The Amazing Race: Birthday Edition

We had such an AMAZING (get it?) weekend celebrating Qee's birthday Amazing Race style! We were sooo thrilled with how all the clues turned out, how perfectly everything timed up, and, of course, how much Q enjoyed everything!! 

It took us 5 HOURS to get out to mum and Q's with traffic, torture! But we made it out around 5:00 and all frustration was forgotten when the race began and Q opened his first clue! 

Quick explanation of the clues in case anyone hasn't seen the show:

Route Info: directions to the next location or activity

Detour: a choice between two different challenges or activities

Road Block: a single challenge that only one team member completes 

Speed Bump: and additional task assigned as a penalty. These are pretty rare in the show so we only included one in our Amazing Race.

On Friday we organized 3 different challenges:

We gave Q the first clue and then he had to go find the second one hidden in his office!

Clue number 2 was a Detour choosing between Sonic and Chuck E Cheese for dinner with unique challenges for each one! Q picked Sonic and we headed over for some all-American fast food, drive in fun! 

We had a ball! We've been talking about going to sonic for years and it toootally lived up to our expectations! Delicious shakes, great onion rings, yummy chicken - and Q completed his challenge, eating his foot-long chili dog in only 7 bites!! 

The last clue, for the Pitstop, told Q to find the "Girl on Fire" AKA Katniss from The Hunger Games! We headed to the movie theatres in Dos Lagos to watch Mockingjay which we've all been SO excited to see, and it was awesome! 

Really dark and gritty, but stayed so true to the book and was really well done, we were all thoroughly impressed! We headed home for a good night's sleep in prep for the huge Saturday we'd planned!

Q got his first clue of the day at 8:30, and it was a Road Block! 

He had to successfully ID 4 out of 6 donut flavours in the box of Dunkin Donuts we picked up the day before. He did SO WELL! We were really impressed! 

5 outta 6 and he earned his next clue... Leading us to Disneyland!!! Yeeee! We went to the statue of Walt and gave him the next clue.

For this detour we split up - Mum and Q went and got a treat from the candy shop and the two of us raced over to Space Mountain (via Indiana Jones which was shut, lame) to get Fastpasses for later. We met back at the castle drawbridge for another clue..!

The next Road Block task was to find 10 hidden mickeys scattered around the park. We went straight into Fantasyland and started looking! 2 on a mailbox, 2 on the carousel, 1 on the Mad Hatter sign, 1 on the whale from Pinocchio, 1 somewhere else, and 3 on the Matterhorn! Success! 

Next up was another Detour: Small World or Star Tours. Q picked - no surprise - Star Tours! AND in a legendary move, he picked the planet we went to on the ride first guess! Amazing!! On to the next clue..!

Lunch time, yum! We went to New Orleans Square for French Dip, Fried Shrimp, and a Cajun Chicken Caesar salad, delish! Challenge completed.

The next clue took us to the shooting arcade where Q proved that he most definitely could've made it as a cowboy in the Wild West! 

He hit 20 targets no problem and then we were on to the biggest undertaking of them all: one attraction in each area of the park! It was a super busy day so it took us all afternoon to complete but, after Indiana Jones in Adventureland, Winnie the Pooh in Critter Country, Space Mountain in Tomorrowland, the Mickey and the Magical Map show in Fantasyland, then we caught the train around to New Orleans Square for the Haunted Mansion, and last to Frontierland for the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad! 

In there we also had a second go on Indiana Jones cos it's our fave, checked out the adorable decorations in Toon Town, grabbed jumpers/jackets/scarves to keep warm, saw all the lights turn on in the most spectacular fashion at It's a Small World, and ate the most glorious pumpkin flavoured beignets you can possibly imagine! 

The last clue took us to the Pitstop on Main Street to watch the spectacular holiday fireworks display. 

So magical! We couldn't have imagine a more perfect end to such a wonderful day!

Sunday was Qee's actual birthday and we really brought our A-game! Mum cooked up an absolute storm in the morning making the chocolate tart for dessert later on and a scrumptious batch of scones for the first challenge!

Q was onto challenge #2 in no time.. Locating his presents! 4 riddles leading to 4 presents, the stakes were high! With a couple minor hints, he made it to his gifts: a travel organizer set from Brendan and Sharon, Tommy Bahama Hawaiian shirts, the box set of Arrow (it's SO GOOD), and an awesome set of noise canceling headphones from us and mum! 

The next task was a Speed Bump for the two of us to walk and brush the doggies, lucky puppies! We did that, had a lovely sit in the spa, then the race was back on! 

Next challenge: a 32 second lap on the Go Karting track! We headed down to K1 Speed and hit the track!

Q killed it and Han raced as well aaand didn't come last! Haha mum and Luce had a great time cheering from the sidelines and it was good fun to get some adrenaline pumping in the Go Karts! Woo! 

We headed home for a couple slower paced challenges: a super fun game of Monopoly and a cocktail!

We spent the evening with the neighbors, Aaron and Elizabeth and their daughters Mary and Lauren. Q was surprisingly surprised when he got his clue that we'd be eating out!

Because mum had made the chocolate tart that morning, he was convinced we'd be having dinner in - and to further throw him off the scent mum had put some bacon out on the counter, nice. We went down to Wood Ranch for some seeeriously yummy steaks, ribs, and salmon for dinner. It was a really cute place and such great company to finish the weekend in!

The very last clue of the weekend led Qee home for his chocolate tart! Mum made Eton Mess as well and we squeezed those last delicious bites into our already full tummys.

We finished our game of monopoly, a battle to the death between Q and Han. After an intense 45 minutes, Qee won!! Which was probably fitting given it was his birthday buuuut Han never likes to lose haha. It was such a lovely weekend, it really couldn't have gone better! We were so glad Q had a great time and we really couldn't have managed any of it without all mum's help and organization. Such a team effort to make heaps of wonderful memories! HAPPY BIRTHDAY QEE!!!

The Absolutely Incredible End of an Era....

The last two weeks were our last fortnight with Sully before she moved back to Michigan. We were sooo unbelievably bummed to see her go but oh man did we make the most of our last days together!

Monday 3/11

After our craaazyyy Horror Nights at Universal, we slept in and went to Crave Cafe for a delicious brunch - it's a suuper trendy spot so we brought our hipster A-game haha. We had a chill day, did some grocery shopping, baked the most delicious cookies EVER (they had cornflakes, marshmallows, choc chips, & peanut butter chips, amazing! Here's a link to the recipe: http://www.shutterbean.com/2013/cornflake-marshmallow-cookies/#more-21389), and had a snacky dinner of meats and cheeses. We also went out for late-night manicures to get ready for the Marine Corps Ball on Wednesday!! So exciting! Han got dark blue, felt very edgy..

Tuesday 4/11

On Tuesday we headed out to San Diego! ROAD TRIP! Sully was a total legend and did all the driving and, with "Jealous" by Nick Jonas playing on repeat, we were there before we knew it! We spent the afternoon at the San Diego Zoo which was really fun. Definite highlights were the giraffes, Mary the (dancing, it was hilarious) Elephant, the most handsome lion ever, bears of all descriptions aaaand the cutest panda in the world!!

After the zoo we went to Lolita's Mexican restaurant for some killer California burritos and nachos, then met up with Luke and Greg for our first time Go Karting!! It. Was. Insane..! We did three races and really weren't amazing at it (especially Han) but it was so fun!! At one point there was a huuuge pileup which was simultaneously terrifying and exhilarating and we were really stiff the next day, but we had a really great time!

After that we said bye to the boys and went to our hotel to get some beauty sleep before the ball the next day!

Wednesday 5/11

It was the day of the ball! We had some slight logistical challenges getting to the hotel/casino where it was taking place, but finally we got there and started to get ourselves ready! Sully did an amazing job of Han's hair & makeup, we both helped her coiffe to perfection, and some perfect red lippy sealed the deal! A few selfies, our classic smile, laugh, kiss trifecta, and we were ready to head down to the ballroom!

We had SUCH a fun night!! It was truly one of the best nights ever! The ceremony was quite moving and extremely patriotic, we felt quite honored really to be there for it. 

By the time we got to dinner we were starving and the meal didn't disappoint! Waldorf salad appetizer, stuffed chicken, steak, & veggies for a main, and a chocolate tart for dessert! We met some of Luke and Greg's higher-ups and everyone was so friendly - for a while Greg disappeared so it was just us three girls with Luke and he got some seeerious cred from his mates, which was kinda fun! Greg resurfaced after a little while and we took some legendary group pics with the official backdrop, love em! Luke and Greg were the best dates a girl could ask for, absolute gentlemen!

While Greg mingled, the three of us and Luke danced for hours! The crowd started thinning out till it was only us on the dance floor and we still didn't stop! The DJs played "Jealous" for us twice and around 11:00 we were gonna call it a night, we started to leave and everything, but Sully led the team in a legendary rally and we danced till they kicked us out at 12:00! We taught Luke our selfie series on the way out and went up to the room, on top of the world after such a fun night! 

We re-rallied (with the help of some comfy clothes) and went downstairs to try our luck at the slots! 

It was super fun! We obviously didn't win anything, but it was all in the spirit of things and it was really the perfectly hilarious way to end the night - especially with a little Ocean's 11 stunt to get away from this strange, drunken guy hovering around, very funny. We sang Jealous in the elevator and fell into bed happy as can be!

Thursday, Friday and Saturday we spent out at Mum and Q's hanging and relaxing after our busy few days! It was just what we all needed, their place is such a little paradise!

On Sunday the 15th we headed back into LA and had lunch at Aroma, Sully's favourite cafe, then went to an evening church service at Mosaic. Erwin spoke and the sermon was really great, very inspiring. It was also World Adoption Day, so we drew smiley faces on our hands in solidarity with that beautiful cause!

We had a yummy dessert at Alcove, one of our favourite cafés, then headed back to our apartment. 

Last week was a little less crazy cos Sully had to work on packing and organizing things for their departure, but we still managed to see each other every day! On Monday we had dinner with her and her mum, Angel, at a restaurant called On the Thirty - most amazing gourmet pizzas you could imagine and Mac & Cheese to die for!

Tuesday was probably our least successful day ever haha. We went to Urth Caffe (which took ages longer than expected between traffic and parking) for their amazing bread pudding. They were out of bread pudding (devastating) so we got a cream puff thing and another dessert to share - half an hour later, we've had our coffees and other cake, but no cream puff, so Han went in to ask and they'd given it to someone else! What?! Very disappointing.. Afterwards we went to LACMA as we'd planned and got there around 4:15- also stressful with traffic and parking. When Han went to the window to get tickets, the guy informed her that they start to close at 4:50 to be completely shut by 5:00! Seriously?! Bummer. We got to see what we'd really wanted to though, which were the beautiful streetlights. After many failed attempts, we finally got some good pics and called it a night! 

What really turned things around, though, were In-N-Out burgers. Thank you lord!  

Wednesday was a chill day, we went to the Americana at Brand for pumpkin flavoured sprinkles cupcakes and a few deliciously cosy flannels and sweaters, success! We're loving the slightly cooler autumn weather. Han babysat in the afternoon and we went to Angel and Sully's for takeout for dinner and a bottle of champagne, lovely! 

Thursday and Friday we mostly just chilled out during the day, Han did some babysitting, and we went out to two amazing dinners with Sully! Thursday night for our last time just the three of us we went to Eveleigh and it was absolutely perfect! 

We truly couldn't have imagined a better last hurrah. We ate, drank, and talked for hours - still in denial that, in a couple days, we wouldn't be seeing each other for months..! 

Friday night's dinner had a bit of a lead up - true to style, we left getting the present we'd planned for Sully till the last minute! So after Han finished babysitting we raced over to Pier 1 for a beautiful picture frame and a jar for Sully to start saving to visit us - like the Paradise Falls jar we have to save for our trip - then to CVS to print out photos from the ball. We were so happy with how everything came together and glad we made the effort! We're gonna miss that gorgeous gal and now there's no question that she knows it :)

Dinner with Angel was absolutely lovely - made lovelier by a successful surprise we helped orchestrate! Luke drove from San Diego and met us at the restaurant and, despite our collective lack of any kind of poker face, Sully totally didn't expect it! Dinner was outta this world good - Luce has langoustines with pasta and Han had seafood risotto, then we all shared tiramisu and chocolate mousse for dessert, delish! 

We went back to Sully and Angel's together to sleep over before they left the next day.

Saturday was absolutely crazy!! It turned out that there was actually a TON of stuff to do for them to be ready to go! Eeeek! The two of us, Luke, Angel, and Sully set to work packing their cars up for the trip and getting rid of whatever wouldn't fit (a lot of which went in our car to take to a Girl Scouts garage sale, really killin it on positive karma points that day!) Finally after over 7 hours of carrying, packing, shoving, rearranging, sweat, tears, and laughter, everything was packed! We went to Aroma so they could get one last latte for the road and around 4:00, we said our goodbyes.. 

Even as they were diving away it still didn't seem real! Partially because we were so exhausted but also probably because it marked the end of an era. Most of the happiest, craziest, funniest memories we have of LA were times with Sully, and now that she's gone, that awesome chapter of our LA journey is over. We know she's on to bigger and better things, though, and we're confident that we are too! 

The last few days have involved a lot of catching up - on errands, TV, more errands, chores, and sleep. We've also been planning Q's birthday weekend and putting heaps of effort into a rather exciting theme, but shhh, it's a secret.... Tomorrow we'll finish birthday prep, a couple more errands, maybe treat ourselves to something yummy, and then on Friday the birthday weekend begins! Can't wait!! 

Yes, it's the end of an amazing era - but it's also the beginning of a new one and there's no doubt it'll be even better!