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by Angela Rocco DeCarlo copyright 2017 Laguna Beach, California, resembles the Italian Amalfi Coast - at least to we Italian Americans. So naturally, we wanted to enjoy it with our four DeCarlo grandchildren, aged 12 to 19. Getting them together was a feat we relished. However, we had to be sure there was something for everyone to enjoy. So we concocted an afternoon itinerary which included diving into the frothy surf,  lunch as Las Brisas, with a quick detour next door to the Laguna Art Museum. Actually, I had read a review of the "Ben Messick: Memories of Los Angeles" exhibit and thought it would be wonderful to see and perfect for our little artist, Serritella. But how to entice the baseball and hockey players, Sam and Andrew,  as well as college girl, Michelle? The genius of our plan included the "Holy Grail" of any Laguna Beach visit - a parking space - with apologies to the illustrious legend. While Laguna is gorgeous, traffic and parking are ugly. So we zeroed in on lunch at an old favorite, Las Brisas restaurant, with its valet parking lot and were perfectly located to do everything easily without lost time or much walking. I really appreciated the front desk ...

By Angela Rocco DeCarlo,copyright, 2011 The Richard Nixon Library and Museum is an intimate facility highly suited to families and children, especially grandparents with young children. It does not overwhelm in size and so is an enticing destination at any time of the year. Every Christmas season we take our grandchildren to enjoy the model train exhibits. Last year there were two rooms of spectacular model train layouts – a densely constructed Lego cityscape with many bridges, buildings and encampments. In the second room was the marvelously imagined tiered landscape with various-sized model trains choo-chooing across a fantasy America dotted with charming towns filled with miniature people. This year’s visit found a smaller, though still interesting, Lego exhibit, which continues until January 28, 2011, with the second room devoted to “Treasures from the Vault:” A collection of valuable gifts given to the Nixon family, but owned by the U.S. government, by many foreign heads of state. The Lego train exhibit is housed in the museum’s lobby all set about with various themed Christmas trees hugging the perimeter of the space. There’s the Presidents’ tree; the First Ladies’ tree; the Asian tree; the USA tree and others. The Lego train curators created a little game with ...