Bro

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Up at 9:20 because the alarm was accidentally set to 9am. Checked out and went to Costco to look at a suitcase we saw thinking that it might work in case we have to check our laptop and other electronics. When we saw it, we realized it was smaller than we thought and soft-sided, so it wouldn’t work. We figured we would just buy a box, pack some clothes in it and put the laptop in Mike’s (mom’s gargantuan rolling) suitcase.

We left Anaheim Costco at 11:30 and got to Santa Clarita around 1:30. I couldn’t believe it took two whole hours. Our mistake was staying on the five until the 605. We should have gotten off the five as soon as possible. We went the 605 south to the 105 west to the 405 north. Basically the reverse of our route from the airport to Disney, and then the 405 to their place.

We made a stop for some lunch at a small pizza place and on our way out, they offered us free pizza! The second time in two days, how odd. So we took it and put it in Mike/Liz’s fridge when we got to their place at 2.

Their house keeps getting better each time we go. They’ve redone the bar area, the hall bathroom, and the patio. Everything is beautiful. I wish I had Liz’s decorating sense. She has the ability to make things look very elegant without looking stuffy. I should have taken pictures of the bathroom to use as an inspiration for our guest bathroom. One thing I do plan to try is change the orientation of the tub to go along the back wall instead of its current orientation. Then the toilet can go in the slot partially vacated by the tub. With clear glass shower doors, the bathroom looks so much larger. I really think their bathroom isn’t much larger than ours, but it looks huge.

I also like the idea where the tile they used on the shower/tub walls extends out past the shower doors and then comes down to about three feet up the walls of the rest of the bathroom. Those tiles are about 4” squares and match the floor which uses a mix of large (18”?) and small tiles of the same color/pattern. They used real wood maple for the cabinet and stained it to look like cherry wood and used what I think is granite for the countertop. With the recessed lighting, it’s just perfect for my tastes.

When we arrived, Mike was working in the garage. They had just swapped out a broken water heater for a new tankless model ($2500, ugh), and he was fixing the busted drywall where the water heater pipes had been moved around. He was just finishing up, so before long, we were all hanging out on the new patio and jumping in the pool.

It’s a lot of fun playing with the kids in the pool. They like the shark game where the shark (me) has to stay in the pool, and they can get out, but only for ten seconds at a time. Logan is the bold one. Danny and Logan’s friend Griffin are chickens. I can see Danny, as she’s still small, but Griffin’s a big kid. It appears that Logan is a bit of a sore loser as he gets a little salty when he’s the shark.

We had Armenian barbeque for dinner. They bought pre-marinated chicken and steak and skewered it along with onion and bell pepper. It was really good. They also barbequed whole tomatoes and an Anaheim pepper stuffed with goat cheese. Liz cut the top of the pepper off, stuffed it, and then used toothpicks to put the top back on to keep the cheese in. It must of come loose, because it seemed that the cheese partially leaked out. It went on the grill too and was rather good. This was all served with Liz’s margaritas which were pretty much exactly like the one’s we make, using the same mix, tequila, and grand marnier.