Castles, Cupcakes & The Rainforest

We took Gavin to Castle Park in Irvine today. The kids had a good time while Michelle and I sat in the shade and read our books.

After the park, we googled the route to Gelato Parasido and Sprinkles, two of our favorite treat shops.

After popping home for a second, we headed over to the mall and had dinner at Rainforest Cafe. So fun!

Midnight Eclipse

Can you ever see a good movie too many times? Perhaps, but I was very excited to see Eclipse again. I joined my local TwilightMoms friends for the midnight premiere in our very own rented theater. I helped with goodie bag distribution and raffle ticket sales, and Angie joined to help with raffle prize set up. The movie was awesome the second time around, even if I was a little tired afterward. No review this time because I know I have many friends yet to see the movie. We'll have to discuss in person (squee!).

There were over 200 people in our theater!

Sarah, Me, Mary and Jenny - the original 4 So Cal TMs

My dear friend, Angie, was able to come this time. Yay!

Percy Jackson on DVD

Before leaving for the evening to see Eclipse there were a few things to get done:

#1. Trip to Wal-Mart to obtain newly released Percy Jackson

#2. Quick trip to Payless to get new dance shoes for the girls. Their feet grow so fast!

#3. Another In-N-Out lunch. Michelle and Gavin don't have In-N-Out, so more than one trip is totally justified when they're here.

After I left for Eclipse, Michelle and the kids watched Avatar. They'd been dying to see it, so it was a good night to do that. Thanks for babysitting sis!

Beach & Movie Day

Don't know what's up with the weather here in So Cal, but it's pretty gloomy and cold for the end of June. We needed to have a day at Newport Beach, however, so we went for it. We grabbed Caleb and Sarah and headed to the jetty.

The kids seemed unaware of the chilly wind. Michelle and I were bundled in towels under the umbrella, but the kids were just fine in the water.

After a warm shower and a change of clothes, we headed to The Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner. Then we headed to Color Me Mine where Gavin painted a special bowl. My oldest wasn't fond of me when I decided that it wasn't quite in our budget with all the other things we've been doing. I will pitch in for her therapy when she's an adult.

After painting, we went to see Toy Story 3. What a great movie. I totally cried through the ending. Heather wanted to know why she's heard about the adults crying at the end. So I tried to explain to her without crying again. That wasn't easy! If you haven't seen it, it's worth it (although I would get your tickets at Costco and save a few bucks).

Grandpa Goes Home

Since my Dad's release from the hospital on 6/12, he's been relaxing at my house. I think he used a cane for balance on the first and second day, but after that, he began "business as usual". This meant some trips outside to sit, some computer work, a little tinkering with his things and a few naps now and then. Probably more naps than normal, but he was recovering from surgery. He began to drive just a few days after arriving at my house. The first trip was a run to the doctor to check his chest tube sites. I was going to drive him, but he went without me (I was on a field trip). After that, some short driving trips became more common.

A couple of days ago he announced the desire to return home. I'm sure he's been pretty bored around here. When you're active, it's hard to be down. Today was the first chance we had to make the drive to his house in Idyllwild. It's about 2.5 hours from here, the last stretch being pretty curvy. He didn't want to drive that yet as he isn't supposed to be driving for another three weeks or so. Michelle drove his car, and I drove Michelle's (with the DVD player). We made pretty good time.

The trees next to Dad's place

Bow making with found sticks and Grandpa's string

Grandpa watching a relaxing in the sun

Late lunch at an outdoor Mexican restaurant. Yummy!

Lots of photos as we said good-bye. Dad has promised to take care of himself and keep in touch each day. He was happy to be home.

Park Day

The girls and I spent the morning at rehearsal for our 4th of July program. After a late lunch, we headed to Cordata Park to shoot some late afternoon photos. The kids were good sports, and my sister was very artistic with her photos. I love her shadow shots!

Boredom & The Garage

Today the kids announced that they couldn't possibly play outside because it was boring. I kept thinking that there was a garage full of toys that was supplied purposely for their entertainment.

Then I remembered that they probably couldn't get to any of it.

This prompted what I thought would be a short organizing moment to find the toys. It took longer than that, but half the garage looks pretty snazzy now. And all the toys have been located. The poor dears had to deal with the boredom while I rooted around throwing out trash and broken items, and putting everything back in it's proper place. We found one or two fun things. They still claimed boredom, but I was satisfied with organizing all the fun things that have been purchased for their outdoor enjoyment. Whatever did we do before computers and video games???

Beach Day

We headed down to Ruby's today for a late lunch and some beach time. Grandpa was a little tired after walking the pier so he took a rest in the car while the kids played on the beach.

Love the views from the second level!

The waves were coming fast and furious...

but that didn't deter our beach lovers!

Water Leak

After discovering some very wet carpet in my office on Friday evening, we were able to have the insurance company begin the claim process yesterday. When the plumber and adjustor finished their work, Michelle and I emptied the room of the furniture we could and got some help with the heavy desk from a family friend. We then ripped up the carpet and pad. There is still water seeping through the wall, so the plumber will be back out. He claims our shower pan is leaking which is not covered. But since we're not using that shower, and the wall is still seeping, he's coming back to take another look. What a mess. My house smells like mildew and wet wood, and our furniture and office materials are stacked in every room. We are praying for a good outcome. There will be lots of replacing to do with rather large dollar signs. Yikes.

Father's Day???

What happened to Father's Day? Well, we dropped Kelly off at the airport around 10:30 a.m. for his flight to Boston. We went to church at a later time and then relaxed in the afternoon. We knew Aunt Michelle and Gavin were arriving the next evening, so we waited on our presents for Grandpa. I don't think we explained to Grandpa that we were waiting on presents, so I'm sure he was wondering what was up with us! Finally, on Wednesday morning, we presented Grandpa with his gifts. I think he was happy to have the recognition, even if it was a little bit late. We opened gifts right after breakfast.

Grandpa's gifts included an old school copy of Hemmingway's "The Old Man and the Sea". When I saw it, I had to buy it. My dad has mentioned this book several times over the years remembering it as a story he just couldn't put down. It made a strong impression on him as a young man. I loved finding a vintage copy for him.

Later in the day, Aunt Michelle rigged the garden hose to the slide and the kids had fun on the slippery slide.

Jimmy Kimmel & Eclipse

When I posted about our Eclipse move screening, I had an inkling that I should wait until the Kimmel show aired, but I wanted to document/journal it. I knew there would be better pictures after the showed aired, and there were! Here are the pictures that help show what happened.

Taylor, Kristen, Rob and Jimmy on the foresty set

Xavier, Dakota, Peter and Bryce on their way to the theater to surprise us

The theater screen with the trio on it, and the foursome down in front

What we were seeing! Laaaa! We were in the row just behind this grouping of seats you see here. The pictures show what was going on so much better than I could explain. If you missed the Jimmy Kimmel special, you can watch it on the show's website. It was a fun special. I can't wait to see this movie again! If you missed my blog post about it, you can read it here. After watching what happened, my story is a little off. But who can think and remember clearly when they're being surprised in such a manner??

Swimming!

Aunt Michelle and Gavin arrived last night to help take care of Grandpa. Today we were all invited to go swimming at MacKenzie's house. What a treat! Lots of good friends there to hang out with. After we were all tuckered out, we stopped at Yo Yum Yum for some frozen yogurt.