Our Trip to CA: Thursday: Jenna's 17th Birthday, Airsoft Battle, Our Departure

We woke up early and packed quickly. We also made half of the birthday sign for Jenna's birthday. Once everything was ready and gathered, we said thank you and good-bye to my grandparents' and headed on over to my parents' place.

a pretty good sign, if I do say so myself!

We had delicious Belgian waffles with strawberries, whipped cream and bacon for breakfast, yum! And then Jenna opened her presents. My parents got her these silly sunglasses that are a replica of the ones my grandpa had and let her wear, and then she broke them. She was pretty pumped. We got her a pretty ruby sterling silver ring from the Sundance catalog. Ruby is her birthstone and we figured it would be a good ring for her. A few months ago, once we had decided on it, I had sent her some pictures of rings I liked, and said Zak was thinking about getting me one of them, and sent her a picture of the ruby one, and she said she loved it, so I knew we were golden from then on. She was a happy girl and enjoyed everything.

Oh, and I got rid of a bunch of stuff at my parents' house, and saved some treasures. The weirdest part was quickly going through my journals from high school (while trying not to vomit) and pulling out the memorable notes and pictures, while throwing away the majority of them. Zak wanted to read them, and I did not allow that under any circumstance, but did ok the material I saved for him.

Somehow, the airsoft battle idea just came out of nowhere. We got my dad a semi-automatic one for his birthday, Jenna got one on her last visit here, and Kenny and Zak & I had them from Rexburg, so we decided awhile ago that we would have this epic battle. But it never happened, and then all of a sudden on Thursday, we just decided to go for it. Mom took some pictures and told us some rules and we five headed off to the park nearby for the battle.

take 1

2

3

we want to get Mom the biggest airsoft gun for her birthday, bwahaha

It was actually pretty fun, and Dad's gun was fear-inducing. It didn't hurt as much as our pistols, but the sound of it struck terror into our hearts. About half way through, the boys were resting and one of them got shot by a bullet, but it wasn't from us. They looked at some bullets on the ground, and none of us had that color bullet. Then they saw the interloper, who was shooting from behind the fence. They came over and told us and I shouted, "SHOW YOUR FACE! FIGHT US LIKE A MAN!" all goofy, and then the battle resumed. I remember screaming and running away from the boys, down towards the fence and then I looked up and saw a guy's head over the fence, screamed even harder, and ran back to Dad. I guess they exchanged words, he was planning on being lame and staying behind his fence, and then we decided we'd had enough.

Zak drew a Sirius Black tattoo on Jenna because she was 'going as Sirius Black' for the final Harry Potter midnight showing (she originally wanted to have him draw a beard on her, but changed her mind)

Then we got everything set up for the airport, including packing the cheeses we got at Costco (brie, gouda, sharp cheddar, don't worry, this will be relevant later), and headed off towards the airport. We stopped to get gelato, because we don't have a gelato place in Moscow, for some stupid reason. Oh, it was tasty, and just perfect. Everything went smoothly at the airport, minimal tears were shed, and no one was fondled or looked at on the new scanners (didn't happen on our way to CA either, go figure).

We had stopped and grabbed some Quizno's sandwiches for dinner beforehand, and while we waited for the plane, decided to eat. That went all right until Zak spilled pickles on my legs and the juice ended up all over the butt of my jeans, and let's just say, that it was a very unpleasant few moments for us. Yes, it was funny, but I was not in the mood to get pickle juice all over my jeans! He made up for it by buying my a chocolate bar and some water.

Our flight wasn't bad. I don't remember the last time I flew out of Oakland when there was still daylight, so I took some pictures from the plane. And then cried a little, because I didn't want to leave California or my family. It's always a bit bittersweet for me, these trips, because I do love being married and with Zak in Moscow, but I miss home an awful lot. But we had such a great trip, and I'm so glad we were there for Kenny. It was one of the craziest and most exhausting trips to date, but well worth it.

flying over the Bay

The drive home was nice. The sun was setting, the weather was beautiful and there were no cars on the road. I took several sunset pictures; driving in the Palouse region is so picturesque, it's hard not to take pictures. It was nice to arrive home to the pets alive, a thriving garden and a clean house. The cheese even made the trip fine! I texted my mom that the cheese survived, and she texted me back, 'Good-a'. That is why my mom is awesome.

it's so pretty

the moon

Thank you to everyone for a fantastic week in California! We loved every minute and all of the food! Can't wait to see everyone next year (*cross your fingers*)!

Our Trip to CA: Wednesday: "Day Off"

It was so nice to sleep in! We got up and headed over to my parents' and played Beatles Rock Band with Kenny and Jenna. I think Kenny secreted played in Sweden, because he was just about as good as he was before. I sang, like usual, and Zak played the drums. It was fun, since we haven't played that since we went back a year and a half ago. And it's fun to play with four people, too.

Jenna as the 'couch model'

ignore her foot, I do

Rock Band is intense, you guys

We also ended up going shopping at Kohl's, I wanted to get a dress to wear to our friends' wedding next month, and ended up finding something that would work! It was nice to just laze around and not have too many commitments.

you knew this picture was coming, don't lie

we wanted to print this out and put it on Jenna's birthday present, but that never happened

Although we did have a reservation that night for P.F. Chang's (no pictures, sorry). My parents had like, 3 or 4 gift cards that they hadn't used, so they figured why not use them with all of us here? Everything was yummy, and Jenna got another piece of birthday cake. Well, it was a birthday shooter cake thing, but still. And we ate everything, because P.F. Chang's is delicious. After, we walked to Cheesecake Factory to get slices to take home to eat while watching Harry Potter 7.1. Jenna notified Kenny that he was taking her and her friends to the midnight premiere the next night, which was fine with him. I was glad to watch it again, since we only saw it in the theaters last fall and I had forgotten a lot.

We then crashed again, not wanting to leave the following day..

Our Trip to CA: Tuesday: Great America

Tuesday was Great America day. It's this awesome theme park with roller coasters about an hour and a half south of Concord. We used to go every year with the whole family, usually for my cousin Grant's birthday. There are lots of big roller coaster rides and it's a lot of fun. I think the last time I went was in high school with some friends. I suggested it just as a suggestion to my parents a few weeks before our trip, and they decided it would be fun for all 6 of us to go.

on the way there, the weather was perfect!

Since we have been there, Great America has changed companies, it used to be Paramount's Great America when we were little, and now it's California's Great America, with lots of the Peanuts characters everyone, but mostly Snoopy. They used to have a ride based on Top Gun (the best roller coaster ever), but now it's called something lame like Flight Deck. A few of the rides we used to love were taken out, and most of the names had been changed to stupid names, but it was still fun.

how cute

Zak did a pretty good photo bomb

ready to ride the swings

It was nice to have an even number of people, too, because it was easy to pair up for rides. We rode several rides and eventually stopped for lunch. Zak and Kenny then opted out on one of my favorite rides, the Drop Zone one, where it's a huge column that just straight up drops you quickly back to Earth. Zak isn't a fan of those, so he and Kenny went on some other ride. They missed out, because it's an awesome ride!

The most irritating part of the day was that I forgot my flip-flops. I could have sworn we had them in the bag in the locker, but they weren't there. I bought new sneakers a few weeks ago and hadn't used them a whole lot, and was getting blisters. So when I went back to change into the flip-flops, and they weren't there, that ruined my life for a little bit. But I got over it once I went on some more roller coasters.

Zak picked these for me, awh

I shared my bounty of flowers

on the sky ride

Let's see, the best story of the day is a toss-up between two:

1. After I had walked angrily back to my family after not having my flip-flops, this random older guy asked if he could use my phone to call a taxi. Dad, Kenny, Jenna and Zak were getting on a ride and I was watching (I didn't line cut because I'm not rude) them, with puzzled looks on their faces as I dialed the phone number and the guy briefly talked to whoever on the phone. He then gave me $3 and went on his way.

2. We were all in line to ride this awesome ride for the second time, it used to be called Survivor, but now it's like Tiki Torch or something. It's a big round disc, where everyone faces outwards, and the disc rotates and slides up and down on a track. It's kind of hard to explain, and it's not as nausea-inducing as it sounds. Except for one kid, apparently. He threw up and it took the employees like 25 minutes to figure out what to do, how to clean it up, etc. It was frustrating because it's seriously not that hard to clean up puke, just get lots of paper towels and cleaner, and go to work. Also, to make a point, when you're on the ride, your mouth is over the edge, it's more difficult to puke on the ride itself; it'd be easy to throw up over the side of the ride, so I don't know what that kid's problem was. Wuss.

it wouldn't be a trip without some Jenna-Zak wrestling fight moves

his 'bored' (but still had fun) face for the Survivor ride

he was very excited to find that hot dog; we looked for 10 minutes for a place where they sold hot dogs!

We also had an awesome time at the bumper cars; Mom watched as we all rammed into each other and chase one another around the track like children. Oh, and we also saw Kristi Yamaguchi with her kids. I couldn't think of a way to get a picture without it being obvious. But it was her; she is super short and petite in real life!

about to bumper car the crap out of everyone

a series of intense carousel rides; don't know where Kenny had gone

After we got our fill of a dozen icees (how could you go wrong with $1 refills with those souvenir cups, right?) and assorted junk food (including funnel cake, the epitome of delicious, fattening food), we headed home. But not before I got a henna ring tattoo on my right hand. I picked one out and the lady was really cool, and it was done in a few minutes. And then Zak ended up smudging it, so I went back and she did it for me again, with no worries. She told me it should dry in about 15 minutes, and I was super careful about it. And then a few hours later, I was helping with dishes or something, and it got rinsed off. Blah. But it stayed on my skin more or less, for the next few days.

Dad super psyched about his icee lemonade mixed with a fruit flavored icee

pretty!

on the way home, I liked how it looked

we drove around to look at some of the houses, it was pretty

That night we got to sleep in, without any sort of alarms to wake us up, because we had our 'day off'...

Our Trip to CA: Monday: CA Academy of Sciences, Joe's Burgers

Kenny actually had a little fever the previous night, so we weren't sure if we were going to go into the City on Monday. But he woke up feeling normal, so we decided to go for it. We went to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. We had gone two years ago, after it had been remodeled, and before Kenny left and our wedding, and I really wanted Zak to be able to go this trip. He had a fantastic time. He was interested in everything and loved talking and looking at all the different exhibits and animals. I loved watching how excited he was; he had such a child-like wonder about him that made it even more enjoyable for me. Plus, it is a really neat place to visit.

the 'living roof', with all CA native plants and flowers

fossils

typical Zak

proof that I was there! / being a dinosaur?

looking at lizards & tortoises

cheetah under construction, this just made me giggle

Jenna with (one of) her animal counterparts

Mom demonstrating her surprise at how big antelope actually are

nerd

watching sharks and rays

good timing

The season exhibit was on snakes and lizards, which was awesome. I enjoyed seeing a huge 14 foot python and other venomous snakes. I don't know, I just like snakes, they do not creep me out at all. The best part of that exhibit was a 'game' about hunting like a snake. The controls involved smelling prey and then attacking it, and then eating it. My absolute favorite picture of the whole day was a silly one of my dad playing it, and off in the distance (not in the picture, unfortunately), was a 6 year old blonde girl watching him, as the snake devoured a rodent. Brilliant.

part of the snake exhibit; they are looking at a screen showing their body temperatures, like how a snake sees/senses

pictured: Dad ruining a small girl's day at the Academy, not pictured: terrified girl watching the snake eat a rodent

a wonderful picture with Jenna

she couldn't decide which one was the best

14 foot Burmese python, they can grow up to 30 feet!

The planetarium was awesome, as usual. Zak and I used to go to the school's planetarium often, but it was so small we sometimes didn't get tickets. The one at the Academy was absolutely huge and awe-inspiring. They played a really fascinating documentary about life and how everything is connected to the stars and the universe, and my mind was properly blown. Zak loved it, especially because he really enjoys space and learning all those things.

I loved the aquarium, especially the touching tide pool exhibit. Jenna didn't want to touch anything, but I dove in, gently touching all the sea stars, urchins, all that. It's so awesome. The jellyfish were also really neat to watch. We tried to find the giant octopus, but he was hiding, so we had to make due with the smaller one in a different tank.

My least favorite part was the albino alligator. I am not a fan of alligators, caymans, crocodiles, or anything in that general family of creatures. They are pure evil and I could give you several reasons why, but will refrain so in this entry. It was alright to see the alligator when it wasn't moving, but then we came back later while a docent was doing a presentation, and it was swimming around and thoroughly creeped me out. Ugh. Nasty, evil animals.

the most evil creature

The tropical rain forest bio-dome thing was pretty enjoyable the second time around. I told my family to down-play the talk about butterflies flying around, landing on people sometimes, because Zak's not a huge fan of butterflies and moths. He just doesn't like them flying around his face, and all of that. But he was fine, and seemed to really enjoy himself. Plus, the butterflies didn't land on him, and he was able to enjoy them from a far enough distance for it to be ok for him.

from a safe distance, he didn't mind the butterflies

this picture cracks me up, I think he was excited, but was hamming it up (surprise, surprise!)

After many long hours there, we left right before closing time, but not before exploring the neat gift shop! We ended up getting a little pocket gem book for Zak, a magnet, and he bought me a cute purple rock heart. If it wasn't all expensive, I could shop there for presents for Zak, everything was right up his alley. The rest of the day, he talked about finding out how to get a job there, and e-mailing some of the people who run the place. He would be really great at a place like that, plus we would be close enough to my family and in California! We'll have to see what happens, but he seems definitely interested in this new option.

next year's gift for Dad

we couldn't justify $300 for it, but it was so soft!

a great shirt

My parents saw this episode on the Food Network of a burger place in the City, and decided to take us there for dinner. It was amazing, simple enough. It's called Joe's Cable Car Burgers or something, and is off the beaten path, and is actually quite small inside, but man, was the food delicious. Probably the best burgers any of us had eaten before. As were were gathering to leave, Dad said something about Jenna's birthday and the waitress asked if it was her birthday (well, technically, it was a few days before), and she was like, 'Why didn't you say something??'. A few minutes later she brought over a balloon and a piece of (delicious!) chocolate cake and put on a birthday song and we all sang to her. Hey, free cake is free cake, right?

pretty psyched

Zak got a patty melt

she loved it

The rest of the night we hung around and had fun together. It was nice to have a few hours of down time to just be goofy with everyone.