Malifornia

Day 20 - Monday, July 23

Legoland!

We are so thankful for Rena's generosity in sharing her free Legoland passes with us.  We got to go to all three Legoland parks.  It was a wonderful, easy going day.

Reuben was old enough to drive a car...

Peter was old enough to drive a car...

And Charlie was old enough to sit in a stationary car.

Which was plenty thrilling for him.

Five is kind of an awkward number of people to go to a theme park.

You know, it's usually two to a seat and adults need to pair up with the children.

But, at Legoland it was perfect.

Peter was tall enough to ride by himself...

And then Paul and I could partner up with a Reuben...

...or a Charlie.

Cars, helicopters, planes, and now boats.

Charlie was barely tall enough to ride.

As in, we had to help him stand up straight under the height bar to convince the high school worker that Charlie was indeed 34 inches tall.

Peter and Reuben got to ride this one without us.

I originally got on this water-splashed boat,

but then I saw that they could ride alone, so I hopped off.

It was too late.  The seat of my pants was already wet.

But it could have been worse.

Here's Paul aiming a water gun at them.

Can you see them?

It wasn't hot enough to be comfortably wet, in my book.

 I need at least 85 degrees and no wind.

Lego Darth

Thanks to Granny for the stroller that allowed Charlie to sleep about two hours.

Charlie woke up just in time to go on this laser shooting ride.

Peter reported that Charlie hit 60 targets.

Peter hit over 500.

Funny guys.

Here's the water park.

It was cute and fun.

But still too cold for Paul and I to get in.

The boys were too excited to care.

Back to the main park for some brotherly team work.

Peter was disappointed that Reuben didn't want to go all the way to the top.

He looks a bit concerned here.

Then to the aquarium, which seemed a little random to have at Legoland.

But it was nice.

They had a great big tank with sharks and rays that was super neat.

Does a day at Legoland count as a school day?

Absolutely.

Science, PE, geography, art, driver's ed.

And there was that show about fire safety...

"You put the wet stuff on the hot stuff!"

The last attraction we participated in was a 4-D movie.

Thus the glasses.

Splendid day.  Not worth $400.

But if you know someone who knows someone,

totally worth it.

Lalifornia

Day 18 - Saturday, July 21

My parents hosted a grand extended family gathering, of which I have no pictures because I was busy making gimbop and talking with people.

But I do have a few shots from the preparty party at the pool with David's family.

 

 My one-year-old niece, Hallee, who just discovered walking,

kept walking into a misting fountain that she didn't notice until she was in it

and then she didn't know how to get out of it,

as water sprayed up her nose.

 I'm sad to say that we chuckled at her calamity.

 Reuben just has a lot of fun.

 Paul, my Dad, and my brother David

Charlie saw my Mom leaning against this wall

so he went over to lean too.

This must have been post party.

We stayed the night there, then went to church with them

and hung out together in the afternoon.

Family time.

It's why we're here.

Kalifornia

Day 17 some more - Thursday, July 19

After breakfast in Anaheim and lunch in Newport Beach, we had dinner in Laguna Beach.

Our main course was an ice cream bar.

Orange juice, seaweed, kettle chips, and bananas were served as secondary courses.

We stopped by Whole Foods on our way and everyone picked something.

It was fun and delicious.

The tide was out so we got to explore the tide pools.

This is me elegantly climbing on poky rocks with 22 pounds of extraness on my hip.

I did not fall down.

Self portrait by Paul.

Active learning by the rest of us.

We felt happy.

And Peter gets a sunburn on his lower back just about everyday.

You've probably been yearning to see a crab hiding behind an anenome.

If only Paul had been in this shot.

Preparing for my Olympic Gold dismount.

It hurt my foot,

thus I will be unable to compete in this year's Games.

Here's the seaweed I mentioned.

We're all fans.

I think this little squat is cute.

Very Asian.

And he's balancing atop a rock.

Charlie's been very brave by allowing the waves to rush over his feet.

So happy at the beach.

Although, he has declared that he is ready to return home to his stuffed dragon and his money.

Oops, a little too zoomed in.

But what nice teeth.

Here we are,

reliving the old days.

Running away from those scary waves.

Drying off to go home.

So there.

Our glorious day in Laguna Beach.

Not at the Main Beach.

That's way too public and crowded.

But my Great Aunt Phyllis was proposed to by her beau there.

His name was Paul too.

Somehow, back in the day, we found this little cove

and we like its secret, cozy ways.

Jalifornia

Day 16 - Thursday, July 19

Ooo, fun day in Orange County.   I packed a lunch for us and we took it to Downtown Disney to eat.  We munched and walked around, enjoying the Disney splendor.

 Large, glorious Lego store.

They're looking closely at this wall of minifigures.

 Cute boy in his earthly heaven.

 Back in our newlywed days Paul and I would come here and get a Raspberry White Chocolate Cookie
from Marceline's Confectionary for $4 and nibble on it together.

We were very sweet.

And cute.

It's been a few years and I was so happy and surprised that the store and the cookie are still there.

 We welcomed our boys into our date tradition.

Because we had to, you know.

They were right there with us.

Mostly we ignored them as they licked the melting chocolate

and Paul and I pretended to be alone together.

It was a romantic five minute date.

Mickey Mouse chocolate pretzel.

Then we met with a pastor in Anaheim,

stopped by Charlene's house (hi Charlene!),

then boarded the 91 East to San Bernadino to meet with college friends and speak at their church.

Ah, traffic.

Charlie made the most of our time spent in traffic.

See that basketball star in the red?

Paul's bustin' a move on the court with the youth group in San Bernadino.

Day 17 - Friday, July 20

We stayed the night at my parents', got up early and went back to the 91, west this time, to meet a friend/pastor at The Original Pancake House.  So, we ordered our pancakes and then I took the antsy boys back into the waiting area until our food came.  Whilst there, I made eye contact with this guy.  We looked at each other for a bit while our brains tried to place each other, then it clicked.  "Kyle!"  It was my good friend Kyle from college.  Had not seen him since our wedding.  He did our pictures.  We hugged, we chatted, I met his wife and kids, reminisced just a bit until they were seated.  He had asked if Paul and I ever did any missions work which led to me telling about our plans to move in a few months.  Then we went to our tables and enjoyed breakfast.  After a bit he came over to our table and said that he and his wife were talking about how they will never go overseas to work but they'd like to support us as we go.  What?!  Crazy.  And fun.

After our breakfast meeting we drove to Balboa Island in Newport Beach for our lunch meeting.  Restaurants galore, which may be Reuben's heaven on earth.  We met up with our Swiss friend Lucia and had a lovely, lovely time visiting and touring the area.  Such a quaint place with lots of colorful flowers and little picket fences.

 "Let's live here, 'kay?"

 The bridge over a canal.

 Lunch, which reminds me that Lucia gave me a Swiss chocolate bar and it's in the fridge and I need to be eating it.  Right now.

 With Lucia, taking the ferry off the island to walk to Balboa Pier.

So much to see.

Then on to our final beach for the day.

It's going to need a post of its own.

'Night!