Dear readers, it has been a while.  k and n finished school on June 18.  On June 20-27, we took an epic, 2,400+ mile road trip that covered three national parks and six states.  Upon our return home we found that our computer had decided to call it quits.  I am happy to report that we ordered a cheap HP laptop from Amazon, and we’re now back in business!

Our first stop was Great Basin National Park in Baker, Nevada, aka “Nowhere”.  With an eight hour plus car ride ahead of us for the day we left at 5:20 a.m.  We borrowed a CX-9 from D’s work, which was pretty much a necessity, given that we both usually drive Mazda 3’s. 

For any road trip, snacks are key to this family.  I came up with the idea to re-purpose the kids’ rainbow loom boxes to make snack boxes for the road.  This put the kids in charge of their own snacks, eliminating much of the whining and constant turning around to dole out snacks throughout the trip.  I had seen a similar idea on Pinterest, but they put the snacks directly in the compartments without plastic bags.  Knowing this would end up as a big mess if someone accidentally spilled the contents of their box, I thought plastic bags were a better idea.  They also kept the snacks fresher.  The kids were good about self-control…some snacks even made it back home with us!  Of course, we did supplement with other food that would not fit or stay fresh, including fresh fruit, cheese, etc.

One big perk of renting the CX-9 was the built in video monitor/dvd player and two wireless headphones!  We had a rule that the kids were not allowed to watch any DVDs while we were in any of the national parks (we wanted them to be looking out the window!)  We also had a rule that they could not start out the day with any movies.  We wanted to make sure they were bored before they resorted to electronics.  I made each of them a little binder with some activities, but they were kind of difficult to do while riding in the car.

Meanwhile, D and I enjoyed the Sirius radio stations that we had access to.  Before the trip, I was in a mild panic because I could not find our ipod (which we pretty much only use on road trips).  However, the 80’s, 90’s, and 2k stations kept us entertained.  We were having flashbacks with hits from Eminem to “Here Comes the Hotstepper” to C+C Music Factory!

So, the kids’ last day of school was yesterday. The day before the last day of school, guess who forgot to pick up her daughter from school for minimum day? (My excuse is that my schedule was thrown off because n did not have speech therapy, which he has had all year, and which ended at the same time that school lets out). Thankfully, k told another mom she saw, the mom called me to confirm that I had indeed forgot, and she dropped k off at our house.

My second, even bigger failure occurred today when I committed this atrocity:
I had given him a decent haircut earlier in the afternoon, but then noticed some unevenness later on. I got the razor out again, forgetting that I had taken the shield off the trimmer! Oh my goodness, I cannot believe I did that! n is going to be wearing hats in public for a while. I guess it is a good thing he does not have to go to school looking like this. Hopefully we will all be able to look back at this and just laugh. At least hair grows back, right?? 🙂

Last weekend we tried a new restaurant–Miguel’s Jr. We had coupons for free kids’ meals, so k had the bean and cheese burrito and n had a chicken taco. D and I both ordered garbage burritos, one with chicken and one with beef. Overall, I would give the place 3.5 stars. The food tastes fresh, and the employees were friendly. The prices are fair, and I think they will give Baja Fresh a run for their money. Rubio’s, which is also nearby, still has the seafood to differentiate themselves. It is definitely a couple of notches above Taco Bell. It usually takes a little convincing to get our kids to eat Mexican food, but when they do, they usually enjoy it!

Per our summer tradition, we went to The Great Park to watch a movie on the lawn. This time it was “How To Train Your Dragon 2”. Since we have been several times now, we know exactly where to park and set up. However, we were still somewhat ill-prepared for the cold weather. There was quite a strong breeze at night! k bundled herself up like a burrito in a couple of blankets and fell asleep–haha!

After Dwell on Design we went to Chichen Itza, which is nearby. We first heard of this place in a book called “1,000 Restaurants You Must Experience Before You Die”, or something like that.
We ordered panuchos, fish tacos, and a grilled pork torta.

They are known for their paunchos, which is a corn tortilla with a thin layer of black beans inside, topped with shredded turkey, and fresh veggies. The fish tacos were very light and crispy. The pork in the torta was a bit to gristly for me, but the flavor was good. We noticed the autographed picture of Guy Fieri on the wall. It turns out that an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives featuring the restaurant had just premiered the night before!
We also ordered a mango licuado from another stall, but it was just ok. Chichen Itza is definitely the main reason to visit this little food court, and I can imagine it is quite packed during the weekday.

After k’s basketball game on Saturday, we headed up to LA to attend the Dwell on Design conference at the Convention Center.

Our kids, aka Hello Kitty & Thor.

There were some really cool teepees on exhibit. The kids also fell in love with the rock pillows.


D procured some solar-powered coffee.
There were some cool, albeit pricey seating options to try out.

If anyone has about $8,000 to spare, this would be loads of fun for the backyard!


We had access to the not-so-exciting VIP lounge. Perrier and Coke were the only offerings.

One highlight was watching the Dacor kitchen demonstration. We sampled some cookies and a ham/cheese puff pastry dish.

Happy June! Last week we went to the kids’ Open House at school. They were quite excited to show us all of their school work. We’re counting down the days until summer vacation!

We had a relaxing Memorial Day weekend hanging close to home. In addition to celebrating j’s birthday, we went to Yogurtland’s secret free day on Saturday. D’s co-worker N tipped us off since he knows we’re always up for free food. As soon as D received the text message, we were putting on our shoes and loading up the car!
The other highlight of our weekend was a trip to Medieval Times in Buena Park. I won two adult tickets, so it was a pretty good deal. Even though I grew up in Orange County, I had never been. I remember seeing tons of commercials back in the day and was always curious about what when on inside the castle which is visible from Beach Blvd. We decided to keep it a secret and did not tell the kids where we were going until we arrived. D’s only clue to them was “Make sure you’re wearing clean underwear!” Haha! The operator told me to arrive one hour early, so we arrived one hour and twenty minutes early, Lim-style. It turns out this was not really necessary, so we just explored the holding room and courtyard.

We witnessed a few “knighting” ceremonies before the show. This is done for people who purchase special packages to celebrate life events. Mostly it was people celebrating birthdays, but there was one girl who was celebrating “being potty-trained” and another was for a boy “for going to high school”. I could not help but bust up laughing, especially when it was announced in a “royal” voice!

The seating was quite tight. My tip would be to go to the restroom before the show because there really was no way for anyone to get out without evacuating the entire row. However, do not wait until the prior show gets out, because then the line is really long!

The food was pretty decent considering that they have to serve so many people all at once. The kids really liked the garlic bread. The “baby dragon” was a large 1/2 chicken portion. The white meat was dry, but the dark meat was nice and moist. I liked the hot apple turnover for dessert, too!

The fun part is eating with your hands since no utensils are provided!

We cheered for the Yellow Knight, but alas, he did not win.

There was a falconer…

…fancy horse tricks…

{This girl reminded me of Lo from “Laguna Beach/The Hills”.}
…and fighting, of course!


Yes, it was somewhat cheesy, but it was also fun to wear a paper crown, eat with our hands and cheer along with the crowd.

Happy 5th birthday to our nephew/cousin, j. We celebrated last weekend, complete with a baseball glove cake made by my mom.