We made it!

We realize it's kind of silly to do a blog post when we're on vacation, but we bought a block of time on the internet to make sure our return transportation was in place, so we thought we would update the blog after the previous suspense. So, we made it! We're here and we're loving it and we're staying an extra day to make up for the lost day. See you all later!

We're still here

Tropical Storm Julio is messing everything up for us. We were supposed to leave for Los Cabos, Mexico today. We stood in line for 2 hours at the airport only to be told our flight was canceled and we could not fly out until tomorrow afternoon! The storm landed in Cabo at about the same time we were supposed to! We are so sad. We'll try again tomorrow.

Sushi in Old Town

Before last Friday, I (Noel) was not a big fan of sushi. That changed when we walked to a new restaurant in Old Town Pasadena called East. Quality. Not only did it make for a great send-off dinner with our friends Dani and Michelle, who are moving back to Hawaii this week, but it also makes Heidi very happy that I will no longer scrunch up my nose every time she mentions going out for sushi in the future. We'll definitely be back.

On the left is the Vegas roll and on the right is the spicy yellow-fin tuna roll. Both excellent. But my favorite was the spicy scallop roll. Do you like sushi? Vote in the poll on the right!

Niagara Falls

I had the opportunity to attend a conference for work this past week in Niagara Falls, NY. The conference was well worth it and the location was beautiful! I had been to the falls as a kid, but think I have a much bigger appreciation for them now. I arrived a day early and had lots of time to see the falls before the conference started.

This picture is taken on the bridge that crosses from NY to Canada. I didn't cross all the way into Canada the first day, but did a few days later. The falls on the left are the American Falls and the falls straight ahead are the Horseshoe Falls. You can also see the "Maid of the Mist" boats in the water below.

I went on "Maid of the Mist" on Sunday afternoon. I managed to stay mostly dry, but when the wind blew up my poncho, the bottom half of my pants got soaked. It was a great time!

This is a picture of the American Falls taken from Canada. Check out the rainbow! The Canadian side definitely has a better view and I'm so glad I walked over to get some pictures. The weirdest thing about going back to the US is that you have to pay 50 cents. I'm not exactly sure what the point of that is.

All in all, it was a great trip, but I'm definitely glad to be home. The only bad thing is that I missed the LA earthquake!

Anniversary

We celebrated our 4th anniversary on July 24. Noel had the day off from his internship and I decided to take the day off so we could spend the day together. We headed to Newport Beach/Balboa Island and had a fantastic day. The weather was great and we spent the day walking around the town, stopping in shops, and eating.

We were told by my friend, Meredith, that we had to try a "Balboa Bar" (vanilla ice cream dipped in chocolate and then dipped in a topping of your choice...we chose nuts). Thanks for the tip, Meredith! It was delicious!

Here we are on Newport Pier. We ended up eating a late lunch at a restaurant on the end of the pier. It was a great setting. We were sitting on the second floor, outside, overlooking the ocean and enjoyed a glass of Chardonnay with our fresh fish sandwiches. Yum!