squeezing in a little more summertime fun

the last few weeks have been great, with the bean all done with summer day camps and having some downtime to just hang out at home.  she starts junior high next week, and i know once the year begins we'll be off and running, so it's been good for all of us to be able to rest up and get ready for the flurry of activity.

i was particularly excited to be able to join a few friends for dinner in downtown l.a. to celebrate one of our favorite friends who was happily expecting her first baby.

it was a really fun evening of catching up, cracking up and filling up on delicious food.  you know, just the way it should be.

the bean spent a few days down at the beach, enjoying some gorgeous weather and bonding with her lola and lolo.  from the looks of it, they all had a great time.  there were walks on the beach, art projects, cooking, and a pretty amusing discovery of a shared love for k-pop.

we all drove down to pick her up on a sunday morning, meeting up at the proudbird for brunch.  i'd always heard about this place but had never been, and didn't realize until we arrived that it had been converted to a food hall of sorts.  there was a handful of different vendors there offering sandwiches to salads to bbq, and for sunday brunch you pay one price and get to sample food from all of them.  and it was pretty fun to look at all of the airplane-themed decor and memorabilia.

i somehow never managed to get a picture with my mom, but she at least remembered to take a few pictures of everyone else.  i was apparently too occupied with refilling my bottomless mimosa glass and deciding what else i wanted to eat.  heh.

the girls and i finally made it down to the new porto's that opened in west covina a couple of months ago.  we'd waited on purpose, knowing it was going to be crazy busy for awhile, and headed down to have some breakfast. 

it was worth the wait, by the way.  great food, fun coffee drinks, all at super reasonable prices even with the to-go box of pastries we took home.  and the building is gorgeous.  definitely going back there soon.

lilcee and mini cee came over one day last week to have sushi lunch with us at a local spot and to meet the doggies.  the girls even managed to squeeze in a bit of pool time before the bean had to get ready for cheer practice.

and i was super happy to hear from an old friend from high school, who was coming out to celebrate a few family birthdays at disneyland.  they have a great deal going on right now where annual passholders can buy up to 3 park hopper passes for a friend at a pretty big discount, and so i headed down there early on sunday morning to meet up with her.  it was the first time i'd arrived at the parks even before the parking structure opened (at 6:30, yowza).  we managed to avoid the crazy long lines to buy the tickets, walking up to the box office as they opened for business around 6:45, and then we got in line at the turnstiles.  i was required to escort them in for their first entry into the parks with the discounted tickets, and we snapped this just before the gates opened.

and now we're just soaking in the last few days of summer.  new uniforms are in the closet, the list of school supplies has been completely checked off, the new backpack is ready to go, and all i have to do is revise the ol' "first/last day of school" chalkboard for that all-important first day photo.  i think we packed in about as much fun in this summer as we could have, and now it's time to get back down to business.  6 more days!