Living An Intentional Life
My second cousin was in town last week to visit Disneyland with her family, so she organized a family dinner. I’m not sure if it qualifies as a “reunion” as that implies we’ve all met each other before. I only have two cousins, but apparently I have a lot of second cousins that I’ve never met. It was fun to meet two of them for the first time, and k had fun hanging out with her third cousin again. D was even able to share the List, which is always a good conversation piece.
Since the 4th of July was on a Wednesday, I didn’t feel like braving the crowds and staying out late to watch fireworks. Instead we swam, rode bikes, and had a bbq in the backyard. D perfected his turkey burger grilling skills. For dessert in the afternoon we went to Mochilato in Irvine.
We had a junior size Mochilato Way shaved ice. I told them to go light on the red beans, but I don’t think they listened. Like Sno-Biggie, it was just ok and kind of expensive ($8). For that amount I expect a bigger scoop of gelato in the middle. We were more excited that they also serve Beard Papa cream puffs.
At night we went to the top of Citrus Ranch Park. It turned out we were not the only ones with the same idea. It was cool that you could see fireworks all along the coast, but it was so far away and not too impressive. I thought we would be able to see the Tustin High fireworks pretty well, but that was not the case. Oh well, at least we tried. One tip: don’t stand in the areas with plants unless you want to be sprayed with water when the sprinkler system turns on. That didn’t happen to us, but we saw it happen to many others.
Last weekend my mom and I attended a baby shower for my second cousin on my dad’s side. It was at Il Fornaio in Pasadena. It was the fanciest baby shower I have ever attended! It was quite evident that there was a lot of thought and preparation that went into planning the event.
We are so happy and excited for the arrival of baby Reese (I think that is the spelling?) who will be making her debut next month!
Seal Beach is the place I consider my “hometown”. I lived there from the age of four until I graduated from high school (as well as the years post-law school until I got married). Last Friday, D was able to take a half day off of work so we went to Bolsa Chica/Seal Beach to hang out.
Our first stop was the wetlands. We were only able to see a few birds. Springtime is probably better for bird watching.
Yes, n got a hair cut.
Next we went to Bolsa Chica State Beach for our last use of our state park pass (D used it to go running one last time at Crystal Cove the next day).
Next we went to Sno-Biggie, a fairly new store in Seal Beach that sells “New Orleans” style shaved ice. It was OK—I used my entertainment book coupon, of course!
Then we strolled down Main Street. Had to take a picture of n by his name. We also made the mandatory stop at the shell store which was pretty crowded. Some of the stores come and go, but the biggest change to me is that there are now three asian restaurants: Thai, Vietnamese and Japanese. That was not the case back in the day. I was also able to pick up the latest copy of the Seal Beach Journal. I always get a kick out of reading the police log. It’s nice to see that someone reporting a game of “ding dong ditch ‘em” still gets space in the paper.
For dinner we ate at Thai Siam, off of Main Street, mainly because of my coupon. It too was just ok. But, the day itself was a lot of fun. I wonder if k and n will bring their families back to our part of OC with fond memories.
In celebration of the first weekend of summer last weekend we camped out in our backyard for the first time.
Since we’re used to camping on hard-packed dirt, camping on grass was comparatively luxurious. Plus, you can’t beat being able to use your own bathroom.
Our backyard is just big enough to fit our tent—haha.
D grilled some turkey burgers and we ate outside using the patio furniture that our neighbors graciously donated to us.
Of course, we had to have s’mores for dessert. We added slices of banana for a little twist.
I think the backyard campout during the first weekend of summer will become a new family tradition for us.
If you’ve driven on the 5 past the Discovery Science Center lately, you can see that the newest exhibit is called “Wildlife Rescue”. Through the first week of July (I believe), you can get a free ticket to the OC Zoo and the Santa Ana Zoo when you visit the DSC, a pretty good deal. Since we have annual passes, I want to make sure we visit all of the rotating exhibits. It is nice that it feels different and is not just the same thing every time.
When we went there was a short presentation about reptiles from the OC Zoo. k and n sat in the front row, and to my surprise, k touched all of the reptiles/snakes (and opossum!) that came by. n was a little more hesitant, but I think he did touch one snake and the opossum. I refrained from touching any of the animals, but it was neat to see them up close.
The kids also made frog hats with the help of some friendly volunteers.
On Saturday we went to Mil Jugos for an early lunch before going to the Discovery Science Museum that is pretty close by. Ever since I discovered Mil Jugos during jury duty, I have wanted to go back with D and the kids.
We ordered a medium guanabana juice to share. Unfortunately, the kids liked it so much they fought over it and a good 40% spilled onto the table. Too bad it’s not like Disneyland where the cast members are supposed to get you a new ice cream cone if they see someone accidentally drop theirs.
Mil Jugos serves Venezuelan food, and we had three arepas and one cachapa. Next time I think we’ll stick with the arepas, which are so good, especially with the green sauce (which is nut-free, I asked). D commented it is like a tamale, but the masa is slightly crisp on the outside, which I like better. Parking can be tough, but we were there before 11 a.m. on Saturday morning, so it was not bad. I guess there is a public lot down the street as well. I think they need to start a food truck—I am sure it would do well.
The waiting area has these fun hammocks which the kids enjoyed.
Last week we went to a free concert that is part of a summer series at the Tustin Ranch golf course. We had never been to the golf course so I was curious about what it was like.
The band that was playing was DSB Band, “America’s Favorite Tribute To Journey”. I consider myself a Journey fan, but apparently I am really not, since I only knew a few of the songs they performed. It seemed to be a popular event. We left the house around 6:00 p.m. (it started at 6:30) and the line for parking was slow. Turns out they were offering self-parking or complimentary valet parking. We ended up parking on the driving range. It was a nice night out and a week day night, which is a rarity for us.
Unfortunately, this was the best picture I could get of the band.
That day was k’s 1/2 birthday. Since her birthday is in December, we like to get her birthday presents in June so she doesn’t receive them all in December with Christmas . Her HK watch was one of her birthday presents. D recently bought a new watch since he was wearing a running watch to work before, and it wasn’t “professional” enough for him.
The kids had fun dancing to the music.
Last week we put n on the balance bike and this week he is riding his 2-wheeler! Yesterday was his first time trying to ride on two wheels. He kept on falling, of course, and when we asked him if he wanted to take a break, he would just say no and kept going. He didn’t seem frustrated in the least. This video was taken this morning when we went to the park so that there would be more room for him to practice. He really took off! Now we’re thinking we should get him a boy’s 12″ bike instead of having him ride k’s hand-me-down pink princess bike. [Does anyone have one they want to sell/give away?] Meanwhile, k is riding a hand-me-down blue boy’s bike. We did give k a pink flower basket to add to her bike for her half-birthday, though. She enjoys giving her stuffed animals a ride. Soon D and I will have to get bikes too so we can do family rides!
This past Saturday D and I had date night to watch Captain America at The Great Park. In preparation for watching The Avengers, we have watched Ironman, Thor, and now Captain America. I believe the park has hosted summer movies for the past couple of years, but this was our first time, so we did not know what to expect. The website said the movie started at “dusk” which I was not sure about. Turns out it was about 8:20 p.m. Since the movie was two hours, this put us way past our regular bedtime, but it was a lot of fun and I would do it again.
We brought takeout from Zon Baguettes. We haven’t been there in a while, but I think they changed owners (they are also expanding into the space next door). I thought the grilled chicken sandwiches were better than before (more veggies, less weird mayo). The spring rolls were also really good (with peanut sauce, since the kids weren’t with us) and the Vietnamese iced coffee was strong! We arrived at 5:30 p.m., and there were only a few people there. We set up our Tommy Bahama chairs in the back of the first section. 
The screen is inflatable. We watched them set it up.
There were signs that said that the middle front section is reserved for those on blankets and low-backed chairs.
I guess someone did not get the memo.