Keeping the kids busy

 So it seems that I have misplaced and probably lost my camera, which I am more bummed about because I lost all the pictures and videos I took over the weekend than the camera itself.  The camera was at least a few years old and the battery was always needing to be recharged; my camera phone is more useful these days anyways.  I will still try to do my best to post without it and use what pictures I do have, but it just won't be the same.  :(

 Saturday morning, bright and early, we dropped Trung off at the airport for his trip to Houston to take care of our rental property.  Then we headed straight to The Beachcomber Cafe for a 7:45 AM breakfast.  Afterwards, we picked up some Lee's sandwiches and visited Stehly's Farm in Valley Center.  There really wasn't much to do there, just a trailer ride around the farm, but the kids were content with just playing on the playground.  Then we stopped by Yogurtland to redeem our free yogurts before ending up at Robin and Sabrina's house in San Diego.

It's been awhile since we've all actually hung out, usually we switch amusement park passes and go our separate ways.  This time though, the kids had plenty of time to play their usual dress-up games and what nots, while Sabrina and I caught up.  We even joined them for church the next morning!

 Beachcomber Cafe, babes, and the beach

 The owner of Farm Fresh to You giving his spiel

 Totally dirty from the farm, but totally happy from the free fro-yo

 All smiles after service at Harbor Church

Brian again

Two weeks I posted about meeting Madeline Stowe at Caffe Luxxe and raved about how nice she was.  This time I have to rant about how nice her husband Brian Benben is.  Susan and I met at Caffe Luxxe again after school today and Brian was there again with his group of friends.  I wasn't as distracted since his wife wasn't there, but being around a celebrity always makes me a bit giddy.  Susan had to leave earlier this meeting, so after she left, I took Sophie to the restroom.  Brian was seated right at the "intersection", I brought myself to go over to him and say "hi" and tell him I like his work in Private Practice. Wow, such a nice guy, just as nice as his wife if not more so! Struck up a conversation with me, asking me where I was from, where I live, if I was an actress!  He owned a ranch in Fredericksburg, so we talked about Texas and the current UT campus evacuations.  Looking forward to "bumping" into him again!

Brian Benben, deep in conversation

Folk songs at the library.  Sophie walked Tai over to sit with Cady.

Heat wave

 One night several weeks ago, I was going through all the Barnes and Noble events list and came across a book signing for Miami Heat's Dwayne Wade.  Trung was actually interested in going, which is rare, so I put it in my calender.  So in order to meet Dwayne, you have to buy his new book, get a wristband the day of the signing, and then wait in line to get the book signed.  That's not really a big deal, but the signing is at The Grove's B & N, which means major traffic.  Somehow we made it work and we both got to meet Dwayne and even talk to him very briefly.

 The "stand-by" line behind me

 Dwayne heading to the bathroom

 

 From a distance

 Right up front

They kept the line going, so more people could meet Dwayne, so all my pictures are blurry.  Trung was really happy though that Dwayne looked him right in the face and shook his hand.

Double Down

 A couple years ago, I saw a flyer at a friend's house with a snapshot of her son with a talent agency's information.  She told me all about it, but I didn't really think much of it.  Well, a couple months ago, someone called Sophie "a little actress" and it got me thinking about that talent agency again.  Basically, the agency e-mails all the "clients" casting opportunities, and if you fit the criteria, you might get an audition.  Lydia went to her first commercial audition tonight and she actually liked the actual audition, despite the long wait.  I just plan on doing it for fun, and hopefully one of these days, the kids will be in some kind of commercial or something.  I figure, we live in LA, we might as well take advantage of it, right?

 Lydia's snapshot, courtesy of Knotting Hill Photography

 Practicing her smile during our hour and a half wait

 The commercial is a tech/electronics one

 All the important dates

SUPing

Snow and I purchased a deal for stand up paddling (SUP) awhile back and we finally decided to do it today.  It was pretty fun and really was a work-out.  This was my first time trying it, and I lost my balance on the way out into the ocean, but otherwise, I managed to paddle a mile out from the beach and even rode a wave back.  I don't think this will be a regular thing though since the wave movement made me nauseous, but it was definitely a cool experience.

Learning time

Lydia discovered that she loves boogie boarding

Our group

Like father, like daughter

Catching a wave

St. Anne's Carnival

 Today after school, we went to St. Anne's chuch for their annual carnival.  We went last year too and though the games were quite simple, the kids all had a good time.  The games this year were pretty much the same, but with the time it took to decide on a game and a prize, a good 1.5 hours was spent.  As an opening day special, hot dogs and tacos were only $1, so I spent only $10.50 for two hours of fun and food.  Nice!  

 

 Lydia managed to pop two balloons

 Sophie got the highest prize, maybe I should put on Wheel of Fortune

  No one ended up playing this "game", but it was interesting to watch people fish for ducks

The best corn on the cob ever!  Topped with mayo, cheese, and paprika (I think).  Messy, but yummy.

Lydia's 6th birthday

 We started off Lydia's birthday with a doctor's appointment.  I know, I know, on her birthday!?!  Apparently our regular pediatrician has only morning appointments ever since she got back from maternity leave, and the only day Lydia doesn't have school is on late start Wednesdays at 10.  Everything went well; Lydia was happy that she didn't need any shots and did just fine with the flu mist vaccination.  Since we were already there, I figured Sophie should just get her flu vaccination as well, which she did not expect at all, so she wasn't too happy about that.  One bad thing about KP is that they don't have a Santa Monica location, and the closest pediatric department is in LA.  So, of course, we were late taking Lydia to school, but she immediately had classmates wishing her a happy birthday as she walked into the classroom.  

At pick-up, I had a birthday balloon waiting for Lydia and then we walked over to pick op her favorite cake, Red Velvet with chocolate chips, from Nothing But Bundt.  For dinner, we went to Benihana.  It was the girls' first time and they were well entertained, which can always be gauged by how many times they ask for our phone or by the phrase "I want to do something".   Then Lydia received one final gift (after several from the days before) at home to top off her birthday.

 

 Teppanyaki time

 Mickey Mouse made out of chicken fried rice

 We actually got an Asian chef!

 Lydia gets all shy when she gets too much attention

Lydia's birthday week begins

We started off Lydia's birthday with a trip to Disneyland.  This visit was different than all the rest because Trung (well, mainly me) and I actually got to ride on the "big" rides, the ones that the kids are to short for.  The girls like to do non-ride stuff, like playing with all the toys at the gift shops, so we finally let them as we took turns riding the Indiana Jones ride.  Surprisingly, the girls were able to go on Star Tours and Thunder Mountain since Sophie just made the cut, and we discovered that Lydia truly is a thrill seeker.  We've known from the past that she likes roller coasters, and these bigger rides didn't scare her one bit.  Sophie likes the rides at first but gets scared halfway through.  I also went on Space Mountain and Matterhorn Bobsleds while Trung watched the kids; he had a minor head injury the day before at the beach and didn't want to move his neck too much so he didn't mind skipping those rides.

A practically empty Disneyland as we took advantage of our early admission, arriving around 7:20.

The Autotopia cars weren't even ready for us yet

Sophie can barely see over the dashboard, but apparently Trung's driving isn't much better because he bumped us, intentionally, of course.

Vidia, the fairy with the 'tude

Tinkerbell spent a good deal of time chatting with the girls

The girls got to meet the newest Disney princess, Merida, and her little brothers

Lydia tried her hand at archery

The closest resemblance of Jasmine that we've seen

Sleeping Beauty "from Lydia's shirt"

Still Sophie's favorite princess

The Evil Queen was totally in character

Watching mountain climbers on Matterhorn

The volcano dessert from Rainforest Cafe

Mike and Minji met us for dinner at Downtown Disney to celebrate Lydia's birthday

On the beach with John

 John deserved a little break from working so hard, so we all hit the beach

 Lydia and Sophie with their new buddy

 Getting sandy

I call this photo "girls on a beach"

Sophie's trail

Here comes the water

Santa Monica Family Portraits

 Our Austin friend and photographer John came into town late Friday night to spend a few days visiting friends and shooting family portraits.  We had our session at sunset today and saw a part of Santa Monica that we had never seen before.  What a memorable experience!

 At courtyard on the way to the pier

 Getting dipped

 

 I never knew it was so cool under the pier

 Pure joy

 Love them!

 He still adores me.  :)

 Doing the twist

 Staring off into the distance

Fun and loving Dad