Showing posts with label California. Show all posts
Showing posts with label California. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Belated Christmas

RAWR!! hahaha. SO! Today was belated Christmas for the WBP family.  (That's us.)  It's been really fun!!  We got Just Dance 3 for Dangerous D's Wii, and us kids have been playing it for.. a while now haha.  Just Dance is the greatest thing ever invented.  True story.

I got a GPS!  Haha.. those who know me know why this is funny.. :)
Wheat. Thins. Favorite cracker ever! And my mom got me a family box of it. ^_^ Happy.
Yaker's present was really cute.  Of course. :) He's an amazing gift giver. :)  He gave me a journal with an adorable note in it, and a framed picture of us.  I Love it. 
Er.. baby food.  Family tradition for Christmas breakfast.
Chocolate oranges, DUH. :D
Other stuff.. :P haha I don't really want to list all the gift's people got, that's lame.

Last night we played 'fill in the blank' for the Christmas story with D and the boys.  It's so fun to have Christmas with young children.  They are so excited about everything.


I Love having a VACATION.  I've had lost of reading time and lots of just.. playtime.  It's been great.  Tomorrow?  Shopping day with grandma!!  Super excited.

I know today's post is small and random.. BUT!  Oh well.  Vacation posts usually aren't themed.. ok that's a lie.  I usually theme them.  And I guess this one has a loose theme.. :P

Maybe I'm not in a creative blogging mood right now.  But still happy, definitely.


<3 K

Sunday, December 25, 2011

California Day One: R and R

R and R. Rest. Relaxation.  That was the day of yesterday.  After traveling for about 13 hours on Friday, (yucky) I had the most part of the next day to just.. be.  I absolutely LOVE days when I can just be.  So, what did I do with my day?  Something I haven't been able to do for what seems like an eternity (or.. just a really long time, because I have SOME understanding of what eternity is, and it didn't seem quite as long as I imagine that will be)... I read.  A novel that *I* really wanted to read, not something that was an assignment.  I'm a little over halfway through this amazing book.  One of my best friends, Twin, recommended it to me a while back.  And by a while back, I mean a LONG time.  I read about 20 pages of it and then got too busy.  I just had other things occupying my time.. and read a couple other books that found their way to the top of my priority list.  But I remembered really liking the first part of this book from my friend, and I kept seeing it by my bed, waiting for me.  So a couple days ago I picked it up again.  This book is called

Shiver

It's fabulously written.  Really.  It's kind of a chick book.. ok, really a chick book. As so many of them are, but hey, I like it.  Maybe because I'm a chick?  Hm.  I dunno, it's possible ;)

So, what's it about?  If you want to know that is.  And if you're reading my blog anyway.. it's probably cause you like my thoughts for some reason or another, so.. here we go?  (I question because I think I say that a lot.)

It's one of those mythological Love stories.  Yes, with mythological creatures.  Namely.. werewolves.  BUT!! Before you roll your eyes at me too much, it is SO NOT a Twilight kind of thing all over. So not.  I very much enjoy the writing style.  It's beautifully written (I think I've said that three or four times now..) and the imagery and feeling created by that writing is fantastic.  The author, Maggie Stiefvater (guess she's German), uses those kinds of phrases that perfectly describe a.. moment.  Like, when you say there aren't words to describe just how something went?  Ya.  She knows how to find those words.  I find myself stopping and re-reading these phrases, just to take in the beauty of them.  Ah.  It's amazing.  I Love it.

So, yesterday, I buried myself in it.  Read for a few hours, think I got over 100 pages in.  Which for some of you isn't much, 'cause ya read fast.  But I do not.  So I was pretty satisfied.  Plus, I'm not thinking about the length I read, I'm just enjoying the book.  Which is something I don't get to do very often, unfortunately.

After a few hours of this pure bliss, we met my uncle's family and my grandma at this cool Chinese place, Chef Chu's.  Apparently it's rather popular over here, but I don't live here so I didn't know.  We walked in and it was CROWDED.  But it had this happy and fun feel to it.  They sit you down on cool round tables with a turn-table in the middle, because the way the serve is "family style" and everyone just kinda takes off the same entrees.  The food is quite good, though some of it was too mushroomy or peppery for me.  Or tofu-y, but I don't mind that too much, it doesn't have any flavor so it's kind of a filler.  We had various flavors of chicken, including manderine and pineapple.  Oh so good.  .. and various other things.  Soups and wanton-like things and such.  Mmhmmm!  Yummy yummy. :)

After that, we went to watch the Glad Tidings special.  You know, the one with Motab and David Archuletta.  It was fun, full of music and dancing and the spirit of Christmas.  I was tired and missed the majority of the cool story about how Motab started.. but I'm not too concerned.  I came for the music, and that's what I got out of it.  Funny how that works out.  You get what you come for.  Or what you put into it.. or something like that.  Nevermind that thought was connected but now sounds splintery.

So that was yesterday.  And today is Christmas, but it's.. not yet.  Not for us.  Dangerous D's kids are with their mother right now, so we're doing our Christmas with them in a couple days when they get back.  BUT!  We ARE having dinner with some sister missionaries tonight, which I'm excited for.  My grandma is coming, too.

At church today, Tiki and I decided to sing with the choir.  It was a spontaneous decision, kind of.  Grandma asked us if we would, and she really wanted us to, so we decided to make her Christmas just a little better and participate.  It was fun!  A little 'woah' at times, because it was the first time Tiki and Kiki had gone through the music.  BUT!  We did sing one of my mom's arrangements, Here by the Lamb and Oxen Mild.  It's beautiful.  Love it. :)  Grandma told us she really appreciated us singing with her, and was glad we got the chance to do so.  I'm glad, too.  It was a good experience and singing with grandma is fun.

Speaking of grandma, she's taking us shopping.  Because that's what she does on the few occasions that she's sees us.  Which is very nice.  And always exciting. :)  I may finally find the perfect pea-coat.  One with a hood would be fabulous, but I'll settle for one I really like without one, too.  We shall see what I can find.

So far, this trip has been full of much.... well, that about sums it up.  It's been full of much.  There have been some cool bonding moments between Mastermind and myself, and some times where things haven't gone so well on the agreement level.  But that's how families go.  And I Love them, as always.

I'm very excited for Dangerous D's boy's to get here tomorrow night.  I miss them dearly.  They are so adorable.  Beyond words.  Love them too.

That's all for now!  Merry Christmas all! :)
Kiki

Monday, August 2, 2010

Maui!

I've now realized I didn't ever blog ANYTHING about Hawaii.  Bad Kiki. No cookie.
SO!! This post is about Hawaii! :D (I'll probably be copying out of my journal for a lot of it.. edited, of course.)

Thursday, July 15 2010.  Reno, Nev. to Sunnyvale, CA.
Day of the Dog Lufa
This morning we were in Reno [not Rino] at Steve's house.  We started traveling just after 10 AM and arrived in Sunnyvale (close to San Jose) around 3:30 PM.  I got all sicky in the car.  We think it was sour milk... whatever it was, it wasn't fun.  We arrived and were attacked by Sheila and her boys.  Grandma came out too, but she doesn't attack.  TallTanGeek [I know, uber creative nickname.. I'll think of a better one when I feel like it] isn't here, he's working... at a big state scout camp or something.  I MISS HIM!  It's enough to almost make me cry.  I LOVE my geeky cousin. :)  He'll be here when we get back from Hawaii :)
We went to the park with Ben, MasterMind, Sam, and OBaby.  They were playing Lava Tag (or something of a similar title) and.. a 'new friend' joined in.  Definitely a very.. friendly.. friend.  We didn't stay long.
We then went to Sweet Tomatoes.  YUM!  I ate too much.. but not as much too much as I usually do there.  And of that I was proud.

Friday, July 16, 2010. Maui, HI.
The Day of Warm Ocean
 We are IN Hawaii!  In an island called Maui.  It takes all day to drive around it, but we're only going to go that far when we go to the other side of it to the black sand beach.  It's black because of lava rocks :D  Anyway I'm SUPER excited!  Sometime, The Muffin is going to take my senior pics outside in the beautiful flowery/ pooly area.  Yay!  And the ocean is WARM!  I heart it!  I want to spend a LOT of time on the beach.  We went to a fish restaurant today.  The Sands of Kahuna [spelling may be incorrect] and I had swordfish!  It was tasty.  And I discovered that I like shrimp (after years of not liking it at all).  I wouldn't try mushrooms though. No, no.  I already get easily queezy these past couple days.  P.S. I need more sleep.
Oh, P.S. again.  I wrote a postcard to my friends, I just have yet to send it off because I need to look up the address and get a postage stamp.
Another P.S.  Plantation.  Tour. Learned a bit about different foiloage here.  Coconuts actually have coconut water, not milk.  If it's white [instead of clear] it will give you diarrhea.. eeew..

Saturday, July 17, 2010.  Maui, HI.
The Day of Water in My Air.
...and cute boy :D
Today we went to a boring orientation at the hotel... but they had pineapple and fruit drink and donuts.  After that we went to the beach!  Yay!  I Love the water here!  So warm and stuff.  And the sand isn't all ouch to your feet like it is in Oregon... After beachness... oh wait, go back.  While we were enjoying the ocean, we got salt water in our eyes and mouths... "Salt water on YOU, salt water on ya FAMILY, salt water on ya COW!..." hahaha :D
Then we went shopping.  I bought a sarong (which ripped D: exchanging it tomorrow) a shark tooth necklace, a plumeria ( a flower that's like a frangipani only I learned frangipani's are Tahitian, not Hawaiin) bracelet, and we got shell necklaces free when we walked in with a friendly Aloha.  I Love Hawaii. :)  At random stores around where we ate I got an Abalone necklace (very pretty) and two aqua marine shells to put on necklaces for Twin and I (at the Lahaina Scrimshaw - carving of ivory ~ bone of elephant, mammoth, walrus and such) the shells screamed Claire. :D  I also got pineapple keychains for friends and a surfboard keychain for LittleSis at the ABC store.  While shopping downtown Lahaina, we passed a fiddle player.  We gave him our spare change.  He made his fingerboard out of abalone! So beautiful!  He also let mom play his fiddle!!  The fiddle had a place for 5 strings.  there were 4 on it.  We saw a painter, too.  He asked if we were from 'parkasity' ... huh?  OH, Park City... haha. He painted very well.  Another incident down Front Street... :) ... as we were walking we hear someone say "Aloha" and my grandma says "Aloha" back.  I turned to see who it was and.. well refer to the subtitle of today :D  Yes, he was really cute.  Muffin agreed. :)  She "took a picture of me" [but was really trying to take a picture of him] but we were too far away by then to get a good one and then he walked away.  Sad day :(  It was a puppy pout moment.  Muffin then resolved to take pictures with every cute guy she saw there.


Monday, July 19, 2010. Maui, HI.
The Day of Happy Milk.
Why?  Mostly because MasterMind waster feeling good and she thought RiceDream would help.  that, water, and deep breathing DID help.  But Mind said it's her happy milk.  Also!  We had fresh coconut water (which people think is milk.. but if it's not clean it will actually make you sicky.  Although!  The meat in the coconut can be made into a milk.  And THAT isn't the sicky stuff :))  It was good!  We also went to the beach. Again. :D  And... lunch at the plantation.  But we all agreed it wasn't very good.  Grandma said it used to be much better.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010. Maui, HI.
Picture Day.
Senior pics.. were like any photoshoot, really.  Some shots I liked a LOT and some.. not so much.  but it was good :)  Later, we made leis and had a pro photoshoot here at the resort!  It took a laaarge chunk out of our beach time, which The Muffin was really unhappy about.. but I liked it.  We even bought the photos.  Well, grandma did.  Thanks grandma :)  We got the CD too, so I'll be posting later.. some in my senior pics album because we took some individuals.  :)
Later we went to K... something beach.  It was kinda rocky but cool  Muffin and Mind swam with turtles! Awesome!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010.  Maui, HI.
Snorkel day! 
Now I've swam with turtles too!  :D  I got really tired and sore though.. we went to another K... something beach.  It's been my favorite so far.  Sand - not rock - even in deeper water.  Soft on the feet :D  That night was.. some preteen drama.  Oh MasterMind...

Thursday, July 22, 2010. Maui, HI.
Trip to Hana!
We went to the black sand beach!  It was cool!  We also went to Ohaio [spelled wrong I know it..] Gulch.  Otherwise known as the seven sacred pools.  COLD and windy.. but so so beautiful and fun to climb!  The road to Hana is a hard one.  Narrow, up the mountain, windy, makes you very carsick, scary, people needing to pass on a one and a half car size road.. it was quite the adventure. :)


Saturday, July 24, 2010.  Sunnyvale, CA.
The Day of the Opera Truck
So we have now come back to California!  It was sad to leave HI... but I'm going to be glad to be home.  AND while we're still in CA for a day I get to see TallTanGeek!  [That name keeps making me laugh.. maybe I'll keep it after all :D]
We attacked TTG as soon as he was in the garage :D  We talked for a bit and got on the subject of Toy Story 3.  TTG had seen it, but Muffin and Kiki had not!  So....
"I have a truck!"
"I have money!"
"I have money too!"
And we were off :D  I absolutely adore last minute adventures! :D
On the way there Phantom of the Opera music came on TTG's Mp3 and Muffin and I sang with it.  We had the windows down and TTG told us later people were looking at us really funny.  :D
This reminded me of an earlier incident that I don't think I've written about yet... We were coming back from shopping or something and we drove through a smallish parking lot.  I see this guy (a couple of guys, actually) and I don't really look at him [note to self, smile at all cute guys while on vacation.  (or anywhere..) Especially if you know he's looking at you. Eedoy.  Now if I could actually have the unshyness to make myself start doing that, that would be an accomplishment.] but anyway the next I really see of him he's bumped into his friend (who was right in front of him...) Muffin then laughs and says
"That guy was was totally checking Kiki out, didn't pay attention, and ran into his friend."
my mom added
"That's what it looked like to me, too."
It was all rather flattering and thinking back on it I do kinda remember him looking like he was looking at me.  Woah run on sentence. :P  So he could have been looking at me.  Now you understand my note to self from earlier.. :)
Hang on. Wrist stretch.  Ow.  Don't wanna get carpel tunnel.. or however you spell it..
Anyway, back to Toy Story 3.  SO GOOD!  It made me cry.. but I'm such a BABY lately that that's not much of a surprise.  It was all so cleverly made and the dialogue was bery bery goot. :)  Great job Disney Pixar!
I'm going to miss TTG.  A LOT!  I don't know when I'll next see him.. probably years from now!  He's moving!  And going on his mission probably soonish.  I Love this guy :)
I miss my friends at home!  I can't wait to see them!!
That's the end :D There's your HI and Cali update.  I Love you all!
--Kiki