Went to bed last night with a headache and had it all night, thus not much sleep was had. I probably slept more than I think I did, but I did wake up 3 or 4 times until I got up and took an Aleve (free advertisement) something for my headache. We were up before 5:00 to get ready to leave by 6:30. I am sure all this can be attributed to how excited I am to be going to Temecula, California to see my nephew, Tommy DeRusha and his family (he has a son I have never seen--pictures will be coming) and my niece, Tammy Circeo and her two youngest, from Washington. I haven't seen them in over 13 years, either. Tommy and Tammy are two of my only brother's five children.
We took I-8 west. This was my first time to see Yuma and the sand dunes. 
That was amazing. People just boondock right out in the middle of nowhere to be able to ATV all over these dunes. That little black speck top left on is an ATV.
That's the Colorado River. Looks out of place out there in the dunes.
The drive over was great! Tommy had suggested that we take the California S2 at Ocotillo off I-8 so we did being the adventuresome pair that we are. Ocotillo is appropriately named and they were all in bloom!
Just like the Organ Pipe cactus National Park and the Saguaro National Forest, there were thousands of Ocotillo in the thousands of acres surrounding the town of Ocotillo. I loved the S2. 
Here's a view from a scenic turnout on the S2 north of Ocotillo.
The desert valley and desert mountain scenes were beautiful and then suddenly.....GREEN!!
Lush green pastures. We are getting closer to Temecula, our destination. There are fields and hills of yellow flowers. This picture reminded me of that commercial about "contented cows are in California."
Sharon Peterson, this picture is for you (and me). Temecula is a huge equestrian community. 
And now we are in Temecula and my sweet husband stopped so I co uld take a picture of these Clydesdales. I've lost my touch.. I couldn't get them to come to the fence where we were.
We checked into the Rodeway Inn in 
Old Town Temecula and then we walked downtown Old Town while we waited for our relatives to get home from L.A. and Ben's baseball game. The buildings and the landscaping was very pretty. 
We had and ice cream cone 
and visited the Olive Bar.
The flowers were everywhere and so pretty! You know me and flowers.
And, oh yes, TREES!
Finally, the family is back in town so we head over to Tommy's house to see everyone. Camera in hand, I have to snap a picture before I even hug my niece for the first time in over 13 years. Tammy is a site for my sore eyes! In the way of introduction, she's my favorite niece, my only brother's only daughter. (Don's sister has no daughters, so I'm still safe in calling her my favorite... she's my ONLY).
Adorable 'blue eyes' is Tommy's son, Jacob. This is the first time I've seen him and he's just turned two. Put yourself in his little sandals and imagine what he must have been thinking about this crazy lady always in his face trying to take a picture. At the moment, he had no interest in "cheese." He was just beginning to warm up to us when we had to leave.
We piled in our cars and headed for Pat & Oscar's for dinner. P & O's is by a manmade pond with lots of ducks and fountains... really pretty. And the food was good, too. We ate on the glass-enclosed patio so we could watch the ducks swim and the sun set.
Tammy and I at the dinner table.
After a visit for a while, we headed for our respective beds so we could get up early the next morning and head to L.A. for Ben's last game. Everyone else had already seen him play, so only Don, Tammy and I set out in the morning traffic, via Starbuck's, of course. It's early! Just a little after 7:00 AM.
Ben is a very "salty" (quoting Don) baseball player. Here, he rips it to center field
as proud great-aunt and mom watch on.
Ben's team won and we headed for his hotel to get his "stuff." Let me insert here that Gabby Gertie Garmin did a great job getting us straight to the ball park and hotel. OK, want to see a picture of my really cute 15 year old great nephew? Well, you should.
Nice, huh? Where's my Tide Stick???? Cute shot of Don and his new niece (favorite, even) and Tammy and her new uncle. 
From the hotel, we went next door to Fuddrucker's for a delicious hamburger. Ben called Tommy's wife, Erin. Ben: "Can you please have 3 mountain dews and a monster in my dressing room?" Erin: "Uhhh...." click! (lol - she hung up on him!) 
Back in the pickup and headed for Temecula, Tammy talks to hubby, Ken or maybe it was sis-in-law Erin as they made plans for us to spend the afternoon at Oceanside and the BEACH!!
YESSSSS! There's the water!
Here it?!! Don LOVES this!
Jacob couldn't wait to get his dump truck in the sand.
See the beautiful ocean, Jake?
Well, we played in the ice cold water 
and walked on the beach
and picked up pretty smooth stones. Played ball with Jacob, walked to the pier 
and took lots of pictures.
(excuse the wrong date on the pictures; had to change batteries and didn't reset date)
Now, Jake is really happy because he loves big NEX-KAH-VA-TORS! That gorgeous little lady beside Jake is his big sis, Ashleigh. She had a great time at the beach, too. 
Here's Ashleigh with a lantana bloom and a shell that she gave me. You're loving those eyes, aren't you?
And this dreamy doll is Alyson, Tammy's beautiful and talented youngest. I won't say, "baby," because she is now a teenager. This is the great niece that I had never seen until this trip. You can imagine my emotion the first time I saw her, yesterday. I really wanted her to like me, so I respected her space and didn't bug her about pictures too much. Aly is 13 and taller than her mom with gorgeous long legs. She's a sweety.
As the sunset sets behind a cloud bank, we load up to leave.
More pretty flowers as we walk to the truck.
Back at Tommy's we enjoyed pizza and WONDERFUL homemade guacamole by Tommy. We had purchased 30 avocados for $3.00 from a roadside vendor. (Avocados are a local fresh fare.)
Because Don and I were leaving the next morning, we said our goodbyes and headed back to the Rodeway Inn. It was a wonderful two days and went way too fast, but I am so grateful to have had this time with Tammy, Ben, Alyson, Tommy, Erin, Ashleigh and Jakey.
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