09.02.2012: Hearns Invade Church

A good way to start a Sunday morning is to all invade a church of your choosing.  So, we all picked Northridge...which was Part 2 (well, actually Part 3, but Thelma doesn't know about last night's party without her) of the Thelma Hearn Birthday Bash Weekend.  So, her next surprise was that Charles, Chris, and Marquita, Makayla, and Isiah all came into town.  Vince even had a solo that he sang today, which he did especially for her birthday.  So we got a show and a blessing!  Thelma was soooo happy and proud of her family all being there.  She was beaming!!

 

All these Hearns in church together, and we didn't even get struck by lightening :)  Phew!!

 

09.01.2012: A Secret Hearn Get-Together!

So, the big Thelma birthday bash is on Sunday....however, you can't have this many Hearns come in from out of town and just not let them all get-together.  So, we had a little party at our house tonight so everyone can catch up.  Charles came into town...and his 2 older kids, Chris and Marquita, drove up from Tucson with their kids.  Will & Jackie came over....they aren't out of towners, but we don't see them as often as we should!  And then, Vince & Christina, Lex, Justice and Paisley.  And then of course all us usuals here in town!  It turned out to be a semi-big little get together!  Vince grilled homemade pizzas, and Jackie brought some greens and Mac & Cheese.  We had an assortment of food items here!  And quite a few drink options too!  I made a summer white sangria, and then of course, wine and beer.  So we had the whole crew here for the evening having our own little celebration in Thelma's honor.

 



The brothers.....

 Insta-Greg!  We nicknamed him Insta-Greg because he took a thousand pics and posted them all on Instagram through the night.  It was hilarious...and a great play-by-play of the evening :)

 Why do people always gather & then pose for pics in our kitchen??!  I think every get-together has more than a few of them!

 Everyone is Insta-Greg'ing  :)

 Isiah (Chris's son) and Justice

 Jackie & Will

 Taking a water break...

 Cousins...minus a few that already left

 That's a few Hearns....

 Girls pic...

 Guys pic...

I'm sure you noticed that Paisley was in bed by now.....had to give her a bath mid-party & put her down.  She had a long day & definitely all about keeping babies on a tight schedule!!!  So, had to give her a bath, sink-style....like we do with babies!!  She loved it...and it got the job done.  :)

09.01.2012: Thelma's 80th Pre-Birthday Surprise Lunch

On Saturday, Vince and I threw a little pre-birthday surprise luncheon for Thelma for her 80th.  Vince Jr, Paisley, Christina, Alexis, and Justice all came into town to surprise her.  Thelma hadn't met Paisley yet so she was soooo excited!! It was great having the kids there and letting them spend some quality time with Grandma without all the other cousins or relatives around.  I made an "Olive Garden" lunch since that is her favorite restaurant. We had the traditional Olive Garden salad, Pasta Fagoli soup, bread sticks that Christina brought from Olive Garden,  and Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo (with spinach)...all her favorites!  We had so much fun having lunch here at the house with just us all.  And Paisley, of course, stole the show!

 

 Had to give Paisley a little pre-game avacado/banana mash before Thelma got here. One of her favs.

 

Pre-nap bottle....



 

Nina & Pais

 

Surprise!!!!!

 

She still has the touch....

 

Practicing to be a big brother someday

Hmmm...how does this look?

And, Lex, how do you look with one of these???

Four generations of Hearns....

08.26.2012: A Duffy Kinda Day

Sunday was a GORGEOUS day in Newport!!  So what do you do for fun?....you yacht!!  Or if you don't have a yacht...DUFFY!  So we hit the water....  We boated our way over to our favorite little Sunday brunch spot, 333.  They have an amazing bloody mary bar, and build-it-yourself burritos.  Soooooo good!!!!  One of the best little finds in Newport.  They have a dock where we can park our "vessel"...and walk up to the restaurant.  What a great day in Newport!!!  This is just one of the things that I miss about Cali.....

 

08.25.2012: Christopher Cross Concert & Pageant of the Masters

Vince and I have been wanting to see Christopher Cross in concert FOREVER!  When I found out he was playing a special charity concert at the Pageant of the Masters festival in Laguna Beach, we just HAD to go.  Christina & Lex joined us for the evening.  We started out at a Thai restaurant in Laguna, which turned out to be amazingly good!  Then we walked over to the Pageant festival.  The concert itself was so good....in a super small venue...which was actually just on a lawn area in the middle of all the art exhibits.  Cross played for over an hour in this tiny little area...before the Pagaent began.  There were artist booths set up all over, so you could walk around and either just admire or actually buy some of the paintings & sculptures.  During the concert, we ended up "backstage" and Vince even got to talk to some of the band members....and then shake Christopher Cross's hand as he exited the stage.  We had such a good time....and the Pageant hadn't even begun yet!
 

For those that don't know, the Pageant is the most amazing artistic display I've ever seen.  It was a play, but the actors would freeze in transition to immulate famous paintings, the "Masters".  It was the most unique thing you could imagine.  We will definitely be back to see this again!!  It runs every year in Laguna for a couple weeks.....so try to see it if you can!!



 

08.23.2012: Surprise Catalina Day Trip

After us all spending the weekend in Riverside, Brent & Alisa left with all the kids (Drake too), and headed back to AZ.  Vince and I stayed in town to help out with watching Gramma & Papa.  On Thursday, I decided to surprise Vince with a little day-trip to Catalina.  Vince had never been, and it had been years since I was there.  It was an awesome trip!  We took the boat over early morning, and docked at Catalina around 10am.  The trip over was overcasrt and chilly...but gorgeous for us!!!  We saw a ton of dolphins...and a shark.  It was pretty cool.

 

Once we got in, we walked around the little town of Avalon a little...scouting out the good looking places for lunch.  We settled on a little Irish Pub...that had some Bloody Mary specials going.  We got our drinks and had a great lunch....then hit the streets again.  We walked everywhere...it was sooo nice!  Visited a few little shops....sat and watched the ocean....admired the boats docked on the bouys and dreamed of what ours would be like....and just people watched.  It was a good day for a show!!!  On our way back to the boat, we found a super cute little wine bar that also had some interesting micro-brews on tap that we dipped into.  We ended up making friends with the bartender...who eneded up being ex-military, and had an AMAZING story as to how he ended up in Catalina!!!!!  He was a young guy, and super personable.  We loved sitting there talking to him and trying out a few beers. He ended up comping our entire bill....and we promised him we would be back to visit soon.  We, as always, had the best time!!!

 

We took the ride home, and ended up sitting next to the nicest couple who where in Catalina for his birthday week.  Again, meeting the nicest people!!!

 

That night, we had dinner at Cannon's Grill.  A delicious restaurant, goregous view!  We spent the night in Dana Point that night.......  What a great little mini-vacation!