Well, after another couple of months of post-LSAT fun living it up in Oregon and Huntington Beach, CA we are currently in a little place called Binghamton, NY. Before I get started about Binghamton let’s get caught up with our time in California.
After bringing Paige up to Oregon where we went on our excursions getting the best of North Bend and hanging out at the lake, we headed back to California where we entertained Paige’s cousins and extended family from her mom, Cynthia’s side of the family.
It was awesome meeting Todd and Connie, (Cynthia’s brother and sister) as well as all of their children, Kyle, Alex, Anna, and Jimmy. Anna also brought her friend, Jennifer, who was nice to meet. We got a chance to hang out at the beach a lot at Crystal Cove, and the Huntington Pier.
We also got a chance to play a lot of volleyball and beach soccer. Both Kyle and Alex play soccer in high school. Overall it was a great time and my game, Aggravation, which has been in the family for many years kept us all entertained. Other than that it was other games like Risk and the card game ‘Oh Hell’.
Once they left Paige and I had a chance to focus on securing our wedding venue. After beginning to lose hope, we stumbled across this amazing place after Paige convinced me to drive down near San Diego to check out Condor’s Nest Ranch.
This place is awesome. As much as I would like to elaborate, however, just check out their site and I will write more a bout it later. I have a lot to cover today.
Next thing, Paige’s best friends from high school, Jordan and Amanda, came to visit us in Huntington Beach. We picked them up from the airport and we all had a great time together. We had ANOTHER long day at the beach where my Dutch friend, Sjoerd, three of his friends met up with us while traveling down the west coast. What a great time! Those guys were awesome and the day went by really fast. I hadn’t seen Sjoerd in two years since I was living in Costa Rica.
Later, the girls and I took a little day trip up to Santa Monica, Venice Beach, and Korea town in Los Angeles. They did a little window shopping and we ran the gauntlet at Venice beach trying to keep all the guys from hitting on the girls. For dinner we ate at an all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue restaurant called “Manna” which was amazingly very authentic. We all loved it.
The last day we took it easy and I played in a soccer game with a Latino team who I played with once before. It was a good time, having won the game, and I also scored a nice goal early on. Somehow, though, from a header I hurt my neck from some kind of muscle spasm and for this last week my neck and upper back has been really killing me.
Paige is feeling great now having chosen our wedding venue and now we are focusing our efforts on booking the photographer (which is proving to be VERY expensive). We have a few in mind and are excited about it. The official wedding date is August 6th, 2011. It will be right before I am scheduled to start attending law school. Oh, and on that note, I officially have everything ready for my law school applications except for my written personal statement. I was excited to get my last letter of recommendation in TODAY. The other day I got my transcripts from SOCC, the Community College where I have about 7 credits (not exactly meaningful but required none the less).
Monday night we left for Binghamton, NY to visit Paul’s side of the family. We flew in on the red-eye flight and with my neck injury I slept a total of 0 minutes to arrive to Binghamton 9 hours later without our suitcases. But the next day we got our bags and got comfortable. The last few days were spent just hangin out in this economically depress city, but without the depressed feeling being surrounded by family. Paul’s mother and father are both wonderful people. I am slowly learning how the complicated relationships fit together and have been delighted by the presence of all parties. Paul’s father’s (Paul) girlfriend, Joan, as well as Paul’s mother’s (Jeanne) husband, Charlie are both great.
We spent the day yesterday at a lake doing some swimming at sat near the bonfire with Jeanne and Charlie and Paul’s half-brother, Brian and his family. The little kids tend to follow me around a lot which is often annoying, but fun as they keep things interesting. We had a great time taking pictures of our sparkler art work by the fire.
We have a lot going on soon. Today we are going to the Annual Spiedie Fest. Read up on Spiedies to find out how important they are in this area. I am excited. Tomorrow is a best ball golf tournament for a pancreatic cancer research fundraiser. Then, Sunday we will be running in a 5K race (not sure the cause).
Wow! That’s a lot. Keep tuned in and I will follow up on all this stuff.
Love to hear your comments!
-Kyle
