What is that?!

A couple days ago, we asked my parents if they had any bikes we could ride around. Lucky for us, they had taken up biking a few years back and had 2 ready for us to take out for a spin. YAY!  So, we pumped up the tires and rode our happy little selves a mile and a half over to Chipotle for lunch, then over to Rite Aid for ice cream, and lastly over to my high school for a little tour for Aaron!  What had Aaron's attention wasn't my school tour though.  It was all of the fruit growing in people's backyards that would hang over the fence onto the road around my high school.  We stopped more than once so he could pick a giant lemon, a giant orange, and then.... we found this!  Here it is sitting next to one of the lemon's off my mom's lemon tree. Seriously, WHAT IS THAT?  

We couldn't believe how giant it was.  Aaron actually boosted me up into the tree so we could knock it down and take it home.  Now we've got a giant yellow fruit that smells like a lemon, but isn't one, with no idea what to do with it!   It's bigger than my hand for goodness sake!

Anyone have an idea of what this thing is?!

Our Day at Disneyland!

My dad: "If I could get you guys a free day at Disneyland, would you consider staying a couple more days here with us?"

Aaron and I: "YES!"

... and just like that, we were staying in CA! **Plus the 4runner we bought on Monday ended up being returned to the dealership (more on that later), so we're staying in CA to continue car searching...

So, yesterday, Aaron and I spent the day park hopping between Disneyland and California Adventure, laughing our heads off, stuffing our bellies, screaming on roller coasters, watching parades, walking and walking and walking, getting soaked, reliving childhood memories, people watching, and having an all around AWESOME DAY!  *Thanks Dad!

We decided to bring our brand new GoPro Video Camera for a test run today and felt a little like small babies trying to walk for the first time... The camera doesn't have an LCD screen, so you can't see what you're actually filming until you get home and load the videos to your latop, so most of them weren't worth posting.  However, I'll leave you with these, because I think they're fun.  

Just a little foot click! :)

-We were really lucky because the lines for the rides were never longer than 20 minutes - Yes, 20 MINUTES!!!  Awesome!  We waited in line for this roller coaster, California Screamin, at California Adventure for 10 minutes, so we rode it twice! :)  Here's your chance to ride it with us... ENJOY!  

I don't remember Disneyland having a lot of ducks, but they were everywhere this time, and most were pretty tame, so this was Aaron's attempt at feeding one. As a side note, did you know Disneyland releases over 200 feral cats every night to take care of the rats?

California Adventure has a really fun river rapids ride that we rode with 4 other people.  We lucked out when the big drop came and the raft turned just enough to get us out of the line of fire, or in this case REALLY COLD WATER!  I love this lady's reaction!

I may have told Aaron that he wouldn't get wet if he sat in the front seat of Splash Mountain... Hey, it's no fun when you don't get soaked, right?!  He was a good sport! :)

We stayed until about 8:30pm, but the temps were dropping fast, and we were still SOAKED from Splash Mountain, so we reluctantly called it a day and walked down main street, mesmerized by the twinkling lights and strange Disney people (lol), and stopped in the candy store for our last indulgence of the day, some yummy Disneyland saltwater taffy!


Disneyland... It really is the happiest place on earth!
**Thanks again Dad!

Back to Cali!

Well, we've been back in the states after an overnight layover in Hongkong, a 24 hour layover in Korea and then one last 24 hour layover in Shanghai.  We had plans to get out and see Korea one last time and check out Qibao in Shanghai, but I was sick as a dog and spent 48 hours in bed.  Luckily that sickness went away as soon as I stepped on American soil at LAX almost 2 weeks ago and we've settled right back into life in the good ol' US of A.  We bought phone contracts the same day we arrived and started car shopping a couple days later, then there were visits with lots of friends and quality family time with my parents sprinkled in between.  We didn't take our camera out as often as usual, but here's a few photos of our last 2 weeks.

We saw Jess, Carlos and baby Joa while they were spending a 24 hour layover in Los Angeles.

...and we got to meet Carlos's cousin Eddie and his adorable girlfriend, Jessica!

We spent the whole afternoon basking in the sun and rubbing our toes in the grass, which is obsolete in Korea!

We loved Griffith Park...

...and getting to spend time with this little schmooch before he flew away to Chicago!

 

Does Aaron look like a natural or what?!

Aaron and I took a little side trip up to Griffith Observatory and to see the Hollywood sign, which is tucked into the mountain behind me.

We had a 4 1/2 hour dinner and closed down a restaurant with one of my closest college friends, Stephanie, and her husband Adrian. 

I spent a lot of time with this guy, which is always great! :)

One of my closest friends in High School contacted Aaron and I and asked if we would come over and do a photo shoot of her new baby boy Roman!  We jumped at the chance, especially for me  to see and hang with her again!  Doing a photo shoot of her ADORABLE baby was just icing on the cake!

We even got to meet her husband as he was leaving for work... Now, is that a GREAT looking family or what?!

Introducing baby Roman!

I made the mistake of accidentally waking him up when we got there, so instead of sweet, serene, sleeping baby photos, Liz got "the many faces of Roman" shots, which ended up being pretty funny, like this one here!  Luckily she loved them, and so did we! 

We've spent the last 2 weeks hanging at Main Street in Huntington, shopping at South Coast Plaza, eating lunch on the grass at the park, dining at Wahoo's Fish Tacos in Laguna Beach, driving Pacific Coast Hwy, eating dinner at our friends Rick and Sherry's place, going to my old church, meeting friends for Coffee, driving back and forth an hour out of town car searching, test driving at least 10 cars, eating WAY TOO MANY donuts, shopping at the Asian Market, cooking at my parents, having lunch dates with A and my dad, eating dinner - catching up - and watching sports/movies with my parents, playing catch with the lemons off my moms lemon tree, hanging at the dog park in HB and enjoying HGTV again!  Man, I love that channel.  It's been a week of relaxation (I love waking up without an alarm), frustrations (I hate car dealers!), indulgence (my mom's made 2 pecan pies!), and a little bit of California sunshine to top it all off! 

We're staying in CA till next week, waiting on the title for a 4runner that we love!  I don't wanna jinx anything, but hopefully early next week we'll be proud car owners!

Tomorrow we're off to Disneyland, thanks to my dad, who coerced us into staying longer by offering us a free day at Disneyland!  He knows us well. 

Adventures to Tirta Empul... and America!

Last night I left a banana out on the patio table of our hotel so I could get a good look at one of the many monkeys who frequent our hotel in the morning!  It worked, although I didn't have my camera settings right before I snapped away, so this is the only decent photo I have.

Anyone out there a fan of Anthony Bourdain's TV show NO RESERVATIONS, where he visits places all around the world and samples various foods?  Well, he visited Bali a while back and went to THIS exact place where we had lunch today!

Turns out, after watching the episode a couple minutes before writing this blog, I realized that not only did A and I sit at the exact same table he did when he filmed the show, but we ordered the SAME thing!  ... and  no we didn't get sick after eating this - only by the grace of God and the fact that Korea has made our stomach's strong as steel with all the spices they use there!

Here's part of the episode if you wanna check it out.

After lunch, we jumped on the scooter and headed 18 kilometers north east, through palm tree covered 1 lane roads...

...that wound through tiny rural villages decorated for Galungan...

and more stunning rice fields...

 to check out Pura Tirtha Empul, built in 926 AD and famous for it's natural hot springs and it's holy water, which Balinese people come to purify themselves in. 

Don't forget your free sarong!

These are the two bathing areas.  There were some Balinese people, along with some foreigners, bathing in the larger pool, and then a woman and her daughter doing some sort of ritual including flowers, bottling of the water, prayers and bathing in this more private pool tucked behind the larger one.

The hot springs were pretty cool. There was a temple worker scooping up all of the green film on the top of the water and throwing it over the wall here, nearly hitting people every time he slung it over!  I could have sat there and watched, all day, as people unassumingly walked by and got slimed with this nasty green goo being hurled over the wall!  lol 

The pools were stunning in themselves, but the Balinese people bathing in the water, who believe to actually be bathing in holy water, was a really special thing to watch. 

We ended our temple adventure with a walk through the market back to the scooter. 

We had such a great drive back to Ubud and stopped along the way to see how the smaller villages were decorated for the big festival!

We even saw these guys running down the street with their 200 pound pig, which will soon become their main dish for the galungan festival.... ouch!

Just in case you wanted another look.... sad

We decided to drive west to see the sunset over the ayung river...

... which you have to hike 400 steps down too.  We got about 1/2 way and realized there wasn't going to be much of a sunset since it was an overcast and cloudy day and turned around and hiked back up.  You can't tell, but we're about 20 stories above those rice terraces down below at this point.

On our way back up the steps we ran into this guy who had deflated a whitewater raft (from a whitewater rafting trip) and was carrying it up all 400 stairs to take it back to his office... and he does this TWICE a day!  We also spotted this foreign couple riding on a scooter with no helmets while the woman breastfed her baby!  LOL Only in Ubud!

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We left Ubud the next morning (sad!!!) and headed to Seminyak Beach, which is UBER touristy, but the Galungan Festival (Bali's biggest festival of the year) begins in 2 days and it's also the day we need to get to the airport and we were worried we wouldn't be able to get a taxi to the airport from Ubud, since most Hindu's are at home all day with their family.  So, with our feet dragging behind us, we'll sadly headed to Seminyak.... Luckily, we found a FANTASTIC deal on Agoda.com and got 60% off a room at Arana Suite!

We LOVED this place and barely left, except to attempt to do a little shopping.

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The next day we caught a flight from Denpasar to Hong Kong and had a 6 hour layover, which we spent in the airport.  Then we went from Hong Kong to Korea and spent 24 hours back in Busan, eating Dolsut Bi Bim Bap, picking up our luggage from my school and bidding farewell to the only place we've called home for 4 years, then, we took a flight from Busan to Shanghai and spent 24 hours in Shanghai.  We had great intentions of checking out Qibao, but I was really sick, so we stayed in the hotel the whole 24 hours... sad.  Then, the next morning we flew straight from Shanghai to Los Angeles.

That's 5 countries and 5 flights in 5 days! 

 ... and alas, after 4 years, we're home in America for good!  

Becoming a Silversmith!

We're back home in America, but I'm behind on my blogging, so this is gonna be backdated a little...

So, the day before we left Ubud, Aaron and I headed to Wayan's house, the owner of Chez Monique, a local jewelry store in the heart of Ubud for a little silver jewelry making class! :)

The silver making classes are actually held at his family compound where he shares land with his parents, uncle, brothers and sisters.

Here he is, Wayan, the man himself (on the left)!  He is an incredibly talented silversmith and his silver making classes are the top attraction in Ubud according to www.tripadvisor.com.  The guy on the right is  Wayan's uncle, who's home / traditional kitchen are right across from Wayan's front patio, where the class takes place.

Aaron decided he wanted to make a silver pendant, as a surprise, for a very special lady in his family.  She loves the outdoors, so when Aaron saw a necklace design with a tree and some mountains he thought it would be perfect for her. The next step was to draw it out, exactly how he wanted it to look. So, he and I sat down and drew different designs, over and over again until we found one we loved. :) 

I can't show you the final product because she'll be reading this and we don't wanna ruin the surprise completely now do we, but you can get a little sneak peak of it on the right!  Aaron didn't stop at the pendant!  He also made me a hammered silver ring (left) that I can wear whenever we're traveling and wanna keep my engagement ring at home in the safe! 

It was so fun to see him getting so crafty!  I helped a little, by holding the silver down while he hammered it.

Oh, and I cut the silver for the design on the pendant. :)  After everything was ready, we handed it over to Wayan's assistant silversmith, who soldered everything together.  

But before we handed it over, Aaron stamped the pendant with a little <3 a="" amp="" i="" j=""> and a <3 a="" i=""> on the inside of my new ring!

Here's my ring, getting all circled up and soldered together!

We had such a fun day becoming silversmiths and getting some one of a kind handmade silver jewelry to take home with us!  If you're ever in Ubud, make sure to look Wayan up and take his class!  It's definitely worth your while!