Buon giorno... YahSU...

Want to see where we are going this summer? This is our BIG trip. This year Chris is graduating from High School and Cheryl is graduating from Saddleback. We are taking the kids and ourselves to Europe to celebrate! We were thinking of a cruise, but as the travel agent says, "Why are you thinking about a cruise if you don't like cruising?" Well, DUH! After she pointed out the obvious, we picked THIS partially hosted, land/sea tour from Travalgar.

Cheryl is busily learning Italian through iTunes, and I have a Greek traveller lesson on my MP3 player...

Europa, arriviamo!

Boxers or Briefs?

Spicing up a boring laundry day... Jena perfers boxers, lol!

Kitchen Remodel - DONE!!!

All done that is except for the missing cabinet and the door with the handle going the wrong way... CalBath will come back in a couple of weeks to finish that up. But as of now, we have almost everything back into the kitchen; including the table and chairs! It's so nice to eat in the house!

Here are the much anticipated photos... Here are the BEFORE photos:




And HERE ARE THE AFTER PHOTOS!!! I especially love the first photo... it looks like something out of a magazine!







It was a lot of noise and mess, but it was worth it! The CalBath guys were GREAT. They finished the kitchen a week early! I LOVE the new kitchen!

Happy Birthday Chris!!!

We spent Chris's birthday morning at the Irvine Invitational track meet. Chris usually runs the 800m, but there were some change-ups today. Jose got shin splints, so Alex ran the two mile in Jose's spot, and Chris had to run the one mile in Alex's spot. Chris decided to make the best out of it and said that he was going to try to PR in the mile, since "I'm never going to run it again." Chris's last PR was 5:12. He came in with a NEW PR: 4:59!!! Chris is now a sub-5 runner! YAHOO Chris!!!



Chris's online friend from Costa Rica sent him a Happy Birthday Cookie! Isn't so sweet of her? Here we are celebrating... in the garage. Even though the kitchen is done, we can't put the table and chairs back in until the grout dries for 2-3 days.

We got Chris a digital camera for him to take some pictures of his own when we go to Europe this summer. Cheryl got him a nice case for it. We'll have a big family birthday for him in a couple of weeks when my mom gets back from Kauai. Hopefully I can get everything back in the kitchen by then.

YUM! How sweet it is!!!
Happy 18th birthday Big Guy!

Here to Hawaii in 15 days!

My mom and my aunt should be Kauai by now, visiting my grandma for two weeks. I was going to do a simple little post about Kauai and how far away it way. To figure out how far it was, I went to maps.google.com and typed in: Los Angeles to Kauai... no luck. Then I tried Los Angeles to Honolulu, and this is what I got:

Driving directions to Honolulu, HI
15 days 1 hour
I-5 N 3,939 mi

This route may have road closures.
depart: Los Angeles, CA

1. Head northwest on W 1st St toward S Spring St
0.1 mi
2. Turn right at the 2nd cross street onto N Broadway
0.4 mi
3. Turn right to merge onto US-101 N toward I-110 N
10.4 mi
4. Slight left at CA-170 N/Hollywood Fwy (signs for Sacramento)
6.0 mi
5. Take exit 11B on the left to merge onto I-5 N toward Sacramento
1,117 mi

Passing through Oregon
Entering Washington

6. Take exit 164B for Edgar Martinez Drive South
0.7 mi
7. Turn right at Edgar Martinez Dr S
0.2 mi
8. Take the 1st right onto 1st Ave S
0.3 mi
9. Slight right onto the Washington 99 N ramp to Aurora Avenue N
This road is closed until Apr 1
0.2 mi
10. Merge onto WA-99
4.0 mi
11. Slight right at Bridge Way N
0.3 mi
12. Turn right at Stone Way N
0.4 mi
13. Slight left at N Northlake Way
0.2 mi
14. Kayak across the Pacific Ocean
2,756 mi

Entering Hawaii

15. Continue straight
0.1 mi

arrive: Honolulu, HI


Aren't these the craziest directions? Why should I go drive all the way to Washington to rent a Kayak? It would be so much faster if I rented the Kayak in San Pedro! Hahaha!!!

Kitchen Remodel - day 16

I have just a quick post today... LOOK! We have a backsplash, the faucet is on the sink, and the dishwasher and microwave are back in!!! I took more photos this morning too, but they came out blurry. So, you'll have to wait until tomorrow to see close up shots.

I'm so happy that I decided on the lighter backsplash tile combination. The tiles look darker grouped together on the wall than they did in the sample kit. Maybe it will look lighter when they put the white grout on it.

Colin is grouting today. He just told us yesterday that the kitchen will be finished tomorrow! YAHOO!!!

Kitchen Remodel - day 15

Deja vu! Does this post look like yesterday's? Except for one thing... We have a countertop!

It turns out that the guys that broke the counter were the countertop guys, not our regular kitchen guys. Well, the countertop guys left right away yesterday, started cutting another counter, came back this afternoon.... and look! COUNTERTOP!

I just love all the light! These photos were taken without a flash... look at all the light in the kitchen!

And here is the sink all cut out and ready for the faucet and whatever else that other hole is for o_O

It's getting there! I can't wait to see them put up the backslash!

Kitchen Remodel - day 14

When I told people I was getting a ceramic tile floor, they kept telling me that when I drop a dish or glass now, it will shatter! Well, I guess that doesn't just apply to dishes and glassware. It also applies to quartz countertops! Can you guess where this is going?... YES! The kitchen guys dropped our countertop and broke it! Kitchen remodeling is extended another week while we wait for a new countertop.

Here's our kitchen right now! If you look carefully, you can see the two small bits of countertop over the left and right cabinets. It's the large piece that goes along the window edge that is broken.

But look! We have a sink!

Kitchen Remodel - end of week 2

I missed posting a couple of days because of work. This is not my longest work week EVER, but it was sure close!

Anyway, back to the kitchen. Here it is after day 10. All the cabinets are up (except that one that needs to be reordered)

Day 11, was yesterday... All the handles are in! Jim called me at work and I was trying to talk kitchen handle placement and BCD character encodings in the same sentence. But look at the handles!
Don't they look GREAT? I started this kitchen remodel with nothing in mind other than, "I must have those bar pulls!" {{sigh}} More remodel woes... Do you see that door on the left? Lewis put the handle on the top of the door instead of on the side. Now they owe us a new door... It will be here in 4 weeks...

They ran into another problem... Look at the first photo. Do you see that blank side of the cabinet that faces the family room? We ordered two extra doors to cover the blank sides and make them look fancy. Well, they won't FIT! I'm not sure if they are going to reimburse us for the cost of the two extra doors... I think not. Too bad one of the doors isn't the same size as the one with the wrong handle.

That's it for the end of week 2! I heard that the new quartz counter is coming on Monday!!!

Kitchen Remodel - day 9

After working for 15 hours, I came home to this! LOOK CABINETS!!!

Someone is coming to measure for the counter top today! It's really coming along!

Kitchen Remodel - day 8

Today the kitchen guys, Collin and Lewis, finished painting and cutting the tile to fit around the edge of the kitchen. When I got home after 12 hours of work, I found out that I have homework! I have to pick out grout colors for the floor and the backsplash.

I never thought there were so many colors of grout!!! I worked so late that Jim had to go to bed soon after I got home. I couldn't have picked out the colors without the kids' help. It was so hard to pick with just those itsy bitsy little sticks.

The color for the floor is called "Light Smoke." It kind of matches the darkest color in the floor tiles.

The color for the backsplash is called "Canvas." It's an off-white leaning toward the pinkish side. (As opposed to a grayish-off-white, or a yellowish-off-white, or a greenish-off-white).

I hope we did good! All these decisions are making me a nervous wreck! Even more of a wreck than I am with all the overtime I've been working the last 4 weeks.

I'm ready to curl up with a good book!
Good Night all!