Day 11 - Laguna Beach and The Mustang!

I felt like a real Californian Beach Babe today!

Firstly we all slept in till about 9am this morning! I got up at 9am and had a shower and let Tony and Josie sleep on, and when I got out, Tony was still asleep, but Josie was already downstairs playing with Harri and Sven!

I got Tony up and we all got ready and then I got a ride with Sven in his red Mustang convertable while Harri, Tony and Josie drove in Harri's Jeep.

It was awsome! I have never been in a convertable before and I just loved it! Tony would have been completely freaking out with Sven's accelaration at times, but I just loved it! It was like being on a rollercoaster but not having to actually BE in a rollercoaster!

So we went down to Laguna Beach (with the wind blowing through my hair!) and spent some time at the playground there while Josie had a ball and Sven lay down and had a sleep on the grass (poor thing has a stomach bug). Then Sven went home and Harri, Tony, Josie and I went to a Seal and Sea Lion Rehabilitation centre. They had 3 Sea Lions, a bunch of Harbour Seals and some Elephant Seals and pups. It was awsome watching them interact and listening to one of the ladies explain how the place was established in the 70's and how they never interact with the animals so as not to establish any kind of bond or dependency on either the humans or the animals part. It was great.

After the Seal thing we went to a party for a friend of Harri's. Their son was turning one and we were all invited to celebrate it with them, which I thought was lovely for someone to invite people they don't even know to their son's 1st birthday!

On the way we had the following conversation:

Josie: I like school, but I don't like parties.
Tony: Why?
Josie: Cause I'm scared. They're scary!
Tony: Why are they scary??
Josie: Well... there might be a monster there..

Now this family lives in the most amazing house. It was designed and built by them and is just astounding, built on a cliffside and has the most amazing views. Josie had a wonderful time playing with the kids and running around the place.. until she ran smack into one of the floor to ceiling windows. Twice. Just a testament to how clean the window was, but poor Josie was so embarassed! We had a lovely chocolate cake, which Josie was first in line for, and some great crushed ice and water from their funky fridge!

After that we headed home to change for dinner.

We had dinner at NoKaOi which is a Hawaiian restaurant where Harri and Sven had their wedding reception. The food was fabulous, Tony and I had Baby Back Ribs and I have to say that they were heaps better than Tony Roma's!

Joining us at NoKaOi was Allison and Fiona (an aussie friend of theirs) and we had a lovely time chatting over dinner (poor Sven had coke and pretzels!).

And then because Sven wanted to get some fresh air, and Harri wanted to accompany Sven, I got to drive her Jeep home. That was an awsome experience in itself. That car GOES!

So tomorrow is Photo Shoot day. Sven is gonna take some photos of us, he is a wonderful photographer and we are so lucky to have him do this for us! Check out his stuff at his homepage. And please pray that a. he is well enough tomorrow, and b. Josie cooperates!

Thats it for now!

~Later Dudes~