Trip to Flying Flags, Buellton (Nov 21-24)

We decided to go on a little road trip during this Thanksgiving break.  It's been a while since our last one it seems.  Hmmm... what did we do over the summer holidays? Did we go somewhere?  Ah, okay - we did go to Solvang and San Juan Capistrano.  So perhaps it hasn't been that long.  Just feel like it has been forever!  

Flying Flags is not too far from Solvang.  It was about a 4 hour drive via Santa Barbara, with a little stop for some food.  Starting out with watching the Blimp take off.  It must be off to a football game!

It's a good thing we still have this minivan.  Graham and Charlie still enjoy watching DVDs in it.  I'm surprised it is still working properly, especially when the boys are constantly messing around with the remote. And we've also had instances where the remote gets lost in the car.  Don't ask.  And as per usual, "pets" and blankies are permitted for the in-flight movie:

Ahhh... didn't take long before traffic hits.  C'mon... it's Sunday!  But it is the 405 freeway:

We all had a late breakfast so we were suppose to stop for In-and-Out, but the line was too long. So here's to a Jack-in-the-box Sourdough Jack.  Haven't had this since college I think!  Needless to say, I remembered it being more greasy and the sourdough being thicker, but that didn't stop me from not eating it all up in a few bites. LOL!

Ahhh,.. this view is so much better:

So, okay - I was trying to take a photo of a random red high-heel shoe.  yes, it's there!  You can almost see a tinge of red behind the brush and metal fence:

Welcome to Buellton, CA!!!

Did you see it yet on the billboard? Home of the Split Pea Soup!

And here is the entrance into Flying Flags RV Park.  There's so many RVs!

We're a tad early for check-in but looks like maintenance is needing a bit more extra time as well to get our "rooms" ready.  So in the meantime, anyone for Bubble Gum ice cream??! Blaaah:

Graham is constantly climbing trees.  This is a big one!  That or he is trying to impress these twin girls:

We drove around the RV park and found these tents.  Interesting...

It's amazing how almost every single RV spot is taken!  And there are kids all over the place either biking, scootering, and what not.  There are no kids in this photo below but trust me, the kids are roaming around and going in whichever direction they choose.  Maybe that's why the park is posting 5MPH signs for the cars:

Found our "tent"!  

And yup, only 1 bed so we've already played our game of Rock-Paper-Scissors to determine who sleeps where.  I actually opted for the tent and looks like Graham got 2nd choice and will be snuggling with me tonight.  

I'm not sure who started by putting their arms around each other but awww, there is some brotherly love there!

And a little bit down the road is our Airstream! 

It's a lot smaller than I had expected.  Peek-a-boo!!

And here's a quick we-fie of all of us in the RV.  I'm basically towards the door/bed and Bobby is towards the end of the kitchen.  There's a couch and TV beyond that and that's it!  

The bathroom is situated near where Charlie is, pretty much in the middle of the Airstream.  And I'm telling you, that sink is NOT in a good spot!  And the shower stall is quite small.  Bobby said he felt like a giant in it. LOL!

Look how short that Airstream door is.  That top part of the door is actually nicely padded but I bumped my head with my sunglasses on my head. OUCH!

Now it's our kids who are scootering all over the road.  The tent and Airstream was a short par-4 dog leg so it was actually convenient that the boys had their scooters.  Technically Graham has his Ripstick.  And all they can hear is me screaming behind them, "Stay to your right!" and "Don't turn without looking!" and "Stop at the intersection!".  Ha ha!!

For dinner, there was an inn right next door so we opted for some sausages:

This Sideway Inn was actually a Days Inn, that was used for the 2004 movie Sideways:

Waiting for our dinner:

Monkey see, monkey do!  Or more like monkeys - including Daddy!

I think we over-ordered on the french fries!  But the sausages were pretty decent:

The mural inside the restaurant was pretty cool!

Okay, time for sleepy night-night!  This is Graham's little giraffe named Fluffy.  I can't believe he still has it.  It's got to be at least 5 or 6 years old by now? I remembered buying it in Dubai.

And Graham was adamant about bringing his Pikachu onesie and not the larger Elf one.  I told him it was too small but he insisted:

I'm just so glad to have brought our 3 sleeping bags.  Graham has one and I have one and Bobby and Charlie are sharing one.  Although there is an A/C unit the Airstream. There is no heat in this tent!

Fun first night for sure!

To be continued... :-)

Boys are vaccinated (Nov 19)

Graham and Charlie finally got their first Covid vaccination. This Pfizer vaccine is only 1/3 of the adult dose.  And their next dose will be in December.  Although now there's a new variant (Omicron) so who knows how well all our vaccinations will hold up to this new strain/mutation.  Urgh!

I'm so glad Graham didn't cry!  He didn't cry either when Bobby took the boys for their flu shots a few weeks prior to this.  My boy is growing up!

And here's the first step to getting Charlie back in school in-person. Woohoo!!

Both boys will be well vaccinated by the Christmas holidays.  Yay!  Although, so far no plans yet.  We may just hit some museums and restaurants in LA.  There's still so many we haven't visited.  And hopefully catch a few sporting events too.  We definitely miss doing that. But in the meantime, still masking up and social distancing!

Art projects

I've been trying to keep the boys away from their computers by giving them some art projects using air-dry clay.  We actually started a few weeks ago and Charlie finally got a chance to color in his planter after another online purchase of acrylic paint:

Isn't that the cutest thing?!  I love the bright orange with the black and white accents. I'm not sure why but it reminds me of pottery from Mexico:

And here is my fox - not too shabby I guess for a first attempt.  Although my fox seems to have a fairly large head.  Ha ha!

Charlie also made a pencil holder.  This will actually be a Christmas gift for Graham (Shhh... don't tell him).  This year I'm having the boys make each other something using the air-clay instead of buying toys for each other:

Graham is working on a little tray that's made out from his hand.  I made one of these for Bobby on his birthday:

Graham stamped it with his name that's written in Cuneiform, which is a writing form during the Mesopotamia.  He learned it at school in Social Studies.  He was so excited to show it to me when he got home that day.  Since then, he created his own stamp in clay and stamped it on his hand mold/project.  So cute! 

And looks like my elephant eyeglass/jewelry holder is somewhat working too!

I haven't decided what sort of color/pattern I want to do on it yet, so in time I'll get it done.  I may gift that to my sister for Christmas so I probably shouldn't procrastinate for too long.  Thanksgiving is already next week!

And speaking of which, I decided to give a little art class for Charlie's online classroom last week. Just a simple project that uses leaves to make their own little turkey art.  Mine looks rather funny. LOL!

There weren't as many kids that participated as I would have hoped (since it was optional) but it was better than none. I'm glad at least Charlie was able to spend some time with his friends online.  

We have actually decided to send Charlie back to school in-person next year after the Christmas holidays.  He may be in for a rude awakening as school hours in-person are obviously longer and I'm guessing there will also be more work! But we feel he is starting to lag behind so hopefully we aren't quite too late yet for him to play catch-up. As for Graham, I'm glad he is getting the support he needs at middle school and hopefully he continues to improve as the year progresses. Fingers crossed!

Recent blooms in the garden

I was finally out in the front yard planting some new plants into the ground and moving out our roses to another location.  They were just not doing so well.  I think these purple foliage looks quite good:

And I replanted the 2 rose bushes elsewhere, but not before trimming the stumps down. Those stumps are as hard as rock! My shovel was definitely not the right tool for the job:

I'm so glad we bought this mini hatchet!  Not only is it good for opening coconuts... Ha ha!

Not sure if the roses will like this location, but it will do for now.  Just have to wait and see:

Sort of like this plant over here - it's finally blooming nicely!  It was in a different spot in the garden - tucked away in a corner and was totally not happy.  It's pretty much smack in the middle of the yard right now and loving it as you can see with all it's yellow blooms:

My Fuschia has always been struggling but we finally have some nice blooms too.  These flowers are so amazingly unique and pretty!

Here are Charlie's flowers:

We've had Charlie's flowers/plant since we first moved to California 4 years ago.  And it's been in the ground ever since we moved into this house (3 years ago).  It's now massive! 

I love the color of these daisies.  Hmmm... seems like yellow is a popular color in our yard:

We do have some orange although I just noticed that there are hints of red in these flowers too! 

That's it for now! I haven't bought any more flowers for awhile now.  Although I probably need to transplant my hibiscus elsewhere. It is not doing well in its current location.  I'd love to get a new pot but it's amazing how expensive those can be! Maybe we are in the wrong business here. I've actually seen lots of planters that are made in Malaysia. Hmmm... "lightbulb" moment??! :-D

Recent eats

I finally made a version of "bubur cha-cha".  It's a Malaysian dessert that can be eaten cold or hot.  There's normally yam in it with tapioca pearls, all mixed into this broth of coconut milk. YUMMM....! Well, it only took me over half my life away from home/Malaysia to finally make it.  I used sweet potato instead and also put some leftover coconut from what Charlie did not finish (he loves drinking fresh coconut water).  So here it is:

I'm glad that Charlie loves bubur cha-cha too (minus the sweet potato), so I'm not the only stuffing my face with this.  I really wonder how many calories each bowl is.  Nah, not going to think about it.  Ha ha!

And speaking of calories, Bobby made some crepes for the first time this past weekend. Boys really enjoyed it!  I don't think there's any way you can go wrong with nutella and strawberries and bananas:

Graham and Charlie are so silly with their facial expressions. See what I mean??!

Charlie ate 3 crepes on Saturday.  And another 2 more on Sunday!  I definitely need to make sure he gets his exercise!

That and eat more oranges!  These mandarin oranges are slowly ripening:

The weather has been really wonky lately - warm, then cold, then foggy, then warm again and the cycle starts over again. Well, did I mention we have 2 orange trees? I should be able to give lots of mandarin oranges away to our neighbors for Thanksgiving!

The oranges started out really sour but it seems that they are slowly getting sweeter as they ripen.  Fingers crossed! I've been having Charlie pick 2 oranges for me almost every day after our lunch :-)

And we are patiently waiting for Charlie's watermelon to ripen too.  Mmmm... hopefully it won't disappoint:

Well, this hawk did not disappoint last week when we saw it swoop down near the beach and catch a mouse.  Yikes!

You can barely see the mouse on its talon, but trust me, it's there.  The hawk was happily ripping it apart soon after. I guess it was a good thing we couldn't see it clearly through this fence:

Blaaaah.... but hey, that's one less mouse.  Woohoo! I do NOT like mice!