Trip back to CA (Aug 9-14)

We took a trip back to SoCal before the end of the summer holidays.  I didn't take us long to end up back at some of our old stomping grounds. But before that, some airport shenanigans - who approved the ICEEs??!

Trying to figure out which car to rent and the boys really wanted this one. LOL!

First stop right after the airport - and gosh, it took us forever to get here because of the traffic! USC campus.  We actually just love eating here. Ha!

Well, the campus is pretty nice too:

On the way out, we saw a self-driving car!

I'm not sure if I would sit in one yet!

But ahhhh, maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to be in a self-driving car in all this traffic.  L... A...! That has not changed one bit. Ha!

And even before heading back to the hotel, Charlie had to get his bubble tea from his favorite spot. This wasn't far from our old house.  Happy Charlie!

And look who's so happy with In-and-Out.  LOL!!

Looks like everyone is happy.  And it seems that we are just eating our way around town :-)

A little walk down memory lane - along the large mural on 25th street in San Pedro:

We were trying to recreate this photo that was taken back in 2018. Graham was only 8 years old and Charlie was 6. How cute were they!

Look how big Charlie is now. Ha ha!

 This entire mural still amazes me:

Just beautiful!

The next day we are off to meet up with some friends.  But before that, a quick stopover at Friendship Park:

This place is so serene.  Looks like the fog is rolling in:

Pretty flowers!

On our way to the Terranea Resort nearby.  Oh boy, here's what we used to call "turbulence road".  And it's even worse now!

There's been so much movement in these roads that the gas lines to the homes on the hill have been stopped. Newly paved road and it's already cracking. Yikes!

And here was where the previously standing glass chapel was - the Wayfarer's Chapel. The glass started to break and so it was removed piece and piece to another location!

Here's what the inside of the chapel looks like - photo taken in 2021:

Look at those faces on the boys. These boys, I tell you!

Okay, another quick stop - by the lighthouse:

We definitely miss being back in RPV!

Finally at Terranea Resort - the parking situation is a mess! There's obviously too many visitors and not enough parking spots. And the valet was backed-up.  Yeah,... first world problem.

I finally had a chance to meet up with a friend of mine whom I used to play golf with on the same tour way back when. She's from Norway but now lives in Spain.  Also 2 kids!  It's funny how all the kids are on their phone:

I suppose if anything, they are playing the same game on their phones??!

Here's me and my friend Ceci (short for Cecilia) - reunited after so many years!

At least the kids all put down their phones for S'mores:

Plus hubbies & kids - how our worlds have changed:

And.. off to the beach!  We were able to borrow a friend's umbrella.  It's a beautiful day!

Bobby trying to teach Ceci's hubby how to throw a football :-)

In the meantime, the kids are trying to learn to skim board:

Looks like Charlie still needs some practice :-D

Another selfie!

These kids are definitely enjoying the ocean!  I know Graham and Charlie definitely miss being here:

All was well, until... a spout in the distance? That's really odd to see a whale spout so close to shore.  Well, here's the problem.  A fin whale has decided to beach itself?!

What a sad moment!

The rescue boat showed up:

And a couple of the lifeguards have put on their wet suits. We watched for a bit but no one did anything!

Well, I told my friend that there are normally dolphins swimming but this time, we got a whale instead! Pretty sad ending though.  Never a dull moment back at RPV.  I'm glad the boys got to bodyboard and we all got to spend some time on the beach.  Now it's time for some dinner!

We met up with some other friends for dinner at one of our favorite crepe restaurants nearby.  Forgot to take photos! 

Later that night while parking the car back at the hotel, we spot a fancy car:

Yes, super fancy!

And of course Graham likes it even more because it's red. That's always been his favorite color, even when he was a little kid!

Next day, we are off to another friend's for a get-together.  I had planted this agave in their yard right before leaving SoCal.  Look how huge it is now!!

I think it was the size of the little one towards the front of the photo when I first planted it.  It's actually a baby of the mom, which was a baby of our neighbors that lived in AZ.  Did you get that?! :-)

It was quite funny with this visit with our friends. The kids have all known each other from their old schools but no one was talking to each other. They played video games for a bit and then, they just did their own thing on their phone. Ha!  Us parents, on the other hand, had a great time catching up. What a difference with these newer generation.  What is the world coming to when it comes to socialization?!

Graham wanted to see his old school.  He says he misses it!

Towards the end of the trip, we were embraced by our friends to stay in their home. She's definitely spoiling us!

Charlie also got to learn how to play the drums:

Not too shabby!

On the next day, we decided to explore around Portuguese Bend Beach:

I find it amazing how life/nature finds it's way in and around the rocks:

Ever so beautiful around this area.  But this earth/rocky area supposedly just appeared not too long ago!!  The land had shifted and push all of this up to the surface.  You can clearly see it in the photo below. Crazy!

That means new tide pools:

It's a starfish!!

I do miss the landscape here:

And there's Graham... on his phone:

I actually just took it away from his tonight and told him no phone usage tomorrow.  We'll see how that goes!

Sorry, I digress.  Some grassy "stuff" on the rocks. Looks slippery!

Million dollar homes on the cliff that are struggling with land movement.  I feel so sorry for them!

Okay, off to Long Beach for some food. Here comes one of the bridges that Bobby and I are actually not too fond of:

It's just so high!!

I'm glad this next new one is much better:

I love taking photo of bridges!

Looks like our ice-cream place in The Hanger has shut down!  Didn't stop the boys to get some ice-cream elsewhere:

And Daddy found another In-and-Out conveniently located. Ha!

And once we get back to my friend's house, the boys are back in the pool.  This photo is so hilarious - Graham has managed to stack like 5 round pool floaties. I don't know how he even manages to move/paddle in the water like that!

And the kids have been busy making some sort of whirlpool in the hot tub and a good amount of that water has come out of it.  So they have been assigned to put some water back from the swimming pool.  So much splashing around, I'm wondering how much of it is actually getting back into the hot tub!

It's been such a great trip - which makes me want to come back to SoCal again.  Until then,

Wait, no,... we are back to our phones:

So is Daddy: 

Okay, looks like Daddy caught me on my phone too. But I'm probably reading or replying some important email or text.  Right??!

I guess this is how I know the boys are brothers??? Same pose while looking out the airplane window!!

And.... straight to a McDonalds for a meal after touch-down.  This kid is thirsty!

And this one is hungry. LOL!!

Hmm, I swear we did not leave Charlie back in Cali.  Ha ha!!

What an amazing trip!  So great to meet up with old friends again and of course, to eat our way around our favorite spots.  

Thank you, Van & her family for hosting us again:

We miss you all already!

Until next time Rancho Palos Verdes!! 

Random photos (Aug)

Just a few random photos from August :-)

This is like the cutest lawn mower ever.  I think it just runs on solar and it goes on its route almost all day long:

Here it is in action:

We need to get one of these. LOL!

Here's what the market looks like on Saturdays when I'm there:

I think it's got a very "homey" feeling.  All the produce/veggies are grown on-site. The lady that does all the planting leases the plot from the owner (my friend).

And here are my plants.  So far I've been able to sell at least 1 per market. It's not much but it's been fun making all the kokedama:

Based on what I'm seeing from this table back in August, all these plants have found new homes. Yay!! This one finally found a new home yesterday:

It's actually been living in the "market" for the last few weeks. I've actually added a self-watering feature to this one so it doesn't even really need much maintenance. I've been adding maybe only like 1/2" of water every week!

My friend's mom actually bought this one and she mentioned the other day that it is still doing well. Phew!

The Calla lily will die out in the winter to hibernate and so that's why I planted the ivy around it, so that will continue to stay green until the lily comes back in the Spring.  Actually one of her friends asked if I could do the same but I haven't been able to find any more lilies recently. I made another kokedama with a tubular begonia but I'm not sure how it's going to do yet. So fingers crossed, it will survive as it doesn't like a lot of water! 

I think it's a pretty fit with the other greenery but so far a lot of flowers have fallen off since this photo. Let's see how it does this week!

And while people are bringing new plants into their new homes, I've been buying more stuff from our home. There was a estate sale and I managed to snag these metal shelves for a deal. I think they were 50% off!

Anything to keep the stuff off the ground in the garage, especially since our first flooding in the garage the month before. Yikes!

And Graham bought a used PC and is happily taking it apart:

He's an expert in that but doesn't necessarily put things back together. Ha!

In the meantime, my hibiscus outside in the backyard came back this year. It always makes me a bit nervous because it comes in later in the summer and I keep thinking it has died.  But nope, here it is!

And we finally went through all the mulch:

Although this tarp is still there because we have some dirt that we've dug up from somewhere. Oh, it was when we were trying to level out the spot for the shed.  We'll have to figure out what to do with it! We just have this one little spot with no mulch. I don't think anyone will notice,... except us. Ha ha!

Another trip to throw axes:

We all had a good time, except I couldn't get my axe to stick hardly at all!  I have no idea except this is a different spot than the last and the axes were a bit different.  Then again, I have a tennis elbow!!  And I think it's actually from making the kokeadamas.  I would squeeze the water out from the sphagnum moss with my right hand as I'm holding the kokedama in my left hand.  And I guess my elbow is now complaining as I've made quite a few kokedamas by now!

The weather was so weird one day during a Youth Clinic. I thought it was going to be decent when Bobby said the high temperature was going to be in the high 60s. Well, I totally forgot about the wind. Brrr...!

Good thing I have like a closet of extra clothing in the car so definitely more prepared now. I'll probably have to dump some beanies and sweaters in there pretty soon with us approaching October.

Last but not least, a video of Charlie playing his clarinet.  He is getting better!

Video: https://youtu.be/x60BQOk913w

I just wished he practiced more! There's jazz bands that the students can form at school but somehow clarinet is not on the list of instruments? So weird! I may have to chat with his teacher about this.  Ha!

Trip to Lima, OH

We decided to visit my old housing out in Lima, OH again this past August.  Good thing is the boys really enjoy visiting "uncle" Charlie and "aunt" Janice too! Well, it's good food, great company, some fishing and shooting. What's not to like!

And oh, did I mention ice cream too?!

Boys being cuddly.  Ha!

Uncle Charlie made some ribs.  YUM!!

I brought out my dad's bow and we were shooting it in the backyard.  I could not pull this, but Graham could!

Graham made it look good, but in reality - he did miss the target. Ha!

Some backyard fun - I'm glad we didn't need to bring anyone to the Emergency Room!

Aunt Janice bought some cupcakes and a balloon to celebrate Charlie on his actual birthday. So sweet!

After a restful morning in the basement:

Fishing!

Fish on for Graham!

Just Blue Gils for today.  They were trying to get rid of them in the pond:

And then, some more shooting in the backyard.  This time with a luger:

Uncle Charlie is very good about safety first!

Everyone got a chance to shoot, including Bobby:

And during this time, the Olympics was one too.  So I was trying to imitate one of the shooters - hand-in-pocket stance. LOL!

Then, we all got educated on a rifle.  Boys were super excited about this one!

This one was loud!

I can't remember how far our target was now.  But this is one of my favorite photos of all the boys and Bobby with uncle Charlie - walking to check out the targets after shooting off the back deck :-)

We missed our orange target/dots but not by much!

We love Uncle Charlie and Aunt Janice!

Can't believe I've known them since my golfing/touring days.  Since 2006! That's 18 years ago now!!

After a few days, it's was time to head back to IL.  Looks like there's some weather ahead of us. Yikes!

Always such a fun trip being with them.  Love them both like family now!

Happy Birthday, Charlie! (7/31)

This kid is 12!  Where did the time go? And he's starting to get a bit chubby recently - too much sugar! He was a chubby baby to begin with:

Somehow Charlie doesn't look very much like his baby photo. Looks at those cheeks!

I had taken my car for a tire rotation and while waiting, we decided to head over to this clay-painting place next door.  Early birthday present for Charlie. Ya, I guess we do spoil them :-P

I was busy with work, so Charlie had to make his own cake. A bit messy with the icing, but I thought he did a pretty good job making the cake out of the box and baking!

My little stinker!

Some friends came over for some cake and then, on another day, Charlie invited a couple of his buddies for a sleepover.  Ya, dinner at Golden Corral. That's what he really wanted!

Birthday card (and $12 cash!) from Grandma and Pop-pop:

And he really wanted one of these sound "thingy" things for his computer gaming.  Kids these days!

It finally occurred to me that I did not end up buying a shirt that Charlie wanted for his birthday. So we headed out to the mall just a couple of weekends ago.  Not only did we get the shirt, but Crocs were on sale.  Buy 2, get 2 free!

And here's the shirt that he desperately wanted.  It is cute :-)

It did shrink though after one wash and one round in the dryer.  I'm guessing it will only last until the end of this year!

Here's Charlie's painted llama.  Finally remembered to pick that up too! Although, to be fair, we somehow never got the phone call that said it was ready for pick-up:

Charlie is in 7th Grade and right off the bat, there was a test to memorize the 50 States.  He was not happy with the pressure and so that's still something we need him to learn about himself. Hopefully as he matures, he will understand that everything needs to be taken in strides and there's no need to get emotional about it.  Of course, by the end of it all, he did score 100% on this test!  It would have been nice without the tears and moaning and groaning prior.  Ha!  

Still loves fishing although I think he does spend more time playing video games in the basement. Something about if he competes in some gaming tournament, he can win money?! I don't know about this one. Anyway, he should just stick to fishing when it comes to earning money. Hopefully it's something he can start doing (teaching younger kids to fish) next summer!

Happy Birthday, Charlie! We love you!!

Harvesting potatoes (7/14)

I finally got to harvest my potatoes! They had been growing for a while, and once everything started wilting, I guess that was the sign to start harvesting. It was a bit nerve wrecking because the last time I tried to grow potatoes, there weren't really too many! 

Ok, here goes.  Hmm, not looking very promising.  So far, just a lot of dirt!

Oh wait... here we go:

Okay, not too shabby:

But after investing in all that dirt, I was really hoping for a bit more!

We did manage to get one good meal out of all the potatoes :-)

Although, I have to say, I couldn't really taste the difference. It was great to know that they were organic though, compared to who knows what gets put into the potatoes in the ground these days. But it's definitely so much cheaper and so much less effort to buy them in the supermarket. LOL!!

If I can figure out how to plant them in the ground next year, perhaps we will do it again :-)