August 31, 2008
It’s been such a fun week having James back! On Saturday we had a welcome back party and went bowling. Then we had James’s favorite dinner, poppy seed chicken. Sunday we continued the party with pizza for dinner and we watched Goonies.
Monday night was the ward corn roast, which is always a blast. I was fighting off an awful cold and I wasn’t up to trying to throw together a great foil dinner so we schlepped some tasty Quizno’s down to the beach and chased it down with some super awesome fresh corn on the cob, straight off the fire.
Tuesday I took the boys down to the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach for the afternoon. It’s a neat little artist festival with everything from paintings to jewelry to glass-work. There was even a glass blower working on site which fascinated James. I was pretty excited because I think I may have found a great gift for Kenny. I’m commissioning a piece of glasswork for Kenny incorporating Kenny’s favorite combination of blues for him to keep in his office. And I’m not letting the cat out of the bag because James already did that. He’s not too good at keeping surprises quiet yet.
Wednesday was Disney day. Big fun! We have annual passes but don’t go in the summer because it’s too crowded. It was great on the day we went. We got there a little before five in the evening and left at 8:30 and still got in about six rides including the new Finding Nemo one, which is a submarine ride. It was pretty cool. Baby just went about crazy every time bubbles streamed past the window and James loved it.
Thursday I brought James for his first Yo Yum Yum experience. It’s a great frozen yogurt place where you can choose from about twenty flavors. It’s self serve so you can mix and match to your heart’s content and then top it off with a million selections at the toppings bar, and then you pay for the whole thing by weight. James made himself quite a concoction and dubbed the place “tricked out”. I think it’s becoming one of his favorite places, too. I was excited because eating there meant that I achieved my first post-cruise weight loss goal of three pounds. Whoo-hoo! I’m almost down five pounds already.
Friday night was quiet. I read on the couch while my two big boys played some crazy computer game where you have to build contraptions to solve a problem. Kenny and James must have gone back and forth on their inventions for three hours in childish, I mean childlike, glee.
Saturday we went to do our cleaning assignment at the stake building and then James and Kenny went to the Knott’s Soak City water park where they spent the afternoon doing things I don’t even want to think about like going down insane water slides with nothing more than an inner tube between them and certain death. Then our friends watched the boys for us so Kenny and I could enjoy a date night. He made these amazing filet mignon Turkish kebabs with season rice and then a dessert of grilled pears stuffed with creamy goat cheese, caramel and pecans. Soooo awesome! We went out to Hotel Café in L.A. and listened to some live music and mainly just had a great time being grown ups without the kids.
Today, baby and I woke up, both feeling better, and we had a nice time at church. Kenny subbed in James’s primary class where he rewarded the kids’ good behavior by letting them spend the last five minutes of class talking about the grossest things they ever ate. He was a hit, of course.
This week school starts, so we’re up for the adventure of fourth grade. Whoo-hoo!