Day 2: Love Your Spouse challenge

Remember Sacramento? Hector got his residency there and I basically only left that area about 18 months previous so I didn't imagine myself going back there so soon.

Luckily, I still had college friends in the area that I could visit and catch up.

One of my good friends, Monica actually commuted to school which was about 30 minutes each way. She and her family were super nice to me especially on the holidays I couldn't go home. 

The fun fact was/is that her family owns an egg ranch in Acampo outside of Lodi. It was a startling thing to me because it was so country to this city girl. I would go to Monica's house overnight sometimes where her German family welcomed me with open arms and huge amounts of food. The first time I had dinner, they served steaks like full on huge T-bone steaks. I think my eyes bulged out when I saw the size of them! Then it was their turn to look at me funny when I asked for 1/2 of it. 

I had such good times there, seeing how the ranch operated and the huge warehouses of chickens. When Monica brought eggs, she brought a flat of eggs. When her family had a party, there wasn't just one dessert but a whole table of them. I had not idea what they were but there were oh so delicious. 

Her dad and his friends would let us try vodka drinks and be cool with it. I have the best memories of that place. 

So I had to share with Hector all the good times and we headed out there one day I was visiting Hector in Sacramento. 

It looks like we're having a great time. And yes, we got a flat of eggs.

Love Your Spouse Challenge

Day 1: I keep seeing this Love Your Spouse Challenge for 7 days on FB which got me thinking, what would I post and share? So I'll do my own challenge here on my blog and I can share more story about the photo.




Here we are, practically babies...not really I'm 25 and Hector is 32. The year is 1992. Hector graduated med school and I was one year out from pharmacy school. My friend Kathy and I decided to throw a Black & White party for friends and co-workers. We had about 10 people show up which was fine for us. It was chill. Hector drove up from San Diego and at the end of the night, he said that he had something for me.

I wasn't sure what to expect but Hector pulls out an envelope with a letter inside that had been opened. I started to read it but I wasn't sure what it meant; it was from UC Davis in Sacramento. I looked up at Hector what does this mean? He said that he got a surgery residency in Sacramento so he didn't have to leave me.

Hector had gotten a residency in Buffalo, NY so that would have been a huge change in our relationship. Sacramento was closer at 350 miles versus 3,000 miles. But it was closer.

Even back then although we said were not serious, it seemed that we spent a lot of our free time together. Maybe I didn't realize it back then how we would end up together but I knew that Hector was important to me.

I was sheltered in many ways and Hector wanted to see what was out in the world for him but I think God had a plan for us. :)

NorCal: Day in SF

I took the kids on a road trip about a week or so ago. We headed up north to SF where we spent a few days with my friend Linda who showed us around....we met when we were new grads out of pharmacy school and had an instant connection. We are about the same age but she was already married and soon expecting her first son. Then her husband got transferred to Virginia and they moved away. We stayed in contact and after a few more years and another baby boy for her, they moved back to California but to the SF area where they've been since. She came down to LA for my wedding and another visit soon after my first son was born. We always have a great time and it still continues when we see each other again.

I made a video and slapped it together. I will eventually learn better filming and editing techniques but it's another fun outlet for me.

Cat and Yarn

This year, it seems that the cats have switched up their preferences in humans. Shadow was usually all about the person on the loveseat and still does but he now spends a lot of time with me over on the other side of the sofa. He does love his head scratches the most.




We had a heatwave last week and it is still hot for here so I finished knitting a shawl! Using up that pretty stash yarn and taking advantage of a pattern free for a limited time.Stripes and lace make this interesting enough and now it looks like Starry Night from Van Gogh. Well, it reminds me of it...

Trying to finish up some other projects before the Olympics start and then the Ravellenic challenge begins....

Roadtrip!

Heading out for an adventure....

Universal Studios Hollywood

Our summer is sort of loosey goosey in that our plans are not plans at all and mostly impulsive. I saw a local mom friend post her impromptu trip to Universal Studios July 5th and she said the crowds weren't too bad. So off I hustle to get our discount annual passes, finish our errands and drive out the next day. 

Our focus was on Harry Potter world with the kids' understanding that the Forbidden Journey line may be long so we'll do whatever else to pass the time. Hey, I'm sure we can find some sort of entertainment at an amusement park.

We arrived to the park at about 1pm. The crowds were fine until we hit Harry Potter...that's where everyone is! Still, it's not horrible and the wait time to Forbidden Journey is 120 minutes. We get in line and realize we're going to have to wait in the sun for a good portion of it. So we get out of line to try again later in the day. 

Next up on our agenda is to try Butterbeer. I heard from people that it sort of like cream soda with butterscotch. Okay,  so I tell the kids that we will be sharing one. The lines were long for butterbeer which is understandable since it was about 85*. Also the lines were moving slowly so of course, employees pop up with platters of butterbeers for sale in the souvenir mug (read: higher price). We resisted as long as we could (5 minutes in the sun) and I caved to the souvenir mug. Yes, over twice the amount of a regular cup but it was yummy and now I have a mug. :) You can file that tip away for your next visit. Hey, it's your money.

All right, so I lost some $ in the butterbeer department but totally made up for it in the popcorn department. A nice big souvenir bucket of popcorn for $6 but keep your receipt to get free refills of popcorn for that day!! Yes, we must have filled that bucket about 6 times the entire day so yeah, that's another tip for you. 

Another huge success for us was the ride department. I have one kid that wants to ride rollercoasters etc while the other one does not. It makes for interesting back n' forth conversations between all of us to try to convince or at least figure out why Josh refuses. One reason is his fear of heights. That is something very real and scary for him so I won't force him on that. But some (maybe half) of the rides at are 3D or virtual type rides which is a slightly  easier sell. Tyler and I did have to talk a bit for The Simpsons ride which had a 60 minute wait. 1: It (the line) was mostly in the shade with misters. 2: There were plenty of monitors and big billboards to keep him entertained. 3: We all took Dramamine.
Turns out...Joshua enjoyed it. It was in a virtual amusement park so basically virtual rollercoaster without the height aspect. My Dramamine did not kick in on time because that ride is pretty wild. I kept my eyes closed most of the ride. 

We chilled with popcorn and the animal show for a bit then headed over to the Minions ride. That was a 30 minute wait. Joshua did not need any encouragement for this and I really liked this ride. Maybe the Dramamine started working on me but the ride wasn't as crazy as The Simpsons ride. I approve the Minions ride. 

Dinner was early at 5pm at the Hard Rock at Citywalk. That was nice 1: air-conditioning 2: lots of seating in air-conditioning 3: good food with air-conditioning. 

We headed back to the park to see Forbidden Journey wait time was still over 2 hours so we went on the Studio Tour. This time it seemed more entertaining because on some of the location sets there were actors set up. We saw Marilyn Monroe on the NY city set and Norman Bates at the Bates Motel. 

By the time the tour was finished it was 7 pm. Th wait time for Forbidden Journey was 90 minutes. The sun was starting to set and the crowds were noticeably smaller. By the time we actually go to the ride, the wait time was at 75 minutes. Josh and I waited in line with Tyler until we got to the castle entrance where there are lockers for loose items. Joshua decided he didn't want to go on the ride and I didn't either since i heard about motion issues. We waited in the gift shop area while Tyler hopped into the single rider line. From beginning to end, the time was 30 minutes. There is your other helpful tip.

And that did it for us and our day at Universal. I think we'll go back again in September since our passes are blocked out till then. 

Here is a my video of our time at the park. I'm still learning about editing video and going through the tutorial helped me a lot. Still lots to learn so stay tuned for more....

July already??

So much is going on since the kids are off school for the summer....Let me think. The kids get out later than most schools so we relax the first week to get in the mood. 

Then the Fourth of July  weekend is the kids and my Anime Expo. Four days of fun and cosplay watching while checking out the cool items and art. This year really seemed to explode in the number of people. Every year, we've noticed more and more attendees but this year was super crowded. It took us 3 days for us to fully go through all the exhibits and artist alley. Usually we can wind back and forth down each aisle to check out out every booth but this year, we had to take detours because of crowds. 

Also Tyler is a big fan of one author who draws Stupid Fox and she has 3 books now. Last year we didn't find her until the last day so she was sold out of Book 2. So this year, on day 1 we made a beeline to her booth and got the 2nd book. It's also great that the author is there so she will offer to sign the book.

The kids bought art prints so I've been meaning to frame them and Tyler found another print of the same character from Fire Emblem. We also got them framed already so yay for us!!

I attempted to record some of the expo and here it is.... 




How many anime characters can you name?? Seriously, so many!!! Maybe I'll make a video showing what we bought....our last day was much better since the crowds were smaller which leads me to see all the booths and therefore buy so much more..