Anyways, It's always fun to dream!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
It's always nice to look, right?
On Sunday my beautiful wife and I went in search of a new home. Haha, just kidding, we're not moving! We love our home now but we did take a little joy ride over to Murrieta-West and checked out some of the semi-custom homes for sale. I had no idea that such a neighborhood existed in our valley! The Bear Creek area is a beautiful mature area of Murrieta that has only become more desirable over time. The house we went to look at is of course out of our price range but it's fun to look around, isn't it? Below are a few snap shots from the home. They were asking like $850,000+ for this home. It had an office, 1 large bedroom, 1 master suite, dining area, kitchen, and detached guest house/pool house, 4000+ sqft of living space. Honestly, if we had the money we probably would have made an offer - the house sits on like three acres of land too! The only downside was that there is an HOA fee of about $200 dollars a month which does not even grant you access to the integrated golf course and county club! Boo!
Then, we checked out another home on the other side of Lake Skinner. On the internet, the home looked beautiful! High ceilings, lots of land, etc... However, on our way there the the drive definitely made the house undesirable. The winding paved road eventually turned into a winding dirt road! I don't know what it is with the valley and dirt roads... Imagine how it is when it's pouring rain out here?! I'm sure it's mudslides galore.
Anyways, It's always fun to dream!
Anyways, It's always fun to dream!
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Hi Aunty, Hi Uncle!
Welcome Dylan Liam Ball!
Patti and Jason Ball (Alicia's sister and husband) welcomed their first child into the world on June 23, 2011!
He was a big healthy baby weighing in at 9lbs! Baby, Mom, and Dad are doing well.
That makes Alicia an official aunty me, an uncle! I can't wait to meet the little guy. Alicia and her mom are going up for a few days after Fourth of July to spend time with the new family.
Now, I know what you're thinking. Dylan needs cousins to play with... Well... It's going to happen, just not yet. Alicia and I have plans for the next year or so - We both want to enjoy each others company before there's our own little bundle of joy. Here's a cute poem I found - Dedicated to Jason & Patti
Your darling, precious baby.
Your lives are filled with amazing love,
And sleep has become a "maybe!"
Your dear and special treasure;
Your lives are better, now transformed
With childhood’s awesome pleasure.
Timeshare Nightmare!
This is going to be short and sweet because I have to move onto the stuff that really matters.... Our Nephew!!!
Remember how at the TVBWF (Temecula Valley Balloon and Wine Festival) we were bombarded with timeshare people? ...Well, I got suckered into attending one of their meetings down in Oceanside. We talked back and forth about if we should go or not because we had a busy work week and it would take up an entire day off! But we decided that if we want to get our $40 bucks back and a free $50 dollar American Express card we should probably attend. We arrived at the Wyndam Oceanside at 1200 ready to say "no!" The night before we even rehearsed! ...So we were paired up with a sales person who must have had a history of recreational drug use or something - she wasn't normal. She started off by asking us "Do you like to travel?" So of course we answered "yes," then she goes "oh my, you're just like me, this is going to be easy and fun!" - Well, maybe not entirely verbatim but pretty close. We sat through their sales pitch lecture with a guy who swore he was Brad Pitt's cousin, or brother, or relative...
I think that timeshares, for the most part, are not a bad idea. I think that for some hardworking American families that's the way to go when it comes to vacation. When you figure the costs and break it down into vacation days per year for a lifetime... It does make sense.
So we toured the hotel and were quite impressed with some of the rooms, beautiful views, great location, but the one thing they never mentioned was the price! When we finally sat down and went through the brochures and booklets and tried to plan our own trip to see if this timeshare thing would make sense our little ex-druggie sales lady was really getting on my last nerve. I don't know how Alicia coped with her presence but every time she opened her mouth I cringed and my heart would beat faster.
To make a long story short we went through four different sales persons each with 3-4 different offers ranging from a $12,000 down payment required that afternoon which would award us with 300,000 points to no payments for 6 months, with monthly payments starting at $100/month awarding us with 32,000 points. Such a headache!! I'm not sure how many times I can say "no" politely. The last and final lady was our "exit survey" where in addition to our survey she tried one final attempt to make a sale. When she realized that no one was going to get a "yes" out of Alicia and I her entire demeanor changed before our eyes - she became cold, snotty, and passive aggressive.
Realizing our victory we quickly went around the corner and picked up our $40 deposit and $50 AmEx card!! ...Realizing that it was now 4:30 in the afternoon, we weren't sure whether sitting through all that was worth $90...
Have any of you ever had a timeshare experience? ...I'm sure it's some form of initiation or right of way for all newlyweds. For now, we're just going to enjoy our own travel time without all the hassle of points and location and time constraints.
Happy traveling!
Remember how at the TVBWF (Temecula Valley Balloon and Wine Festival) we were bombarded with timeshare people? ...Well, I got suckered into attending one of their meetings down in Oceanside. We talked back and forth about if we should go or not because we had a busy work week and it would take up an entire day off! But we decided that if we want to get our $40 bucks back and a free $50 dollar American Express card we should probably attend. We arrived at the Wyndam Oceanside at 1200 ready to say "no!" The night before we even rehearsed! ...So we were paired up with a sales person who must have had a history of recreational drug use or something - she wasn't normal. She started off by asking us "Do you like to travel?" So of course we answered "yes," then she goes "oh my, you're just like me, this is going to be easy and fun!" - Well, maybe not entirely verbatim but pretty close. We sat through their sales pitch lecture with a guy who swore he was Brad Pitt's cousin, or brother, or relative...
I think that timeshares, for the most part, are not a bad idea. I think that for some hardworking American families that's the way to go when it comes to vacation. When you figure the costs and break it down into vacation days per year for a lifetime... It does make sense.
So we toured the hotel and were quite impressed with some of the rooms, beautiful views, great location, but the one thing they never mentioned was the price! When we finally sat down and went through the brochures and booklets and tried to plan our own trip to see if this timeshare thing would make sense our little ex-druggie sales lady was really getting on my last nerve. I don't know how Alicia coped with her presence but every time she opened her mouth I cringed and my heart would beat faster.
To make a long story short we went through four different sales persons each with 3-4 different offers ranging from a $12,000 down payment required that afternoon which would award us with 300,000 points to no payments for 6 months, with monthly payments starting at $100/month awarding us with 32,000 points. Such a headache!! I'm not sure how many times I can say "no" politely. The last and final lady was our "exit survey" where in addition to our survey she tried one final attempt to make a sale. When she realized that no one was going to get a "yes" out of Alicia and I her entire demeanor changed before our eyes - she became cold, snotty, and passive aggressive.
Realizing our victory we quickly went around the corner and picked up our $40 deposit and $50 AmEx card!! ...Realizing that it was now 4:30 in the afternoon, we weren't sure whether sitting through all that was worth $90...
Have any of you ever had a timeshare experience? ...I'm sure it's some form of initiation or right of way for all newlyweds. For now, we're just going to enjoy our own travel time without all the hassle of points and location and time constraints.
Happy traveling!
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Temecula Valley Balloon and Wine Festival
So this post dates back to April 16 (Our Wedding Day!) As per tradition, Alicia and I exchanged Bride/Groom gifts. She got me a super cool underwater digital camera and cologne and I made her a slideshow of us and purchased tickets to the Temecula Valley Balloon and Wine Festival. If you've seen our wedding video then you saw the part where she open's her present and see's the iPod touch.
Our day at the festival started out with a semi-private balloon ride over the Temecula Valley. It was a cool but beautiful morning. After arriving at the check in grounds we loaded into trucks and were driven away from Lake Skinner and down into the wineries. Our pilot stopped at several sites and released a helium balloon to check for wind direction and speed. Eventually we found a spot to unload and start our adventure.
I've always wondered how they inflate those things so I made sure to post some pictures of that part so that you guys can see as well. I got to volunteer to help hold the opening upright! ...There was a lot of wind from that industrial sized/strength fan. After we loaded into the basket a couple blasts of the flame and up we went. Take off was so smooth, quiet, and exciting. It's all physics!!! ...I think. Hot air rises?
Our pilot wasn't very chatty but we asked lots of questions. For instance.
1. Did you know that you can purchase your own hot air balloon for around $65,000
2. If you own your own hot air balloon you can take off whenever and wherever you want, no air traffic controller needed
3. Hot air balloons can collide mid air, but nothing really happens... The balloons squish, the baskets get close, people wave, and eventually separate.
Anyways, that's enough balloon trivia. We landed after a mere 45 minutes in the air, it was such a great experience though! Not sure I would ever do it again though, I thought for the price and time spent in the air... a little unbalanced. We were initially told to allow 3-4 hours for our time spent ballooning but were back on the ground around 8:00 am (forgot to mention that we got there at 6:00 am!)
I had also planned a lunch food/wine paring at the festival but that didn't start until 11:00am. So, now we faced a dilemma, what are we going to do for 3 hours? None of the booths were open yet so we walked around and watched people set up and eventually got some breakfast. In doing so, we got sucked into attending a timeshare meeting... Yes, this will turn into it's own post for sure!
So our food and wine paring started out well... but didn't end as well as we had hoped. Instead of 3 full courses and 3 wine parings we had 2 mini-taste sized courses and 2 wine parings. Uhhh, not sure if I would do that part again either. Later as we used our complimentary wine tasting tickets - I think this is the part we had the most fun, we walked around, tasted wine, and eventually just sat down on the grass and listened to the live music.
Nevertheless, it was a great day spent in each others company!
Our day at the festival started out with a semi-private balloon ride over the Temecula Valley. It was a cool but beautiful morning. After arriving at the check in grounds we loaded into trucks and were driven away from Lake Skinner and down into the wineries. Our pilot stopped at several sites and released a helium balloon to check for wind direction and speed. Eventually we found a spot to unload and start our adventure.
I've always wondered how they inflate those things so I made sure to post some pictures of that part so that you guys can see as well. I got to volunteer to help hold the opening upright! ...There was a lot of wind from that industrial sized/strength fan. After we loaded into the basket a couple blasts of the flame and up we went. Take off was so smooth, quiet, and exciting. It's all physics!!! ...I think. Hot air rises?
Our pilot wasn't very chatty but we asked lots of questions. For instance.
1. Did you know that you can purchase your own hot air balloon for around $65,000
2. If you own your own hot air balloon you can take off whenever and wherever you want, no air traffic controller needed
3. Hot air balloons can collide mid air, but nothing really happens... The balloons squish, the baskets get close, people wave, and eventually separate.
Anyways, that's enough balloon trivia. We landed after a mere 45 minutes in the air, it was such a great experience though! Not sure I would ever do it again though, I thought for the price and time spent in the air... a little unbalanced. We were initially told to allow 3-4 hours for our time spent ballooning but were back on the ground around 8:00 am (forgot to mention that we got there at 6:00 am!)
I had also planned a lunch food/wine paring at the festival but that didn't start until 11:00am. So, now we faced a dilemma, what are we going to do for 3 hours? None of the booths were open yet so we walked around and watched people set up and eventually got some breakfast. In doing so, we got sucked into attending a timeshare meeting... Yes, this will turn into it's own post for sure!
So our food and wine paring started out well... but didn't end as well as we had hoped. Instead of 3 full courses and 3 wine parings we had 2 mini-taste sized courses and 2 wine parings. Uhhh, not sure if I would do that part again either. Later as we used our complimentary wine tasting tickets - I think this is the part we had the most fun, we walked around, tasted wine, and eventually just sat down on the grass and listened to the live music.
Nevertheless, it was a great day spent in each others company!
Friday, June 17, 2011
Aloha!
Alicia and I may be done with graduating (for now...) But we have younger cousins that are embarking on their journey to adulthood! Enter - Kelvin Akamine.
Okay okay okay, Yes, we realize that we just got married, and just returned from our honeymoon, but family is important no matter how many miles apart we are. In our case, we have the Pacific Ocean between us and my dad's side of the family. Alicia, my brother and I flew out to Hawai'i for our cousin's high school graduation from Le Jardin Academy on the island of O'ahu. We arrived Thursday afternoon and all the festivities began! We had lunch at Kakaako Kitchen, the wait was unusually long but the food was delicious as always. We stayed at my grandparents house and my brother stayed at uncles house down the road. They all live on the same property so it's pretty easy to get from one house to the next. On Friday we kinda just tagged along with the family. Kelvin went and got his hair cut - Oh here's something interesting. So here on the mainland (California) Vietnamese are typically found in nail salons, in Hawai'i they are not only found in nail salons but in barber shops as well! ...Fo only 5 dolla mo.*
So after dropping Kelvin off at school for all the pre-graduation festivities we were on our way back to our grandparents house when all of a sudden ...**!@#BAM!@#** my coffee went flying everywhere - we got rear ended!!! Ugh, I had NEVER been in any kind of car accident until that day! We were literally stopped waiting for the light to turn green and the only reason the guy behind us stopped is because he hit us! It was quite a jolt and my adrenaline was going! ...Needless to say, the guy was a complete a$$ hole about it but the main thing was that everyone was okay.
* When my cousin Jessica was living up here last fall we took her to to see Anjelah Johnson at the Improv. So funny!! We love her.
Late that afternoon we went to Le Jardin Academy for Kelvin's graduation. It was really good! Somehow graduations always create one of those nostalgic moments for me... "As we go on, we remember, all the times we, spent to together..." Their speaker was Neil Abercrombie, who I thought was the founder of Abercrombie & Fitch but it just so happens that this Neil Abercrombie was the governor of Hawai'i. His speech was really good, although I don't remember any of it except for the part that I'm going to share right now... (i'm going to use quotes because this is verbatim) "and I remember that when I told Barack Obama that he should run for president." ...Alicia and I had a good laugh, OH!!! He's the one that told Barack Obama to run to president, gotcha. Haha.
The weekend was filled with family fun! On Saturday we went to the swap meet, beach, got in another car accident, and Hawaiian Brians. Hawaiian Brians is a billiards hang out place, lots of fun! I suck, but I like to think I'm pro status when I get like 3 balls in a row. Hahaha. Okay, seriously, another car accident??!?!?! I'm getting use to this now. We were leaving the beach and had stopped at McDonalds for some food when all of a sudden, **!@#BAM!@#**, a van pulling in to park next to us decided to nudge us aside... This dude was on something, had no auto insurance, and was just a sticky situation. We called the police department and the officer came out and filled a report... Blah blah, again, at least we were all safe!
Sunday we had a family and friends brunch at the same place where my aunt was married 14 years ago! Check out the picture below (Then and now). We ended the afternoon at Bellows Beach - where we met up with my friend Pohaikealoha and her cousin. I hadn't seen Pohai in years!!! So good reconnecting with old friends, later that night my uncle decided on an impromptu family BBQ. Alicia and I made a tropical ambrosia fruit salad! So delicious. Along with all the standard fixings, meat, chicken, rice, etc... We had such a great time! I've never had a BBQ with my family before, we're always so rush rush rush when it comes to vacation time. Go figure. Oh, I can't forget to mention when we wanted to "kick the party up a notch." my uncle had found a bottle of old wine, like from the 1960's. We thought we'd give it a go but it turned out to be rusted, acid, vinegar! Hahaha. Guess that's what happens to wine in the end. Then we had a bottle of white wine... It was probably the driest and most potent wines we had ever tasted, even my grandma was like "wow, that's strong, I feel the heat." ...Then my uncle asks for a sip and sees the bottle... "HEY!!, That's vermouth!" ....Yeah with an alcohol content of like 17% hahahahaha. Okay okay, so maybe no one took a look at the bottle but it was super funny!
Tony left Sunday night because he had to work the next morning! Crazy guy... So then we decided to go hookah some place in town but when we got there I guess there was some sort of power outage and we were literally walking around the block in the dark trying to find this place - come to find out, since all the power was out they couldn't run the computers/ cash register - no hookah for us.
On Monday my uncle took us to see the family property. It's a beautiful piece of raw undeveloped land with a great ocean view. One day, maybe we'll be able to build a house up there. Better start playing the Mega Millions lottery again. That afternoon we climbed to the top of Diamond Head! Can you imagine, in all the time I've been to Hawai'i I've NEVER been to Diamond Head. Alicia had been during her senior class trip in high school so she was ready for the 1000's of stairs ahead, me, I had no idea what is store. We had such a great time though. The view from the top is simply breathtaking.
Monday evening we had dinner at Ruby Tuesdays and saw the Hangover 2! That movie was pretty funny. I still think the original was funnier though. It was funny, but not funny when I realized that we were flying home on Tuesday NOT Wednesday like we had originally thought. I don't know how we got that mixed up in our minds, I think it was a combination of vacation and the holiday that got us all confused! We were all bummed that our trip had been cut short by a whole day! Oh well, at least we figured it out and work wasn't calling me the next morning wondering where I was. ...That could have been difficult to explain.
Our last day on the Island was in search of Noni tea for Alicia's mom. We don't know why that tea was so difficult to find... We must have checked at least 3 or 4 stores including Marukai! Come to find out, my mom had some Noni tea right in her kitchen.
Well, that was our Hawaiian Vacation in a nutshell. We had such great time kicking back with our family and just taking yet another break from the hustle and bustle of life. We miss them every day! But thanks to networking sites like Facebook, they're never more than a few clicks away.
Okay okay okay, Yes, we realize that we just got married, and just returned from our honeymoon, but family is important no matter how many miles apart we are. In our case, we have the Pacific Ocean between us and my dad's side of the family. Alicia, my brother and I flew out to Hawai'i for our cousin's high school graduation from Le Jardin Academy on the island of O'ahu. We arrived Thursday afternoon and all the festivities began! We had lunch at Kakaako Kitchen, the wait was unusually long but the food was delicious as always. We stayed at my grandparents house and my brother stayed at uncles house down the road. They all live on the same property so it's pretty easy to get from one house to the next. On Friday we kinda just tagged along with the family. Kelvin went and got his hair cut - Oh here's something interesting. So here on the mainland (California) Vietnamese are typically found in nail salons, in Hawai'i they are not only found in nail salons but in barber shops as well! ...Fo only 5 dolla mo.*
So after dropping Kelvin off at school for all the pre-graduation festivities we were on our way back to our grandparents house when all of a sudden ...**!@#BAM!@#** my coffee went flying everywhere - we got rear ended!!! Ugh, I had NEVER been in any kind of car accident until that day! We were literally stopped waiting for the light to turn green and the only reason the guy behind us stopped is because he hit us! It was quite a jolt and my adrenaline was going! ...Needless to say, the guy was a complete a$$ hole about it but the main thing was that everyone was okay.
* When my cousin Jessica was living up here last fall we took her to to see Anjelah Johnson at the Improv. So funny!! We love her.
Late that afternoon we went to Le Jardin Academy for Kelvin's graduation. It was really good! Somehow graduations always create one of those nostalgic moments for me... "As we go on, we remember, all the times we, spent to together..." Their speaker was Neil Abercrombie, who I thought was the founder of Abercrombie & Fitch but it just so happens that this Neil Abercrombie was the governor of Hawai'i. His speech was really good, although I don't remember any of it except for the part that I'm going to share right now... (i'm going to use quotes because this is verbatim) "and I remember that when I told Barack Obama that he should run for president." ...Alicia and I had a good laugh, OH!!! He's the one that told Barack Obama to run to president, gotcha. Haha.
The weekend was filled with family fun! On Saturday we went to the swap meet, beach, got in another car accident, and Hawaiian Brians. Hawaiian Brians is a billiards hang out place, lots of fun! I suck, but I like to think I'm pro status when I get like 3 balls in a row. Hahaha. Okay, seriously, another car accident??!?!?! I'm getting use to this now. We were leaving the beach and had stopped at McDonalds for some food when all of a sudden, **!@#BAM!@#**, a van pulling in to park next to us decided to nudge us aside... This dude was on something, had no auto insurance, and was just a sticky situation. We called the police department and the officer came out and filled a report... Blah blah, again, at least we were all safe!
Sunday we had a family and friends brunch at the same place where my aunt was married 14 years ago! Check out the picture below (Then and now). We ended the afternoon at Bellows Beach - where we met up with my friend Pohaikealoha and her cousin. I hadn't seen Pohai in years!!! So good reconnecting with old friends, later that night my uncle decided on an impromptu family BBQ. Alicia and I made a tropical ambrosia fruit salad! So delicious. Along with all the standard fixings, meat, chicken, rice, etc... We had such a great time! I've never had a BBQ with my family before, we're always so rush rush rush when it comes to vacation time. Go figure. Oh, I can't forget to mention when we wanted to "kick the party up a notch." my uncle had found a bottle of old wine, like from the 1960's. We thought we'd give it a go but it turned out to be rusted, acid, vinegar! Hahaha. Guess that's what happens to wine in the end. Then we had a bottle of white wine... It was probably the driest and most potent wines we had ever tasted, even my grandma was like "wow, that's strong, I feel the heat." ...Then my uncle asks for a sip and sees the bottle... "HEY!!, That's vermouth!" ....Yeah with an alcohol content of like 17% hahahahaha. Okay okay, so maybe no one took a look at the bottle but it was super funny!
On Monday my uncle took us to see the family property. It's a beautiful piece of raw undeveloped land with a great ocean view. One day, maybe we'll be able to build a house up there. Better start playing the Mega Millions lottery again. That afternoon we climbed to the top of Diamond Head! Can you imagine, in all the time I've been to Hawai'i I've NEVER been to Diamond Head. Alicia had been during her senior class trip in high school so she was ready for the 1000's of stairs ahead, me, I had no idea what is store. We had such a great time though. The view from the top is simply breathtaking.
Our last day on the Island was in search of Noni tea for Alicia's mom. We don't know why that tea was so difficult to find... We must have checked at least 3 or 4 stores including Marukai! Come to find out, my mom had some Noni tea right in her kitchen.
Well, that was our Hawaiian Vacation in a nutshell. We had such great time kicking back with our family and just taking yet another break from the hustle and bustle of life. We miss them every day! But thanks to networking sites like Facebook, they're never more than a few clicks away.
Congratulations Kelvin Akamine!!
Aloha `oe, aloha `oe
E ke onaona noho i ka lipo
One fond embrace,
A ho`i a`e au
Until we meet again
E ke onaona noho i ka lipo
One fond embrace,
A ho`i a`e au
Until we meet again
She's Gonna be an Aunt! He's Gonna be an Uncle!
I decided that I really needed to get this post up because literally any day now Alicia's sister is going to be having her first child! ...I can't have my future nephew thinking I'm a procrastinator! Hahaha... it's so true.
After the honeymoon, Alicia and her mom went into full throttle and got Patti's baby shower together. I unfortunately had to work but I was told that everyone had a great time. Alicia had a great idea to make a diaper cake, something that she had seen at a previous baby shower so that's what we did. I had little to no idea how to plan for a baby, I may a pediatric nurse but that doesn't mean I know how to do all the before stuff. Haha. I hadn't even step foot into a Baby's R Us before this baby shower! (Which is a really cool place, they have a ton of everything in that store! I want that Baby Bjorn carrier thing)
Back to the diaper cake... We made a three tiered diaper cake made up of about 150 diapers. We had found some small items off Patti and Jason's Registry and incorporated them into the cake. I think that diaper cake took us like 2-3 hours though, it wasn't easy, but turned out perfect! They had all sorts of finger foods, drinks, games, and even a candy bar for the shower. Jason's dad also came and he took Jason out and bought them a camera! So, no excuse not to see photos of the new baby.
Before Patti and Jason left Alicia took some pregnancy photos for them, they turned out really good! We wish that Patti and Jason could have stayed longer but they live up near Sacramento so they had to get going, that's no easy drive!
UPDATE: So, the baby shower was at the end of April. Today, June 17, I think is the predicated due date for Patti and Jason! Congrats!! ...Although, I see Patti playing Words With Friends with her sister so... I don't know that Dylan is coming out today. Hopefully this weekend! I've always heard that pregnancy is fun in the beginning but when it comes to the last few weeks most mom's are over being pregnant.
After the honeymoon, Alicia and her mom went into full throttle and got Patti's baby shower together. I unfortunately had to work but I was told that everyone had a great time. Alicia had a great idea to make a diaper cake, something that she had seen at a previous baby shower so that's what we did. I had little to no idea how to plan for a baby, I may a pediatric nurse but that doesn't mean I know how to do all the before stuff. Haha. I hadn't even step foot into a Baby's R Us before this baby shower! (Which is a really cool place, they have a ton of everything in that store! I want that Baby Bjorn carrier thing)
Back to the diaper cake... We made a three tiered diaper cake made up of about 150 diapers. We had found some small items off Patti and Jason's Registry and incorporated them into the cake. I think that diaper cake took us like 2-3 hours though, it wasn't easy, but turned out perfect! They had all sorts of finger foods, drinks, games, and even a candy bar for the shower. Jason's dad also came and he took Jason out and bought them a camera! So, no excuse not to see photos of the new baby.
Before Patti and Jason left Alicia took some pregnancy photos for them, they turned out really good! We wish that Patti and Jason could have stayed longer but they live up near Sacramento so they had to get going, that's no easy drive!
UPDATE: So, the baby shower was at the end of April. Today, June 17, I think is the predicated due date for Patti and Jason! Congrats!! ...Although, I see Patti playing Words With Friends with her sister so... I don't know that Dylan is coming out today. Hopefully this weekend! I've always heard that pregnancy is fun in the beginning but when it comes to the last few weeks most mom's are over being pregnant.
Congratulations Jason and Patti Ball!
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Shall We Play Catch Up?
I've gone back and forth on where to begin our blog... I thought about starting back when we first met, to when we first starting dating, to our engagement, to planning the wedding, to the actual wedding day! But in interest of time and typing, I'll just start from April 16, 2011.
April 16, 2011 - OUR WEDDING DAY!
In a nutshell, I think Alicia and I both agree that it was perfect! Our wedding was created by Amorology Weddings and held at Leo Carrillo Ranch. Our photographer, Trever Hoehne, and videographers, NR3, were there to capture our special day. If you're on Facebook, then you have probably already seen some of the photos and the video as well. Since pictures are worth a thousand words and I'm sure videos are worth a billion, I'll let them speak for themselves. Take a look at our wedding highlights video here A + A Highlights Video. That day was truly the happiest day of our life! Surrounded by family and close friends we celebrated our love for each other and had, as my grandpa put it, "That was some party!" We enjoyed delicious food from Crown Point Catering and Sweet Cheeks Bakery, as we danced the night away.
The wedding festivities continued the next morning at a local buffet breakfast in Carlsbad, CA at Ocean House, we had a great turn out and enjoyed a quieter time with family and friends as we again, stuffed our faces with delicious food!
Shortly thereafter, the next day in fact, we hopped on an airplane and left for our exotic honeymoon destination! Turks and Caicos Islands. The Islands of Turks and Caicos are located southwest of the Bahamas and north of the Dominican Republic. It was no easy flight on the way over! We took a red eye from LAX to Charlotte, NC where we literally flew through, well, maybe next to, a lighting storm. I even woke Alicia up so she could see. All I could think about was that scene from the twilight zone... Anyways, we landed in North Carolina and that airport is interesting, I wish I took a picture of it but in addition to standard airport seating there were white wooden rocking chairs located throughout the concourses.
We stayed at Gansevoort which was really amazing! I've never stayed at a hotel quite like it before. We stayed on the island for ten days! Such a relaxing and well needed/ well deserved vacation. There were days where we literally stayed on the beach for eight hours and just slept, swam, and ate. The hotel staff was really kind, we enjoyed how each waiter thought the drink of the day was something else... Quite entertaining after a few "drunken lobsters." (our drink of choice).
Although, as beautiful and relaxing as the TCI (Turks and Caicos Islands) are, we quickly learned how expensive it was to get around and not to mention get food in our stomachs! To put a meal into perspective, a lunch or dinner would easily, and I mean easily cost you $100 for two people! Towards the end of our stay we found a little indoor/outdoor restaurant called the "Tiki Hut" awesome place, real food, affordable prices - we ate there several times more before we left. I'm all for gourmet food but after meal after meal after meal of parmesan crusted this and seared that and fillet of whatever with a side of haricots verts... I just wanted a regular normal cheeseburger! ...so naturally our first meal after landing at LAX was Del Taco. Love that place.
Sadly, vacations and honeymoon's don't last forever (side note: they would if I would have won that mega million's a few weeks ago...that's a funny story by the way*) Anyways. After returning from TCI we picked up right where we left off, working.
*Remember when that mega millions was like $300,000,000+? Well of course we had to play! I was determined to let the universe play a part. So I did what any other person would do, went and had Chinese food for lunch - not for the purpose of chow mein and orange chicken, but to get a fortune cookie! I wish I remembered exactly what the fortune read but it was something along the lines of "Looks aren't always what they seem" and of course there were the lucky numbers below. Now interestingly enough, as I was reading the fortune it ripped in half and it just to happen to rip right between the number "14" (which some of you know is my favorite number) so of course this was a sign!!! I quickly went and got tickets, creating some with the powerball number with "1's" and "4's"... When we were at the chevron, I asked Alicia "Hey, what if we played the lost numbers?" We shared a laugh, but couldn't remember them for the life of us... Come to find out, that little joke would have scored us like $100 bucks or something. Oh well. Haven't played since...
Well, I can see this initial blog entry is getting a bit long... If you're still with me, awesome! We'll try our best to keep this blog updated. We started at April 16 and with the honeymoon we're caught up to April 27! There isn't much more to catch up on though...
- Patti's (Alicia's sister) baby shower
- Alicia accepts a new job position
- Kelvin's High school graduation
- Temecula Valley Balloon and Wine Festival
K, I'll blog later!
April 16, 2011 - OUR WEDDING DAY!
In a nutshell, I think Alicia and I both agree that it was perfect! Our wedding was created by Amorology Weddings and held at Leo Carrillo Ranch. Our photographer, Trever Hoehne, and videographers, NR3, were there to capture our special day. If you're on Facebook, then you have probably already seen some of the photos and the video as well. Since pictures are worth a thousand words and I'm sure videos are worth a billion, I'll let them speak for themselves. Take a look at our wedding highlights video here A + A Highlights Video. That day was truly the happiest day of our life! Surrounded by family and close friends we celebrated our love for each other and had, as my grandpa put it, "That was some party!" We enjoyed delicious food from Crown Point Catering and Sweet Cheeks Bakery, as we danced the night away.
The wedding festivities continued the next morning at a local buffet breakfast in Carlsbad, CA at Ocean House, we had a great turn out and enjoyed a quieter time with family and friends as we again, stuffed our faces with delicious food!
Shortly thereafter, the next day in fact, we hopped on an airplane and left for our exotic honeymoon destination! Turks and Caicos Islands. The Islands of Turks and Caicos are located southwest of the Bahamas and north of the Dominican Republic. It was no easy flight on the way over! We took a red eye from LAX to Charlotte, NC where we literally flew through, well, maybe next to, a lighting storm. I even woke Alicia up so she could see. All I could think about was that scene from the twilight zone... Anyways, we landed in North Carolina and that airport is interesting, I wish I took a picture of it but in addition to standard airport seating there were white wooden rocking chairs located throughout the concourses.
We stayed at Gansevoort which was really amazing! I've never stayed at a hotel quite like it before. We stayed on the island for ten days! Such a relaxing and well needed/ well deserved vacation. There were days where we literally stayed on the beach for eight hours and just slept, swam, and ate. The hotel staff was really kind, we enjoyed how each waiter thought the drink of the day was something else... Quite entertaining after a few "drunken lobsters." (our drink of choice).
Although, as beautiful and relaxing as the TCI (Turks and Caicos Islands) are, we quickly learned how expensive it was to get around and not to mention get food in our stomachs! To put a meal into perspective, a lunch or dinner would easily, and I mean easily cost you $100 for two people! Towards the end of our stay we found a little indoor/outdoor restaurant called the "Tiki Hut" awesome place, real food, affordable prices - we ate there several times more before we left. I'm all for gourmet food but after meal after meal after meal of parmesan crusted this and seared that and fillet of whatever with a side of haricots verts... I just wanted a regular normal cheeseburger! ...so naturally our first meal after landing at LAX was Del Taco. Love that place.
Sadly, vacations and honeymoon's don't last forever (side note: they would if I would have won that mega million's a few weeks ago...that's a funny story by the way*) Anyways. After returning from TCI we picked up right where we left off, working.
*Remember when that mega millions was like $300,000,000+? Well of course we had to play! I was determined to let the universe play a part. So I did what any other person would do, went and had Chinese food for lunch - not for the purpose of chow mein and orange chicken, but to get a fortune cookie! I wish I remembered exactly what the fortune read but it was something along the lines of "Looks aren't always what they seem" and of course there were the lucky numbers below. Now interestingly enough, as I was reading the fortune it ripped in half and it just to happen to rip right between the number "14" (which some of you know is my favorite number) so of course this was a sign!!! I quickly went and got tickets, creating some with the powerball number with "1's" and "4's"... When we were at the chevron, I asked Alicia "Hey, what if we played the lost numbers?" We shared a laugh, but couldn't remember them for the life of us... Come to find out, that little joke would have scored us like $100 bucks or something. Oh well. Haven't played since...
Well, I can see this initial blog entry is getting a bit long... If you're still with me, awesome! We'll try our best to keep this blog updated. We started at April 16 and with the honeymoon we're caught up to April 27! There isn't much more to catch up on though...
- Patti's (Alicia's sister) baby shower
- Alicia accepts a new job position
- Kelvin's High school graduation
- Temecula Valley Balloon and Wine Festival
K, I'll blog later!
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