Emmanuels visit day 7

On day seven we we woke up in the morning, and ate some breakfast. We got dressed feeling a little bit sad because we had to take Emmanuel to the airport and he was going back to Ghana. I helped Emmanuel pack up his things and get ready. We were talking and laughing about his trip to Santa Barbara all the way to the airport. We unloaded his things from the car and walked over to the terminal. They announced that his plane was ready to be boarded over the loud speaker. "Thanks for every thing I had great time!" he said as he went out the door to the plane. "Wait!' I called out to him. I ran up to him and handed him a picture of Emmanuel and I standing in front of the Mission. It was in a little gold frame that had the words Santa Barbara engraved in it, "Thank you" he said. We watched him walk over to the plane and as he was walking up the ladder to the plane he looked over his shoulder at us, turned around and waved, and kept walking. We all waved back. THE END

Emmanuel's visit days 5 and 6

Watching the sunset with my family and Emmanuel.

DAY 5.   We had to get up early on day five so we could get back at a good time. We said goodbye and were on the road by seven o'clock. We got back around 12. We went  inside, said hi to my dog and unpacked. We were all pretty tired so we just sat down and rested and read for a bit. Around two we got on our bathing suites so we could go down to the beach. It was really hot outside so when we got in the water it felt great. We had fun there for a while and then we went home so we could get stuff to have dinner on the beach. We went to Lazy Acres to get food and drinks. Then we got out the mini grill that we use for camping and brought some blankets to sit on. We bundled up and went down to the beach with my family for dinner. We grilled chicken and vegetable kabobs. We had passion fruit for dessert and it was great. We watched the sun go down and then headed back home. We all played Scrabble when we got home and had a really good time. We went to bed after that because we were all so tired.  I got in bed and had yet another good nights sleep.

DAY SIX . In the morning we woke up and decided to go to the Paradise Cafe for lunch/breakfast. After that We went over to east beach because the local band False Puppet was performing there and I wanted to show the band to Emmanuel. Emmanuel liked  it and said that he is getting used to American music. We rode our bikes over to Yogurt Land for some dessert. I love  Yogurt Land and I really wanted to take him there and I did. I did a suicide (tons of random flavors). And Emmanuel got raspberry, strawberry, and coconut.  We ate our yogurt and then got back on our bikes and rode back home. When we got home we played with my dog for a while. We ran around and she chased us it was fun. We just hung out at home for an hour or so. Then we all sat down for dinner. We had spaghetti and coliflour for dinner. After dinner Emmanuel was really tired so he just went strait to bed. I wasn't tired yet so I watched TV for a while. Two hours later I crawled in to my nice warm bed, closed my eyes, and went to sleep.

Emmanuel's visit days 3 and 4.

conches a type of pan Dulce

assorted pan Dulce (we had these on day 4)

the snicker doodle cookies I made with Emmanuel

the Golden Gate covered in clouds on day 4

On the third and fourth days of Emanuel's visit we went to San Francisco. My mom and sister where going to run a half marathon in San Francisco. We got up early on the 3rd day and got into the car and drove off to the city. We stopped at a place called Sunrise Coffee and got coffee and scones. A few minutes later we were back on the road. five hours later we where their at Bernal Heights where my cousins live. We had some sandwiches and then went outside to go skateboarding. My cousin Owen and I taught Emmanuel to skate board. We had tons of fun doing it and spent about and hour. It was only about 2 so we decided to hop in the car and drive over to China Town. We walked down the street admiring all the exotic shops and stores. Emmanuel noticed the huge variety of strange stores. "Wow this is amazing" said Emmanuel. We went into a few stores and then went into a restaurant and had "Dim Sum." We were tired because we had driven 6 hours. So we went back to my cousins house. We watched a bit of TV before dinner, and as we were watching Emmanuel said American entertainment is really weird. We understood how Emmanuel could think that. My uncle came and said "time for dinner!" We all hopped up quickly and had a delicious dinner of spaghetti and meatballs. It was so good we all went back for thirds. It was late and we where tired so we decided to go to sleep. It felt so good to crawl under the blankets and close my eyes.DAY 2. When I woke up in the morning my mom and sister had already left for the race. I got up and went over to my cousins room where he was watching domino effect videos on You Tube. We watched videos until Emmanuel woke up. My dad told us to get dressed so we could go get pan Dulce (Mexican pastries). Emmanuel and I both got conches (Mexican sweet bread with Cinnamon and sugar on top). We bought the pastries and some milk and walked over to the park to eat. We had a great little breakfast and then got in the car to go pick up my sister and mom. When we got there we saw tons and tons of people running through the finish line. There were free drinks and and "peasant pies" for the runners. We all drove 20 minutes or so to a restaurant called Beach Chalet                                                                                                                                             
. we had a reservation for eleven forty five. Emmanuel and my cousins climbed trees for a while because our reservation wasn't for at least 15 minutes. Then we went up to the restaurant and sat down. Our table had a great view of the beach and ocean. I ordered and omelet with chirizo and cheese, and Emmanuel got Eggs Benedict. When we got our food Emmanuel took his first bite and all he said was "wow". He loved it! "I've never had this before" he said. "But I love it". We left the restaurant with full stomachs and happy faces. We got in the car and started to drive back to my cousins house. "Owwww" I said 'My stomach hurts" "Mine does too" replied Emmanuel. "It was worth it though" we all said. When we got back home we  all took naps because we were all tired after eating brunch. I woke up a few hours later to the pleasant sound of birds chirping. It was already 3 but that wasn't going to stop us from having more fun today. We wanted to squeeze all that we could out of the day. We decided to look up a recipe for snicker dooddle cookies and make a batch or two. We spent some time fooling around and making the cookies. We popped them into the oven and went into the living room to draw while we waited. Emmanuel drew an amazing drawing of a forest filled with trees and animals. It had birds in the background and the sun shining bright. It felt like I was in the drawing because of the detail and color that he used. "That's amazing" I said. "Thanks' "My mother taught me how to draw pictures like these before she passed away." Just then the timer went off for the cookies and we ran to the kitchen and took the tray of hot cookies out of the oven. They smelled terrific. They tasted that way as well. We put a cloth over the cookies to save them for later. We decided to go on a sunset bike ride around golden gate park. We all piled in the car and drove over there. As we where driving over the Golden Gate Bridge Emmanuel just froze and stopped talking. He was just sitting there like he was hypnotized. Then he suddenly just said "That is AMAZING!" We were above all the clouds and fog it was amazing. It looked like the whole rest of the world was coated in a blanket of clouds. We were all quiet for a while just admiring the view. Then we unloaded the bikes and got on went for the ride. About an hour later we were done with our ride and we drove back home. We made tacos when we got home. I had 11 and Emmanuel had 16! We watched a little surfing movie and then got in bed. As I was lying in bed I was thinking about how fun the day was and how lucky I was and I just drifted off to sleep.

Emmanuels visit day two

On the second day of Emanuel's visit we got a little bit of a late start on the day because we were both tired so we ended up sleeping in until around nine fifteen. We had a late breakfast of pancakes and fruit and then we got a start on the day. We excitedly got on our bathing suites, grabbed towels and some sandwiches, got two surf boards, and went off to the beach at the end of my street. It was about twelve thirty when we got there so we still had almost a whole day. First thing we got the boards and went in the water. I taught him how to surf even though I wasn't very good myself. We had fun fooling around on the boards for about an hour and caught a few decent waves. Then we made a really cool sand castle that we worked on for over two hours! Emmanuel and I stood back admire our work. "Wow!" he said "it looks great!" "It sure does" I say. We sat down and ate a bit of a late lunch. After lunch we jumped back in the water for a bit and then went home. We had spent a long time at the beach and it was almost five already. We didn't quite know what to do and my mom suggests we go to the Japanese restaurant Ichiban. We went and had a GREAT time. When we got back home Emmanuel said "That was great food!" We all agreed enthusiastically. It wasn't to late so we all played a game of sorry. "I have never played this game before" said Emmanuel."I'll teach you" I say. Emmanuel beat all of us and he had a great time. When we were finished he said "I want to play this game again some other time". I said we could. Then we all went to bed and had  another well deserved nights sleep.

Emmanuel's visit day 1.

Bells at the Santa Barbara Mission

On the first day of Emmanuel's visit I took him to the Mission. We got up early one morning and drove over to Starbucks and we each got dark roasts. As we were sitting drinking our coffee Emmanuel said "So Brian what do you think we should do today?" and I said "I don't know did you have anything in mind? And then he said "Well when I was at the  airport and I was about to be picked up I saw a postcard that said that there is a Mission in Santa Barbara. "I think it would be fun to go there." "Alright I said" and we finished our coffees and drove off to the Mission. When we got there Emmanuel said "Wow, look at all those bells and stone carvings!" We got out of the car and admired the Mission for a bit. Then we paid 6 dollars for the tour (my ticket was 1 dollar and Emmanuel's  was 5). Forty minutes later we were done with the tour and decided to drive over to Ben and Jerry's to get some ice cream. I got cookies and cream and Emmanuel got raspberry and Cherry Garcia. After that we checked out a few stores and it was starting to get a little bit late. We decided to get back to the car and go home. On our way back we stopped at Trader Joe's to get some chicken for dinner. When we got home we helped my dad make chicken with lemon and caper  sauce. It was almost the same as the chicken Marco makes sometimes on the SBMS trips. We sat down with my family and had a nice dinner. When we were finished with dinner we all helped to clean up the kitchen. Then we went into the tv room and watched the movie Rudy. After we were finished it was  around ten thirty so we brushed are teeth, got in our beds, and had a good long sleep after a fun exhausting day.