Happy 12th birthday, Graham! (May 22)

I can't believe we have a 12 year old in the house!  Wow!!  Makes me think about how I was when I was 12 years old.  I had just started playing a lot of golf then.  Looks like Graham has a lot to catch up on!  Just kidding :-)

We started the day having lunch at the Malaysian restaurant.  I'm not sure what we did earlier during the day that led us over here.  Hmm... gosh, my mind is drawing a blank.  In any case, Graham and Charlie got to have their iced Milo - it's sort of a chocolate malt drink that's very popular in Malaysia:

I got my share of spicy noodles and boys got their noodles too.  Although they were both not very keen on these type.  Bummer.  I had higher hopes as well:

Oh, I remember now.  I had to go pick up my contact lens from the Optometrist office in Long Beach and also return something at an Amazon office.  That's why we were in this area.

Anyhow, we did pack a bag as we are spending the night in Irvine. It's Open House weekend for us!  We decided to just stay overnight elsewhere and not have to deal with all the cleaning and organizing over the weekend.  It didn't take long for Graham to find his birthday present once we checked into our room.  Thank you Grandma and Pop-pop for the awesome Lego Ford Raptor!!

Poor Charlie is obviously upset but I'm sure he will get his share of time in making it too.

We decided to take a walk to a restaurant nearby for dinner.  Hmmm... it seems to be going downhill, which means uphill on the way back??!

Pretty flowers along the way:

We found a restaurant that we have never tried before.  Not too shabby and Graham was especially pleased with his steak dinner:

Charlie and I especially liked the mango rice pudding :-D

Next on the birthday present list. a model car. This was a gift from Charlie.  He actually wanted to get him a different brand but it wouldn't be delivered in time.  I have to say, the kids these days are spoiled for choices when it comes to toys:

Last but not least, a gift from Bobby and me to Graham... it's his first phone!

Happy Graham!  Charlie is moping around now and obviously wanting his own phone too. Graham has been wanting a new phone for a very long time.  I hope he doesn't loose it!

Doesn't take long for the boys to get into the games and YouTube videos:

The next day, we are off to the strawberry farms! Graham loves strawberries, so I figured this would be a good birthday treat for him.  It's one of the few fruits he will eat:

I've been wanting to take the kids strawberry picking for a very long time now.  We are finally here!  Okay, sad faces because we don't have any strawberries yet in our containers:

We decided to do a quick tour of the farm.  So many sugar canes here which they actually use to process cane sugar:

This place is massive!

Before the strawberries, we are picking carrots first:

You have to really dig your fingers in there.  Awww, cutie carrot!

It was amazing how many carrots there were in the ground.  It's no wonder they are having us pick it.  They basically send tour people out to pick whatever that's ready:

And actually, we still have a whole bunch of carrots in the fridge,  I should probably think of other ways to cook it.  Hmmm, carrot soup??!

We are slowly making our way to the strawberry patch.  So many flowers along the way - for the bees to help with pollination:

These strawberries are planted using the hydroponics, which means they are grown without soil:

We are picking the ones that are grown conventionally on the ground. The tour did mention that we can eat as many as we can while picking.  Yummm..!!!

We are definitely happy pickers :-)

Daddy got into it too although I don't think he ate his share while picking.  So boys and I are definitely helping him with that:

Yay!!!  We would have tried to pack more into those containers but it the container doesn't close, you will have to pay for the extra weight.  So we played it safe (and ate a few more):

We are almost leaving and Graham is still out there picking.  Can you spot him in his red shirt?!

The strawberries were so yummy and some were so massive!

Red-stained fingers.  Ha ha!

Quick photo-op with some massive sunflowers:

I super love this photo. I wish Charlie was closer so he wasn't blurred out!

I wonder if these hydroponic strawberries taste any different?!  I should have grabbed one.  Maybe next time :-P

I think everyone is happy.  We are definitely coming back!

There are also some animals on the farm:

I thought Graham would be more excited seeing this digger.  He used to go nuts over them!  

And when he was done with the digger, he told me that he expected it would be more fun. Maybe the guide needed to just let Graham do his thing after the basic instructions.  But wow, looks like our little boy is growing up!

Charlie, on the other hand, never misses the opportunity for popcorn:

It would have been nice if they could actually drive a tractor:

But definitely too much at risk when you have them messing around like this.  Ha!

After hitting the market for bread, jam, and honey, we are off to our favorite restaurant for an early dinner.  While waiting,... oh boy, already on his new phone:

I'm so glad the restaurant received my note about Graham's birthday.  He was pleasantly surprised:

And... another steak dinner.  This kid is all about his meats!!

Daddy is obviously wanting a piece of the action too:

Happy birthday, Graham!!

There was no cake but he did get a complimentary mini dessert.  And Graham wanted two extra??!

A fun 2 days for sure.  And oh, we finally did use up a Christmas gift card at the archery store as well.  New arrows... woohoo!!

There are SO many parts to this Lego project.  I'm guessing it's going to take a while!

Graham is such a unique snowflake.  It really makes me wonder what he will be when he grows up. There's always a lot of "I want this" and "I want that".  And oh, actually we still owe him a 3D Printer for this birthday.  We told him he could have one once we move to IL.  He is obviously constantly getting himself into lots of different things.  Thankfully he hasn't really talked about any girls yet, although he has been hanging out with one particular gal at school during lunch. And he has talked about visiting our old neighbor's daughter in Tulsa during our drive to IL later this summer.  

So let's hope this home sale goes through!  We just had the inspection yesterday (6/6) and supposedly the buyer already has the report.  Fingers crossed they are still willing to finish up this sale!