Surprise, Grandma!

This last weekend, Mom, Garrett, and I made a trip down to Burbank to surprise my Grandma for her birthday. She was very excited and thanked us for making the trip for her.

Saturday morning, Mom, Grandma, my aunt, and I went "garage saleing" around Burbank. See, this is a tradition. We always go to garage sales with these relatives whenever we're down in Burbank on Saturday. It's just something we always do! We bought some real nifty things, too, at great prices.

After going to garage sales, we returned home and refreshed ourselves. That night we went to the Macaroni Grill with all my Mom's relatives, minus 2 who couldn't make it, for my Grandma's birthday dinner.

Sunday was full of fun stuff! Grandma, Mom, Garrett, my cousin Richard, and I all went to the Americana outdoor mall in Glendale for the first half of the day. We ate at the Cheesecake Factory, and then continued to across the street where we roamed around in the Glendale Galleria. I spent most of my time in Claire's (a jewelry and hair accessory shop for girls and women), where I bought some bracelets and earrings, and Garrett got a pocket knife that's kind of like a switchblade at the sword store. And besides all that, we continued to just enjoy walking around the mall.

When it started getting late, we packed up and left for the Ben & Jerry's shop back in Burbank for our last treat of the day.

The next day my aunt took my Grandma to Knott's Berry Farm for her birthday breakfast, and the three of us headed back home. My Grandma said this was the best birthday she can remember having, and that she was spoiled rotten! We were glad we made the trip for her.

Family Seadooing

Well, after a long time of dreaming (about 6+ years), I finally can say I've ridden a Seadoo! And boy was it fun!!! I drove most of the time (to my great delight), and enjoyed myself thoroughly.

We were given an hour to rent the Seadoo at Bass Lake, and I actually thought I could drive that thing the whole day if I could, but I was glad to be given the time that I had. We went at the end of the season, so the lake was pretty much ours.

The guys who instructed us how to control the Seadoo, said we could do pretty much what we want, go as fast as we want, but if we wanted to fool around and make donuts and such, to do it within the "Jet Ski Zones" that were set apart for that purpose. And that we did. Garrett started driving first (I was sitting in back of him), and took us to the first of these "zones", where he made donuts, whirlpools, etc. and successfully freaked me out.

After about 10 mins. of playing around, he let me drive. After getting used to it, I found MYSELF making donuts, whirlpools, and jumping off waves that I had made. To my own astonishment, I also found myself speeding the thing up to 50+ miles an hour! Garrett cheered me on from the back, squealing gleefully like a little child, when I would get the Seadoo to jump off the waves. It was truly a great experience - especially since I was in control :)

After going around the lake, we made a switch at the dock - Garrett off, Dad on. I showed Dad the "awesome Seadoo skills and techniques" that I had learned and took him for a spin (he said he'd rather not drive, so I took full advantage of it!). After going half-way around the lake, we returned the Seadoo :( Our hour was up, and I felt I was just getting started! ;)

Now that we were done Seadooing, we had a "lunch-dinner" at The Forks restraurant in Bass Lake to finish off our outing - which was delicious.

With all that said, here's the photos!