So technically this post is suppose to be in the month of May. These days just fly by so fast! And speaking of fast... 9 years old!!! Can you believe it? Graham is now 9 years old and weighing in at about 60 lbs and 4ft 2" tall. One more year and he will be double digits. YIKES! Makes me feel old now somehow. Ha ha!
This year, Graham decided he wanted to go to Catalina island. Supposedly a while ago, a company was giving out free boat rides to those celebrating their birthdays. Well, unfortunately this company is not doing it anymore. And unfortunately, it was really expensive to get on the boat near here so we ended up getting discounted boat tickets on Groupon that departs from Newport Beach. That's about 45 minutes away, with no traffic!
Oh, before leaving in the morning, I had Bobby buy 9 bundt cakes from our favorite bundt cake store. YUM!!!
I am glad it's a big boat! The weather has been really windy so we are expecting lots of swells on this ride. I was sure to pack my Dramamine and essential lavender oil!
It is nice and calm in the inlet. And such pretty houses along here... and their fancy boats!
Our boat would be more like this "bus boat". Haha!
Even the captain warned us on the choppy waves coming up when we hit the open sea. You can sort of see from our orange juice how much we were leaning!
We were definitely rocking and rolling! I think there were times when I felt I was off our seats!!! It was that bumpy and we were also going sideways. The lady sitting behind us threw up, the lady in front of us threw up, and the lady in front of her threw up!
Thankfully my Dramamine had kicked in and I was fine. So were the boys:
It took about 1 hr 20 min to get to the island. And I think about 45 minutes into it, I was getting sleepy. And Charlie totally dozed off :-)
Land a'hoy! We made it!
Ready to explore!
Didn't take long for us to find an ice-cream shop. Along with a little dance as required by the sign in the store :-)
Graham was happy with his free ice-cream scoop! From there, we headed towards a mini-golf course that was recommended by one of the captains of our boat. By the way, we had the captain announce Graham's birthday when we reached the island. Graham was BEAMING from ear to ear!
What a neat mini-golf course! 18 holes... and I can't remember who won now. We seem to have lost our score card! Okay, perhaps Daddy did win :-P
Pretty flowers along the course:
Who knew mini-golf could be this confusing!
The boys are figuring the scores...
Some pretty tiles in Avalon:
After putt-putt, we move on to a restaurant for lunch - Graham's pick of course. We ended up in a restaurant that served free peanuts and you were able to just throw the shells on the floor. Well, of course I took this opportunity to aim a few at Bobby. Charlie took to it pretty quickly too so there were peanut shells flying everywhere. Ha ha!
And then, this restaurant also gave you the chance to staple a $1 bill on their wall??! So of course Graham and Charlie had to do that!
Maybe this is one way to get the customers to come back to the restaurant??!
From here, we rented a golf cart and drove around the island. Boys are their maps!
We are buckled up and ready to go! This island almost has a similar feel to the Seychelles island - hilly and pretty blue water:
Here's a good photo of the pier from halfway down the other side of the hill. Graham and Charlie were not interested to stop on the very top as it was a bit high with no road barriers:
Of course, we had to stop and do some stone stacking:
We also stopped to exercise:
Maybe we need to just have one of these installed in the backyard :-)
I think this is the entrance to the casino. It's the big round building that you can see on the side from the pier photo. We didn't go into the building. Just admiring the mosaic tile:
We hit a couple of stores before heading back to the dock. Graham insisted on buying a little clock. He actually wanted an airplane clock but I thought it was too expensive. Managed to talk him down to a truck, which later on made me feel a little bit bad! But he is happy now with this truck clock:
Another scoop of ice cream before we get back on the boat. And another bumpy ride back to Newport! But thankfully not as bad. I didn't see anyone throw up this time :-) Boys are busy playing on Daddy's phone:
One more last photo with our boat. That big hole underneath the boat is pretty neat!
It's dinner time once we get back into Newport. Graham decides on a Japanese restaurant and good choice, Graham! The sushi chef was being so nice and entertaining. He brought out a live shrimp and tries to make it jump for us. He also brought out a couple of abalone and put salt on it so we could watch it move. We asked for the shiny shells and he gave those to us too!
Free dessert! Say "Sushi!!!]
A typical sunset in California, complete with palm trees:
As if the day wasn't over yet, Graham has yet to open his presents!
Can't forget his favorite:
We finally get to sing Happy Birthday to Graham :-)
These sparkly candles are fun!
Mommy managed to get something for herself on this trip. Well, technically it's for our desk - a nautical touch of whales and a steering wheel:
I think it looks like it was meant to be!
What an awesome trip and birthday for Graham!!! Charlie is already trying to plan his birthday in his head. Ha ha! Well, next one is Daddy. I know we will have lots of leftover cake for him :-)
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