Rylee's new car!

We stumbled on a great deal on an old car for Rylee to drive ... a 1992 Acura Legend that some kind soul donated to the Village several months back.

Now, don't get too excited just yet! She doesn't have her license and hasn't even taken the driver's education courses yet. So for now, the Acura is getting just a bit of drive time out on campus, since it's not registered and she doesn't have a license. It's pretty cute to see her driving up and down the main road, practicing backing up and parking, and all the fun stuff you do when you first get behind the wheel. Remember when?!

She's so excited! And so are Rory and Baylee!

Alumni retreat in Southern California!

One of the perks of my amazing job is getting to stay in touch with the girls and their families after they have left our program. We've been working hard to create an alumni group for support and connection. Last weekend, we had our second regional retreat with families in the southern California area. Despite the miserable weather, it was so much fun to re-connect with all of them!

Nikki & I left for Burbank at 8 am on Friday morning. We wanted to leave plenty of time for a bit of R & R before the retreat. We got in and settled at about 10:30 am, then had a nice lunch at PF Chang's. After a few phone calls and errands, we headed back to the hotel for a little siesta before our big outing ... massages! There's this new thing in California called a Chinese foot massage. Don't let the name decieve you ... it's a full body massage ... just focused on accupressure points. It isn't as private as a regular massage ... you stay in your clothes in a massage chair with 10 or so other folks, but the lack of privacy is worth the bang for the buck! We had an hour massage for $25. Amazing!

After the massage, we spent the evening with one of our alumni families, first at their home in West Hills, then later at a restaurant called BJ's for dinner. We had a great time reminiscing and laughing ... then headed back to the hotel. Our good intentions of turning in early got derailed ... I can't tell you how much fun it is to share a room with Nikki! We ended up talking and laughing into the wee hours, finally settling in about 1 am. Oh well!

On Saturday, we got in the car to head up to the mountains of Malibu to the location for the retreat. Helaine had made arrangements for us to use a local Jewish campground area for the day. The drive to the place was spectacular ... even through the rain ...

I spent the morning catching up and talking with the alumni parents while Nikki went with the girls to a high ropes course on the property for some bonding time. There were alot of tearful moments throughout the day, probably the most impactful moment came when a girl who had been struggling since her return home decided to join us at the retreat. She arrived a bit hesitant and clearly struggling. Her mom had shared about how difficult things had been at home. Just after lunch, we gathered everyone together for a group discussion. I posed the question about what each of the girls needed. This girl got really tearful, then asked the group to help her work through how angry she was at her parents for sending her away. She told us all, including her mom and dad, that she was wracked with the thought that her parents didn't love her and had given up. As each of the other parents shared their anguish about sending their daughters and affirmed their love, there wasn't a dry eye in the place. (Even the dads were crying!) Then her mom got composed enough to tell her that she had missed her so much that she slept in her bed for many weeks after she left because she couldn't bear the thought that she was so far away. She'd never told her daughter, or anyone else, that information before. What a moment! The girl got up and hurried over to embrace her parents while we all cried. And then we continued talking and laughing and hiking and playing for the rest of the afternoon. Before I knew it, it was time to wrap things up. What a special day!

For the evening, we decided to take a few of the older alumni girls out to dinner. Two of them were celebrating milestone birthdays that week. So we went to a fancy seafood restaurant in Malibu, called Dukes. We had a great dinner with lots of laughing and crying. One of the girls had just recently lost her father to a heart attack; it was great to be a support to her in celebrating her 21st birthday.

We spent several hours in the car, shuttling girls home, all the while laughing and playing. Nikki and I as a two-some are something else! We're not for the faint of heart, that's for sure! The girls laughed and had fun, I think. And more than that, Nikki and I went home with a real sense of pride and appreciation for the work that we do. We stayed up late, again, talking about all sorts of things, then vowed to sleep in on Sunday before heading home.

Late on Sunday morning, we went to interview a potential student who lived up the coast a ways. It was a bright, clear day. We were able to make the drive up the 101 with the sunroof open. We had a great visit with this new family, after a bit of undercover work, then headed back to LA to catch our flight home.

I sure feel blessed to get to travel the country, doing what I love, and doing it in such good company!

Trip to Austin ...

I spent the last week of January in Austin, Texas. I arrived on Tuesday night ... just in time for an ice storm. Despite the miserable weather, I took myself out for an evening in Austin. First, I had good old fashioned southern BBQ at IronWorks. Then, I went for a walk on 6th street. It's the place to be ... in the live music capital of the world. I heard some great jazz and some terrible karioke, then headed home for bed.

On Wednesday, I visited the University of Texas ... I'd always wanted to see the campus and the stadium. Pretty impressive! Bought a long horns sweatshirt to show my support! Also had to visit a "Diners, Drive Ins and Dives!" hot spot ... Taco Express. It was the most delicious pork taco I have ever eaten. Forced myself to eat two, just because I could!

Then I headed to the airport to pick up the rest of the Alpine crew. We had a dinner meeting that went late into the evening, then headed back to the hotel. I decided that I wasn't quite ready for bed at 11 pm. So I went for a walk to see another live band, the Spazmatics, play at an outdoor patio. Lots of fun 80s and 90s cover songs. I especially got excited about Bananarama and Prince. Met up with Adam from Kaplan for a drink while listening to the band. He's a dreamy young man that I have the good fortune of "bumping into" at conferences a couple of times a year. Just friends, but nice to be out with a handsome, bald, brown man from time to time!

On Thursday, we spent the day at the conference, meeting with collegues and schmoozing. Boring! But we had a delicious Tex-Mex dinner with our psychiatrist at a place called Manuel's. Made all the work well worth it!

On Friday, Nikki and I decided to play hooky from work ... we took Jim and went for a drive, in search of a great flea market. We didn't have much luck in finding a flea market, but did have alot of fun driving and seeing the sights. We ended up in San Antonio and made a trip to the Alamo. Also walked on the river walk there. And did a bit more shopping in the Mexican Market. I bought blown colored glasses to take home to the kids there. After a sno-cone and another delicious food stop at Taco Cabana, we headed back to Austin. We went to an open house for an hour, then hit another famous BBQ place ... County Line BBQ. We ordered the "Cadillac special" ... enough food for about 15 people ... that included pork ribs, beef ribs, brisket, smoked turkey, kielbasa, potato salad, cole slaw, baked beans, homemade bread ... and a bowl of ice cream to fill in the cracks! WOW!

Here's a picture of the grounds at the Alamo:

Friday nite will go down in infamy ... another example of why you should always get a second opinion! When we got back to the hotel, we asked the concierge for a dance club recommendation. The guy that we were going out with, John, actually asked. Without hesitation, the concierge recommended a club called "Rain". And off we went for another adventure! There were early warning signs that we might be in the wrong spot ... when the waiter came to take our drink order, he was wearing only underwear! A few minutes later, a very burly woman (or man in drag?) swooshed by us on the way to the dance floor. We finally realized that we had been sent to a gay club when the bartender hit on John! So after too long of watching in wonder, we made our way down the street to a club called Qua. Very cool club with a very cool feature ... the dance floor was suspended over a large tank of live tiger sharks! The whole floor was lit from under the water, so you felt like you were dancing at sea. Without too much detail, Nikki and I were shocked by the forwardness of some of the guys in the place. So before too long, or too much damage, we decided to gather up our friend, John, and head back to the hotel. What a night!

Saturday was filled with more business meetings, with just enough time for a quick trip back to Taco Cabana for lunch before getting on the plane to come home.

It was a great trip. I'll post a few pix soon ... gotta charge the camera!