"OH-OH-OH, who's that kid with the oreo cookie?": May 2008

Though Southern California had a 90 degree heat wave recently, we didn't quite catch the wave. Our little family just returned from a week down in Newport Beach, Kimball and I tagged along this time as daddy has spent a great deal of time with work down there. We snagged a great deal through priceline for the Hyatt Regency on Jamboree, very comfy and accommodating. Erik's sister Rachel lives just a couple of miles away while Miriam is up in LA, luckily we were able to see both of them quite a bit in addition to a quick visit with their parents who were in town on Saturday. As much as we were yearning for more fun in the sun, it turned out quite alright.

A nice afternoon in the park with Auntie Rachel, why can't the park by our house have these wood chip bottoms, is it so much to ask?

Back for a visit to H.B, Erik's favorite surf spot and where he feels at home. Not sure I lived there long enough to call it home but it's always fun to visit. Apparently the man taking this picture did not feel Kimball was of much importance. sad.

We couldn't pass up the opportunity for lunch at Wahoos, who gets sick of Wahoos? I think we ate there 4-5 times throughout the stay. Maybe it's the same as Utah outsiders being obsessed with Cafe Rio. Then again, you just can't compare the two.

The Newport temple, around t

he corner and down the street from Rachel!

A Saturday morning stroll through Balboa island with ma and pa.

So this was crazy funny. Miriam had been on the PR team for putting together this stake fashion show up in LA. It was a modest clothing fashion show and all the models were beautiful along with their outfits. The show was very impressive, definitely above my expectations, especially for a church event! I was so excited to see one of the first models that walked out happened to be one of my roommates JANE, from my sophomore year of college over 10 years ago! It was so fun to catch up with her afterwards and finally meet her husband.

We attended church with Rachel on Sunday. This is her swanky apartment building, the Newport Bluffs.

We had gotten a bunch of both Erik's and my friends together on Sunday for a Cinco de Mayo carnita BBQ in Newport Beach but it was so cold outside I forgot to take pictures. The girls mostly huddled around the grill. Ridiculous, I know. So some pics of a few of the kiddies INDOORS afterwards will have to do!

Kimball kissing baby Sophie Stephenson, our friends Lindsay and Mike's baby. He was way into her, go Kimball!! Check out her hand up on his face too, looks like she didn't think it was so bad herself, we'll have to teach her to close her eyes next time ;)

Kimball still workin it with Sophie and Cambria Mangrum, Ty & Nicole's daughter. What's crazy is Sophie and Cambria are the exact same age to the day, they just met that day!

Kimball with his buddies Asher and Fin Bradshaw, Jeff & Brittany's boys.

Rachel spent Monday afternoon and evening watching the little guy so Erik and I could go enjoy the simple things in life that are more peacefully accomplished without children. We played 9 holes on a par 3 golf course behind our hotel, a perfect fit for us amateurs. We make a pretty good pair out on the green, we had a lot of fun even when we were searching for our balls.

We headed back to Huntington to follow up the golf with a leisurely bike ride. Just cruisin around so carefree, nothing could have been more relaxing. We parked our bikes and enjoyed a nice dinner at Savannahs below the pier.

And then there was Disneyland.....

Is that Buzz Lightyear I see? Oh wait, no, it's a flower. Yes, it's true, this simple flower gave Kimball more joy than most anything else at Disneyland, that and his pineapple whip. He'd unfortunately suffered a horrible ear ache the night before that kept him up until 4 am. So with the combination of sick recovery and being a little on the young side, it might not have been his most memorable day ever but still enjoyable nonetheless. Well, why don't you be the judge, let me post below the expression on his first ride.

ha ha ha ha ha, exciting huh?

While we were still in California adventure we took him to the bugs life 3-D movie. That's nice and innocent, right? Well, I'd never been, but he and pretty much every other toddler in the room started crying. Luckily it was just more of a scared whimper and a couple of tears, some kids were coming out of there bawling their eyes out, Miriam and I couldn't help but laugh, so sad but kinda funny.

Happy smiley Kimball with higher hopes for this next ride!

Up, actually feeling quite tired after all, is this stupid caterpillar ride almost over?

Brittany brought Asher & Fin to join up with us for a few hours, I think this is Monsters Inc ride

So do kids even know who these characters are anymore? Kimball was clueless. When we spotted the dog we were like, "Look Kimball there's Goofy!" And after we said it like 3x this lady that worked there finally whispers, "actually it's Pluto!" Oops!

Mmmm, what a fine Dole whip this is!

Miriam and I had to steal away for our agreed upon favorite ride, Indiana Jones. Though we did get the front row of the jeep, we were saddened to notice the random lone lady sitting in the driver seat did not take full advantage of her lucky spot, she barely touched the steering wheel.

And off we ventured to Toontown when our fate took over. Man down, jail was definitely intended to be more fun.

And since he wouldn't rise from the dead, we thought it would be kinda funny to just pose him on all of the attractions where he would have had so much fun if he'd only stayed awake. After the second picture we realized it wasn't so funny anymore, and in fact rather cruel. And with a completely anti-climactic end to the day, there you have Disneyland!

When Erik finished up work on Thursday we had a couple hours to spare before heading back to the airport and what do you know, the sun finally came out! So off we jammed down to the nearest beach to play around.

Corona del

Mar
After pointing out small mussels and little anemones, Kimball was still on the hunt for bigger and better since he's used to all the crazy stuff at the aquarium. We weren't sure how we could beat that. But Erik spotted a crab in a crevice and poked and prodded to coax him out. After accidentally breaking a couple of legs (which he assured Kimball that they will grow back) we got our Mr. pet crab. Kimball was fascinated until he realized it wasn't behind glass and he started whimpering "crab get you, crab get you"