Yay for the new double-seat carts at Target. I think it is kind of funny that Target has these, since they are useful for such a small percentage of the population. However, they serve me well, (until n gets restless) and I am grateful.

In the morning, it was little overcast (June gloom). We took the Balboa Island Ferry (as pedestrians). It was before 9 a.m., so finding parking by the ferry was not a problem.

We walked to the pier and found this playground.

D had fun too:

There weren’t many food options that were open, but D wanted a snack. We ended up with churros, shaved ice, a pretzel and lemonade, oh my!

Afterward we strolled through Roger’s Gardens–so much beauty! Loved looking at all the different types of roses and laughing at some of the names.

We ate lunch at Opah, but I wasn’t able to eat very much because n was acting up. Nice restaurant, though. D liked his lamb chop salad special for $10.

In the afternoon I had reservations for us to go to a cooking demo at Native Foods at the District.

They passed out samples of chai tea, watermelon agua fresca, tofu, rice salad and a veggie tostada. Pretty good for being vegetarian 🙂

n liked the tofu.

D’s dad even won a Summer Wellington! There were pieces of paper taped underneath a few of the seats. He and k went up to the stage to accept the prize. Turned out he had the same birthday as the chef! (She was all into astrology so she asked everyone their sign). Anyway, the Wellington is currently in our freezer, waiting for our next family party. (D’s parents weren’t too into trying the vegan dish).

We brought home take out from our favorite Hawaiian place around here, Aloha Hawaiian BBQ in the District. Kind of funny that we had a meat fest after watching the vegan cooking demo.

Last Thursday, D’s parents came to visit us. It was their first time visiting Orange County since we moved to our new house. They stayed at a hotel by South Coast Plaza, so D went out to dinner with them at Claim Jumper. On Friday, D took the day off and picked them up at their hotel. Then I had to take n for his 15 month check-up. Next I dropped off n with Grandpa and Grandma at home, and D and I took k to look at our second choice pre-school. After the tour, D took k home, and I went to a meeting. I left the meeting a little early and met everyone at my parents’ house for lunch. n & k stayed at my parents’ house for their nap, and d and I went with his parents to look at model homes in Woodbury (just for fun). I picked up the kids, and then we all went to Capital Seafood at Diamond Jamboree. We had the Peking duck special (M-F, after 5 p.m.), beef chow fun (for k), Chinese greens, and tilapia. Afterward we went next door to 85 degrees. D and I tried the sea salt coffee, which was iced. I guess the salt was in the foam. It was fine in the beginning, but at the end the foam was left and it was way too salty. What a tiring day!

Lessons from BSF that are memorable or changed my thinking…

1st year (Genesis)
Submission to God results in promises and blessings.
(Abraham’s faith more than his skills set him apart)

2nd year (Romans)
There is a triangle that shows the following…
Jesus — Propitiation –> God (Left side)
God — Justification –> Us (Right Side)
Jesus — Redemption –> Us (Bottom)

3rd year (Matthew)
I always thought that in the parable of the hidden tresure, the tresure is Christ Himself. But another interpretation that the “man” throughout the parable is Christ and the treasure is Israel. God in the Old Testament often described Israel as His treasured possession. For this tresure, hidden within the world, Jesus gave everything to redeem the whole world.

4th year (Life of Moses)
Reading the Bible to children during the first three years of life is very important and something they take with them through out their lives.

5th year (John)
Five tests of Assurance:
The Test of Obediance
The Test of Fidelity to the Apostles’ Teachings (False teachers cannot sway true believers away from the apostles’ teachings. Granted by the Holy Spirit)
The Test of Moral Purity
The Test of Love
The Test of Faith
That second test one was really interesting.

Three more years of BSF to go, with Isaiah coming up…

So today I took the kids on our annual trip to Tanaka Farms with my moms’ group. This was the first time that n went on the tour and ate strawberries with us, though.

Although the tour has remained essentially the same all four years, there are little changes. For instance, they now have the saying, “Bottoms on Benches!” when the wagon is moving. I think that is a new one. Also, I learned that only two ears of corn grow per stalk. Interesting.

Cornfield

The farm rotates their crops so as to not deplete the soil. So, where we picked strawberries last year, they are now growing cabbage:

The tour guides must eat a lot of vegetables!

k wasn’t too keen on eating the celery, bok choy, and green onion that they offered along the way. She did, however, enjoy the carrot.

But, of course, we were all looking forward to the main attraction: the strawberries!

I’m not sure if this is true, but the strawberry field that they let us loose on for 15 minutes of all you can eat strawberries seemed a little more “picked over” than in years past. I think these tours are getting a lot more popular. There were still plenty to eat, though, and all three of us certainly got our fill. This was the first year that k picked her own strawberries (I still took off the stems for her, though).

Strawberry mouth!

After all that healthy eating we went to Chick-fil-a for dinner to redeem our coupons. Peach shake…yum! Yes, that is n wearing a UCLA shirt.

I was thinking the other day about all the places I have lived at least a year and how close I was to professional sports stadiums/arenas (excluding Windsor, Ontario which is by Detroit).

Closest by Sport:
Baseball
Angel Stadium is less than 8 miles away from where I lived in Anaheim (4 yrs) & Tustin (1yr)
Hockey
The Honda Center (Anaheim Ducks) is less than 8 miles away from where I lived in Anaheim (4 yrs) & Tustin (1yr)
Football
Oakland Coliseum (Oakland Raiders) is less than 13 miles away from where I lived in Berkeley (4 yrs)
Basketball
Oracle Arena (Golden State Warriors) is less than 13 miles away from where I lived in Berkeley (4 yrs)

D and I had grand plans to go out to brunch on Saturday morning to celebrate our six year wedding anniversary. (Nice restaurant that we’ve been wanting to try, babysitting lined up, etc.) However, on Friday morning I woke up with a sore throat. The kids had been sniffling away all week, so I’m pretty sure I caught it from them. When D came home from work, his throat was starting to hurt, too. Saturday morning I woke up pretty miserable, and D wasn’t too much better, so we cancelled our plans. I took some Tylenol and felt functionable, but not celebratory. We pulled out our wedding album, though, and showed the kids. k was confused as to why she and n were not in the pictures.

I sent D out for takeout Japanese food for dinner, but it was nothing to write home about. I felt bad, since it was my suggestion, but D insisted it was not my fault. Meanwhile, our home became littered with tissues and quite messy since we spent all day inside, with the exception of a short trip to the park. This, in turn, makes me all the more grumpy. We did watch couple episodes of D’s new favorite show: The Travel Channel’s Food Wars. D ended up going to sleep at 8 p.m. Not too exciting.

I was sad, since it is not often that our anniversary actually falls on a Saturday. However, I guess I should not get so hung up on a certain day since every day should be appreciated, right? The good news is that we are all on the mend and looking forward to a short week!

April marks my anniversary at Mazda and more importantly marriage.
–April 12th: 4 years at Mazda
–April 17th: 6 years of marriage

Running anniversary…
–March 12th: 4 years since I signed up for my first half marathon

Finally, a milestone…
–May 18th: Will have completed 5th year of Bible Study Fellowship (BSF)

Metropolitan Statistical Areas______________________Years
Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville, CA MSA (2.1M)________15.0
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA MSA (12.9M)________6.7
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA MSA (4.3M)___________3.8
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA MSA (1.8M)___________3.2
Windsor, Canada (Tecumseh, LaSalle, Lakeshore) (0.3M)_____3.1
Bloomington, IN MSA (0.2M)___________________________1.7
Total_____________________________________________33.5

#1 If you combine the years I have lived in S.F. and San Jose together, since it is a Combined Statistical Area, I have lived there for 7 years. By June, I will have lived in L.A./Orange County as long as I have lived in the Bay Area. Interesting.

#2 By 2011 I will have lived in the Bay Area/L.A./Orange County as long as I had lived in Sacramento.

#3 Bloomington and Windsor are small metro areas. I have lived all but 5 years of my life in CA.

CAL
Best performances in the NCAA Basketball Tournament in the Last Ten Years:
2002 – Round of 32
2003 – Round of 32
2010 – Round of 32 or better (Pac-10 Regular season champions)

Best performances in Bowls in the Last Ten Years:
2004 – Holiday Bowl Loss
2006 – Holiday Bowl Win (Co-Pac-10 champions)

IU
Best performances in the NCAA Basketball Tournament in the Last Ten Years:
2002 – NCAA Finals (Co-Big Ten champions)
2003 – Round of 32
2006 – Round of 32
2007 – Round of 32

Best performances in Bowls in the Last Ten Years:
2007 – Insight Bowl Loss