Famous Todd and His Big Mouth

I woke up early on Friday morning. Entirely too early for my tastes, but I couldn't get back to sleep. So I got up and putzed around on the internets. Suddenly I saw that Peppermint (One Little Bird) had tweeted a blog post called "The Todd Shot". Well, frick on a stick, what other Todds does she know? Hmm. I clicked over and saw this.

Seriously. She hadn't told me she was going to do this. So I laughed and snorted and literally ran upstairs with my laptop to wake Todd up so he could enjoy it too. Peppermint sure has a way with words. But Todd will take credit for the actual "Todd Shots". :p

To celebrate Todd being all famous now, we went to the newly opened SmashBurger in Del Mar on Friday night. The line was really long, but the wait was worth it. The burgers there are truly fresh and delicious. I'd say Burger Lounge now has competition!



And of course... a Todd Shot.


And my feeble attempt.


Now Peppermint doesn't have to wallow in her ashes of shame of pulling a Todd Shot FAIL. Because apparently the Todd Shot is tremendously difficult to pull off. Just look at me.

The Pageant Queen

Todd's friend and fellow Toastmasters cohort Dejah was a finalist in the Miss Philippines California 2010 pageant. Todd and the other Toastmasters folks helped her practice interview questions a few times prior to the pageant yesterday. We were not able to attend the actual pageant. However, when we saw on Facebook that she had been selected a runner-up and she texted Todd about a small party getting together at their house, we went along to celebrate. After all, Dejah and Roby are our faithful foodie friends. :)

When we got to Dejah and Roby's place, Dejah was still decked out in her pageantry wear.



Dejah was going to take a photo with me, but I was like, "No way I'm standing next to a pageant queen by myself, in my tshirt and shorts!" Heh hee. So Todd came in the picture too.



Dejah's mom made genuine Filipino pancit and we ate lots of it. Well, that and other goodies and treats too. It was awesome. Congrats Dejah!

Reunion

It's Sunday morning and I'm playing catch-up on my blog again. Life has been really busy the past few weeks, although filled with lots of blessings and good things. Just not been around my computer as much during non-work hours, LOL!

Last Sunday 8/22 we went to Olde Poway Park and met up with our awesome old friends for a picnic lunch. These are all friends from our small group Bible study that used to meet at our house. God had put us together for a reason back then. Even though we are no longer a group that meets regularly, it's awesome to see God's blessing and growth in them. Things have changed a lot over the last 6-7 years.

Everyone brought their whole family and the group is so large now!





I love this photo.


It really touches my heart how much God has blessed all of us in different ways. Sometimes in ways we don't even understand. We got to meet Mike's new girlfriend Jennifer. Mike's wife (and our friend) Barbara passed away of breast cancer in April 2009. Since then we had seen Mike and the kids a few times. Even though the sadness of missing Barbara was still there when I saw everyone at the reunion, I'm really happy for Mike, that he is finding happiness with a woman who also loves the Lord. I walked away from the picnic with a full heart. Just thankful to God for all the awesome and encouraging people he's put into our lives.

Happy Hour

Last Thursday (a week ago) we had the pleasure of joining our friends Anne and Gilbert at Ortegas Mexican Bistro in Hillcrest for Happy Hour. The beauty of hanging out with Anne and Gilbert is that they live close to our house, so we get to carpool almost wherever we go together. :)

Ortegas has an awesome Happy Hour, which we've never been to before. Sally had told me about it a long time ago, but we kept forgetting to go. The Happy Hour lasted until 6:30pm, and you can get a bunch of taco plates and appetizers for around $4-$5. Drinks from $3-$5.

Anne and I got margaritas. Cheers!


Gilbert and Todd enjoying the chips and great salsa.

In fact, their salsa was named best salsa in San Diego a few years ago in San Diego Magazine, and that's what drew us there in the first place!

Todd also ordered guacamole, which they make with fresh avocados right in front of you.


The ceiling lights at Ortegas was uber-cool!


Todd enjoying his 2-taco plate with beans.


My super-nommy poblano and portabello mushroom quesadillas.


We had such a great time there. As usual, we chatted about all kinds of things, including books and football. Love hanging out with Anne and Gilbert!

Potato Shack and Beach Playground

On Sunday (8/15), Todd went for a 30 mile bike ride with his buddy Pete. After Todd got home, we all got ready and headed to The Potato Shack for brunch. They have really good breakfast food there. Oh and a ton of different types of potatoes.

We all had a fun time at breakfast, enjoying the food and the company.




After breakfast, we headed a few blocks down to Moonlight Beach, one of the most family friendly beaches in SD County. There's a playground on the beach, plus lots of bathrooms, and even a snack shack.





We got some ice cream at the snack shack. Guess who was excited?






It was a fun afternoon at the beach. We brought chairs to sit in, and the weather was really nice and not hot.

For dinner, we made homemade BBQ pulled chicken sandwiches, with homemade BBQ sauce. Everyone enjoyed it!

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On Monday (8/16), we were supposed to go to the San Diego Zoo, but Alex's back was hurting, so we didn't go. Instead, they wanted to go to Panda Buffet for lunch again, so we went. After lunch, Alex and Xander went home, while Joyce, Andrew, and I went to Nickel City to play some games so Andrew could collect tickets and trade them in for some small prizes. He was very excited to run around and play the games to collect the tickets. I made an observation while I was there: the environment was almost like gambling. Kids were so excited and greedy to play the games and get tickets. Some of the games were strictly chance games, which seemed like a kid-version of gambling to me. I didn't not like that aspect of it at all. But okay, enough commentary on my part. Andrew had a fun time and showed off his little prizes.



That night, we had dinner at Rubios again, because Joyce really liked it the first time. I think we at Mexican food like three times while they were here!

Joyce, Alex, and the kids left the next morning. It was such a nice visit and I was so glad to see my sister and her family. I don't get to see them very often because they live far away, so it was a real treat.

Grandpa Comes To Visit

Last Saturday (8/14), Todd and I got up extra early to get a run in at Miramar Lake, because the forecast was for hot weather. Summer had finally hit in San Diego! So we got up early and went running for about 75 minutes. Todd ran almost 9 miles while I walked/ran about 6.3 miles. When we got home, my dad arrived at the same time. It was only 9:30am, we didn't know he was coming so early. My sister, BIL, and the kids were just getting up and eating breakfast. My dad joined in on the breakfast, while Todd and I showered and cleaned up.

All of us went to Panda Buffet for lunch. It's not my favorite place, but my dad, Joyce, and Alex seemed to like it. And Todd liked it more than our original plan, which was to go to dim sum. So overall a win-win!

After lunch, we headed down to Coronado Island for some beach fun. The views from the bridge were gorgeous.





We had to find parking when we got down to the Hotel Del Coronado area. It was a beautiful and warm Saturday, so it was pretty packed.

Everyone got busy building sand castles when we got to the beach.




Andrew still at the age where he smiles at the camera.


Alex, a big kid, still likes to build sand castles.


Andrew, grandpa (my dad), and Alex busy at work.


Andrew and grandpa proud of their work.


Grandpa, Andrew, and Todd in front of their fort.


Alex and Xander headed off to find a restroom. We walked down the beach to admire the scenery at Hotel Del Coronado.




Unfortunately, we lost sight of Alex and Xander. Alex didn't have his cell phone with him, so we could not reach them. We walked around for about an hour and decided to take an ice cream break at Moo Time, our favorite ice cream shop in SD. Uncle Todd bought Andrew some chocolate ice cream, and he kept reminding Uncle Todd that he wanted sprinkles. He was very excited!

Finally we walked back to the car for the second time and found Alex and Xander there. So we headed home.

Todd went and picked up In N Out Burger for everyone for dinner. Before grandpa left, the boys got to open up the gifts from grandpa and Shelly.

Grandpa got a big hug of appreciation from Andrew.


And a kiss from Xander.


Both boys were very excited about their new toys.

Things Kids Say

Last Friday (8/13) we had some good laughs at Todd's expense. All in good fun though! :p Todd is always a good sport.

We took my sister Joyce, Alex, Xander, and Andrew to lunch at Round Table Pizza. They have a lunch time pizza buffet that's pretty yummy, plus it was close to our house.

After lunch, we drove a few blocks to the park at the top of the hill. They added a new playground for older kids and it looked pretty fun.


Alex and Xander flew a kite. It was windy at the hilltop.


Both boys played on the playground.




Later in the afternoon, we drove down to La Jolla Cove so my sister's family could see the sights, and Todd could go swim in the ocean with the San Diego Tri Club again.

Todd tugged and tugged on his wetsuit, but it seemed like it shrunk since the week before when he wore it. We thought it was very strange. He got the legs on but they seemed shorter than before. After he got his arms in, I had to help him zip it up in the back, and I had a really hard time. I had to squish his shoulder blades together to even get it zipped up. After a while, it dawned on me (and on Todd) that he might have possibly grabbed the wrong wetsuit. As in, he grabbed MY websuit! I couldn't stop laughing at that point. My husband had somehow squeezed himself into my womens size 5/6 wetsuit.



We laughed for quite a bit. What could we do? He's in the suit already, and it's not like we could drive the half an hour home and get his wetsuit. So Todd resorted to swimming in it.


After a while, Joyce and Andrew came back from sightseeing and watched for Todd to swim back from the quarter-mile buoy.


Todd was still pretty far away when we all seemed to recognize it was him at the same time.


Todd got out of the water.


Coming up the stairs.


Then we watched from afar as Todd peeled himself out of my wetsuit. Suddenly I hear my nephew Andrew say to me and my sister, "Uncle Todd is so white!"

Again, I couldn't stop laughing! It was kind of true. Todd looked more pale than other people. But we sort of take pride in his paleness, because it's hard to hide from the sun in San Diego. He has pale skin and we try to protect it so he doesn't get sun damage and skin cancer. He gets regular mole checks at the doctor. Even so, I still couldn't stop laughing at 6 year-old Andrew's observation. Ha ha!

After Todd changed and cleaned up, we walked a few blocks to have dinner at Porkyland. Yes, the restaurant really is called "Porkyland". It was Mexican food again. I'm beginning to sense a theme here. Joyce likes Mexican food. We had some really yummy taco plates there as the sun set and got dark.

Another fun day with my family. And funny to boot!

Where Have I Been?

For the last week my sister, brother-in-law, and my nephews have been here visiting us. I haven't seen them in almost a year and a half, so it was very special to have them here.

The arrived last Weds evening, and we went to Rubios for dinner. Joyce loves Mexican food, probably because she lived in Mexico for a year in the 1990's.

Andrew, Joyce, and I @ Rubios.


On Thursday we went to the beach in Del Mar. In previous times when they visited us in San Diego, it was always winter. So they weren't used to the beach being crowded with people and not as windy and cool.

When Andrew saw the beach, he was excited and ran ahead of us.


Hmm... which side of the beach would you want to be on? The fun side? Or the party-pooper side?


Alex, Joyce, Xander, and Andrew.


There was also a playground with ocean view.








After we went home, Todd and I worked on making Tuscan Potato Soup for dinner. Todd picked the recipe because he knows how much Joyce loves the Zuppa Toscana at Olive Garden. This recipe is very similar to that soup, except healthier.



Todd was right. Joyce loved it so much she ate three bowls! Feels good to make food that everyone loves.

Over the next few days I'll catch up on all our adventures together the last week.