Mom's Funeral Information

Viewing: Friday, Oct. 2, 2009 4pm - 8pm
1316 Whittier Blvd. Montebello, CA

Funeral: Saturday, Oct. 3, 2009 11:30 am
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Passons Ward
6203 Passons Blvd. Pico Rivera, CA 90660

Burial: Saturday, Oct. 3, 2009 2:00 pm
Rose Hills - Gate 1 - Garden of Rest
3888 Workman Mill Rd. Whittier, CA

Billie Mae Ridge Wanlass

Mom passed away this morning!

The Bellagio Botanical Gardens

If you've ever stopped at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas than you probably know about the Botanical Gardens. They change it every season and it's always wonderful.
We liked this lady bug and the snail. We didn't get a picture of the snail.

Eddie really liked the watering cans! They were very cool.

They had birds this time too! They were beautiful.

Very vibrant colors!

The bears were so cute!

It reminds me of the ZCMI windows at Christmas....just bigger and not just Christmas themes!

The huge ferris wheel was beautiful with all the sunflowers!

So sunny!

It's a fun thing to see if you're ever in Vegas with time to kill.

When you don't drink or gamble...you have to find something to do!

So pretty! Everything is a living growing thing. They were exchanging some of the flowers and plants when we were there, so it always looks great!

The balloons were cool too!

Next time you're in Vegas or just passing through, stop and check it out!

Eddie's Birthday

For Eddie's birthday, August 28th, we went to Vegas!

We started at the Las Vegas Temple with a session and lunch!!! I think the Celestial Room in Vegas is our favorite. The white, silver and crystals is just the best!

Great rolls at the Las Vegas Temple!!!
We woke up the morning of his birthday and took the Monarail to the Venetian!

I love this hotel. It's so cool how they made it look like you're actually outside in Venice!
This is St. Mark's Square. The night before his birthday there was a Trio playing and singing in the square. This is a right turn off of St. Mark's Square. It is where the gondolas are!

We wanted to be first for the Gondolas so we went really early. We got to check out the hotel next door that is attached to the Grand Canal Shopping Area.

This is the view of the Palazzo Hotel from the Venetian. We went down the escalators to take a better look and more pictures.

It was so cool! I'd never been in this hotel before! I didn't even know the waterfall was there until we went downstairs!!!
This is our gondolier! She was wonderful! She had the most beautiful voice! She sang us an Italian love song and then she sang Happy Birthday to Eddie in Italian!

A photo back by St. Mark's Square.

They have living statues through-out the day in St. Mark's Square. I took a picture of her and then she beckoned Eddie to be in the picture with her. So cool!

Eddie couldn't resist picking the Travelocity Gnomes nose!

We took pictures of the paintings on the ceiling too. But after uploading them to the computer we realized that there were a lot of naked men in the paintings and Eddie didn't want them on the blog!

For lunch I took Eddie to the Nascar Cafe at the Sahara hotel. We stayed at the Las Vegas Hilton because they gave us a great deal and we get points too!!! We were able to take the monorail to several places, so we didn't have to drive!!!
The Nascar Cafe wasn't everything I had hoped it would be, but their sandwiches were huge!!! This is the Monster BLT I had!!!

Of course we took pictures of the NasCARS on display!

Of course...Senior's!

We ended his birthday at Leatherby's! We couldn't believe with all our trips through Vegas we never knew there was a Leatherby's in town....and right around the corner from the Hilton on Sahara!!! We got our favorite Hot Fudge sundae!!! We love their homemade Hot Fudge sauce.

It was a great trip and a needed break and I think he had a pretty great birthday!

Chocolate!!!

Jean Phillipe

Patisserie

at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas!
The world's largest chocolate fountain! It's glass enclosed and two stories high (at least!)
It's like something out of Willy Wonka!

Augustus Gloop would love this!

It's a site to behold! Delicious!

Strange So. Cal. Adventure

So yesterday when I was leaving the Nursing Center, (about 6:30 p.m.) I see this big, ugly, black smoke. Looks like it's in the El Monte area. I get home and wait for Eddie to return and then we go look for the fire. One of Eddie's favorite past-times is to find fires and police activity. If he hears the helicopters over head he's a very excited boy and wants to go see what's going on.

So we found the fire last night, but they already had things blocked off. Bummer!

So this morning at 6:30 a.m. we bounded out of bed to go see the remnants of the fire. It was a brick building in an industrial section off of Rush and Merced. Employees were getting to work and just standing around looking pretty amazed!

That was our first adventure of the morning!

Before you hear our second! I must give you a little background. In less than 2 weeks, my sister is coming to town to give us a break. We are planning a STAY-CATION! So we've been looking up things to do around Southern California. I find the strangest websites! Anyway, on one of the strange websites I found we found a bunch of "Hollywood" stuff. Where the stars live, died and our buried, etc. http://www.seeing-stars.com/ is the website I believe. So this morning after our adventure to El Monte...we decided to go to Alhambra and visit the Pyrenees Castle.

Who puts a Castle in Alhambra????

Sylvester Dupuy in 1926.

He always wanted to build a beautiful chateau like the one he grew up admiring in

Southern France.

As it looks today!

Of course, if you live in Southern California you probably know that this is Phil Spector's castle and that he no longer lives here. He is enjoying his 3 hots and a cot in prison for shooting Lana Clarkson at this estate!!!!
It's so bizarre that this gorgeous house is on a hilltop right off of Valley Blvd. You can actually see the top of it from Valley Blvd. From Parkview Dr. as you drive around the neighborhood you get a better look at it too. The high walls and surrounding trees pretty much keep it hidden from up close and personal glances! It also has a gate and private road to actually get to the house itself. We forgot to take our camera so I found these pictures on line! The photo from 1926 was before all the houses in the neighborhood showed up. It's a very residential part of town. Phil Spector said, "I've bought myself a beautiful and enchanting castle in a hick town where there is no where to go that you shouldn't." I guess he was never his own guest!!!!

So this begins the odd places we plan to visit and blog about while we are still living in California. If this is any indication of our adventures...expect the bizarre!

Escape!

A Little Light-Hearted

So with my crazy schedule as of late, I haven't been able to watch most of my favorite TV shows! One of which is Top Chef. I've only been able to see some random bits and pieces. My favorite chef so far is Kevin Gillespie!

He is my favorite so far because I smile everytime he's on camera! Why you ask? Because he reminds me ofHeat Miser!!

It cracks me up everytime I see him!

I have to sing.."I'm Mr. Green Christmas, I'm Mr. Sun...."

Maybe he's Son of Heat Miser?!!!!!