It's hard to believe summer is already half over! Just three more weeks before the kids begin school again. It's been difficult with all of them at home but at least we'll get a short break in the morning when the kids are back in school (Jad will get out at 1130a and come home for lunch from TK). Let's see what exciting things happened over the last couple weeks..
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Kai finally got to make parmesan meatballs..
they were ok, not salty enough and a bit dense :) |
We've been missing out neighbors because, of the five main families, at least one or two have been missing or out of town for summer vacations. But we still try to get together and play in the street whenever we can. The new neighbors are a welcome addition as well!
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| Dinner outside and running in the streets |
We went back for a visit to the creek. It's amazing how quickly the kids can catch the little fry that are in the pond.
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| I don't think I caught any :p |
Our big event the last couple weeks was our road trip down to LA/OC. It was a short trip but now that the kids are older, driving wasn't too hard with them. We listened to audiobooks and Sing2 music and the kids did very well. We only had one emergency pee break where I had to pull over :) We drove down early on Thursday morning and got down to LA by about 4pm. Brian was very gracious and let us stay with him again and we got to see Sue and Ophelia for dinner that night (ordered way too much Versailles :)
The big draw for going down was Universal Studios Hollywood and Harry Potter land over there. Kai and Sora have gotten into reading the books so they were excited about going. Janet, our neighbor, even lent us her "magic" wand which can do various tricks around the Wizarding World area.
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| Citywalk.. I haven't been for at least 20 years |
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| Make it early to the Harry Potter Area! |
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I'm not quite sure what this split stone is
but it must be important because it took up a big area |
The big rides in the area were the Forbidden Journey and Ride of the Hippogriff. Kai didn't want to go on Forbidden Journey because Sora wasn't tall enough to go yet and they don't like roller coasters yet so Hippogriff was off as well. We did walk through the line for Forbidden Journey, which took us through the castle and saw a lot of cool themes from the books and movies. Amy and I actually went on the ride (separately as one had to stay with the kids) and it was actually scarier than I thought it would be. Not sure if Kai and Sora will be ready for it by next year.
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| Amy on the ride |
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After we went over to Ollivander's to check out their wands.
I got to be part of the wand demonstrations! |
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| Also ate lunch at the Three Broomsticks |
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| Turkey leg.. nary a vegetable in sight |
We also hit the other rides in the area but the kids were almost more excited about the Nintendo Land that's opening in early 2023 than anything else in the park. We did end up getting a season pass and will be back next year!
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Jurrasic World ride.. pretty fun with
a steep drop a the end |
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| Kids didn't want to be in the picture with their silly parents |
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Waiting in line for the Despicable Me ride, which turned
out to be the kids' favorite |
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Brian braved the crosstown LA traffic and came to join
us for the afternoon. |
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Earthquake!!! The Studio tour was a lot of fun
and much improved from what I remember from years ago |
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| The water effects were pretty impressive |
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After 11 hours at the park, the kids were exhausted..
Sora sleeping with her new owl, Honeydew |
On Saturday, Amy and Brian went out for a run with Anne and then we all had pastry brunch afterwards (along with leftovers from Versailles). Then we drove down to OC to visit with Sabrina and Theresas' families. Josephine was out because of COVID. It was really nice to see everyone and fun to catch up. Kari is so big now. Hard to believe we held her as a baby and she's almost taller than me now.
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| Brooks sponsored event.. got some free swag! |
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| Quick stop for a hike at El Dorado Nature Park |
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| Saw some turtles! |
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UCLA girls reunion.. one of these days, we'll
actually get a full house |
After dinner, we went to stay with Matt and Nicole. They are doing well and we were glad we could visit. We slept in the living room on their floor. I'm glad we can still do that as a family :)
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| Matt and Nicole's apartment |
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Matt and Amy went running on Sunday morning
again.. runners, sheesh! |
On Sunday, we went to Matt and Nicole's church, Net-works in Laguna Beach. A small church, mostly adults, very friendly, seems like they found a good place to be. After church, we had a quick lunch and then drove back home. After 7 hours, we made it home at about 830p, safe and sound. All in all a good trip, if short. We didn't get to see as many friends as we would have liked but we'll be back in a few months!
Lastly, I'll leave you with Kai and the rubik's cube. He's gotten quite good at it and was practicing on the drive down and up. He can solve a cube in 5 minutes now and is working on getting faster. I can do the first two steps :p Amy can solve it as well but she needs to practice to compete with Kai :)
