California: Part Two - a photo diary

Let's see, where was I? Oh yes, day Five we went to the LA zoo. It got nice and hot - over 90 degrees! (I even got a little burned, which I love!)

Here are some more photos...

My cutie niece Danielle and her boyfriend Joel.

After the zoo we headed out to visit Ruben, Eileen, and their (awesome) kids in Ontario. Friday night Eileen and LaRae cooked us an awesome healthy meal, which I needed after all the fast food and tacos I had been consuming.

Later that evening Manny and I watched Twilight, which I had been desperate to see since I finished the book. It was good, but not nearly as exciting as the book. Isn't that always the case? Nevertheless, the smokin hot Robert Pattinson

is my new boyfriend.

Day Six:

We had a great breakfast at home, then hung out at their house some more until lunch time.

Isaac, Manny, "little" Ruben, "big" Ruben, Elijah.

Funnily, I think "little" Ruben is actually bigger than his dad now. They might need to change his nickname. :) Oops, I don't have a picture of their other son Gabriel.

They have lemon trees and I happily made lots of fresh lemonade!

a lemon

sweet LaRae, the eldest

little Ruben and LaRae

Then for lunch we went on a double-date with Ruben and Eileen to a favorite barbecue place, Lucille's. So-o yummy!

At Lucille's

In the afternoon we decided to drive to the beach, but after waiting in terrible traffic for more than 2 hours we abandoned that plan and turned around to head home.

Elijah got BORED in the car!

But he was in good spirits.

He was happy to play in the yard when we got home.

When the temperature reached over 90 degrees I decided to let him experience every little boy's right of passage to Summertime...

playing in the water hose!

He had a blast!

Day Seven:

After church at Calvary Chapel Diamond Bar Manny, Elijah, and I headed down to Huntington Beach.

The pier was totally packed! It took us forever to find a parking spot. And by the time we walked down to the shore, splashed around a bit, snapped a few photos, and checked out the pier, the time on our meter had expired and we had to leave. We ended up only being on the beach for 40 minutes or so.

But Elijah enjoyed himself.

Taking his first steps into the Pacific.

Learning about sand.

After the beach we drove "home" to El Monte for a little picnic with Manny's family.
Amber & Samantha

Check out the sunburn on this girl! Elijah's naked because he played in the hose at Gina's house too. Notice how I'm covering his naughty bits? Clever, eh? :)

Barbara, Manny, Gloria (Mom), John, Gina

And that's our trip in a nutshell. (I do have a few more photos to post, but that can wait for another day.)