With my kids' spring break coming up, we were not sure if we would be able to make time to go somewhere. We ended up taking an informal trip to Los Angeles and combined business and pleasure. We were so glad L.A. is only a five and half hour drive.


We were excited to meet a dear friend, Matt Daigle who just released a book, “That Deaf Guy book.” We have been following his hilarious comic strip. You gotta check it out … and you’ll also fall in love with Matt's ‘Laugh-at-Life’ humor!

Robert Arnold, another author was also there. He also has a new “si5s/ ASL Writing” textbook - http://www.si5s.org. Can you imagine how fascinating it was to be around the authors during dinner time? Note: During on our return trip home to San Francisco, we were surprised to see Mozzeria appear in Matt's comic strip. Aww, thank you, Matt!

Credit: http://www.thatdeafguy.com/?p=480

Credit: KODAWest

While in Los Angeles, my family joined a dear friend, Dyan doing a storytelling session in ASL at Barnes and Noble as part of KODA West (Kids of Deaf Adults) event. Our daughter, Taysia had attended the KODA West camp last summer and loved every minute of it. She plans to return again next summer, this time with her brother, Rylan who will attend for the first time. Well, we sort of twisted Rylan's arm into attending the summer camp. :) http://www.kodawest.org

We also got to visit our friend Jonathan Weiss’s new cafe in Playa Vista. Big Mango Cafe opened seven months ago. We enjoyed having lunch. If you happen to be in the area, you may want to swing by! Big Mango also does catering locally. http://bigmangocatering.com

We also met with the president of Vera Pizza Napoletana's U.S. Chapter (http://www.pizzanapoletana.org/index_eng.php) to discuss the VPN certification process. We visited VPN’s school in Marina del Rey and had fun comparing notes with Peppe, the president, who owns a pizzeria in Pasadena.

We were able to squeeze some family time in between. We had a wonderful time biking on the beach as the weather was perfect; not too hot nor too cold! We had only one complaint that four days in LA was still not enough.

We returned from our trip reenergized and excited about prospects, ideas and plans for the future! It was great visiting our friends, family and acquaintances while in LA area, we were glad to see them and thank them for their great hospitality!