Oh, the beautiful city of Avalon nestled in the mountainous hills of Catalina Island. John's family took his mom here as an early birthday celebration. I was fortunate enough to receive an invitation to come along. It wasn't nearly as crowded as I thought it would be - perhaps, because it was near the end of summer and most of the little ones had already gone back to school. We rented golf carts and drove around the entire city, which was how we came upon this stunning view.

 I'd never been to Catalina Island before this day so I was pretty excited. I wanted to be comfortable because I knew we would spend all day there and it was going to be hot. I brought a denim jacket just in case. It came in handy rather early. John and I were adamant about standing outside and watching the ocean while we sailed to the island. It was so cold that my hands turned numb!

I devoured my "Fresh Catch of the Day" grilled swordfish taco before I remembered that I wanted to take a photo of it. Oh, well. The guy who took my order recommended it. I did wonder if it came from that freshly caught one pictured above. Fresh or not, it was delicious. I liked it better than the fish and chips.

 We went on the Glass Bottom tour to see the many school of fish and coral reef. It was definitely a sight to see, but I was surprised to find that I liked riding around in the golf carts much more. The main mode of transportation here are golf carts. Actual cars are a rare sight, but they do exist. I thought it was a little bizarre at first seeing so many golf carts zipping around, but I got used to it. They're rather cute in their own way. Even the trucks are adorable. And can you believe gas here is around $7/per gallon?

  And here we are with John's mom and youngest sister. Hi family is quite large compared to mine, which makes for a very lively get together. They're not all pictured here as I'm not quite sure how personal I want this blog to be. I can be a rather private person. At the moment, I don't want to delve too deeply into the personal/lifestyle aspect of blogging. 

 P.S. I apologize for the long post. I seem to have a problem with posting too many pictures. I just can't help myself! I don't want to bore anyone, but at the same time, these are like journal entries for me to look back on, too...