inga struggled to fathom how someone could live in a place that had no bedrooms, only had one bathroom, and had neither a basement or attic. I over cooked one half of the pizza and blamed it on the oven. Then I introduced Jennie to the TV show "Angel."

Sunday I took Jennie and Inga to my church. Once again, communion was taken. I should point out that nearly every time I've gone to church this year communion is taken. I keep looking for a rhyme or reason to the frequency but I can't determine what it is. I don't have a problem with taking communion. I just have a problem with my church's method. They have everyone line up and break a piece a bread off of a loaf. That means by the time I get there, about fifty people have touched the bread I'm putting in my mouth. It creeps me out.

Anyway, after church Inga wanted to meet and play with some of the kids there. I've gone off and on to this church for around five years and I met more people at the church through Jennie and Inga in that one day. Of course everyone thought Jennie and I were married at first. That's one of the problems with step-siblings not looking at all alike. Back in the day, when Mom would take us clothes shopping, Jennie would take little Mandy and start acting like we were husband and wife and I was neglecting my family. Everyone was impressed with Jennie and thought Inga was adorable.

After having lunch with the families Jennie and Inga met, we went back to my apartment so Inga could enjoy her first true Root Beer out of bottle. She really liked it even though I had told her the night before that Root Beer was made out of crushed roots and often worms would get caught in there. The worm juice is what made the Root Beer foam. We also watched The Incredibles, which looks absolutely amazing on my TV. It has now become the movie I will use to show off my TV.

Finally, I drove them back to their hotel in Santa Clarita. So that's three siblings and one niece that have come to visit me in sunny LA. That leaves four siblings, three sibling in laws, and seven nieces and nephews. Anne had already been here three times. Mandy will be here for her second time next month. I'll give Ben I, and Jaime a pass because they could be out to California soon enough. Ben K. and Julie get a small pass because they just had a little one, and were actually drove through LA when I was out here. Things just didn't work out so we could meet. Dan gets a small pass because he took care of the rest of the kids while Jennie was out here. I was thinking that Sam gets a pass because he lives in England, but nope. Sure, he has a job that gives him no free time, and it's a really long flight. He's single with no kids. No pass for you Sam.