Rubi Ann Greco
Bria Makenzie Greco
Since we were in Orange County we made our way to Grandma Ballantyne's house for a visit, turning down any lunch that was offered and making sure Nadia knew the rule or she would be sorry (inside joke). It was sad for me as an Exercise Science degree holder to see my Grandma so inactive, so weak, and so frail.I guess thats part of the plan, get older, get wrinkly, get weaker, lose energy..Im not sure how much I will like that part of life, but I am glad Grandma is still alive at 86 years old, some arent as fortunate. After a visit to G & G Ballantyne's, we headed to Olive Garden, seems to be our usual stop from the airport, enjoyed laughs and a good time with Mom, Britt and the girls, and of course Ev too, can't forget him:: Next day we hung out with Mom, Bria and Naders. Dropped off Mom's car to get some repairs, did a little shopping, found FIESTA MARKET (a huge grocery store full of Mexican food::chiles, horchata, sandia, tamales, carne, dulce...todo) I envy everyone that can shop at that store while I have to pay triple the price here at the one and only:: Mercado de la Raza for flippin Masa Preparada and Hojas to make tamales..but then again I do live in Hawaii..so really I am not complaining just venting a little.
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So Ev and I love to watch the show Southland, its about LA police officers and stuff like that, so after watching the first season of that, I really wanted to learn how to shoot a gun. Mind you, my Dad could have taught me anytime I wanted to learn when I lived at home and only NOW am I wanting to learn..geez the things we take for granted..anyhoo..we had Josh take us out to the shooting range to shoot some rounds. We shot three different guns::
AR 15
Glock
12-gauge
Shooting a gun isnt as easy as point and shoot, like I thought. I really think that people should read the instruction manual before using those things. Theres a crazy amount of power in them, obviously if it could kill someone duh, I guess I always thought it would be a lot easier. So props to all those people that can actually hit a standing target and big props for all those that can hit a moving target. We had a good time, it was really fun and I got to shoot a gun, now thats pretty awesome.The funny thing was we had a target out about 100 ft and after we shot a round we were able to go check out our target, of course I claimed all the good ones, the shot in the gut, the one in the lower abdomen, top right shoulder...of course I did, who wouldnt? when in reality I think all my shots made him dance the Cha-cha and hit the mound of dirt or the ground in front of me..good times. Ev loved it too. Especially the Shotgun haha..man that thing hurts. Josh had to stand behind me because the gun shot the bullet forward and me back. thanks Josh for such a great time and for letting us waste all your ammo..what a brother..and just for his great sacrifice we bought him Del Taco, the ultimate reward!! Granted it cost us $28 for four people to eat we wont talk about how much all his ammo cost for us to shoot away.
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As a belated celebration of Ev's birthday, since we were on a plane the day of his birthday, I got all my family convinced on going to Six Flags Magic Mountain, but surprising Ev. We got hecka cheap tickets $26 bucks and on July 3rd, also in celebration of Jenny's 22nd birthday, we were at Six Flags for the whole day and night. Six Flags has some of the most amazing rides ever, the ridiculous part is that you have to wait in line sometimes over two hours just to ride one ride::sad day:: since we went on Independence Day weekend it was super packed. After getting on a couple rides in like three hours we decided we would check out the Flash Pass, which is like a Disneyland Fast Pass. Even though it was so expensive to get the Flash Pass my generous Mom bought them for us all so that we could enjoy the day. And if it werent for those passes it would have been a longer day still fun because we were together, but not as productive:: So thanks again MOM!! There were a few things that were pretty funny about our Six Flags trip:
1. Brandon (Brit's brother) blacking out 3 times or on just about every trip.
2. Mom and Ev after getting halfway down the ginormous drop on Goliath, were unable to even scream anymore!! weird feeling!
3. The smell of B.O. from random people standing in line for hours, when the misters were not working and they were relying on their own body to regulate its temperature and perspiration levels. Phew stinky... STANK..gag me!
4. The young kid from a different country, with really loose cloth pants and wait, was he even wearing underwear, standing in awkward positions leaving nothing to the imagination as to what gender this kid was...AWKWARD..it really annoyed Josh and Evan.
5. Two teenage girls were being pushed by their boyfriends in wheel chairs, just so they could get fast access to the ride, but when they had to walk down the stairs somehow, the girl was able to get up and walk out of the wheel chair, down the stairs then right back up the stairs...Cheaters!
6. The lines for the bathroom were ridiculous, so some ladies were just walking in the mens bathroom without hesitation.
7. Tatsu getting stuck while the people were facing down almost 200 ft for about 15 minutes.Then we decided to get on the ride after they fixed it and as we were going up that 200 ft facing down I was screaming "Oh my gosh Im going to die, what was I thinking!!Imagining myself falling out of the ride and dying...it was the craziest scariest yet most amazing ride ever! next to Goliath of course.
We missed you Ritchie and Greco family!
After a long busy Pre-4th of July, we had another great day as we celebrated our Country's freedom. We went to the good ole Nuevo Home town parade, but they changed around the route this year which put us at the very end of the parade, sorry kids no candy for you...but the parade had the norm Dancing horses( lots of horses) and just about a float for every club or sport in the area. The fire trucks were in the parade, then of course my 4th grade teacher Mr.House on his unicycle..the list goes on. After the parade we went back to Mom's house and grilled up some chickens, steak, burgers, and dogs. All good food and of course we had Brittanies famous sugar cookies specially made for this occasion (amazingly better than store bought ones, I happened to eat a store bought one and thought Brit changed her recipe or something then when I said this one tasted weird she said thats not my cookie, I was indeed relieved). We hung out for a bit then went swimming at Auntie Patty's. It was another busy but great day with the family. We didnt even see fireworks, I think I passed out before everyone was setting them off in their back yards. We missed the rest of our family the rest of our family though Jess, Chad, Kayla, Brian, Chunk,Audi, and Tony.
Naders laying on Ev
Super Evan
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One of Ev's favorite foods are tamales. He loves them, but you cant get a good sized one here to save your life. They are either too small and cost 6 bucks for 1 tamale or they are gross and you you dont even want to order them. So since I pretty much grew up Mexican with mi familia en la casa down the street, we of course turned to the experts for an exciting night of tamale making. I have made them before so I let Ev experience it first hand. I really wanted him to get an idea of how I grew up and what living in small town Nuevo, Ca was like. He was so excited to make tamales, he even said it with an accent Tom-all-less. We had a blast making tamales and I am grateful for Maria Garcia, Madre de mi familia mexicana, for sharing her talents with us and giving mi esposo an exicting night that he still talks about and tells everyone that he learned how to make tamales from "Maria" (he says that with an accent too, hes so cute) Because everything is so much more expensive here to buy to make tamales, I asked Ev,"do you really want to spend the money on this?" He said,"I'll walk around Hawaii with a little cart saying, Tamales, tamales buy your tamales here." After he said that I couldnt help but say ok. He really finds making tamales fun and getting all the ingredients for it, man its like a kid in a candy store. He really enjoys it. So thank you again Maria. Le amamos!
Maria and Ev
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After a night of tamales, we went out with Corey and went to an indoor kart racing track. It was a pretty sweet place. Pole Position has the race karts that go up to 45 miles per hour, nothing like at Mulligans where you are putt, putting along.. We raced three races. 14 laps equaled 1 race, so we were there for a few hours which was great. It was so great to spend time with Corey, my little brother, I love that kid, even if he can be a know it all sometimes, hes still a good kid.We also went to Evan's all time favorite fast food:: In and Out:: waited 25 minutes in the drive through...it was worth it though! Of course he savored every bite of his double double and his homemade fries because it was the last he was having of that until our next visit to the mainland.
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We have a temple here, actually within a 5 minute walk from us, but it is closed for the next year as it goes under renovations. So initially we had planned to go to the LA temple, Redlands temple, Newport temple, and San Diego so that we could get our full load of the temple, but as you can see from the above events, time just flew by and because I was working Mon-Thurs 8 hours a day, we just werent able to do everything, however we knew we needed to get to the temple. So Wednesday night before our departure, we headed to the San Diego temple with my Auntie. Our trip down there was full of conversation about the gospel, funny memories, our plans for the future and such. We had no traffic on the way down, which made for a smooth and happy entrance to the temple. After being sealed there almost 7 months ago, it was wonderful to be back to the temple together. To see the beautiful temple grounds and to feel the magnificant Spirit that dwells within. I love how this was the last thing we did before we left the next day. It was a great reminder of the closeness we should always feel to our Father in Heaven daily, despite the world and its evil influences and our day to day activities that fill our time.It was a great ending to a great trip! 
We are back home now...We miss our families, but we are thankful for all the fun memories we were able to make..Until we meet again..Aloha Nui Loa!!
We are back home now...We miss our families, but we are thankful for all the fun memories we were able to make..Until we meet again..Aloha Nui Loa!! 
Honolulu, Hawaii
