a night to remember

It just wouldn’t seem right to sleep in on a day off. Nope. Especially when the Amber sized waves were rolling in at El Porto. Greg Barker picked Bob, Kevin, and I up at quarter to seven for my final surfing excursion. The water was glassy, warm, and full of dolphins who came out to bid their farewell. They were swimming along in the waves, in large numbers. A few even jumped completely out of the water to show off their moves. At this stage in the game, the jumping dolphins still really impress me, so I tend to shriek with excitement. The other surfers get a good laugh out of my loud freak out sessions! The waves were crashing so lightly that I paddled hard even when I knew I was too far inside the break. I could still get the speed I’d need to launch into the wave and stand up. And I did. 4 times! Of course, I wiped out about ten times, but the rides on my feet were awesome. Kevin even suited up and grabbed a boogie board so he could splash around in the water. It was fun watching him splash around and enjoy himself in the water. Though he lost come major cool points when he walked out to the shoreline with his wetsuit top on inside out and backwards. He was wearing "Men's M" brand! Too funny! I’m glad to end my surfing career on a good note. It was a great day at the beach!

After that, we hit up Uncle Bill’s Pancake Restaurant for chocolate chip pancakes and other goodies. We surfed for over two hours, so the food was much needed! Kevin enjoyed the macadamia nut cakes. I swear he intentionally gets gross food so I won't want to steal a bite. :) What a kid!

My sermon still wasn’t done this afternoon, so we stayed home so I could work on it. When I picked up Kevin from the airport last night, he asked if we could swing by a Macy’s because he wanted to pick up an anniversary gift for me. Well, he already had flowers delivered last week for the actual day, so I had no idea what he had up his sleeve. He ran to the back of the store while I stayed up front drooling over the Coach bags. When he came back he said, “I know this is a busy weekend, but I thought you might like the option to go to the Hollywood Bowl to hear Josh Groban play!” I have to admit, my first reaction was not excitement. All I could think about what the tons and tons of stuff I needed to get done before Sunday and really didn’t have an evening to waste up in Hollywood. We tried giving the tickets to a number of people, but nobody took them. So after Rascals with the Luhmann’s tonight, we hopped on a bus and rode up to Hollywood for the concert. I tell you what, the bus is the way to go. You don't have to pay for parking and you get delivered right up to the door. I’m sure glad no one took the tickets. What a show! Trisha Yearwood, Garth Brooks, Roger Daltrey, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, and of course, Josh Groban were all present and performed. The Bowl seats 17,000 people and it was a sold out show. Their website said no cameras allowed, so I left mine at home and we brought Kevin’s little camera and took what shots we could only after seeing hundreds of camera flashes going off there. On the ride home, I was falling asleep on the bus…I’ll save the rest of the story for the next post…