Aaron's 21st

So I know it's been a really long time since we last posted anything. But to be honest, we really haven't got up to anything interesting. Saturday night we went to my Aunt Milissa's house for Aaron's 21st birthday. It's hard to believe he is just turning 21 but what can I say, my cousin is a cougar, lol. At least Aaron is a pretty awesome guy and he had a fantastic party.

Here is a picture of Aaron while we were singing happy birthday.


My brother and his girl Laura.

A picture of Jamie and I, all bundled up in our jackets. My mom was kind enough to save me a seat by the heater but I still kept my jacket on :)



My Mom, Aunt Michelle, and me.

Milissa's, as usual, decorated and everything looked amazing. It was raining, yet again, so they had a big marque for everyone to sit under. It stopped raining about an hour into the party so everyone was able to dance after that to a live band. We had a lot of fun and ate some pretty great food.

But now the weekend is over and it's back to work. Hope everyone has a great week!

Super Bowl XLIV

On Sunday, we watched the Super Bowl with my parents and bbq'd. Of course, as many Americans do, we created a Super Bowl pool for the 4 of us. I'm happy to report I won $5 and Jamie won $15. Basically the Griffin's swept the pool, sorry Mom and Dad.

The Super Bowl was watched by more than 106 million people and is now the most-watched program in television history.

In case you were wondering, the New Orleans Saints beat the Indianapolis Colts 31-17.

The Mission Inn

On Saturday, we drove inland to Downtown Riverside to see the Mission Inn. The Mission Inn is a hotel built in the Mission Style. It was never meant to be a mission at all but the owner, a bit eccentric, built it in this style and often dressed as a monk to draw guests to his hotel (even though he was a quaker). It was started in 1874 but took off as a destination hotel in the early 1900's.

Frank Miller, took over the hotel from his father and created an amazing place. He traveled across Europe and bought what he could from different places. If he couldn't buy it, he would sketch it and have his builders re-create it. If he didn't have a place for it, he would build one. Which makes the hotel a bit of a maze with all sorts of different pathways and art within it's walls.

Although Riverside isn't very highly regarded these days, back in the early 1900s it used to be quite the destination spot primarily because of the Orange industry. People would spend several months in the area and many of them stayed at the Mission Inn. Including several Presidents, movie stars, and writers.

It is now a National Historic Landmark and is protected from any alterations. It was a beautiful hotel and it would be pretty fun to stay there for a night. While we were there, the Dickens Festival was going on just down the street from the hotel. It was a bit funny to see people in Victorian dress walking up and down the streets and around the hotel. It was also interesting to see the different interpretations of Victorian dress. The home made soldiers outfits were definitely interesting. We've decided people just like to dress up and if they can why not, lol.