The sound of the ice-cream truck . . .

this afternoon had me running around the house to look for my purse because I forgot where I had placed it (duh!) . . . right around the time I heard the “music” from the ice-cream truck, I was putting on my jammies (bottoms only to be comfy, but had on a “regular” top) . . . I quickly found my purse, yelled to AC who was downstairs to come up stairs so we could go outside to get our ice-cream. I did the “ghetto” thing and went out with my bottom jammies . . . the ice-cream truck had parked in front of our house, not knowing that 2 other neighbors up the hill from us was behind us in line. . . remember, I had my bottom jammies on. 🙂 Oh well, at least I got our ice-cream! I bought the hubs and I the mango one and AC got the ice-cream chocolate chip sandwich.

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Thursday Tidbits . . .

The hubs and I did the lake yesterday morning . . . KV was off from work so she met us at the lake. Of course whenever we do the lake, it’s not “complete” unless we make a stop at Arizmendi’s for their scones & brioches and Peet’s coffee. It’s always a nice “treat” after doing a 3 mile jog/walk. 🙂 We had no other plans that day so come noon time, since I had chicken and pork defrosting in the fridge, KV and I decided to try this new recipe that calls for coca-cola in an adobo recipe. This recipe is definitely a keeper! KV said this gave the adobo an “Italian kick” because of the oregano. In the afternoon, KV and I went to Fourth Street in Berkeley to enjoy the rest of the afternoon while the hubs continued to “thinker” around the house. AC stayed home with Toby while JP went out with his buds. Later in the evening, Toby and I dropped AC to her 3-hour volleyball practice . . . went back that evening to pick her up. Toby was so thrilled to see her even though she was only gone for 3 hours. While still inside the gym, Toby ran up to her (with the leash on). And that’s how “vacation day #6 went . . .

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Yesterday’s outing . . .

We’re trying to make the best of our vacation even though we couldn’t really go anywhere this summer, partly because of Toby; however, we drove down to Carmel/Monterey yesterday. I would have loved to take an all day trip up to the Mendocino Coast but since we’ve yet never been, I wasn’t too comfortable with the fact that Toby would be with us. At least when it comes to the Carmel/Monterey area, we’ve been down there a “gazillion” times I knew what to expect because I know that Carmel is “dog-friendly” and we knew the area like the back of our palm. The one place where Toby was not allowed was inside the grounds of the Carmel Mission so AC stayed with him at the parking lot while the hubs, JP and I quickly toured the grounds (again for the gazillion times). No matter how many times I’ve been to the mission, I never get tired of it. I remember how much Nanay loved going to the mission too. Afterwards we went walking up and down Ocean Avenue in Carmel. Dogs are welcomed here that many of the stores even have water bowls for the dogs at their entrance. The weather was absolutely gorgeous down in Carmel but just minutes away at Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey it was a bit breezy. By 2:30 p.m. or so, we were hungry so we took an afternoon repast at Bubba Gump Shrimp at the wharf. We wanted to eat at Fish Hopper’s but they didn’t allow dogs (even inside the carriers) in their outside dining area unlike at Bubba Gump Shrimp. Toby was a “good boy” by allowing us to enjoy our meal while he slept through it. By 5:00 p.m., we headed back . . . the hubs wanted to try a different route going home by taking Highway 101 instead of going through the Santa Cruz Mountains. I don’t know if it was any shorter but at least we didn’t have to drive through the windy roads. Since we were on Highway 101 and to end our “trip”, we made a stop at The Premium Outlets in Gilroy. And so . . . that was how we spent our Wednesday. This was the longest “drive” with Toby. He did exceptionally well for his first long trip. He’s still not used to going “pee-pee” on the ground so every so often we’d lay his training pad on the ground. He also didn’t have to go numero dos until we got home. 🙂 Speaking of getting back home, this is what came in the mail for me yesterday.  Click here for more pix.

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Two of my favorite malls . . .

Late this afternoon, AC comes upstairs and tells the hubs and I that she was “bored.” Usually she doesn’t “complain” because she always finds things to do but I guess since she knows we’re supposedly on “vacation” that maybe we should be “going” somewhere. The hubs felt sorry for her . . . after all, she was actually reading one of her assigned summer books to read for school (in August) before she came upstairs. JP had gone out with his friend PN to watch the new Transformers movie at the IMAX theater in the city. The hubs said he’d take us to go walking around over at Fourth Street . . . we had to do “outdoor” malls only because we were going to bring Toby with us. While on the freeway, the hubs decided to take us to Corte Madera instead. The first stop was at the Town Center in Corte Madera. After that, we drove to the other side to go to The Village at Corte Madera. [Going to this mall reminded me of the times Steph and I would go here almost every day after work .. . that of course was BC – – before children and possibly the hubs!] 🙂 On summer days, I like hitting the outdoor malls. The weather was just perfect for a stroll, and since it was a weekday, it was nice and quiet with just a few folks going about their own way too. Although we seem to always go”malling” (that’s the term used by my cousins in the Philippines), we don’t necessarily always buy anything. We can or I should say “I can” go to the mall without buying anything . . . it’s fun just seeing what’s out there. We let Toby on the ground only because the place was “clean” and we knew not too many dogs had past the area . . . even if they did, it’s not like at a dog park (or park) where the vet told us to stay clear of until he is fully protected. Toby had so much fun trying to chase the pigeons but since he was of course on the leash, his “run” was limited. Many of these outdoors malls now “welcome” dogs such as The Village.

They had a sign about “etiquette” at the mall and they even had disposable bags available outside the mall just in case your 4-legged creature decides to do a number. Whenever we take Toby out, we always make sure that we bring our own doggie “bags”, wipes, etc.

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San Francisco Bay Trail . . .

Since the hubs and I are on vacation, we were able to do our morning jog/walk at the San Leandro Marina’s San Francisco Bay Trail on a week day. This is our 3rd time going here but the first time I didn’t bring my camera, the second time my batteries were dead (arghh!) and this time I made sure I recharged my batteries. It wasn’t until we were at this particular “trail” that we realized that this is also part of the trail over at Harbor Bay in Alameda because both places had the same posting “San Francisco Bay Trail.” The Bay Trail is a planned recreational corridor that, when complete, will encircle San Francisco and San Pablo Bays with a continuous 400-mile network of bicycling and hiking trails. It will connect the shoreline of all nine Bay Area Counties link 47 cities, and cross the major toll bridges in the region. To date, approximately 240 miles of the alignment—over half the Bay Trail’s ultimate length—have been completed. I like this place only because it’s near the waters and I love to hear the waters hitting the rocks. The only thing is that it doesn’t have that “sea-weedy” smell unlike the trail over at Harbor Bay. . . as I mentioned in my earlier post, I like the the “sea-weedy” smell because it reminds me of the time my dad would take us fishing at the Berkeley Pier.

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Back in the Bay . . .

After 7 days and 6 nights in Southern Cali, we are home! The weather down there was extremely hot and unbearable, not to mention humid! Before we went to my cousin’s house, we had to go the Sherrif’s Department to obtain a parking permit to park our car on the street during the wee hours of the night during our stay…don’t ask me why…some sort of “ordinance” I guess…anyway, we also made a stop at Cerritos Library. I know we’re suppose to be on a so-called “vacation”, but the library in Cerritos is something to “oohhh and ahhhh” about. Really! Even the staff at the sherrif’s department said it’s almost like a tourist attraction. While in Southern Cali, we were among the many people that flocked to the indoor malls to seek refuge from the torturing sun; however we did two outdoor malls….The Block at Orange (twice) and Irvine Spectrum Centre. Going down to Southern Cali is not complete for us if we don’t do “malls.” I take that back…the hubs doesn’t care for the malls one bit but he’s a good sport at it only because we’re “down there.” The one mall that we pay homage to is South Coast Plaza…that’s one mall we have to always visit as it has been part of our “tradition” when we’re down there… OK…enough of malls…it was nice spending time with my relatives since it has been 2 years since our last visit; although, Ate Dory did come up last September for Nanay’s funeral. We even got to see my other cousin and her family in Lakewood the night before we left. Besides the familia, we got together that Sunday with AC’s godmother, JG who lives in the LA area. We had breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien Bakery and Communal Table on Melrose Avenue. We all ordered omelettes served with slices of their bread except for AC who decided to just have a Madeline Muffin…of course JG and I had to have their chocolate croissant and pistachio marsipan tart….Ummm! Yummy! The rest of the day was spent at the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica and Beverly Center. The only single item that I bought that day was a Shu-Uemura Eye-lash Curler at Sephora. (This has to be the best eye-lash curler I have ever tried…works wonders for those that hardly have any eyelashes….like me!) 🙂 Oh…JG also introduced me to The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf…forget my Starbuck’s Green Tea Frap….my new found love is Coffee Bean’s Honey-Dew Ice Blended drink. To my dissappointment, there’s only 3 in the Bay Area and all 3 are in the city. 😦 (I guess I’ll have to venture out there when I have my craving or when I’m there.) That Sunday while we were in the LA area, Bruh (RS) was also there because her daughter, Nikki will be going to school in Southern Cali. It would have been nice to have met up with RS but we weren’t able to. The following day, Monday….we headed down to San Diego (we invited Justin, my cousin’s grandson also)…after pre-checking in at Humphrey’s Half Moon Inn & Suites on Shelter Island, we spent the whole day at SeaWorld. I guess the high light of SeaWorld for all of us was “Shamu” and the hotel itself with it’s Polynesian theme. The hotel was surrounded with alot of lush green vegetation…..our room had the view of the marina….because of the humid weather and the lush vegetation on the premise, it gave a sense of a tropical feeling of being in Hawaii….it was a good 3 seconds of “imagining”. On Tuesday, we went bike riding along Shelter Island (bike rental courtesy of the hotel), and later we did Old Town San Diego and headed back to the hotel where we spent the rest of the day swimming/lounging at the pool. This part I found to be totally relaxing! 🙂 We drove back up to Cerritos the following day and spent the last night at my cousins before heading back up North on Highway 5…that pretty much sums up our road trip down to Southern Cali. Our last stop on Highway 5 was in Santa Nella at Pea Soup Andersen’s. Since we weren’t too hungry although it was past 2:00 p.m., we all had their split-pea soup. Of the zillion of road trips we’ve taken on Highway 5, this was our first time visiting Pea Soup Andersen. I doubt it if we are going to return because the soup was “just that.” To be quite honest, I’ve had better tasting split-pea soup from local deli’s. Maybe it was that day, but that’s it for Pea Soup Andersen for me/us. Unfortunately, I have to go back to work but at least I get to be lazy today and the rest of the weekend while the hubs still has another week of vacation left. That Bum! However, JP was back at work today.

(On our trek to and from Highway 5, we remembered some of the stops we had made with Nanay…the one “stop” we remembered most since that was her last road trip to Southern Cali 2 years ago was the stop we made at Panda Express right before the Grape Vine. I remember it was so hot I knew Nanay would complain about how hot it was getting out of the car…as soon as we got inside Panda Express, it wasn’t so bad because of the AC. We also remembered the stop we made at Jack n’ the Box several years prior when we had rented a van…that was the year we all went to Catalina Island and Disneyland. I remember that stop at Jack’s because we all had ordered a milk-shake for the road…memories will always live on…in our minds and in our hearts….)

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In the news….

 

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Ahh…wish I were here right now!

It’ll be 3 years this July since the familia went to Puerta Vallarta. I was looking for some photos and ran across some pix of our vacation to PV. Since I just started this so-called “blog,” I decided to write about our trip even though it has been many many moons ago. The familia and I had a fabulous time down in PV…we had stayed at the Holiday Inn…did the “all-inclusive,” which was definitely worth it because of the all you can drink “drinks!” That’s where I was first introduced to the “Bahama Mama.” Ummm….I sure could use of of those right now…the weather in the Bay Area was simply gorgeous today! Definitely beach weather. Anyway, we hope to return to PV one day…maybe we’ll go with JM and her familia…(right, JM?) One of the highlight of our vacation was taking the catamaran to Las Caletas…..this place is only accessible by sea. Las Caletas is surrounded by a steep, jungle-clad mountain backdrop. The hubs and the kiddies snorkeled while I laid on the hammock…(couldn’t snorkel nor swim for “personal” reasons..ha!)

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