On Saturday, we went on a cruise to Catalina aboard the USS Lane Victory.  This is an old WWII era cargo ship that has been restored and sails just three times a year.

Below from the right are Doc, Dave and Witold.

Below are the 50mm guns used to protect the ship.

The tour included an airplane simulated battle.

Here is one of the fire boats putting on a show.

Here is our whole group back at the San Pedro docks.

On Sunday, we went to brunch in Laguna beach.  Two of the other guys joined us… Paul on the right in aqua and Steve with the hat.

We hit the beach for a while and then hit the Festival of Arts and the Pageant of the Masters.

Busy weekend and great to see everyone.

Here is the lovely bride and groom, Julie and Henry. The wedding ceremony took place at Greystone Gardens in Beverly Hills. What a great location for the ceremony.  The rain even cooperated and held off for the afternoon. The young couple were both beaming and looked truly happy.

Finally, here we are again in the gardens with the city of LA in the background.

Congrats to Henry and Julie.

About an hour before the fireworks started, the field filled up.

I took about 20 shots of the fireworks and only one came out pretty good!

Here we are at the start of the hike. You have to read to the end to see why it is called the Subway!

The entire hike is along an ancient riverbed with steep canyons along each side. We saw some dinosaur tracks part way thru the hike.

Here are Doug and I getting our feet wet.

Here is a picture of one of the sandstone overhangs.

Finally, here is the Subway. This water carved formation extends for about a 1/4 mile and dead ends in a deep pool of water that requires rapelling gear to continue.

This is the end of the trail for us!

Here is Doug climbing through the canyon.

And one last look at the awesome Subway!

After that, it is another 5 mile hike back to the top of the canyon.

Our good friend Mohan sponsored a table and we all got to enjoy a night out and a fabulous dinner cooked specially for our table from the master chef at Tabu Grill in Laguna Beach.

Here are some pictures from the evening.

Here we are in our front yard before heading out for the evening.

Here are Mohan and Prachee.

This is the master chef with his sous chef preparing the meal at our table. We were treated to a sumptuous 5 course meal complete with a full complement of wine, cheese, and dessert.

Check out his interview below.

http://www.cnbc.com

When the rest of us were in college partying, he was up studying or working. His only vices were cars and speeding. He had a Haulin’ Ass poster taped to his door proudly displayed with a collection of speeding tickets! Other than that, this guy was always very studious, one of the smartest kids in class and destined to be successful. Good luck Nabby!

Vaishali, Shahid and their baby daughter Aleena and a couple of their friends stayed for one night.

The baby on the left is Aleena and the one on the right is Jayla (a friend of Vaishali’s).

Here is Aleena, Vaishali and Anjali.

(click on the pic to see the whole thing)

At midnight they went out and banged on some pots and pans to bring in the new year and wake up all the neighbors!

Here is Miss Annika with her friend Emma.

Here are Vikram and Nikhil with their friends Jordan and Andrew proudly displaying their gift cards to Target!

Here is the whole gang of kids!

Last but not least, here I am with the one thing I wish for Christmas!

We made homemade pizza and had White Peach sangria for dinner.

The beach is about 20 minutes from our house and the waves are perfect for their favorite activity “Boogey boarding”. This is almost like surfing except with a foam board that is easier to learn!

This is Nikhil above Boogey Boarding.

Below is Vikram:

This is Annika after she caught a big wave that took her underwater!

After the graduation ceremonies, we went to The Melting Pot for dinner.

Congratulations to Ayushee!