Knotts Berry Farm WIth Friends

Water Polo!

Yesterday we went on a bit of an adventure. I found out that my cousin Hayley (who lives in Florida and who I haven't seen in a few years) was playing on a water polo team in the water polo junio olympics here in Los Angeles. So, I packed Brad and Lila up in the car and drove the 45 minutes to get there. When we got there, Lila had pooped all over herself and the car seat so I cleaned all that up and thankfully had a clean outfit for her. Then I found out that there was a $15 entrance fee and I only had $12 cash and they didn't take credit card. Thankfully, the lady had pity on me and let me in for just $12. That was nice!

Things got better though. It was my first water polo game and I soooooo enjoyed it. The players are such awesome swimmers and the game moves really fast. This game was really close too. It ended with a tie.

Cousin Hayley, #7, warming up before the game with Brad looking on. It was so great to see Hayley and I just wish that we had more time to see her.

Atlantis Park

We tried a new park today. It was about 1/2 hour away and it is called Atlantis Park. Everything there is based on a mermaid/fish/underwater theme. We met our friends from church there and everyone had a blast.

Brad's friend, Elizabeth, going down the sea serpent slide.

Brad wanted to help Elizabeth into her car when it was time to leave. Serious cuteness!

Lila and Zachary had fun grabbing at each other, trying to take each other's sippy cups and binkies, and "talking".

This picture below cracks me up. Brad and Elizabeth were "sleeping" on the park bench because they were sooooo tired.

Siblings are forever.

This whale slide was really cool.

Look out for the sea dragon, Brad!!!!

Brad shoots down the sea serpent slide.

Brad rides the whale.

There were mermaid and fish murals throughout the park. This mermaid mural was in the girl's bathroom.

Brad

Last Friday I dropped Brad off at his friend Elizabeth's birthday party. Well, what you can't tell from this picture is that Brad cried for his mommy much of the time and so much so that I had to come and get him from the party early. What a turkey!

Last night at dinner he scooped up a handful of peas and threw them in the air like confetti. They landed all across the table and Brad was quickly removed by his father for some discipline. I wish I could see inside his 3 year old mind to know HOW he thought that would be all right for him to do!!??

On a happier Brad note, yesterday I took Sky and Brad to SPLASH, our town's water park, and Brad did the best he has ever done. He wore a life jacket but swam all around the pool and the lazy river without me holding him at all. He was really getting the hang of kicking his feet and he was very proud of himself.

He has been a little lost this week as Sky has started theater camp and is gone from 9-2 everyday. Sky is enjoying the camp-singing, dancing, drama, yup that's our Sky.

Catalina Island!

Yesterday we went to Catalina Island (without the kids!) to celebrate our 15th anniversary. We really enjoyed learning more about the island and exploring the area. Above we are in front of one of the harbors.

This is the big landmark, the Casino, which, in fact, is NOT a casino as we typically think of one. It houses a movie theater and a ballroom but there is no gambling (and there never has been). Apparently they use the word "casino" in its proper sense. But, don't worry, we found lots of other ways to waste our money. We went parasailing but I did a whole separate blog entry on that because it was soooooo awesome. We also rented bikes and saw some of the island that way. There are a very limited number of cars on the island and most people rent golf carts to get around. That is even how most of the locals get around.

There used to be a Catalina pottery company on the island so there's lots of cool ceramic work all around. This fountain was really cool.

Ken and I rented snorkel gear and went snorkelling in this area, referred to as Lover's Cove. We saw LOTS of beautiful colorful fish. The fish come right up to you as they are used to being fed by the swimmers. There are also glass bottom boats and semi-submersible submarines that people pay to ride on and that also spit out fish food. So, basically, this cove is swarming with fish.

We took a 1 hour tour around certain areas of the island and we saw this house which was formerly 2 boats which someone put together and turned into a house. Below is a picture of what most of the city streets look like.

Below is a picture of the Catalina Express, the boat that we rode over to the island. It was about a one hour trip each way. We got on the island around noon and left on the 8pm boat.

This is a picture I took from our tour bus. The island is 88% conserved, meaning that 88% of the island can never be built on and must be left wild. There is only a population of 4,000 on the island. Mr. Wrigley (of the chewing gum and also former owner of the Chicago Cubs) owned the island at one time and his descendants have made the conservancy rules.

Here is a model of the so-called casino building.

More views of the harbor. Basically, you can do just about anything here: fishing, rent a paddle boat, kayak, motor boat, parasailing, swimming, etc.

There is a lot of wildlife on the island. We saw this deer and there are also bison and bald eagles but we didn't see those.

We had lunch on the beach. You can see the beach bar right behind us and servers came on to the beach to take drink orders.

Well, that's our trip in a nutshell. We had a really fabulous time! It was a great way to celebrate 15 awesome years together!

We finished off the day with an awesome seafood dinner. Ken got the Australian lobster (which, in my opinion, isn't as good as Maine lobsters but Maine lobsters aren't available in southern California) and I had a bowl of steamers.

We left from Los Angeles Harbor which is really a very industrial harbor. There are loads of these crazy looking cranes that load and unload cargo from ships.

This picture was taken from the boat with Catalina Island in the background. It was a perfect day, typical for life here in So Cal.

Parasailing!

Yesterday Ken and I went to Catalina Island to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary. Just the two of us. It was blissful. We had never been to Catalina but have wanted to go since we moved to California. One of our adventures for the day included parasailing. It was an awesome experience!

Basically, you empty your wallet, get on a boat and they attach the harnesses and let the rope out slowly as they drive the boat around the harbor until you reach an altitude of about 600 feet. It is so quiet and peaceful up there! We were up for probably about 10 minutes and the view of the island was incredible.

They really have the whole experience down to a science. They say that they can even bring people in wheelchairs. When you come down, you land on your feet and you never even get wet.