July 21-27
This is Grant, the beach monkey.
Monday night is dinner guest night lately and this time we had Tyler and Sandra Large over. At this point, Tyler practically qualifies as an "old" friend because we have travelled through Europe together. Well, Scotland, anyway. When Kenny and I were dating, Johnny 99 did a tour of parts of the UK and I got to go for a week of it. Tyler was filling in for Ammon and that's how I met him. Anyway, it was a fun visit. He and Sandra are laid back people. We made Cuban chicken skewers and rice. My new favorite thing with rice is sprinkling in a generous dash of chicken boullion before turning on the rice cooker. I think it works better than cooking the rice in chicken broth.
Anyway, Tuesday morning bright and early, Sarah flew in from Utah to stay for a week. After getting her all settled, we braved the crowds at the Nordstrom Anniversary sale in South Coast Plaza. I didn't buy anything there! Or at the Limited! Or Aldo's! Or Steve Madden! I'm getting better! Oh, I did buy some stuff at H&M but it was stuff I needed. Kinda, sorta. Well...I might. Oh, and I got a little black dress from Macy's. But that's a classic....right? Tuesday night we went to Orange County Fair. It's our annual Fried Food Retreat. We got giant smoke turkey legs, fried Oreos, fried Pop Tarts, Aussie potatos in ranch dressing, and a chocolate dipped rice crispy treat. Sarah was appalled, as she should be. Like I said, though, I look forward to forgetting about healthy eating on this day every year so I was really, really happy. We also checked out the photography exhibit where Jamie, Nadine and Jill all had photos accepted for display. Jill and Nadine even won ribbons. Yay!
Wednesday night, Sarah came with Grant and I on our morning walk. We checked out the US Open surfing madness down at the pier and then wandered down the strand a while. Well,not wandered. It's my exercise, after all. Then we got home and I wrote while Sarah went back to the beach to soak up the sun. Going to the beach is not my favorite. It's because I burn waaaay to easily but now with kids....it's a whole different story. It used to be fun when I could go lay out, slathered in SPF 1,000 and read a book or nap. But with James, I'm always keeping an eagle eye out to make sure he doesn't wander too far out or that no one comes along and kidnaps him. I guess that's the cool thing about living so close to the beach, though. I can take him for an hour right after school and let him wave jump or gather sea shells and then go home. No one's sunburned and we're both happy. Grant is a whole new challenge. I have to pack a lot more stuff (a beach umbrella for extra shade, for example) and there's no way I can get him and everything else out to the beach by myself. Then I spend the whole time trying to keep him from eating sand. But he likes watching the waves so it's almost worth it. On no sunburn days, it's totally worth it.
Thursday night we had Kenny's world famous (okay, Jacobson house famous) turkey burgers and Sarah's friend Troy ate with us. He was in town on business and dropped in to surf. Then Jamie watched Grant so we could go see The Dark Knight. Kenny and I loved it. I thought it was great story-telling. Sarah wasn't such a big fan of it. But then she made us watch August Rush last night, which she is a big fan of, so I don't think her opinion can be trusted.
Thursday was a day at the gym for me. I even did my stupid lunges. I hate stupid lunges. They're hard. Sarah wandered down to the beach again and I came home and wrote. Then I joined her later (see above for beach opinions) and Grant spent the whole time throwing sand (his cool new toy) and trying to chew on her face. I'm pretty sure he's teething and not Hannibal Lechter, Jr. I think we made healthy quiche that night (with fresh basil, homegrown!) and watched How She Move. Kenny and I love urban dance movies. It's kind of weird, but there you go.
Friday was so spectacular I can't even remember what we did. I mainly did errands, I think. And we made yummy lemongrass pork patties with carrot apple salad. And did a Yo Yum Yum Yogurt run for the fourth time that week. How can I not remember a whole day that just happened?
Saturday was mellow. We went do to the beach again with Sarah so Kenny could teach her to surf. It was more fun with baby Grant this time. It was warmer and Kenny played with him in the water. Once he got used to it, Grant loved it. We took it easy the rest of the day, just hanging out. We got lunch at Fiesta Grill, a former favorite, but they were rude to Kenny and Sarah and screwed up their orders on top of that so I think we'll be exclusively at Chronic Taco from now on. Kenny had a discussion with the elders and Sarah wandered down to the pier for more surfing madness and to meet up with more old friends. We made this awesome lemongrass pork patty with carrot apple salad recipe for dinner and then topped it off with a Yo Yum Yum yogurt run. I think that was the fourth time last week. Then we watched Juno. It was my third time seeing it and Kenny's first. He really liked it.
Sunday, yesterday, was church in the morning and totally chilling all afternoon. We blogged and read. Kenny even got a nap in. Baby Grant is being a bit of a pill right now because I'm pretty sure he's teething. From what my friends have described with their own kids, he's probably not all that bad. He doesn't scream or even cry. He just whines all day and nothing helps. Not picking him up or putting him down or giving him toys or playing with him. It only works for a minute or two and then he whines again. Still, better now than on the cruise in a couple of weeks when he would drive the whole boat crazy. But he's had his two bottom teeth for over a month now so I guess that means it really is time for the top ones to come in. Sigh.
Granty Delicious helps Daddy blog
Grant pukes on Daddy. Mommy says, "I told you so."
This week's adventures will include a four day trip to San Francisco and a possible visit to the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach. Stay posted!