Admittedly, when we returned from Hawaii, we didn't feel like doing much. But with two kids, work, and Kai's birthday quickly approaching, that wasn't an option. Thankfully our two little seasoned travelers adjusted back to Pacific Standard Time with relative ease and only required one day out of daycare to adjust. Unfortunately, Sora had gotten used to being picked up immediately and co-sleeping with me because of the trip, so we had to sleep train her again once we got back home. There were a miserable few nights (our stubborn little girl cried for a solid 1 1/2 hours one night) and I even ended up sleeping on the floor of our closet one night just to escape her cries.
Deceptively peaceful
Mother's Day was relatively low-key (though I received two very lovely bouquets of flowers from Nik and Kai) since we were still recovering from our trip and Nik had to work that evening, but that morning, the kids (and I) didn't wake up until 8:47 am which is completely unheard of. Thank you, kids and thank you, jet lag. :)
My Mother's Day gift
But once we got back into a rhythm, it was back to the usual routines.
Climbing up ladders like a pro
Our little bookworms can't wait to read their new book
And thanks to a friend who waited in line for two hours (I don't think Nik or I have the patience!), we even managed to visit the super-popular Din Tai Fung, which made its Northern California debut a few weeks ago.
Since Kai's birthday was a week after our return from Hawaii, we opted to postpone Kai's big birthday party for two weeks. On Kai's actual birthday, we had a small party at his daycare. The kids loved the cake and balloons!
It's definitely unsafe to drive with so many balloons in the car
The day after Kai's birthday, LSCC had a big outreach event at Pump It Up, so Kai got his birthday wish of having a "jump and slide" party.
My parents' birthday gift to Kai was a set of customizable cars which came with sticker decals and paint, so of course, Kai had to paint them.
Kai's big birthday party was just this past weekend and it felt like a sprint to the finish: Nik and I were scrambling to get the house in order, get supplies for the party, order food, and figure out how to entertain 20+ kids. But everyone had a good time and most importantly, Kai had a lot of fun. Near the end of the party, since it was a warm day, Nik let the kids play with the water hose in the backyard and the kids loved it. Seriously, who needs to rent a bounce house when you have a water hose?
Birthday chaos
The bubble machine: the best $10 investment ever
Kai didn't want to give up his nice helium balloons, so when I asked him choose a balloon to give to Evelyn, he chose the glove balloon that we had blown up for him at the pedi office. Clever boy.
Toy-mageddon
In the days following our return home, Nik had a long stretch of evening shifts and with Grandma Udom up in Portland, I had to figure out how to entertain and feed two kids on my own. Needless to say, I survived and surprisingly, it wasn't too bad.
The library is always a favorite
"Mama ap-ple!"
One morning, I even took the kids out to Emma Prusch Farm on my own to give Nik a break, though Chris and April were gracious enough to come by in the evening to help out.
Much to the kids' delight, there were pigs in the barn..
.. and a lot of ducklings to feed.
With Kai's big birthday party, my Mom's birthday, and the Memorial Day holiday, this past weekend was really busy. As usual, we started off with small group on Friday and remarkably, Pastor Josh babysat all the kids without the aid of a screen. Nik and I were duly impressed by his child-wrangling abilities.
Saturday was Kai's big birthday party and Sunday was my Mom's birthday. Nik was working that evening and my Mom wanted to have dinner out, so my birthday gift to her was taking the kids out to a restaurant on my own (a feat I would never attempt under normal circumstances). It was a three hour long ordeal and I have no pictures of my own to document to occasion (who has time to take pictures??). Though he hardly ate a bite, Kai managed by watching Thomas on my phone and with lots of help from Uncle David and everyone was impressed with Sora's sophisticated palate as she slurped down the fish maw soup.
On Memorial Day, we drove down to Monterey with some friends from church. I was amazed that there was no traffic on the drive down and we arrived early enough that there was still ample parking at Dennis the Menace Park. The kids ran around the various play structures, but eventually settled down to play in the sand.
We then walked over to the nearby beach and it was perfect beach-going weather: warm, with clear blue skies. In fact, when Kai first saw the beach and ocean, he exclaimed, "Hawaii!" The sand was soft and fine with gold flecks in it and we even found a small fish trapped in the shallow surf (we captured it and then set it free in deeper waters). Kai and Sora loved playing in the surf and Sora, our little daredevil, would walk out into surf until she was waist-deep in water.. she would've gone out further, but Nik held her back. After we had dried off the kids and changed their clothes, they busied themselves by obstructing Ansel and Scott's efforts to build a trench in the sand. We had a late lunch of sandwiches and though we ended up with a 2 1/2 hour, traffic-filled drive back home, it was a wonderful day and completely worth it.
Napping on the walk to the beach
A beautiful day in Monterey with my favorite boys
A real live fish!
Sora versus the sea
"Queen" of the hill
Evelyn: "NOOOOOOO!"
"This is a great spot to sit and eat chicken."
It's been a busy past couple of days since we've returned from Hawaii and the summer's just getting started. Looking forward to more good times! A few more pictures.. no narrative required.
