August was a busy month for us: the kids and I (and even my parents!) had bouts of illness and injury, Kai transitioned from daycare to preschool, and we prepared our Campbell house for new tenants.. all of this in addition to our aforementioned So Cal trip. So a little bit of August catch up is warranted...
They're constructing a new pedestrian pathway along the creekside road which comes up to our neighborhood. It's a good thing too: I've often commented to Nik that the road is too narrow, there are blind curves, and there are too many oblivious bikers/pedestrians. Anyway, we took the kids out to see the heavy machinery alongside the road.
We also celebrated Kai's daycare "graduation". Honestly, I've always thought that these frivolous graduation ceremonies were a bit silly, but I was genuinely sad to see Kai graduate! I guess these early graduations have more significance for parents than for kids. We also spent a lot of the summer evenings playing with Kai and Sora's daycare classmates at Ruskin, so with Kai, Ju Bao, and Nina all graduating, and the shorter daylight hours of late summer and fall, it seems like this little group of friends is disbanding. A bit sad, but I'm the sentimental type.
We were in charge of picking up the balloons for the party
Bright Star class of 2016 :P
Kai refused to sit still for the group photo
As we had done at Beyond Learning once upon a time, we had Xiaoyan take a few pictures of Kai at Bright Star before he finished up.
The after-school party crew
Kai and Leo are such great buddies :)
We celebrated Mason's second birthday with Chinese food and balloon animals. Our kids collected all the discarded balloon dogs that other guests left behind, so we ended up taking a bunch of balloon animals home. I spent the rest of the afternoon/evening hanging out at Pearl and Simon's. The novelty of Mason's toys kept the kids entertained and I got some much-needed adult conversation while the kids played. It's amazing how two tunnels and stairs can endlessly entertain four toddlers.
Two tunnels, stairs, and four toddlers.. what could go wrong?
When we returned from our So Cal trip, we had one day at home to recover and the next day, we sent Sora off to daycare and Kai had his first day of preschool at Agape. The transition from home daycare to home preschool has been easy. The first few days, as we drove to drop him off, Kai would ask if we would "stay for a little bit?" and we would stay for few minutes before leaving. Now when we drop him off, Kai usually runs off to see what the other kids are doing and then says, "bye bye Mama, have a good day at work!"
We had planned to have dinner with the Wrights before their big out-of-state move to send them off, but it ended up not working out since things on their end were so chaotic. Maybe we'll meet up with them for dinner in Colorado one of these days. ;) Instead, we ended up having an impromptu playdate with the Shaws which was great.
It was so hot in August.. lots of evenings spent playing at the Ruskin playground or auditorium with daycare friends, and popsicles. :) Also, the kids are making good use of their Thomas tent. They usually try to fit as many stuffed friends as possible in it or knock it down. Nik and I are afraid that they'll tear it apart one of these days.
You're a mess, baby girl!
We spent a lot of time in August at my parents' because of their injuries and ended up seeing Vienna a lot.. Sora really enjoys hanging out with Vienna Jie-Jie!
I've been a bit busy with travel, illness, and injury throughout August and September, so it's been difficult to keep up with my blog posts. Also in a fit of guilt, I finally made Sora's baby photo book. Hey, at least she isn't two yet! :)
Anyway, rewinding back to our So Cal trip a couple of weeks ago: we went down to So Cal to visit Matt, who recently moved to San Diego. We pulled an all-nighter and started our drive at 10:30 pm and ended up in San Diego a little after 5 am. Needless to say, upon our arrival, we were exhausted but we were grateful to have avoided LA traffic and two cranky, stir-crazy toddlers. Because of our early arrival, we decided to nap in the car and then got a quick breakfast at McDonald's, which Kai called, "Old McDonald's restaurant."
Unfortunately, Sora had a fever upon our arrival in San Diego and was cranky and exhausted, so as soon as we got in touch with Matt, Sora and I borrowed his bed and promptly fell asleep. Since we were so tired, we decided to take it easy and get burritos at Lucha Libre and go to the Children's Pool. Sora slept all through lunch, but perked up once we arrived at the beach. The seals who normally hang out on the beach were offshore, but that meant the beach was open to everyone else. The kids enjoyed playing in the sun, sand and surf, and danced on the waves. A day at the beach calls for ice cream, so before heading home we had a flight of ice cream at Hammond's Ice Cream. We then grabbed dinner and beers at the Ritual Kitchen.
Exploring a small cave adjacent to the beach
The next morning, after a breakfast of doughnuts (really just frosting and sprinkles for Kai and Sora), we headed out to Balboa Park. We rode the miniature train, Kai loved pointing out and naming the animal statuary along the track. We then rented a five-person bike; biking up hills was surprisingly exhausting for Matt and me, but it was a lot of fun. Kai kept yelling, "we going to crash!"
After Balboa Park, we headed up to La Jolla to meet Suzanne and Lakshmi at the Birch Aquarium. Kai was looking forward to seeing sharks and the aquarium was the perfect size for young children: not too small and not too big. Lakshmi played big sister to Kai and Sora, the later the kids bonded while watching Frozen music videos.
We then headed out to the beach yet again, this time to La Jolla Shores, which felt like a quintessential So Cal beach in the best possible way. The sand was so soft and fine, that we were still cleaning it out of our clothes and car weeks after the trip. Kai immediately made a beeline for the surf and stripped down naked once his clothes got wet. It was difficult to get the kids to leave the beach, but eventually we had a casual dinner at Shore Rider, facilitated by letting the kids watch the tablet as they ate.
We met Luis and Lizette the next day. We met Luciano for the first time and our kids enjoyed running amok with Lazaro and Leonardo; they also enjoyed ransacking the boys' extensive toy collection. After lunch, we headed back into town and the kids had their first taste of Rita's and loved it. We then met Tiffany at a playground, and watched as a random guy blew bubbles in the park; his proprietary bubble recipe includes Dawn dish soap, glycerin, beer, and K-Y jelly (O_o) among other things. For dinner, we got some pretty legit Thai takeout from Bahn Thai (Nik can attest to it). After putting the kids to bed, we caught up with Matt over a bottle of wine.
The next morning, we packed up as quickly as we could with two toddlers and set off for Orange County to visit Mauri and Lauren. We met Elena for the first time and had a delicious, home-cooked brunch. The novelty of their two doggies and all of Viviana's toys kept the kids busy at first, but eventually Kai and Sora started fighting over the same toys as they always do these days. We then set out to meet Sabrina and Josephine, it was wonderful to catch up while the kids played.
Cuties
Enjoying Kiryn's recliner
The next day was dedicated to Disneyland. We had been on the fence regarding which park to visit: Disneyland or California Adventure. Disneyland eventually won out since it's the classic.We took advantage of Kai's small stature to sneak him in for free, Asian-style. Kai enjoyed the Jungle Cruise the most, he liked pointing out the animals, though the crocodiles scared him. The carousel was also a hit. Unfortunately for our little train enthusiast, the Disneyland Railroad was closed for renovations, but Kai and Sora enjoyed climbing around the cars. It's a Small World, seemed to be a neutral and Kai fell asleep by the end of the ride while we enjoyed the much-needed A/C. The Winnie the Pooh ride and Sleeping Beauty's castle were both deemed to be "too scary," and after waiting in line for 30 minutes, Kai refused to get on the Dumbo ride (though he waved to Sora and me as we rode). We visited Minnie, Mickey, and Donald's houses in Toontown and adorably, Kai stopped and tried to take off his shoes before entering Minnie's house (we've trained him well). Exploring Mickey's house, Kai seemed apprehensive in the dimly lit areas. We waited in line to meet Mickey Mouse and though Sora seemed to enjoy it, Kai bawled throughout the entire encounter. Later he told us, "Mickey's head too big." Sora took everything in stride and perhaps it's just the fact that she's younger and lacks the awareness that Kai has, but nothing seemed to faze her.
We couldn't get Kai to sit still for this picture..
.. instead, he was off posing with Pluto.
Jungle Cruise
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Disneyland Railroad
They let visitors climb aboard the passenger cars and take pictures in the engine cab, even though the railroad was closed.
It's a Small World
Visiting's Mickey's house.. the kids are both watching Mickey's TV -_-
"Wah! Mickey's head too big!"
King Arthur Carrousel
Dumbo the Flying Elephant
Kai and Sora were each allotted one Disneyland souvenir. At first, Sora picked a topsy turvy Anna and Elsa doll, I balked at the $36 price tag, but figured, "What the hey, it's Disneyland." But when we went to souvenir store, the doll that Sora had loved was quickly forgotten and Sora picked out another stuffed toy, and another, and another. Eventually, we ended up returning Anna/Elsa for Minnie Mouse. But then Sora saw the light up, musical bubble wand that Kai had picked out and we ended up returning Minnie for a second bubble wand.
Hands down, the biggest hit for Kai and Sora was the Paint the Night parade. The kids missed the afternoon parade since they were napping at that time. Kai loved the floats: especially Lightning McQueen, Mac Truck, and Slinky Dog, and Sora loved Olaf and Minnie Mouse. In between floats, dancers wore lighted costumes and they freaked Kai out. Every time dancers came by, he would hide behind a nearby bench.
Disneyland really is magical
Nik and I had a few moments: we visited the new Star Wars Launch Bay. Kai likes BB-8 and calls it "little robot." While the kids napped in the afternoon, we had the famous pineapple Dole whip (the line to get Dole whip was longer than for some of the rides!) and got fried chicken at the Plaza Inn. But the kids were soon awake and back to their usual antics.
From fencing with lollypops..
.. to passed out.
That means it's time for us to get a treat for ourselves!
We left soon after the parade. Exhausted after a long day, the next morning everyone slept in. While in Orange County, we stayed with Jo and Tom, the kids loved Scout (although I'm not sure if the feeling was mutual). We decided to keep it low-key and visited the community playground and pool.. the kids had so much fun at the pool! After a quick rinse, we had a dim sum lunch with Jo and Tom, and a scare when Kai briefly disappeared. It turns out, he had wandered out a restaurant side exit into the parking lot (!!). The kids fell asleep after lunch and after packing up quickly, we headed up to LA.
The Disneyland hangover
We met Angel in K-Town at possibly the most kid-friendly restaurant ever. Lemon Tree has a pretty elaborate play area with a miniature train and carousel. The kids loved the jungle gym and Sora couldn't get enough of the carousel. The play area is attached to the dining room and there is an attendant watching the play area at all times. If that wasn't enough, you can also monitor your kids via cameras and TVs mounted on the dining room walls. Unfortunately the food wasn't spectacular, but we did have a good time catching up with Angel while the kids ran amok.
After dinner, we opted for another late night drive back home. We got stuck in a bit of traffic leaving LA (we definitely don't miss that!) and fortunately, the kids slept most of the way home. We got back home at 2 am, enough time to enjoy the luxury of sleeping in our own beds. Even though it was exhausting, the nighttime drives were worth it. All in all, it was a fast-paced and occasionally exhausting trip, but we had a great time catching up with Matt and friends, and hanging out with the kiddos.
