My brother gave me the book “Born to Run” for my birthday. I didn’t know what to expect. But when I started to read it, I stopped reading the other book that I was reading at the time, because “Born to Run” was so riveting. It is actually rare that I read a book at all, so reading two books at once is very rare for me. But once I started to read “Born to Run”, I looked forward to reading the book at night. I wonder if I had read more as a kid, I would have done better on the SATs.
Anyway, the book helped propel the barefoot shoe craze, and brought light to the reclusive Tarahumara tribe in the Copper Canyons in Mexico. It was entertaining, but also instructive. I made some changes since reading the book. I try to keep my back straight, land on the mid-foot of my feet instead of my heel, and try to keep my strides short. I also am planning to move full time to my lighter race shoes. I usually run in the Asics 2100 series and race in the Asics DS Trainers. However, I am planning on running full time in the trainers.
However, most importantly, after reading the book, I remembered why I love running so much. I sometimes get caught up in just trying to improve my time, and training gets boring and tiring. However, I appreciate the blessing God has given me to allow me to run without major injury and to run in a beautiful country.
SAZOO and Benihana
k didn’t have school today, so D and I took the day off and made it a “family day”. We needed to use our free Santa Ana Zoo coupons before they expire at the end of the month, so that’s where we went. It’s been a while since we’ve been, and I noticed some upgrades: new signage, new garden areas, etc.
The smallest type of monkey in the world. Adults weigh 6 oz.
They had a lot of Halloween decorations, which made it nice and festive. I suggest they remove the Big Lots price tag, though.
There was a cool sundial. Stand on the correct month and your shadow tells the time. It was just before 11 a.m.—pretty accurate.
Afterward we went to lunch at Benihana with my birthday gift certificate. I think this was my first time, and I was not too impressed. The food was just lackluster. Granted, we were in the regular “lounge” area so we did not have the teppan experience. I found it interesting that there seemed to be a mix of Caucasian people and Japanese Japanese people. We also ran into people we know from church.
Once again, n fell asleep in the car and he kept on sleeping while we ordered. We woke him up when our main entrees came.
It was a fun way to break up the week. Two more days until the weekend!
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A Lovely Sunrise
2nd Annual Small Group Camping Trip
We returned to San Clemente State Beach for what is becoming an annual tradition of camping with our small group, plus another family; 9 adults, 11 kids total. The weather was warm, and we walked down to the beach both Friday and Saturday. Camping is fun, but it sure does take a lot of prep and clean-up/recovery. There was some talk about going somewhere different, or maybe two nights, so we’ll see what happens next year.
More Free Food
Really not enjoying this weather. I cannot wait for it to get cooler!
Some random ramblings…We tried the Quinoa and Arugula salad from CPK for free. This is a nice freebie because you don’t have to purchase anything and it is good for take-out. I thought it was pretty good; it made me want to cook with quinoa at home.
D and I went out for date night at Lucca with my birthday BOGO. The pasta dishes we ordered were cooked perfectly al dente. 
Asparagus and Fried Egg: Very rich a little too oily, but we split both, so it was not too overwhelming.
Amatriciana: Served piping hot and definitely spicy with a hint of sweetness.
For dessert (also gratis): a deconstructed s’more. Cute, but the marshmallow was too sweet for us. The kids would’ve loved it. I would definitely recommend signing up for their birthday club.
I pretended to take a picture of D, but I was really taking a picture of the waitstaff going over the specials and taste testing several dishes.
I also noted that there was a bar for disabled people. Never saw that before. (Looks like it serves mainly as a storage space, though).
Lucca is located near the “nice part” of Irvine. We had to take a picture of this high rollin’ truck. Wow.
Rockin’ Baja Birthday
On Saturday night we headed to Newport to use my birthday coupon for Rockin’ Baja Coastal Cantina. It was our first time at the restaurant so we were not quite sure what to expect. Parking was definitely a pain, but we ended up finding street parking not too far away. The coupon was buy one entrée get a Taste of Baja bucket free. We tried to order two Taste of Baja buckets, but it was a no-go. At least the waitress was nice about it. So we ended up with one order of grilled fish tacos and one Taste of Baja bucket—chicken, carne asada, 4 plump shrimp and 2 slipper lobster pieces, rice, beans, tortillas, and honey chipotle butter.
We all enjoyed the food (D and I saved the seafood for ourselves since we appreciate it more!) The waitress brought a scoop of ice cream topped with chocolate syrup and whipped cream with a candle for me. The waitstaff didn’t sing, but the people at the table next to us started singing happy birthday. I think they thought it was n’s birthday because he was on my lap.
Afterward we walked along the pier.
It was a nice evening out!
Little Hoopsters Awards Ceremony
We made it through our first season of Little Hoopsters. Our Saturday mornings are once again ours—yay. k definitely improved her b-ball skillz, but she’s still working on actually wanting to get the ball in a game setting. 
Defense!
Their team name was Red Flaming Hot Cheetos, thus the bag-mascot.
Everyone was presented a trophy at the closing ceremony.
Pretty fancy, eh? It kind of overpowers her summer library reading trophy-haha.
First Day of Preschool & Kindergarten
This week was a big milestone for our family. k’s first day of kindergarten and n’s first day of preschool! Both kids really enjoy their new schools so far. n slept for twelve hours (unusual for him) and woke up singing the “Good Morning” song they sing at preschool the morning after his first day.
k’s teacher let the parents come into the classroom the first day in the beginning to take pictures. D was able to go to her orientation the day before school started, so that was nice.
k’s self-portrait from her first day. Note the pink shoes!
We are looking forward to seeing both kids learning and growing this year.
August Loose Ends
n had his first day of preschool today and k starts kindergarten tomorrow—oh my. Let me wrap up our summer happenings.
Ate free pizzas from Blaze, a new restaurant by UCI. We were impressed! It is like Chipotle/Subway in that you tell the person at the counter what toppings you want.
Completed our Sanrio Yogurtland spoon collection. We really like these new popping mango boba thingies. They are not chewy, but burst juice when you eat them.
Went to the Harvest Crusade at Angels Stadium. Saw David Crowder, Gungor and Third Day; listened to Greg Laurie on the radio broadcast on the way home. 
Went to the Festival of Arts in Laguna Beach (not to be confused with the Sawdust Festival) with free tickets D won at the OC Fair. Nice place to bring a picnic and listen to smooth jazz, if that’s your thing.
Looked outside when I heard the kids in our neighbor screaming at the top of their lungs, “Double Rainbow!!!”
What does it mean?
Ad Hoc + Redd
As mentioned yesterday, the final day of our vacation was spent in Napa to visit D’s parents. D’s brother and sister were also there, so it was a family reunion of sorts.
After church on Sunday morning we stopped in a park in Yountville before going to Ad Hoc for brunch.
Last time we really enjoyed Addendum, so we were looking forward to this adjacent restaurant.
The menu is pre fixe and the menu changes all of the time. I was hoping that day wasn’t the fried chicken and waffles since we already had tried the fried chicken. Luckily, it was hangar steak and eggs.
Too bad I didn’t take a picture of the menu, because I can’t remember most of the detailed description of all of the courses. The food is served family-style and everything tasted so fresh and delicious. This was a garlic bread-crostini type of thing with charred scallion butter.
I believe this was an endive salad with some sort of smoked fish.
The hangar steak and eggs. There was also a side of crispy potatoes.
For dessert: plums with crème fraiche and coconut rochers (macaroons).
The kids were able to order a kid’s meal of pancakes and bacon for $5, so they shared one meal and had a little of our food as well.
The pancakes were served with more of the crème fraiche. The bacon seemed dry and overcooked, which is strange considering the restaurant’s mascot is a pig.
Yountville was really crowded and parking was difficult. While waiting for D to get the car, we waited in the little wooded area behind Ad Hoc.
The kids had lots of fun at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Then it was time for dinner at Redd Wood.
Interesting décor. It is an upscale Italian restaurant, so we had pasta and pizza. Our waiter was quite chatty and jealous that n was sleeping during the beginning of dinner because his two year old son doesn’t take naps.
It was nice to get away one last time before summer ends. Can’t believe tomorrow is September and school is starting next week!