Birthday Smash

One of the couples from bible study celebrated their daughter's first birthday.  We learned that first birthdays are not as huge as it is back home with inflatable jumping castles, magic shows, balloon monsoon, billions of people, etc.  Our friends invited mostly their families, few friends, and had it in their own backyard.  They even cooked the food!

We also learned that it's common here to have a birthday smash!  They let the one year old go at it with their own birthday cake or cupcake.  It was so entertaining to watch this little one dab her fingers in the cake, lick them in such a classy manner and barely making a mess!  They let her go for a while as everyone watched her.  It was even more funny (but heartbreaking at the same time) when her dad took the cake away...she held her hand up and wholeheartedly screamed her head off.  Her face was so red with tears and all.  Too cute!

Justin Cooked!

It's pretty noteworthy around here if Justin cooks!  It usually only occurs once a year on Valentine's Day, but the year is only half over and he's upped the count to two!  I guess my lack of cooking meat had him craving for steaks one night.  So what does a wife do if her husband wants to cook?...LET HIM and if you know me, I was more than glad to! :)

Santa Barbara Zoo

This zoo is very cool!  It's on the smaller side, but filled with so much animals to see.  Here's a gross pic for you all to enjoy!

Santa Barbara's I Madonnari Festival

I Madonnari's a festival from Italy where artists sketch on the streets fronting the Santa Barbara Mission using chalk.  Most of my coworkers live in Santa Barbara and recommended we check it out and glad we did!  Companies, schools, charities, individuals, families, etc. can purchase a square and use it to advertise or just draw for fun.  There were food booths and musicians performing too.  It was so cute listening to a group of little girls singing in Italian.

The Santa Barbara Mission also has a big park with a gorgeous rose garden!  It was such a nice day!

Hiking & Exploring Ojai

As you can imagine, there are countless hiking trails here.  We didn't do much prior research on hiking this trail in Ojai, but just knew we wanted to return and explore more of Ojai and its mountains.  We literally looked at our phone in the car and chose the shortest hike.  We came across MANY avocado trees at the beginning of the trail!  You can see a glimpse of it here in this first photo on the left side.

We hiked for about 3 miles and reached this water trough that even horses drink out of!  Yup, people can ride their horses on this trail!

At this point we decided to hike back due to lack of time and having to go another 3-4 more miles to reach the peak.  It was still worth it and I enjoyed the beautiful wildflowers along the way!

But...not everything was as peaceful and beautiful as it seemed on the way in as it was on the way out!  I was following closely behind Justin as we were trekking along a narrow path with a drop off to our left and the mountain to our right.  All of a sudden he stopped and pushed me to go back.  A SNAKE was in his path!  I was beyond scared and I could tell he was panicked!  I don't ever recall seeing him that frightened as he was, so it made me even more afraid!  He started calmly telling me we have to run as fast as we can past it!  I refused, but he kept reassuring me it was going to be okay and we just have to do it.  As  much as he was telling me those things to calm me down I know he was also speaking it to himself! Hahahaha! He also didn't give me much time and just started running, so of course I couldn't let him leave me and RAN for my life, all the while praying I don't trip and fall!  I didn't dare look to get a glimpse of it, but I did hear it slithering in the grass!

That night he learned all about snakes and concluded that the one he saw was a garter snake.  He even made me listen to a clip of a rattlesnake so I will know of one!  Hahaha! Hopefully that was the first and last time I heard a rattler.

We did score a few perfect avocados though!

After all that excitement, we walked around the little town and enjoyed an annual art show that was going on in the park.  We never really went to one of these before and was amazed at the creativity.  These life-size steel animals were our favorite!  We overheard the artist saying he's selling that flamingo for $24K!

Fun Times with Good Friends!

With months of planning and much anticipation, the week finally arrived for my friends to fly in!  I made the venture alone to pick them up from LAX and we headed straight to Disneyland!  We spent 3.5 days there and celebrated two very special birthdays!  This was probably the best time to be there.  A lot less people enjoying the parks, which made it easy to ride.  The weather was pleasantly cool too.  This all made for pure fun at the happiest place on earth! 

A few last pointers on Disneyland before I move on to second half of their visit.  Hollywood Tower of Terror freaks me out!  They change the amount of times the elevator drops between Disneyland and Disneyworld.  I was only expecting TWO drops, but experienced ??? more!  The Aladdin musical show and the World of Color water show at California Adventure are definitely worth seeing.  Food is always good at Disney, but two new discoveries for me were the Frozen Apple Juice (located between Fantasyland and Frontierland) and a BBQ buffet at an outdoor restaurant in Frontierland called Big Thunder Ranch BBQ.  So yummy!!!

After Disneyland, we said goodbye to one friend and gained another!  We hung out in LA for a little bit and went to Griffith Observatory Park to attempt to see the "Hollywood" sign...but it was extremely foggy and had to initially guess where the sign stood.  We did get a peek of it though as the fog moved and someone excitedly pointed it out.  This trip wouldn't have been complete for them if we didn't stop at IKEA.  They introduced me to their printed ziplocks, lingonberry juice/jam, and flavored heart-shaped cookies!

 

We also went berry picking!  WE all enjoyed it...well actually three of us did.

Magic Mountain was the next stop.  It was Justin's first time and for most of us we hadn't been in a long time.  There were a lot of new rides and so much scarier!!!  Probably the favorite ride for us, but also one of the scariest ones, was the Tatsu.  You get strapped in, maneuvered into a flying position (legs and arms dangling while lying on your stomach), and ride this crazy roller coaster in that position the whole time! It was so crazy.  Our friend lost his cellphone on that ride and we reported it at Lost & Found.  Fortunately, the next day he claimed it, fully charged with barely a scratch on it.  (FYI, the Lost & Found said they have a 70% success rate and the crew walks through the park every night.)

We went back to Griffith Park and enjoyed it a little more on a clearer day.  We also went to see LA Dodgers play the Colorado Rockies!  Who knew a baseball game could be so fun?!  Maybe because the Dodgers won and we had really good seats.  We even witnessed a proposal a few rows in front.

I was grateful for the precious time I had with these good friends and share a part of our new home with them.  It was definitely sobering to leave the airport with an empty backseat and return to a quiet home.  I couldn't have asked for a better staycation!!!

 
P.S.  I can't take credit for most of these captured moments, so thank you PF, not PW!!! :)

Adventure is out there...

Albert Einstein once said, "Life is like riding a bicycle - in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving." We heeded Al's words and went out to get some exercise in an adventurous sort of way - downhill bike riding on Sulphur Mountain.

Since it was a nice Saturday morning, I called the local bike shop in town and inquired about a flyer I saw advertising an 18-mile downhill bike ride. My brother and sister-in-law had given us gift certificates to this bike shop as a Christmas gift so I figured this was the perfect time to use them. When I spoke to the lady on the phone I told her I was interested in the downhill bike ride. After taking down our height and weight so that they could adjust the bikes accordingly, she then proceeded to ask me if we needed a guide. I told her we didn't need one (since it was an extra $50) and that we'd be there in an hour.

When we arrived, the first thing she asked us is if we knew how to change a flat tire. I said, "Sure, you just get that patch and put it on the tube." She stopped me right there and said we needed to get a guide. Turns out I'm glad we did since she went on to explain we'd be up in the wilderness and obviously knew I didn't know what I was talking about when it came to changing a flat tire on a $5000 mountain bike.

Once we got our helmets, gloves, water bottle and bike loaded up in the truck, we headed to the top of Sulphur mountain. The mountain is located between Ojai and Ventura and we were at about 2,000 ft of elevation. The trail we were going to ride down provided scenic views of Ojai, which is a quaint little city with lots of artists and health conscience people living there. After unloading the bikes, our guide taught us the importance of learning how to properly shift the gears on our bikes and had us practice by riding around on a slight incline where we got dropped off. I hopped on my bike a got the hang of it pretty quickly since I just rode a mountain bike in Vancouver back in September. Rae on the other hand, she almost ate it before we even got to the trail head. According to her, she hasn't rode a bike for years. On top of that, she never rode a bike with more than one gear before. You're probably wondering why I would put my wife in this situation. Well, I assumed that she knew how and she never raised any concerns prior to this. Anyway, she eventually got the hang of it.

The trail was mostly like a dirt road with lots of switch backs and some inclines thrown in the mix. The best part was the downhill sections where you could just let gravity take control and just enjoy the ride. In fact, the faster you go, the more stable the ride. These bikes were built to be abused and I didn't hold back too much. As for Rae, let's just say that she didn't want to hurt the bike. Although, that reminds me that she did kind of hurt both the bike and herself during one section of our ride. She was riding along the right side of the trail and then just decided to fall into a patch of grass along the path. It was almost like watching it in slow motion the way it happened since we weren't even going fast at all. If only she recalled the words of Albert Einstein, "in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving".

Anyway, we got to see all sorts of things on the way down the mountain like cattle grazing and oil seeping up out of the ground. After about 11 miles we reached the bottom of the trail portion and then rode another 7 miles back to the bike shop along the river. It was still downhill, but very slight. By this time, my butt was aching. Why don't they make bike seats more comfortable. After mentioning this to my guide, he told me the secret. It's all in the pants. Apparently they make these bike shorts that have padding in the right areas so it cushions the ride. Wish I had know this beforehand.

Three hours later we arrived back at the bike shop slightly in pain from the hard seats and glad we did it. Exercise and sight-seeing with a bit of adrenaline rush makes for one great adventure.