a 4th of july in catalina.

the 4th of july is one of my favorite holidays of the year.  i love seeing people's national spirit and i especially love the fireworks!  this year's 4th of july was extra special for me because i got to spend it on catalina island with anthony's family :)

we (me, melissa, joel, and charlie) went to catalina to watch anthony perform with the USC marching band, but it ended up being an even bigger adventure than just supporting him.

the morning started bright and early.  i woke up at 5:30am to get ready and be at anthony's mom's house by 7am.  we departed for newport beach, where we took the catalina flyer to get to the island.  the boat ride was super relaxing.  charlie and i both slept the whole way there!  luckily we woke up just in time to see the boat nearing the island, which was a beautiful sight.

once there, we dropped off our bags at the hotel and grabbed a decent lunch at el galleon.  the food was decent, but the music was ear piercing.  there was a man singing with his mic volume turned up wayy too loudly!  annoying at the time, but something funny to laugh about now :)

after lunch, we sat down outside to watch the annual catalina 4th of july parade, which the trojan marching band was performing in (for the 20th year in a row).  luckily, we were able to snag great seats... we were able to see anthony perfectly!

not so fortunately, we all ended up with pretty bad sunburns from the sun beating down on our backs for so long.  but it was still totally worth it to see antppny!

after the parade, we watched anthony perform with the band yet again at wrigley plaza.  it was another great performance by the trojan marching band!

finally, we got a few hours of down time.  anthony got to hang out with us (me, melissa, joel, and charlie), so we spent a while enjoying the summer sun, relaxing on the sand down by the water.  we also got some yummy ice cream to cool us off from the heat :)

when it came time for anthony to go get ready to perform again, joel, melissa, charlie, and i went back to the hotel to get ready for the night.  we killed some time before dinner back down at el galleon, where we listened to some good country karaoke!  my country lovin' dad would have appreciated it very much.

we then went to the casino, a very beautiful, old building, to have the 4th of july barbecue dinner.  the casino was absolutely gorgeous and i would love to go back to catalina sometime just to tour it.  the dinner took place in the ballroom of the casino, a large room with a stage up front.  for dinner, we had scrumptious barbecued chicken and ribs, with great baked beans, corn, biscuits, and salad.

(the little building in the picture is the casino)

although the food was great, the performance by the USC marching band was even better!  they performed up on the stage in the front of the ballroom.  of course, melissa and i made sure we had prime seats to see anthony :)  the music was great and a lady even donated $1000 to charity to conduct the band!  it just goes to show how wonderful the trojan marching band is.

after dinner, anthony was able to join us to watch the fireworks from the balcony of the casino, the best firework viewing location on the entire island!  we watched them from directly across the pier, where they were launched.  it was a beautiful show and i'm glad i got to watch it with my antp.

after the firework show ended, we went back to wrigley plaza, where the trojan drumline was having a drum circle.  charlie and i even participated, taking turns playing various percussion instruments.  it was tons of fun!

anthony and i finished the night with some of the best pizza i've ever had, from antonio's pizzeria.  i went to bed with a nice, full stomach, exhausted from the day's events, but excited for the next day's events.


the next day was great.  we (me, melissa, joel, and charlie) had a yummy breakfast, followed by an amazing ride on a semi-submarine!  it was a great idea, suggested by charlie.  we got to see beautiful fish and clear blue waters.  i also developed a newly found love for kelp.  it looks so gross when it washes up to shore, but seeing it from the submarine made me feel like a mermaid living in an underwater world.  it was so beautiful and enchanting!

the super cool part about the semi-submarine ride was that we got to "turbo blast" food from the submarine out into the water, which made the fish swim right up to our window.  it was so cool!

after the ride, i stopped by the boating docks to say goodbye to anthony (his boat was leaving four hours earlier than ours).  joel, melissa, charlie, and i then rented a golf cart for an hour and toured the island's scenic route as we drove around.  it was great fun!

we had a yummy lunch at a mexican restaurant, mi casita.  charlie and joel then swam in the water for a bit, while melissa and i got a place in line for the boat ride home.  the boat ride home was less relaxing than the ride there, but it was still a pleasant end to a great trip!

i'm so glad that i got to spend more quality time with anthony's family and, of course, antp himself :)

a day in balboa.

today (well, yesterday now) was a truly amazing day.  i got to spend the day with anthony's family at balboa in newport beach :)  and boy did we have a grand time!

the day started out a little rough, as we missed our departure time for our whale/dolphin watching boat trip at 3pm due to a severe lack of parking.  we attempted to find parking on the pier side (not a good idea), which ended up costing us a very frustrating hour of our time. 

we were about to give up and just go home, until anthony's mom, melissa, came up with the brilliant idea to find parking on the opposite side of the water.  we got lucky and got a great parking spot there and then took the ferry across the water to the main area of balboa. 

it seems that everything happens for a reason... missing our boat trip ended up making our balboa day even better!  we rescheduled our whale/dolphin watching trip for 6pm in the evening and, instead, enjoyed the other attractions of balboa during the afternoon.

first, melissa treated us to some yummy desserts.  anthony got a balboa bar and i got a chocolate covered banana :)

afterward, we spent some time playing ski ball in the arcade, which is always fun.  i whooped anthony's butt, of course.  (okay, by like 50 points).

then, we took a lovely ride on the ferris wheel :)  no matter how old i get, i always seem to find ferris wheels so much fun!

after the joy ride, we looked in a couple of shops and munched on a hot dog, waiting for joel (anthony's stepdad) to arrive.  once he joined us, we headed to the balboa pavillion, ready to get our whale/dolphin watching on!

as expected, we didn't see any whales, but we saw more than our fair share of dolphins.  it was so amazing!  it was similar to what anthony and i got to see last summer in hawaii.  they were swimming right next to our boat alongside us as we moved.  such an incredible sight!

we also saw sea lions, which i've never seen before.  they were perched up on a buoy and they kept ringing the bell.  so cute!

minus the slight sea sickness i got, it was a fantastic experience.  i'm so glad we got the chance to go!  beautiful sights like these remind me why living in this orange county bubble can be so wonderful.

it was getting late by the time we got off the boat, but we still had time for one last stop on our balboa adventure...

the shore house!  we went there for dinner and it was scrumptious.  it's making me hungry just thinking about it.  and i've never seen such enormous portion sizes for their prices, either.  a side of marinara pasta ($3) could seriously pass for an entire child's meal at some chain restaurants.  it was insane!  and i don't think i've ever seen a bigger fish taco in my life.

simply put, it was a perfect ending to a perfect day.  it's days like these that i'm reminded why i'm so lucky to get to spend time with anthony and his family.  they seriously do so much for me and are so welcoming.  i can't thank them enough!