We returned to Bella Terra again last Saturday night. It has become our official go-to place when we want to get out of the house. It has all of the essentials: Barnes & Noble, Starbucks, restaurants, and entertainment. We ate across the street (again!), this time on the other side of Michaels, at Mitasie. I had read a favorable review in the OC Register, plus I had an Entertainment book coupon, so we gave it a go. Again, it was empty, save one person who came in for a take-out menu. We tried the spring rolls, lemongrass chicken and beef vermicelli. I always end up getting vermicelli dishes…they are so refreshing!

Sorry about the smudged lens on all of these recent pictures. I’ll have to be sure to clean it!

Afterward we listened to #9, a Beatles cover band. You’ve got to give them extra credit for wearing wigs (and even more credit to the guy who grew his real hair to match). k wasn’t as into the band this time, not sure why. Maybe she was just tired from our zoo outing.

Almost forgot to blog about our Mother’s Day. We went to my sister and brother-in-law’s house after church for lunch. It was supposed to be a combined celebration with my Dad’s birthday (which is tomorrow). k’s gift to me was taking an hour and a half nap when we got home so that I could nap too! I also bought a little gift for myself…The Creative Family, as seen in my “Currently Reading” sidebar.

On Saturday we went to Bella Terra, mainly to go to the big REI sale. We ended up making a major purchase: a Base Camp 4 REI tent! D and I are very excited about it. We have decided to make camping one of our regular family activities. I’m hoping that we can get good use out of the tent, since it was pretty expensive. (We did get a 20% discount during the sale, however). Our first trip will be in July. We tried to set it up in our living room, but the tent was too big (or our living room is too small!) We’ll have to try again in my parents’ backyard before our trip.

Afterward we went across the street to eat at Sakura Saku. D, k and I shared a CA roll, chicken karaage and oyako donburi (D’s favorite). The food was good, but it didn’t quite fill us up. Also, no one else came in the restaurant the whole time we were there.

Then we headed back to Bella Terra and heard the first part of a concert by the Rockit Scientists. They’re a classic rock cover band, and k really enjoyed herself. She was clapping her hands and dancing even though the music was quite loud. I’m looking forward to going to more free outdoor concerts this summer.

On Sunday we went to church and it was nice to have my parents with us. Afterwards we went to The Clubhouse at South Coast Plaza. My co-worker said the Kobe burger was the best hamburger he had ever had. So I ordered it.

Here is the description…
Kobe Burger: 17
8oz. Kobe beef burger, Monterey Jack, watercress, tomato, caramelized onion, garlic aioli, brioche bun

It was expensive, but it was made of Kobe beef and my parents paid anyway. 😉 The items that stood out were the bun, the onions, and the beef. The beef was tender but also you could tell that it was not processed too much. It beat out Houston’s. L forgot her camera, so it will just live on in my memory.

For dinner we went to S Vietnamese restaurant. It was the fanciest Vietnamese restaurant that I had ever been to. We ordered Chilean Seabass, Orange Roughie, Shaken Beef and Duck. The first three were really good, however the duck wasn’t.

k was doing squats before dinner.

k’s order of S Fried Rice. It was the first time we ordered off of the kid’s menu for her, since she couldn’t really eat our entrees. Plus, the entrees were on the small side, so it was good that she had her own.

Saturday morning we went with D’s parents to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. Neither D nor I had ever been there. Fortunately, we were able to use our Entertainment Book coupon to receive 50% off admission. That alone more than paid for the book, which I bought for $15.

At first, k was tired and didn’t want to leave her stroller and blanket. Eventually, she became more interested. She seemed most impressed by the diving birds, seals, and the small colorful coral reef fish.

So pretty!

Shark Lagoon

D said this shark reminded him of a Stealth Bomber

Petting a stingray

Lorakeet

We had lunch at Parker’s Lighthouse in nearby Shoreline Village. It has a nice view of the harbor. Unfortunately, I took this picture with a view of the parking lot.

On the way home we stopped by the Japanese Garden at CSULB. We couldn’t go in because there was a wedding going on. Too bad. D snuck this peek, though.

Tonight we had chicken taquitos with guacamole, chips, beans and vegetables. k ate a little bit of everything!

We are recovering from a busy weekend with D’s parents. They flew in on Thursday night and I dropped them off at the airport this morning. It was nice that they could see how much k has changed since Christmas.

D took Friday off and took them to Fashion Island. (I was at my moms’ group). They ate at Cafe R & D, which I hear was good. The restaurant gave k an apple sliced up like french fries. I would have liked to see that. D also took them to Pinkberry, to get the full Southern California experience, ha.

I met up with them Friday afternoon. We went to Huntington Beach for dinner at Duke’s, at the foot of the pier. The fish was excellent and the coconut shrimp was very tasty. We also relived our honeymoon experience by getting the hula pie. (We had gone to the Duke’s in Honolulu and the waiter gave us an embarrassingly huge piece. Strangers came up to us and made comments. Not cool.)

Afterward we took a quick stroll down Main Street. I took a quick peek in the store my cousin works at to see if she was there. I didn’t see her, but D told me to go inside, so I asked one of the employees about her and she was in the back. I think she was pretty surprised to see us, including k, who was much smaller when we last saw her.

I bet no one would ever guess that we’re first cousins. 🙂

D and k are now regularly running together (k is in the jogging stroller) on Sat. mornings. It is nice because it gives them quality time together, while I have time to go to the gym, do errands, or clean. D just purchased a water bottle belt.

Nice. I can’t say that running is one of the more attractive sports.

Afterward we had our first family small group meeting. It was fun and we’re looking forward to seeing how it develops.

It was hot out this weekend! D and k hung out on the balcony, which I tried to make more inviting now that it is warm out.

At night we went to my friend Lisa’s 30th birthday party. There were a lot of kids, hence the pinata. I think k enjoyed watching people swing at it.

We left church a little early today to go to the Long Beach Grand Prix. (My parents took care of k for the afternoon). We rode the Metro Blue Line into downtown LB and it dropped us off right at the entrance.

D went last year, but this was my first. Since it was the last Champ Car race, we were able to watch a bit of history in the making. (D tells me the IRL is taking over, but this whole racing world is totally foreign to me).

We came prepapred, with earplugs, water and chips. And 55 spf sunscreen that we had just bought at Costco yesterday. Turns out other people weren’t so prepared and we ended up letting the couple in front of us use some of the sunscreen, as it was already apparent that they were burning. Too bad it was really meant for the face, and not much comes out at one time. Oh well, a little is better than nothing, I guess.

The race lasted two hours. We had grandstand seats right before the start/finish line thanks to Mazda. One lap was a little over a minute, so there wasn’t too much time between cars whizzing by, but they go so fast it all just becomes a blur. Plus, we had earplugs on, so it was hard to talk with D. Also, we didn’t really care who won, so it wasn’t the most exciting thing, but it was interesting to see it live.

Before the race began, there were a couple of skydivers that jumped from an airplane over the crowd. One landed right in front of us. Good thing he had good aim.

This was the car with pole position, but he didn’t finish because of a stall.

I like watching pit crews. They’re amazingly fast, and they get so excited when they’re done, giving high fives, etc. I wonder what they say to each other? Dude, good tire changing!

People were having roof/balcony parties on the buildings around downtown LB.

I took a really short video clip with my camera to give you a better feel for the action. It was really difficult to take a still picture of the cars going by since they were so fast!

We didn’t stay for the drifting competition after the race, but here is one of the guys lining up.

Overall, it was a nice day to spend in the LBC with D.

Today was our 4th year wedding anniversary. D got home early, around 6 p.m. I made D’s favorite home-made meal. Salmon with teriyaki sauce with rice with a side of veggies.

Yesterday I bought some good strawberries at a stand and gave some to my parents.

Look at the size of that thing! You just can’t find that in the grocery store, though you pay dearly for it.

Today my mom brought over this:

D says we should buy food for my parents more often!

I am excited what God had planned for me so far this year. In February, I completed a Half-Marathon in under two hours. And in April I stayed at a company for two years in finance. My next goal is to run a Full Marathon in 4.5 hours. However, I am not planning on running a marathon until Feb 2009.

To celebrate our anniversary and me being at a company for two years we are going to a special restaurant. We have never spent $100 for the two of us at a restaurant. We have spent about $150 at a Luau but that includes a show and food and drinks. In addition, we have spent just over $100 in Napa but that was for four people. So the most we’ve spent is around $75 and we have done that around three times. So tomorrow night we are breaking the barrier. Stay tuned…