Chomp Chomp
On the day before Mother’s Day (5/7), we joined forces once again to play a mean game of wheelchair basketball. Our team played four games and won three of them. We made it to the Semi Finals and lost to the team that ultimately won the whole tournament…not too shabby. Our coach actually did a good job coaching us since he had been playing with the organization for a couple of months now. He even gave me a tip for what to do the next time a big guy tries to steal the ball from me. Yep, that happened to me that day. In the end, we went home as the most decorated team with me receiving the “Least Likely to Be a Wheelchair Basketball Player” trophy and Teresa received “Best Sportsmanship”. Haha.
We had a really good time and ended the day calling ourselves the Children’s Chompers. I tried to make t-shirts for our team this year but our vendor failed us miserably. Oh well, we will certainly be back next year and maybe with t-shirts to show off our new name.
We just finished our 6th run around Lake Merritt last night and we’re still going strong! It started out with just 3 of us and last night we had 8! Yippee! I feel like Forrest Gump.
To celebrate our new healthier happy hour, we had a real HH at Lake Chalet after the run. It was a warm afternoon, which turned into a mild evening on the lake. We did cartwheels on the grass and shared appetizers and lots of laughs, as usual.
Check out this gorgeous view from our table!
On Saturday, we took a little trip to Napa with the Agustins. We picked up sandwiches from Genova and looked for a place to picnic. At first, we stopped at Mondavi hoping to just sit outside in the sun to enjoy our sandwiches but that didn’t work out. The security guard came by and said they didn’t have a permit for it and proceeded to stand there until we packed up and left. We took a drive down the street and decided to just stop off the side of a small road for an impromptu picnic next to the railroad tracks. It turned out to be the perfect spot.
The next stop was Opus One where we got scolded for trying to throw our trash in their restroom. The front desk lady said they only had one trash can but she was lying. We found a dumpster out back and also 3 more trashcans in the restroom. Well, we still got a tasting and enjoyed a glass of wine with a beautiful view of the area.
The barrel tasting event was fun and Eleen had a good time tasting all the cheese too. Beemster was her favorite that day.
We also met the actual winemaker. She looked so normal and younger than we imagined. She was also so friendly and happy to talk to us about the different wines.
Before dinner, we stopped Alpha Omega for one more tasting and some time out in the sun. They have a pretty cool patio overlooking a big fountain/pool area. I also found out that they actually have a real picnic area! I think we’ll be back there the next time we have some sandwiches to eat.
For dinner, we went to Bar Terra. My favorite was the soft jidori egg and uni in a savory broth. Mm…what a nice way to end the day.
Koa turned 7 today! He’s older, wiser, and stubborn as ever. Fortunately, he’s a good dog and we like him.
On Saturday, we had lunch with Jes’ parents. We met up at a Chinese restaurant in Garden Grove and had a tasty tasty Chinese beef burrito that was fried. Mmm…
On Sunday, I took Jes back to Mitsuwa for his favorite bowl of ramen. He was afraid that it had been so long that the hype in his head was just that, hype. But it wasn’t! It’s still ranked #1.
After lunch we stopped at the Irvine house to check on it. It was really weird driving through the neighborhood and stepping into our little birdhouse again 4 years later. I was so happy to see my Japanese maple tree alive and HUGE! We cleaned up the pond and the neighbors came by to hang out like old times. Hopefully we’ll have renters soon.
On Sunday afternoon, we met up with the family for a big Thai feast. It was so nice to hang out with the cousins and their kids again. Makes me miss being away from them even more after I leave.
On Monday morning I had to get up really early to get to the BMW dealership to get our brakes checked. We got a big red warning light on the way down and it seemed pretty serious. It’s a good thing we got it checked out because we had to replace the brake pads AND rotors. Ouch. I guess it was a good thing we took Monday off.
I admit that when I was in high school, I wanted to one day be one of Janet Jackson’s backup dancers. She had the best videos with really cool choreography. Patty and I loved her and we watched videos from the Rhythm Nation album over and over again in 9th grade. In college, she came out with a couple more albums and I spent hours listening to one of her CDs while I studied. A few months ago when we heard that she was going to be on tour with her “Number Ones: Up Close and Personal” show, we bought tickets and last night was the big night.
We drove up early to have dinner at Firenze Osteria (belongs to Top Chef Fan Favorite, Fabio Viviani) that was just down the street from the venue. We had a really yummy dinner and the gnocchi are really good there. Then we parked and got to the Gibson Amphitheater at Universal City around 8:30 and there wasn’t anyone opening for her, which made it a little weird since the tickets said “8:15” but Janet didn’t appear until 9:20. She just dedicated two songs to the audience and played the videos for us before coming on stage. She was dressed in a white tank and black pants and was sporting a new short haircut. The show was kept simple with 6 backup dancers, lights, and a band. She looked great at 44 years of age and danced and sang her heart out. Loved that she performed all her #1s with the signature choreography from her videos. They also showed a short slideshow of Janet and Michael as kids toward the end. It got me a little choked up. Patty and I had such a great time. The tickets were pricey but totally worth the experience.
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