Museums, Arcades, Beach Houses, and More!

So just to give you a heads up, this post is going to have a lot of pictures!! haha At Del Cerro Elementary school,  the third graders choose a city in Orange County and do a report on it. All of my sisters and I have done our report on Newport Beach because we used to go there a lot when we were younger. Well this year it was my brothers turn to take on the "challenge" of the Newport Beach report! haha Yesterday I got to take him on a little tour/adventure in Newport Beach and Balboa. While I had a job interview at Camp James on the Newport back bay, I dropped Melissa and Christian off at Fashion Island to get some pictures, fliers, and just look around! After my interview we went to the sports museum! They had a whole bunch of signed jerseys, trophies, footballs, etc. They also had a a mini basketball court and some other displays. It was pretty cool!

My favorite display room was the Quicksilver Roxy one! It had a whole bunch of stuff from the athletes they sponsor as well as a wall of surfboards!

After the sports museum we went over to balboa island and rode the ferry over the fun zone and pier!

Before we could have some fun in the arcade, we had to visit the nautical museum since it is a "point of interest" haha. Christian, surprisingly, wasn't too interested in it, but we got some pictures that he can use for his project anyways.

 After that we got to hit up the arcade for a little and played some classic arcade games like Whack- a - Mole and SkeeBall! Nothing beats spending time in the good ol' arcade and getting prizes for your tickets! haha

Christian was super excited about all the tickets he won! haha and then of course we went and turned in our tickets for prizes! I love how arcades are such a rip off but they are just so great and people still go to them anyways! haha Before we went back to the ferry, we walked over the pier and snagged some pics!

Also my hair is kind of all over the place in this picture, so just don't mind that! haha I wish we had time to eat at Ruby's on the pier! I remember eating there as a little girl and it was so exciting to eat at one of my favorite restaurants on the end of a pier! I loved it when we got rooftop seating and you had a great view of the ocean and Balboa! After that we headed back to the ferry and said good-bye to Balboa!

As we were walking from the ferry back to our car, I took a whole bunch of pictures of beach houses! Wayy more than I took when we first parked! haha I just love beach houses a whole lot! I love their architecture, size, and the fact they are on the beach! Or harbor, in this case! but anyway, here are some of the cute houses I saw! We even found the home of a BYU fan!

See the little BYU address sign right above the tree/bush thing?? haha

I guess I kind of have a secret obsession with beach houses haha. My sister said I looked like a tourist because I was taking pictures of a whole bunch of houses! haha After Balboa we made one last stop at the Newport Beach Temple!

We even had a little fun at the temple! Christian was showing me something cool about the fountain and how you could have your hand gently floating on the surface, and it gave me the perfect opportunity to splash him! I know I probably shouldn't have, I mean we were on the temple grounds and I guess you could say it was "holy water" haha but his face was like 5 inches from the waters surface and it was the perfect opportunity!

He wasn't very happy about it, but oh well, he can deal with it! haha after that we headed home and feasted on some tacos, watched 17 Again, and then that was the end of our Saturday adventures! :)

P.S. Happy Mothers Day!

12 Things That Remind Me of Summer

1 - White Citrus from Bath & Body Works

 2 - Aloe Vera ( to treat those pesky sunburns & help turn them into tans!)

3 - Rainbow (Flip Flops) Tan Lines

4 - Bright Pink Nail Polish (did you know it makes your skin look more tan?!)

5 - Fly Away by Tim McGraw (the song that converted me to country!)

6 - The Beach of Course!

7 - My Red Wild Rivers Swimsuit

8 - Long Hot Summer by Keith Urban

9 - Girls Camp Cheers & Songs ( I miss being a YCL!)

10 - Any Music by the Beach Boys

11 - Bonfires

12 -  And The Smell of this Sunscreen! ( used it almost everyday last summer!)

Lucky Me

So I have to say yesterday was pretty great! I am pretty lucky to live in such an awesome place where there are so many things to do! My brother has been begging my to take him to the beach since I got home and I just couldn't say no! I mean how could you resist this kid?

Plus, it's pretty hard to resist a day at the beach! Since the weather was so nice yesterday, Christian, Amanda, and I took a trip to Dana strands! I was brave and ventured into the freezing cold water so I could keep an eye on Christian and also teach him how to boogie board! I loved watching the little guy catch the waves! I wish I had a water proof camera so I could get his face!

 

He was always so stoked whenever he rode a wave all the way into shore! haha the question of the day became should we ride it or jump it? haha Oh ya and I taught him how to jump over the waves with his board so he wouldn't get pushed back to shore as much haha. Amanda also had her own little adventures at the beach, while I was tending to Christian out in the water, Amanda saw a seal pop up 5 feet in front of her! Crazy stuff, right?! I wish I could have seen it! After freezing out butts off in the water, we got out and Christian and Amanda got working on a sand castle while I laid on my towel and kept an eye on them. Amanda also managed to capture a sand crab while working on the castle!

It's kinda hard to see but it's at the top of the frisbee right on the edge of the shadow. We spent almost 3 hours there and it was a great Saturday afternoon! Funny side note about our little trip, we all had the same style of sunglasses haha Amanda wouldn't pose for a group pic though, so I got one of just me and Christian haha

Saturday evening, I ended up going to LA on a spur of the moment kinda thing with my friend Noelia. We met up with a friend from Junior high, Nicola, who now goes to UCLA and her friend. After picking them up we went to the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica and ate at the Crepe Cafe.

If you have never been to the 3rd Street Promenade before, you should go! Because it is way nice and a cool outdoor shopping experience! It's just a unique place and all the stores a pretty big! Also, the Crepe Cafe was delicious and I enjoyed an Applesauce, Banana, & Cinnamon Crepe! Pretty healthy and not to desserty! So haven't broken my no sweets yet! That won't happen till I go to Diddy Reise on Tuesday. After eating, we walked over to the Santa Monica Pier and rode the ferris wheel! I can check going to the Santa Monica pier off my check list! haha Going there really made me wanna go to California Adventure though since Paradise Pier was designed to kinda resemble the Santa Monica Pier. I sure miss Disneyland, a whole lot! Especially since I went there ALL the time my last 2 years of high school! I guess I am just a lucky kid that has been blessed to have grown up in Orange County where there's Disneyalnd and so many other things to do, as well as live with in decent driving distance of LA and San Diego! I guess all I can say is thanks mom and dad, and lucky me :)

Beach, Burgers, and the Little Bro

I have always been a native Californian but I got to hit up the beach yesterday and I totally felt my California-ness rekindle! haha The sand, surf, and sun were so refreshing and it felt to awesome to just lay out and relax! Despite the fact that it rained the night before and all morning, it cleared up and was beautiful at the beach! Not too hot with the perfect breeze to keep us cool!

I could completely relax because had no where to be and I was in good company, aka mi amiga Brooke!

I totally love this girl and I am so glad I got to hang out with her before she leaves for all her summer adventures! It was great to catch up with her and also get working on my tan! haha After the beach we went to In 'N' Out, which I hadn't had since winter break. Oh my heck, I forgot how much I love their burgers! I was in heaven! I had an animal style burger for the first time and I honestly didn't notice a difference, but I just know that it was a delicious burger, like I have always remembered haha I didn't give into a Neapolitan shake though! My no desserts/no sweets thing is still going strong! It's almost been a month and a half! Also, I think I have corrupted my brother because he wants me to take him to the beach this weekend, and one of his reasons is because he says he "needs to tan." What have I done to this kid?!? He is nine years old and worrying about his tan! I keep telling him that he does not need to worry about it and that he is fine! And he just replies, "I just need a little more color." or "I just want to get a shade darker." Heaven help us all. What have I instilled into this kid's mind! haha I am not going to take a nine year old to the beach just so he can tan! If I am taking him to the beach, I am going to bring out my inner child and we will go boogie boarding and build sand castles. None of this laying out and just tanning for three hours. That won't fly with me. haha Hopefully I can reverse his thinking and get him not to worry about his skin tone or else I will be very disappointed in myself!! Today I had my first job interview, and I will find out Monday how it went! I also went to a birthday dinner with a really good friend of mine and her family. It was great to see her and I am glad I was home from college in time for her birthday! Unfortunately, the rest of the weekend is pretty uneventful as I am still on the job hunt and everyone else is in school haha Well that's a wrap for today, peace out :)