Spelunking and Little Lambs

I've mentioned before that Sarah is such a great travel planner and finds the most unique places to stay and things to do.   So far, in New Zealand, they went zorbing which is rolling down a hill in a large inflatable globe.  They also went spelunking and rafting in 43 degree water in a glow worm cave- see Black Water Rafting Company.  I'm pretty sure these activities were planned with Justin in mind.  But for Sarah, the main reason they were staying at Kamahi Cottage billed as New Zealand's only 5 star farm accommodation, was so she could pet baby lambs.  Well, she got her wish!

 

Sarah is a vegetarian and I don't see any lamb chops in Justin's future now!  

Honeymoon in New Zealand- Day One

Justin knows I am not a fan of flying and especially not in small private type planes so they didn't tell me or Sarah's mom what they had planned for the first day of their honeymoon in New Zealand.  Here's the post they left after the fact on Facebook:

"A floatplane came and picked us up at the jetty a few steps from our room, and took us for a flight over New Zealand's geothermal area...volcanic craters, sulfur bays, geysers, etc. Neat experience! Sorry Sue Bringhurst and Darylynn Mills, we figured it was best to tell you after we were done so you didn't worry. — with Justin Mills at Black Swan Lakeside Boutique Hotel."

They got that right... I would've been very worried but now I have to wonder what else they aren't telling us about their plans!  Here are photos from their flight.

Next they move on to Kamahi Cottage, a luxury sheep farm resort so Sarah can hold baby lambs-   That sounds a bit tamer but I wonder what else they have up their sleeve?!?

The Wedding!

I will have to wait a few weeks until Justin and Sarah are back from their honeymoon but I have a few photos from friend's cellphones that I can post for you.  The wedding was held on the sand at a lake/lagoon area in Irvine (Orange County) and we were fortunate to have a picture perfect afternoon and evening.  The wedding began at 6:30 pm so it went from a warm glow of a setting sun to little white lights at night twinkling over the water.  Everyone agreed the setting was lovely and most appreciated the casual nature of the wedding.  Here's a photo of the new Mr. & Mrs. Mills.  It gave me a start when I heard that!

Sarah is an avid reader so all of the bouquets were crafted of flowers made from book pages.  Very unique! Here's a photo of Sarah with her flower girl, niece Gabriella, who looked adorable!

Ryan and Jacob were the ring bearers and here's a photo of them along with Justin and Jessica who was one of Sarah's bridesmaids.

Sunday night, they left for their honeymoon in New Zealand, Tahiti and Bora Bora.  While at LAX, they ran into Elijah Wood who was on the same flight as Amy, Sarah's sister who is living in Australia.  Here's a photo of Amy and Frodo himself headed back to the Shire no doubt.

I will try and post more photos as I get them.  I always like to track their travel itineraries as Sarah is such a great travel planner.  She finds the most interesting places to stay.  For example, for part of their time in New Zealand, they are staying at Kamahi Cottage billed as New Zealand's only 5-Star Farm Bed & Breakfast Boutique.  Yes, it's a sheep farm and Sarah is determined to hold baby lambs.  Their travels to Tahiti and Bora Bora will have them staying in one of the fabulous over-the-water huts which I always say is on my bucket list!  

All of this going on in the middle of a kitchen remodel which has actually gone to a worse state then the photo I last posted.  Walls are even gone now so they can do all the new electrical and plumbing!  We are also dog sitting Justin's dog, Sierra, so I have 3 dogs, 3 cats and 2 grandsons all in a house filled with plumbers and electricians.  Luckily, the boys return to school on Wednesday.  Jacob is beginning Transitional Kindergarten as the cut-off date for kindergarten is now September 1 and he won't be 5 until September 22. I'm the one who needs that Bora Bora over-the-water hut!

Where Was I?

So, what was I saying?  I know, I know... it's been a long, long time and I'm sorry for worrying a few people (emails I received) that something bad had happened.  I'm not returning to regular blogging but thought I'd post occasionally just to let you know I'm alive and well.  We are finally about to begin our kitchen remodel so I'll post some photos of drawings of the design.  Justin and Sarah's wedding is about 6 weeks away so I'l have photos to post about that and then the fabulous honeymoon they will take to places like New Zealand and Bora Bora.  We have been on a real roller coaster ride with Jeff's mom.  She is slipping further into dementia and Jeff found her a nice assisted living facility from which she keeps escaping.  It's not fun having the sheriff pull up to your house and knock on the door!  There's a whole post in itself.  But for now, on to the kitchen.

I can't believe how patient I've become.  Normally, I want things done yesterday but this has been dragging on for months and I'm still pretty nonchalant about it.  I guess I've finally learned not to sweat the small stuff.  We have a nice contractor who is working with a kitchen designer that we chose and they have been cooperating together to design our kitchen.  It involves combining our current kitchen and the adjoining breakfast room into one big kitchen.  So everything will go including the ceiling and floor.  We've bought all the appliances and the cabinetry is ordered.  This next week, we are having a electrical panel upgrade (to handle all the new appliances and lighting) which involves digging a trench from the street to the current electrical panel.  Phooey!  Who cares about this stuff... just get on with my new kitchen!  We still have to select all out granite, tile, faucets, hardware and lighting but here's some drawings of how the kitchen will look.  You can click on the drawings to see them bigger.

Here's a top view of the new kitchen.  Showing this view so you can see the angles- like the right wall has almost a hutch-like area that is set out... a lot of angles makes for an interesting look with the crown molding.

A side view.  Having an island was a must since we always gather there

This is the back wall.  All the appliances are Thermador.  The dishwasher is next to the sink, that's a pro-cooktop six burner range with pro-hood, and on the far right a double oven.  Only need that on Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I requested the feet on certain areas to give that furniture-look to the cabinetry,

This is what I call the decorative wall.  There's the hutch area I mentioned.  It has a plate rack and the two cabinets on either side are glass with led lighting.  On the right is a wine rack.  The glass will have the same v-groove etching that our living room windows have.  There's one more glass cabinet that you can see in the previous photo next to the sink.

This is the view of the refrigerator and pantry.  The refrigerator/freezer comes in columns.  The freezer on the left side is 18 inches wide and the refrigerator is 30 inches so it's large at 48 inches total.  It will be paneled in the same wood as the cabinets.  The cabinets are pearl white with pewter glaze which only goes in the lines.  It looks really nice with all the stainless appliances.  Our appliances wont even have those vents at the bottom like in the drawing so it really blends in seamlessly.  The pantry is on the right.

Finally, the island.  It's the trend here to not have your island match the rest of the kitchen so the island will have the same cabinets but in cherry with an oynx glaze.  Also something new is a microwave drawer.  Everyone tells me they are fantastic as you can slide it open and look down on what you're cooking rather than tippy-toe to see a higher mounted micro.  There will be seating for four.

So there you have it.  Our contractor is estimating 6 to 8 weeks.  Once the kitchen gutting begins, we will have to have our current refrigerator in the garage and set up coffeemaker and toaster oven in our mini bar. We will BBQ a lot and get take out.  I don't think I'll have a problem with that but we'll see!  I'll add more photos as the demo and rebuilding progresses.  Happy 4th of July!

Wedding Plans

Things are moving right along with the wedding plans.  Sarah already has her dress and they are looking at a late August wedding.  They are thinking about having the wedding at the lake in Irvine where Sarah lives.  If you remember, we took Ryan and Jacob there a couple of summers ago because they have a mini-waterpark there with waterslides into a pool-like area.  They have a couple of  large gazebos that you can rent for occasions.  The area is very similar to Westlake which is near us.  Here's a photo I took when we were at the area in the past.  There is a big lake where you can sail and ride on non-motorized watercraft off to the left.

As I mentioned before, Sarah's main emphasis will be on the honeymoon rather than the wedding.  She is such a world traveler so they've agreed to have a 2 part honeymoon... Justin wants to go somewhere luxurious like an exotic beach so they will do that and then they will go to something more unique to satisfy Sarah.  Justin said he didn't want an all Third World honeymoon.  Interestingly, our plans to travel would be in early September as well for our 40th Anniversary.  Justin said maybe we could meet up somewhere but I said I doubted they would want their parents on their honeymoon!  He said with the hectic travel schedule Sarah plans, there wouldn't be time for romance anyway on her part of the honeymoon.

As usual this time of year, Jeff and I have been busy seeing all the potential Academy Award nominated films.  I'm writing this before the Golden Globes on Sunday night but that should give us more of an idea of what's likely to be nominated.  So far we've seen Gravity, Captain Phillips, Wolf of Wall Street and American Hustle.  Coming out on DVD this week is The Butler so we will rent that.

The other fun news is that Ryan and Jacob have both signed up to play soccer.  They went to tryouts on Sunday and their games will begin next Sunday so Jeff and I will be going to their games and cheering them on.  We had such fun for many years going to Jessica's softball games.    

The Proposal

I never asked if it was okay to post this but I don't think Justin ever looks at my blog anymore so shhh!  The video and color is not good because the room was a little dark but you can hear the words.  The recording didn't begin until a minute or so into his proposal.  What you missed is how he began by telling Sarah how beautiful and amazing she is and how smart...too smart as he put it... she is.  I'm so glad we have this recording!  Thank goodness our cousin Matthew had the presence of mind to grab his cellphone and begin recording once he realized where it was going!

Kitty Meow Meow

Here's a photo of Jacob with one of his very favorite Christmas presents.  This was taken by Robin on Christmas morning just after he opened this present.  Before Christmas, I had to hide it's box way behind the tree because any movement near it would send it off purring and meowing and scratching around... and loudly!  When I picked it up from Toys R Us, it meowed all the way home.  Freakishly realistic!  You can see though how much Jacob loves it!

  He wanted to name it Kalani like his favorite cat of ours but I suggested he pick a different name and he decided on "Kitty Meow Meow" which is what it does all the time.  His dad is allergic to cats so this is the next best thing for him to have at home.

No one ever knows what to get me for Christmas as I really don't have a lot of things I need.  When you are an adult, if you need/want something, you usually go out and get it.  It made shopping for me very frustrating (so I'm told) so I came up with an idea of something I could "hint" for in the future.  Jeff bought me a starter Pandora bracelet and it's going to be my "traveler charm bracelet" with charms of places we travel to.  I can ask for an Eiffel Tower charm or a London Double Decker Bus charm, etc... you get the idea.  Here's a photo of it as it is right now with only a pineapple charm representing Hawaii.  The other beads are part of the starter set except for the pinkish charm which is an opal- my October birthstone.

The next charm I plan to get is the "Passport Charm" which looks like THIS.  But first I need to actually get my passport which is hard because the photo I took is so awful but I may just have to make the best of it and send it in.  Or maybe I need to find a better place than Costco to have my passport picture taken! 

If I don't get back here before the 1st, Happy 2014!