Living An Intentional Life
Two Sundays ago we had our annual church picnic. It was sunny, but not too hot, as it has been in years past.
Food is a big deal at our church. The main course was hamburgers and hot dogs, but there were plenty of Asian (American) sides, such as spam musubi, pot stickers, Chinese chicken salad, somen, and jujubes (Chinese apples).
The cookie pops have now become a tradition. The kids go to the dessert table early so they are able to snag one.
I haven’t been blogging recently because I feel like we haven’t been doing anything “blog-worthy”. There were some activities that I thought we could do this past weekend, but then it was so hot and windy (and smoky, due to a fire, on Sunday), I just felt like staying inside. We did help with our church’s rummage sale, though. The kids enjoyed sorting, and we scored some good finds, including a sauce pot and non-stick frying pan. We also used my birthday BOGO for Souplantation, also a favorite with the kids.
The weekend before, k went to a school friend’s birthday party at Pump It Up! The birthday girl’s mom is very creative/crafty and went all out with the theme, as you can see (so cute!):
I appreciate how, at this stage, all of the parents have opportunities like these to get to know each other better.
Today was Free Museum Day, so we reserved tickets to San Juan Capistrano in order for D to see one more of the “Thousand Places to See Before You Die”.
First, we stopped for our annual trip to the Original Pancake House with our Entertainment Book BOGO coupon. A vegetarian omelet (with a side of regular pancakes) and an apple pancake were plenty for the four of us.
I thought the mission’s tagline, “Worth a Visit” was kind of funny, but in the end, I must agree.
We had a coupon for two free adult admissions, but paid $6 each for the kids. The price includes an audio tour, and there were separate audio recordings for the adults and kids, which was nice.
Depiction of life at the mission.
D stretching to show how low the doorways were.
The grounds are beautifully maintained…so many photo ops.
Lily pads!
Koi fish are both fascinating and freaky creatures. We had a coupon to feed the fish for free, but it wasn’t good until 12:30, so we weren’t able to use it.
I was surprised how much the kids seemed to enjoy it. I think the novelty of having their own audio tour was a big part of it. I guess they will have a head start on their fourth grade California history curriculum. 
Last night k had a girl scout field trip to Krispy Kreme. n and I happily tagged along. The kids basically stood on the ramp by the window and someone explained the donut-making process to them. There was no direct access to the kitchen, which was a little disappointing. However, a free warm glazed donut made up for any disappointment!
This past weekend we went camping with our small group. This time was a little different because: 1. Everyone was able to make it (for a total of 31 people!); 2. We went to Crystal Cove instead of San Clemente; 3. Some of us stayed for two nights instead of our usual one night. Since D and I were in charge of planning, I was a little nervous about things going smoothly, but it ended up being really fun!
We only had two sites the first night and we fended for ourselves for dinner. I brought ingredients to make banana boats on the grill for dessert (split a banana, stuff with mini marshmallows and chocolate chips, wrap in foil, heat up on grill, add crushed graham crackers and M&Ms to taste).
The other families were kept up by birds that were chirping into the night, but our family didn’t even hear them—I guess we are sound sleepers. We were in charge of breakfast. I made pancakes ahead of time, and we served them with blueberry topping and whipped cream, along with pineapple bacon sausage from Costco.
The kids had a LOT of fun hanging out in our friends’ Honda Element with custom camper. It was like having a tree house/club house.
We spent pretty much all of Saturday hanging out on the beach. I can’t remember the last time that we lasted that long. It helped that someone brought an EZ Up so we did not roast in the sun.
To make it easier, lunch was pizza from Costco, which a couple of people picked up.
Dinner was hot dogs and chili and rice, which has become a tradition. We also had s’mores, made possible by a propane fire pit.
After dinner, some people spotted whales. n claimed he could see the whale’s eye, as well as a person riding the whale. He must have really good eyesight! 
For breakfast the next morning we had scrambled eggs on croissants, muffins and fruit.
Since it was Sunday, we also had a short devotional which reminded us about the ever-presence of God in our lives (even when we tend to forget).
After packing up, we were pretty much spent, so we went straight home. n took a nap for almost three hours! Our house is still recovering from the explosion which comes with unpacking from a camping trip, but the memories are definitely worth it!
This guy is 4.5 today. Our evening ritual is to spend some time in the front yard after dinner. I thought I would record some of n’s current skillz:
Here are some highlights:
We went to Red Robin so that D and I could both redeem our free birthday entrees: Bruschetta chicken sandwich and Oktoberfest burger.
k had her last Little Hoopsters practice. She played half-court 3 on 3 since it was so hot outside and actually seemed to be enjoying herself! She made three baskets, and had a steal and a block. This is quite an improvement from last year. We will be glad to have our Saturdays back.
We had shave ice sponsored by a neighbor real estate agent from Wiki Wiki Shave Ice. They had a lot of flavors, including “dill pickle”, which we didn’t try.
We went to the Orange County Museum of Art and saw the controversial “Bad Dog” installation. (There is also yellow paint on the building which is not captured in this picture).
We walked around the museum and finished in about ten minutes (plus one minute for the gift shop). I guess we don’t get/appreciate modern art.
Next we ate at Mozambique Peri Peri, which serves South African cuisine.
We ordered Mahi Mahi and the Chicken Plate with our BOGO coupon. I’m not sure how South African the food really was—the coleslaw had pineapple in it? It was tasty, but we must note that the fish portion was tiny compared to the chicken, even though the plates were the same price, $12.95. In the end, both dishes were enough for the four of us because the chicken portion was quite large.
This Lotus was one of the cars in the parking lot. Yep, I guess we are in Newport.
Yesterday was k’s first day of school. There is a lot for her to adjust to: new (earlier) start time, new teacher, new classroom, new classmates, etc. The school day is also a lot longer. She seems to be handling it well, though.
Her teacher (the one in the plaid shirt) is new to the school, so we don’t have any info about him. k seems to like him so far, though.
Meanwhile, THIS has been giving me a headache. I’ve given up hope, and our beloved Series 2 Tivo will need to be replaced. It did last a good 8 years, though. I’ve been teaching the kids that “people are more important than things” and I need to take that lesson to heart myself.
The OC Register was giving away LA Galaxy tickets to 7 day subscribers, so I requested some for Saturday night, against the San Jose Earthquakes. On our way up to Carson, we stopped in Cypress to visit Frostbites. We had a BOGO coupon, so we ordered two sorbet creams—one with mango and passionfruit, and one with mango and cherry sorbet. The “cream” was vanilla frozen custard. It was a refreshing treat, especially during this hot weather.
The game started at 7:30, but we arrived early. This was a good thing, because it was quite a trek from the parking lot to the Stubhub Stadium. The tickets were free, but we did have to pay $15 for parking.
Soccer players certainly have a lot of running around to do on such a large field.
We received Robbie Keane bobbleheads at the gate. (I told them we only wanted two. Four seemed like overkill.)
The sun went down, and the weather was actually pleasant.
The bleacher section had some rowdy fans. They played drums, sang, chanted, waved hug flags, threw streamers and smoke bombs throughout the WHOLE GAME! At least it was entertaining. We didn’t stay until the end, but LA won, 3-nil.
Since it was a shut-out, all ticketholders were entitled to five boneless chicken wings from Buffalo Wild Wings. So, the next day, we redeemed our tickets in Irvine for 20 free boneless chicken wings:
These were a bit disappointing. We ordered lemon pepper and sweet bbq for the kids and jalapeno and Asian zing for us. The flavors seemed artificial, and the boneless are just not as good as the bone-in. Oh well, they were free, so we shouldn’t complain, right?
For breakfast we ate guava cheese pastries that we had picked up the day before at Porto’s. After breakfast, we walked down to the beach again (in our jammies), just because we could.
k being silly
After packing up, we drove less than ten minutes to check out UCSB, which is actually in Isla Vista.
I liked all of the art installations on campus.
School was not in session, but there were a lot of bicyclists and skateboarders. There are lanes for bicycles, skateboards, and pedestrians. We actually witnessed an accident between two bicyclists. It must get real crazy when classes are going on.
There was a bell tower with an elevator, but the elevator was not in operation.
We made a rest stop at the University Center. Outside there is a view of the lagoon.
The bookstore had an impressive Hello Kitty selection. I wonder if Cal has Hello Kitty stuff now too?
Go Gauchos!
Finally, we headed back to the Visitor’s Center.
This large koi fish surprised us!
Desert landscaping
Next, we had a two-part lunch near campus.
First, we split a chicken burrito at Freebirds.
It was good, but nothing out of the ordinary; kind of like Chipotle. I know that people love this place—did we order the wrong thing?
UCSB’s version of People’s Park—haha.
Part II of our lunch was at Pizza My Heart, which we used to go to in Los Gatos.
One “Big Sur” slice and one pepperoni. The Big Sur had tons of roasted garlic, which D and I both enjoyed.
We picked up an agave latte for the road at a café called Caje.
A little too sweet for our taste, but the espresso was nice.
It was a short, but fun trip. We’re ready to say goodbye to summer!