Trinity 2007

We had the pleasure of being invited by Ty and Annie Bochenek to their annual family camping trip in Trinity. What a blast! The place is unlike anything you have ever seen in real life. Time there is spent eating, swimming, eating, playing games, eating, going on jet skis, eating, and then eating some more. Absolutely amazing. It is ridiculously hard to get a cabin there, because they have a waiting list that if you put your name in, you may get a call 10 years from now. In other words...good luck. You probably will never get to go there, so a few pictures will be the closest you can get :-)

RH GO trip - New Orleans

Me and my mom had the opportunity to join Rock Harbor on the GO trip to New Orleans. The trip was phenomenal. Don't get me wrong...sleeping on cots in a room full of 30 girls (90% of them being in junior high and high school), showering in camp-style showers, trying (key word) to go to the bathroom in a stall with a curtain for a door, and eating things that were prepared for hundreds of people was not easy, but missionary work never is! It was amazing to be able to hear stories from families and help them out in a tangible way. The devastaion even after two years was mind-blowing. It really gave us perspective and helped us to realize that our "problems" didn't really amount to much. If you are given an opportunity to go to New Orleans...take it! You will be changed. Here are a few pictures from the trip. Yes, that is a real plane, and yes, it is in someones yard.

Galel and Em's Florida Adventure

So when we found out that our good friend Ben was getting married in Florida, we decided that if we were going to be able to go, that we might as well make a trip out of it. Because who knows if will ever go again! The wedding was in Jacksonville..so that was going to be the last leg of our trip. We started out in Miami. Although the beaches there were quite dirty, overall we enjoyed ourselves there. We ate at a delectable Cuban restaurant that had been recommended to us, it was called Versailles. If you ever get a chance to go to Miami, try it out. The ambiance was nothing to write home about, but the food was absolutely delicious. We also sat next to a guy with probably the most annoying laugh you have ever heard in your entire life. I will see if I can post the sound clip. Next we traveled to Key West. The drive alone was worth the trip. Minus the 7 mile bridge over water...not a huge fan. We only had time to stay one night, but it was a fun-filled day and a half. We stayed in a very cute bed and breakfast and spent most of the first day exploring the island. At night we went to the street fair and were quite amused. The sunset was breathtaking. We had a very nice dinner and...of course..key lime pie for dessert (Galel's favorite). The next day we visited the graveyard there (sounds exciting, I know) which was actually very amusing. Some of the gravestones said some pretty funny things. We headed back to Miami to stay the night and then we were on our way to Ponte Vedra Beach. We stayes at the TPC at Sawgrass Marriott. We got to visit the golf course, and to Galel's excitement, sneak on the 17th green. The beaches there were amazing, way different from the beaches here in California. The wedding was very close to our hotel, and was also a blast. What a great trip!

Good Ole Lake Arrowhead

Every year we make it up to Lake Arrowhead two times....once around Valentines Day, and once for my mom's birthday. We always have such a great time. We have all decided that it is one of the only places that we can go and actually feel okay about doing absolutely nothing. It is a great place to read, watch movies, eat, and (my favorite) do crafts. We usually spend at least a few hours at the Lake Arrowhead Village, which has some of the lamest stores known to man. But we still have fun. Mostly we go there for the Belgian Waffle House...an amazing place for breakfast or lunch. Boy, if you didn't know me, you might think I was obese. All I talk (and care) about is food!

We won!

We went to Vegas with the Fajardo's to celebrate Galel's birthday. And we won! We decided to take a $20 bill and play the $5 slots (which we never do because we are too cheap) and we won $1200. We were not like everyone else in Vegas who doesn't seem to care whether or not they win or lose...we were jumping up and down, making a scene. $1200 is a lot of money, wouldn't you agree? And I was so proud of us, because we didn't try to win more! The rest of the trip was pretty standard Vegas stuff. We ate and hung around with a bunch of old gambling smokers. But we always have fun with the Fajardo's! A word to the wise...if you ever come to Vegas with us, give your money to Ana. She always wins! Her biggest winnings yet totaled about $8,000...yep.

Christmas cards

So Sara and I have started a fun and ridiculous tradition....we handmake our Christmas cards. We thought that it might be a good way to save a little money on buying the pre-made boxed cards...right. After developing the photos, and buying all the materials, not to mention the food that we eat when we are making them, we probably end up spending close to double what we would on the store bought cards. But that is beside the point, it is a great tradition and we have so much fun doing it together. And they come out cute, right??? We'll see how long we can continue the tradition when we have kids running around screaming while we cut out tiny pieces of paper....

This year we decided to go to Fashion Island to take eachothers pictures. We joked around saying that we should go into Restoration Hardware (they had a really cute living room setup as one of the window displays) and take our pictures there, and make it look as if it was in someone's house for a party or something. Even funnier is that Sara and Brian ended up using that photo for their cards! Sorry for spoiling the secret Sara and Brian!

Island time

Galel and I made it back to Hawaii....for a second honeymoon. This time we got to visit Kauai as well as Maui...our favorite. The hotel we stayed at in Kauai was not very nice (at all), but we didn't care. We were in walking distance to the beach, and thats all that mattered to us. We spent our time driving around and taking in all of the beautiful sites. It is amazing how green everything is there! We visited some gorgeous beaches, and did a lot of reading. We got to visit Kevin and Deborah Forth, who were gracious enough to have us over for a delicious dinner. What an insane view they have from their patio. We also had the chance to meet up with our good friends Foz (Chri) and Elissa, who were on their honeymoon. We joined them for dinner at Roy's...yum. Then the boys enjoyed their usual cigar out on the hotel patio. It was lots of fun. The trip was only 4 days, so too quickly it was time for us to leave and head to Maui. We will definitely be back!

Maui was amazing, as we expected it to be. We stayed in a condo, which turned out to be great! When we pulled up to the hotel, it looked a little ghetto-ish, so we were afraid. But we walked into a very roomy condo with a living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, laundry area, and our favorite, the lanai overlooking the gorgeous ocean. It felt like being at home, but yet still felt like being on vacation. There we did what we always do, found a few different beaches and soaked in the sun all day long. We made it out for some very yummy dinners (some of our favorites include Kimo's in Lahaina, and Mama's Fishhouse) and enjoyed a luau one night. We also did a little snorkeling. We aren't much into the tourist activies when we go to Hawaii, we prefer to lay on the beach and do nothing. It feels refreshing coming from the craziness of our daily lives to a place where it seems that time stands still. We love Hawaii and can't wait to go back!