Back to La-La-Land

We've been in LA since Thursday night... Andy went back Sunday but Jordan, Bubba and I are still hanging out with my family going from westside to San Gabriel Valley and back.  It's been a blast and it's not even over yet.  Just a snippet of our time here so far.

Disneyland on Friday with the family and Bubba's first time!

We originally planned our trip to LA so we could attend my friend's wedding.  Unfortunately, it was a "NO KIDS" wedding and our 5 month old isn't quite taking the bottle as of late.  So... we swapped my dad's Surprise 60th birthday bash to Saturday and went to Disneyland on Friday.  So Saturday was a busy day getting ready and a huge party.

On Sunday, we saw old friends at our old Church in South Pasadena, had lunch with the family, and went to the Temple.  Andy very blatantly kept asking Jordan if he could find Mommy on the board of photos on display.  Good one Andy.  After dropping Andy off at the airport, we secretly hoped his flight would get cancelled and he could stay another day.  It didn't happen so we headed back to the beach where Uncle Ray and his friends were grilling on the rooftop.

I put the boys to sleep and then fifth wheeled with my brother and his friends (two couples).  We then played Puerto Rico!  As the most experienced Puerto Rico player, I was quite disappointed to come in not just last.. but WAY behind.   Bah.  

Woke up early Monday morning and admired the rooftop views all around and the nice weather.

I like to try hoity toity places I've never been to when in LA and when my parents are footing the bill so off to Abbot Kinney we went.  Lemonade... soooo totally LA it makes me laugh as I stepped inside.  It's fun for the salads and lemonade (the sandwiches aren't that great, the meat is something we can easily reproduce, but the salads would be more effort).  Of course, my brother kept pointing out how much cheaper we could make the same salads at home but I kept pointing out to him it would be a lot of effort not necessary.

Behind a big grass wall with Jordan, my brother and his girlfriend.

We headed over to the Promenade and walked around Santa Monica Place for a bit.  Used the fancy bathrooms at Bloomingdale's and then made a trip to the Disney Store for Jordan to peruse the stuff (but no more toys, he already got a ton upon arriving in LA).  We got tired and stopped over at the Pinkberry while Jordan made Uncle Ray run with him up and down the promenade.  And then it was time to head back to meet up with Grace!

My BFF Grace was also in town from the wedding we were unable to go to.  She was taking some vacation so she joined us in Marina Del Rey.  Jordan had a blast making sand castles with Auntie Grace while I tried to keep Bubba above the sand.  We were there until the sun came down and then we made our way back for dinner.  I finally got the boys down to bed a few hours later and scared Grace.  She almost immediately began making plans for vacation with her husband because she has witnessed firsthand how hard it will be with kids.  Hahaha. 

We stayed up until about 1 AM watching a cable version of Bridesmaids.  Highly overrated and still slightly uncomfortable even with the cable version.  I questioned Grace about why it was so funny.  She had raved about it to me years ago when it first came out.   I told her, "It's not funny Grace.  "I know, it really seemed funnier when I saw it a few years ago."  And then Grace concluded, "Maybe we are just past that raunchy immature 20's humor now."  hahaha.  We're so old.  We both fell asleep while watching an episode of Friends afterwards, and as we got up to get ready for bed... we found ourselves chatting until 3:30 AM.  Haha.  Guess we still got it!

The next morning, Grace and I walked to the nearby Starbucks and just continued to hang out.  Just two grown up adult Asian women, out during a weekday, as if not a care in the world.  It was absolutely fabulous to be just chilling near the beach.  After Grace left, we cleaned up the beach house a bit and got ready to head back to Arcasia.  Almost two hours later and a disgusting reminder of how awful LA traffic is... (it was 30 miles maybe...) we were back at my parent's.  Jordan was so esctatic when he saw the playground equipment in my mom's huge yard.  "Park!" he said.  "Go park!!!" he yelled over and over again.  He then spent the rest of the afternoon playing in puo puo's backyard (the first time he could use all of the play equipment on his own) and left with a souvenir of black feet and hands.  He also played soccer with Uncle Ray, ran around on the new flat grass my parents got, and chased after Fatty.  Bubba and I chilled in the shade while I worked.  The only bad thing about that beach house.. the internet was sucky.  I was so happy to have solid internet and be able to work for a few hours while Bubba lay next to me, enjoying the nice cool weather in the shade.

Then we had sushi for dinner in Old Town Monrovia and walked on over to Pinkberry (again... hahaha)

And today... Jordan woke up saying "we done sleeping Mommy!"  and then asked to "go outside to park?"  He's played in the playground in the backyard, made his way to the park two houses down (my parents live in a sweet spot), and had a traditional sao bin you tiao with soy milk Chinese breakfast.  I finished my call, am feeding Bubba, and then we will head to the Santa Anita Fashion Park aka mall nearby.  WOOO!!  It's been a blast so far but we sure miss Andy!!!