Giada

As many of you know, my kids are obsessed with Giada from the food network. Especially Ella. She watches her show over cartoons. Not kidding. Well thanks to my sister in law's tip, the kids were able to meet her! She was doing a book signing a few days after we got home.So we headed out to meet her! We had to wait for a good hour and a half (not to mention you needed a ticket and we almost didn't get in!). The kids were amazingly good. Maybe it's because they wanted to see her so bad? Anyway, we finally made it to the front. Ella had planned to tell her that she loved her show and watched it all the time. She froze and stared at her with a grin from ear to ear. :) I ended up telling her what she wanted to. She told Ella to find some recipes in the book and have me help her cook them. Then she leaned in and told me, "They are so cute!". She was very sweet and beautiful. We were glad to meet her. Of course we had to buy her cookbook to meet her. We've tried a couple recipes already and they were very tasty. Unfortunately they move you along rather quickly, and ask for no posing in front of the table. We found that out after trying it. So, the pictures are pretty sad. I wish Ella could have gotten a photo with her. Oh well!

Yes, it's blurry. Ella said, "Mom, she usually wears a purple shirt in her shows. She didn't have that on today". Funny girl. :)

 Telling all about her visit! She was just a little excited. 

San Fran-skisco

That's what Carter calls it. :) Figured San Francisco needed it's own post. We took one of our weekend days and headed into the city. Ella loved it. Says it's her favorite city. Not that she's been to many. :) We had to ride the cable car, of course. It was like a Disneyland ride. Line and all!

 The kids had a grand time!

 I love that I captured this face. She does this at times. It's when she's over exaggerating her excitement. :)

 Had some lunch here. 

 Look at the cool bread!

 Went for some chocolate!

 Spent some time in the sand. 

 And chasing. 

Spent time contemplating the meaning of life. Haha. I'm serious. She said, "Can I just sit here for a little while?" She just wanted to watch the water. Cute girl.

 I really to love San Francisco. 

And that pretty much concludes our trip! We had a great time, but are happy to be back.

The city

Even though they kids were not extremely excited about the city part of our trip, we managed to find a few fun things to do! Never mind the fact that my good cameras battery died before this point. Who knew that long of a vacation required chargers. Oh well! For instance, the kids were in heaven feeding the koi nearly EVERY day. They were BIG fish.

 
We saw some turkeys walking around a neighborhood...

Spent some much needed pool days!

Made some pizzas!

 

Saw some really nerdy art. That egg is made of computer parts. Like I said, nerdy.

Revisited our time in Tustin. Oh, the memories! :)

 Visited the beach, it was cold! (Sadly, my other camera had died at this point so these are cell phone pics)

Played on a REALLY cool slide. Every park needs one of these!

  Went to Standord. It was really, really cool. Even better without kids I am sure!

I love this little girl. She sure is growing up to be a great girl. :)