Geez, the last time we posted was in April, and now it's practically the 4th of July! So much for posting once a month. Guess we've been having too much fun to write many updates, but here goes!
Monterey, CA
In early May, Chris's dad came out for a conference in Monterey, and took us sailing in Monterey Bay:
Jenn was a happy camper, because Brian though to bring some Bonine AND remembered to have us take it before getting in the boat.
We saw some lazing sea lions on the rocks, but otherwise not a lot of wildlife. Brian got to steer for most of the trip, and we definitely thought he did a better job than our guide at picking a smooth path through the waves.
Santa Clarita, CA
Later in May, we drove down to visit my parents for Memorial Day Weekend. I got to catch up with Natalie, one of my best friends from elementary school, and even got to see her lovely new house and meet her super-cute pony, Twilight:
So much fun to talk about horses, Ouija Board, and pork sung again, haha. Note that Wikipedia confirms that pork sung is legitimately a "a snack food on its own." And apparently it translates to "meat fluff" which I never realized before.
On Saturday evening, to celebrate Chris's recent promotion, we took my parents out to dinner at a fantastic Japanese restaurant called Maru. In Valencia. Seriously, no offense to SCV, but when I got asked a few weeks ago what the best ten restaurants are in my hometown, my list started with "um, like Macaroni Grill"? Like many Yelpers, we were skeptical of a place that had "spicy tuna meatballs" on its menu, but ohhh, they were soooo good. Should have taken pictures!
Griffith Observatory
My parents mentioned that Griffith Observatory has reopened after a couple years of renovation work. They said they had never been before, and Chris and I were like, "me either!" so we decided to drive down. When we got there, we both independently remembered that "oh, wait, we have been here". I guess everyone had field trips to Griffith Observatory in elementary school, but none of us clueless kids had any idea at the time.
Here's us with the Hollywood sign, visible from the observatory:
I'm ashamed to say I fell asleep in the planetarium show, but having recently seen Star Trek, I appreciated the terribly corny video of Leonard Nimoy being beamed around the premises and eventually meeting his future self, while telling the story of the observatory's renovation.
A few more SCV pictures here:
Cambridge, MA
A couple weeks later, at the beginning of June, Chris and I flew to Boston for our respective 5th year college reunions! We were most excited about seeing our close friends, so we skipped most of the official reunion events. Chris went to just one lecture, where he promptly fell asleep. Hilarious. Memories indeed.
I skipped the lectures, but fell asleep instead at the New England Aquarium's IMAX show about whales and dolphins. Dark room, silent sea creatures floating slowly across the screen, soothing ocean-themed music -- can you blame me?
We also saw fornicating penguins (complete with a packed audience of cat-calling high schoolers on a field trip). I have pictures of that, but you'd rather see this lovely picture of lionfish right, right? ;-)
Here's Colette, Jinger, Rebecca and myself touring Paul Revere's house (I'm the one stupidly wearing shorts, ever optimistically hoping that Boston weather will be just like California):
Somehow I didn't take a lot of people pictures on this trip, but it was so great to see everyone, and I can't wait to meet up again at the US Open!
Speaking of tennis, I have one parting rant -- can you believe how obnoxious NBC has been with with its Wimbledon coverage? The New York Times has been covering it:
But enough on that. Next post, I'll tell you about our awesome trip to Oregon!
