Sending Toysrevil our aloha from the 808...

Got the word that Andy from Toysrevil has suffered from a partial stroke.  Just wanted to send out my aloha to him and his family from the 808.

Pic from SpankyStokes

Day 8, saying goodbye to a killer home...

So it was time,

For me to pack my ish up and say goodbye to a killer home.  It was kinda a bummer I had to go, I really enjoyed myself there and got a lot of r n r.  Much props to my friend's folks for allowing me to hang out there for a bit before heading up north to meet up with my Cali buddies.

So up north I went solo on yet another adventure, and before meeting up with one of my friend's and dropping off my friend's car at the airport, I took a drive to South Coast Plaza Mall.  The last time I went there was years ago, when Mossimo was super popular and had a store there, haha ya, that's the last time I've been there.

I did some minor damage, got a few deals on some Obey shirts, 2 for one action, you rarely find deals like that back in the 808.  But yup, yup, along the way, I stepped into the Sony store and got a taste of that new 3D television.  Pretty cool stuff, the 3D action is pretty good, I was super impressed with the depth of it with video games.  But dang, just one pair of those special glasses costs a nice $150.

Another store I got to check out was Puzzle Zoo.  There's a pretty good selection of Star Wars og figs and toys, that was pretty cool to check out, along with a pretty extensive array of Rubik's cube, that took me back to memory lane.

As I browsed through the store I also found a Michelle Valigura piece...

And a Scott Tolleson piece, pretty cool.

Got a few cool shots as I cruised through the mall, like this...

And this...

So after my shopping expedition, I dropped off my friend's folks car and then met up with my other friend, and booked it on over to yet my other friend's place, which is where I'll be staying for the remainder of my Cali adventure.  This friend's crib I'm staying at is hella cool, she let me hang there while she's on her trip to Hong Kong and the Philippines.  If I could I would snatch up her dressers, so friggen cool, she did them herself.

And on her bed, I cracked up, she has an Ugly Doll, my friend is hilarious.  She somehow has a pretty mean way of mixing up Hawaiian stuff with the Cali trendy scene, she rocks.

So all in all, another good day, and I'm just about ready to crash, so I'll be ready to jam on yet another adventure.

Day 7, a day to explore...

I woke up all good to go for yet another day, so I headed on out with the mission to go and shop and check out the scene.

So I checked out Mission Viejo Mall.  It's a pretty huge mall, with pretty much all the stores and shops you can think of, like...

The Apple Store...

And I kid you not, like 5 stores to the right, there was a Windows Store, friggen hilarious...

And props to Macy's for their breast cancer awareness month, with mannequins dressed in lingerie and pink boxing gloves, lol...

I then hit it on off to a few more stores, and upon leaving them, there was a pumpkin patch, carnival thingy that caught my eyes.  It was pretty interesting, it's catered more towards the kiddies with rides, games, etc.  And of course there was pumpkins...

Stacks of orange pumpkins...

Stacks of white pumpkins...

Rows of pumpkins...

And pumpkins on roids...

After my adventure, I headed back to my friend's folks' place, and riiiiiight before I reached home, Cold Stone caught the corner of my eye.  So I had my fav, Gotta Have It Sized coffee icecream with Nestle Crunch and malted milk powder, mmmm, my 2nd favorite way to have icecream.

So all in all, it was a good day, didn't do too much damage as far as shopping goes.  I got some goodies for the chocoholics in my family and for the office peopz.  Good times, good times.

Day 6, time to recharge...

So today,

We spent the day catching up on some rest, before I had to drop them off at the airport.  I was totally zonked out, but it was all worth it, good food, laughs and memories.  My friend then gave her kids their final "Magic Moment" Mickey and Minnie Mouse candy apples, isn't that super hella cool?

So after I dropped off my friends and their kids at the airport, and drove solo back to my friend's folks' place.  I was kinda nervous about it but proud I made it back okay.

Alrighty, so i'm officially caught up for now, lol.  Tomorrow and this coming week will be a whole new set of adventure.

Day 5, we say farewell to the magic of it all...

So on our last day,

We went ahead and went to Disneyland California Adventure Park to watch the re-opening of Aladdin.   That show was pretty awesome, the dude who played Genie was friggen hilarious, one of his quotes was "Talk to my left had cuz you know you ain't right."  Hahaha, that one had me rolling.  My friends then went to do some shopping and spend some husband and wife quality time with each other and I took the kids to that Grizzly Bear Rafting ride three times before we checked out of our hotel.  The friggen hilarious thing with that ride was that no matter where I sat, I swear, I was the only one who got drenched.  The kids totally got a kick out of that, and you can't pay top dollar for the laughter of children, good times.

So after the rides, we went back to the hotel to change and get ready to head back to my friend's folks' place.  As my friends were checking out, I went ahead and took some last minute pics in the hotel's lobby, got some pretty killer pics.

Lobby centerpiece...

Lobby fireplace...

Lobby stairway...

Day 4, another day in Disneyville...

So on the 4th day of my trip,

We hit it yet again to Disneyland.  We had Minnie's Character Breakfast just down the way from Main Street in Disneyland.  For those of you who have children or are just a big time Disney buff, I'd recommend this.  But yup, we spent the day polishing off Disneyland, good times.

We then went over to Disney California Adventure Park to polish that side off as well, and then had lunch/dinner at one of the restaurants there, you can't go wrong with Italian food.  Good old shrimp scampi and refreshing drinks, non-alcoholic of course, lol.

We then went to Downtown Disney and did some minor shopping, no real damage done.  But we took my friend's son to this one store which is a guy's (or girl's for that matter) version of Build-A-Bear, but instead you customize your own ride.  Pretty cool, you can chose your car model, and customize rims, wheels, exhaust pipes, etc. and you can even turn it into a remote control car if you want.  Awesomeness.

Disneyland closed late that night, so we returned to the park to ride all of our favorite rides.  I'd recommend you ride them at night, totally different experience.  I have this thing of being the last person at Disneyland so that's what I did with my friend and their kids.  We literally shut the park down and was the last people out of the park, hahaha, they were stoked that they were able to say they shut the park down, that's what made the whole trip worth it.

We returned to our room and what do you know, another "Magic Moment" for the kiddies.  This time it was chocolate covered tuxedo strawberries, autographed photos of Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan and balloons, so super cool, what a way to end a perfect day.

Day 3 in good ole Cali...

So we headed on over to Disneyland on the 3rd day of our Cali adventure, good times, good times,

We all checked in at Disney's Grand Californian Hotel.  That's the first time I've been to that particular resort, pretty cool, has a nice huge lobby with lots of wood and a cozy spot with a fireplace if you wanna chill in their rustic leather seats there.  In one of the corners of the lobby, they played the classic Disney cartoons that I grew up with, with miniature kiddie versions of the rustic leather seats from the fireplace area, lol, hilarious.  The kid in me found myself setting alongside with my friend's kids watching the cartoons.  Our hotel room was pretty sick, it overlooked Disney's California Adventure Park.

After checking in we went over to Downtown Disney to fill up our stomachs for the day ahead.  I had me this mushroom, cheese and ham omelette, with potatoes, toast and juice, winners.

With our stomachs all full we headed over to Disneyland, and one would figure we start off the day with something mellow right?  Wrong!  Lol, my friend's son was the lead person in charge and he just HAD to start off with one of Disneyland's heart-in-your-throat rides...Splash Mountain.  And then shortly after we booked to another mellow ride...Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  All I know is I prayed to myself hoping that I wouldn't gift fellow riders with my hearty breakfast, haha.

Our 3rd day was primarily dedicated to riding all of the rides in Disneyland, hella fun, including the classics like the Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Pinnochio, etc. rides.  And in all true Disneyland tradition you gotta try and pull out the sword in the stone, which is more like sword in the metal stand, haha.

 

Early that evening we arrived back at the hotel to take a quick shower in preparation for Disney's World of Color show.  My friend is super big about giving her children the world, so when we arrived to the room, there was some Disney magic waiting for the kids.  Hella cool, it was a Halloween gift basket with all kinds of goodies for the kiddes.

We then booked it over to Disney California Adventure Park to check out "Disney's World of Color".  If you ever go to Disneyville, you totally gotta check that show out, unreal stuff.

After the show we went back to the hotel, and there was yet another "Disney Magic Moment" in store for the kiddies.  This time it was a birthday grab bang thing, with this popcorn/cup thingy, a Mickey Mouse doll, a Mickey pin and miniature birthday cakes, for the birthday that past for one, and an upcoming birthday for the other sibling.