Jule, Jono and then the New Year
Happy New Year everybody!
We had a busy Christmas time and then a nice quiet New Years here in Irvine. Julie and Jono stopped through for three nights on their way to the UK for their course which was great. We had a really good time and some of the most perfect Winter weather here in Irvine, it was clear, crisp and even warm in the sun during the afternoons.
They arrived on Boxing Day (day after Christmas for the Americans) mid morning so I drove up to LAX with Clemency and Hadley to pick them up. WE took the opportunity of being up in LA to drive over to Santa Monica and have a walk on the beach and show them a few of the sights there before heading back down the I405 to Irvine.
On Saturday we headed out to the old El Toro Marine Base to go for a ride on the Giant Orange Balloon that goes up above Irvine. The weather was perfect with great visibility all round and you could even see up to the CBD in LA some 30-40 miles up the road. The pilot of the balloon said it was one of the best days she had ever been up in.
After this we headed on a bit of a Tiki tour around the area going up Santiago canyon then back over and across to Laguna Beach. We arrived in time for a nice sunset and ice creams.
On Sunday we headed over to Saddleback church to show Julie and Jono the campus and a taste of things here in the OC. We spent the rest of the day having fun with the kids, going for a long walk around Turtle Rock.
Julie and Jono flew out on Monday afternoon so we all headed up to LA for the day, stopping in at “The Grove” in Beverley Hills. It is a flash outdoor mall that has an the one thing a father dread and the girls love – The American Girl Place, two floors of dolls, doll hair salons, movie theater, hospital cafe, etc. There was no way I was going to escape without spending something.
The rest of the week has been quiet catching up on jobs and building Lego with the kids. The New Year was a quiet one here, watching the delayed coverage of the Ball dropping in Times Square, NY on TV. But it is back to work and school next week for all of us here and we are looking forward to seeing Mark and Carrie arrive from Canada on Thursday.
Again we had a great time with Julie and Jono and the kids really enjoyed having them to play with, Hadley even cried when they left saying that he was going to miss building Lego with Jono.
Cheers Craig
