Boomers

Alex and I took Stacey to Boomer's on Friday afternoon for some fun.




We went on the bumper boats later and got soaked. I wonder who got Alex and I so soaked? Hmmm...


So we played some miniature golf and hung out in the arcade while we dried off.

by Armilyn

Beach Day

Our church had a beach day Saturday down at Bolsa Chica State Beach. Alex of course, loved the waves, until a big one wiped him out near the end of the day! He was okay, but he had had enough.







Most of the Noche Family


Building a sand castle


David playing volleyball


Snack break


Sister Sel and Alex being mischevious, pouring sand on napping friends


A minute before the wipeout

by Armilyn

Thomas O’Brien

One of our favorite designers is Thomas O’Brien. He has a clean, masculine style that combines modern and classic styles into a fresh look that appeals to men and women. He has a line of housewares at Target called Vintage Modern as well as very high-end tableware and select furniture at Bloomingdale’s, as well as collections for Hickory Chair, Waterworks, Visual Comfort, and finally his uber-store, Aero, in Soho, NYC. Here is a link to a pdf download about Aero.





images from Apartment Therapy

Here is an interview I found on youtube:



The video appears to be a few years old, as the store looks like the previous location and the apartment with the glass dome was completed some years ago. Here is a link to a pdf from his website that shows you the entire stunning apartment. (About a 1mb download) The wood paneled, circular room is the one with the dome. I would kill for that awesome oak pool table with taupe felt!

by David

Amy Tan on creativity

Here is the author Amy Tan talking on creativity and creating something out of nothing (hey, that's the name of our blog!). Warning: it's a 22 minute video.



from the amazing, annual TED Conference

by David

Parties & More

Saturday was a busy day of parties.

Back in May, when we had Alex's birthday with kids from his class, we had no idea we were at the beginning of a wave of birthday parties from his class. Every 3 weeks since then has been another birthday for a classmate. Saturday's was Amanda and her older brother Joseph's pool party. It was held at their great-aunt's house, who happens to teach swimming to little kids--one of her students was a 9-10 month old girl who astounded us by how well she was swimming!



The birthday girl, Amanda


Lucas, one Alex's best buds at school


Amanda’s brother, Joseph, and mom, Elizabeth


Alex discovering the joy of lounging by the pool

We had to leave the party early, as Armilyn and I had to go to a wedding in downtown LA. We had an hour to get home, shower, get dressed, and drop off Alex at Oma and Opa's house. When we left, we saw Dad coming home on his motorcycle from the hardware store.


The wedding was for Armilyn's distant cousin, Carlito and his bride Mylah. We later found out it was the first anniversary of their civil marriage, so this was the church wedding. Well, the wedding was at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, the huge, new (a few years old) cathedral in downtown. We had never been there, just driven by a few times. This place was amazing. Very modern on the outside, but still beautiful and spiritual on the inside.


A panorama after the wedding, from the back of the cathedral



The beautiful cross above the altar, inside and outside


Detail of the lights in the cathedral


The happy couple posing for pics in the cathedral garden.


A panorama of the garden photo shoot. Click for a bigger picture


The Ancheta girls strike a pose

So as we were waiting for the photo shoot to end, we went downstairs to the masoleum as Justine's dad said Gregory Peck was laid to rest there. We found him.


Well, I immediately noticed that 2 spaces to the right and 1 space down from Mr. Peck is the future resting place of another (unrelated?) Ancheta girl. Cue the Twilight Zone music.


The reception was at Lumineria, a hill top restaurant in Monterey Park. Our cellphone battery was low, so no pics, but we had a great time and the food, once it arrived, was delicious.

All in all, a busy but fun day.

by David

Corona del Mar

Wednesday we went to Corona del Mar with Melissa, Steve and the kids before they went back to Austin. Steve's parents and his eldest brother Mike and his 3 boys also came along.

We got there late in the afternoon, but found plenty of parking in the lot. We took everyone to the little cove that is on the other side of the rocks, facing into the jetty. It's enclosed, so the kids can only wander off so far. Mike's boys loved it as well as Alex, even though the water was COLD! Maddy went in for a little, but was content to build a humungous sand castle with Grandma and Steve's help.




Wyatt, Will, and Eli



by Armilyn

Summer Concerts in the park

This past Thursday was the first in the annual summer concert series that Fountain Valley throws. The band that night was Caravana, a Latin/blues/rock band with a definite Santana influence. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pics of the band.

Two of Alex's bus mates, Louis and Stacy, came along with us. Both are in 6th grade and help the bus drivers with little kids like Alex, making sure they are buckled in their seats and such. When Alex came home earlier that day, I asked Louis if he wanted to go to the concert and he was so excited! When we got to the concert, he called Stacy, since he couldn't find any of his friends, so I went and picked her up.

There were local businesses giving away frisbees and various balls, so we spent most of the concert playing catch in the field.


Alex catching his breath in between games of catch



The kids enjoying their (second) free sno-cone

by Armilyn

New autism blog + America’s Got Talent

One of the local newspaper's just launched an autism blog: OC Register Autism blog

Scroll down the blog for a post on this 9-year old boy with Asperger's who is competing on "America's Got Talent". We don't usually watch that show, but he definitely steals your heart. Reminds us of our own budding musician, Alex!