Chillin' Wit Da Homies...

I love my Uncle Mark... aka Tony.  This post is pretty late, but that's ok!  We met my uncle and his friend who is a girl.  They're practically siblings, although they are obviously not... being that she's unmistakably Jewish and my uncle is... who knows what he looks like, haha.  Her name is Jennifer, by the way.  They've been really good/best friends since college and my family adores her.  We secretly, yet not so subtly, wish they'd fall in love and get married.  So we drove down to Long Beach one Friday after Dave got out from work, which was a terrible idea considering how horrible traffic is in LA and how much worse it is on Fridays!  But that's ok.  We got there two hours later than expected, which they were fine with.  She lives right off of a "happening" street, so we walked to a really good Meditteranean restaurant, compliments of the good ol' uncle.  We learned pretty quickly that because we're half their age, we couldn't come close to winning the fight over the bill... at all times.  We felt so bad, but we finally got to pay for the last hoorah- brunch at another nearby restaurant, which had really tasty American-Mexican fusion type of diner food.  SO good!  Dave pretended to go to the bathroom and claimed the bill before we even ordered, so the waitress came after we ate with just a receipt for him to sign.  The look on the self-proclaimed "Old Folks'" faces was quite entertaining.  And then Jennifer lectured us about not being old enough and "when you have worked for many, many years and earn the money we do, THEN it's ok to pay!" 

Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of pictures, but I do have some from when we drove 2-3 hours to Palm Springs to go to Mt. Jacinto State Park and hike through some snow!  It was amazing and beautiful... even if we did get a little "lost" because Jennifer insisted on trying to find a certain lake that's not shown on the map that apparently only the locals know about- of course!

We left the desertous terrain in a tram to see...

...and do...

...this!  It was pretty intense, but so much fun!  I hate sinking in snow with every step!  Uncle fell a couple of times because he's so huge, his weight took him down further in the snow.  It was so wonderful to breathe in all that fresh air!  And it was perfect... cold, but not windy, and very sunny!  Such a weird concept for a Hawaiian girl.  By the way, I'm proud to say that this isn't my first time in snow! 

Taking a much needed break! Whew! FINALLY!

Dave really likes flags - he wants a whole room covered with flags.  Sorry, hun, you'll have to wait until we have a much bigger place with a BASEMENT.  Thanks, love you!  As I bat my eyelashes.  He's already planning 1) The design of his very own Man Cave and 2) The beloved and stern rules, one of which is No females allowed, unless the current password or phrase is perfectly recited OR when accompanied by FOOD.  I can't wait. 

Just look at that perfectly fine nose of mine.  Haha!  Well, I didn't say it was a beautiful nose!

The kids.  They're so much fun and shhhhh!!!!! 40 years old.  In great shape and inspiring! Not so much in this picture, but she looks a lot like Sarah Jessica Parker, which she apparently gets all the time.  And she's such a spazz.  Love it!

I really like the way the sun is captured here.  One of those pics that take my breath away and remind me how amazing God is. 

I think it was the first time I really got to be myself with Uncle, and visa versa.  Usually we're surrounded by family when we see each other and I just listen to the adults reminisce.  It made me even more grateful for a wonderful family - even with its flaws (come on, who really has a "perfect" family and what is a perfect family anyway?), and made me realize how much of my perception of things is influenced by a certain people.  I feel like I had a chance to make my own opinion about certain things, even though I thought I already knew what I thought.  The beauty of life is that through the thick and thin, your brain and likes and dislikes and feelings are always changing and redeveloping, with the hope that in the exact moment you're in, you are at your personal best. 

Does that make sense, or did I just melt one thought into the other?  I spent all day virtually doing nothing, with the exception of eating of course and getting my "downstairs" looked at by the doctor at VAFB (which I must say was a very pleasant-in-a-non-sick-way experience).  I'm pooped.  I can't think.  Ta-ta!  Pun very much intended.  Ok, I just realized I'm not as cool as I thought since "tata" is a word for breasts, not vagina!  Oooooooooh........