The great outdoors

This past weekend was spent roughing it in the great outdoors. We went tent camping at Sunset Beach State Park with huge group of our church friends. Nik and I haven't gone camping a tent since B.K. (Before Kids) and prior to the trip, we were a little leery of how the weekend would go. But our fears proved to be unfounded and all in all, we a great time. Putting up the tent took a while and we were jealous of our friends who put up their tent in less than five minutes.. Nik and I may need to invest in an instant tent if we decide to go camping more often.

Nik and his assistant

Tent + inflatable mattresses makes a great impromptu bounce house.. especially while the adults set up camp.

As the name implies, Sunset Beach is right by the beach, and we spent hours with playing in the surf and sand (I have the sunburn to prove it). We spent five hours (!) at the beach on our first full day camping and predictably, we all passed out in the evening.

Passed out after a long day at the beach

The next day, we went strawberry picking. Kai was discerning and only picked out the reddest of berries. However, our little boy also decided that jumping in the big, muddy puddle in the middle of the strawberry patch was a good idea, and required an outfit change midway through. Strawberry picking was then followed by another long afternoon at the beach.

"Hm, this requires a taste test."

"

"Sprawled out on the sand in my clothes and I don't care."

Everyone wanted to be buried in the sand..

.. and eventually, Kai wanted to join in on the fun!

Camp food with LSCC was awesome and we could tell we were in the company of veteran campers. Kai and Sora loved the unlimited supply of marshmallows (although they were not fans of roasted variant).

Breakfast at the kids' table

Sora's first s'more!

The kids got so dirty playing and running around and this was the first trip that I did not overpack since we were constantly changing their clothes.

The big tree in the middle of the campsite was a popular hang out site for the big kids..

.. and of course, Sora wanted to get in on the action!

 

We never really managed to stay for the evening campfires since it was too cold in the evenings, the kids slept early, and we were too exhausted to leave our tent once the kids were asleep.

The kids loved playing and sleeping in a tent and slept better than we had hoped.

Kai slept in the peapod, wearing a snow bib..

.. and Sora was bundled up in the snowsuit, while she slept in her pack 'n play.

So happy while playing together in the tent

Sibling ♥

We missed the first group photo since our kids take forever to get ready, but fortunately, we took another one at the strawberry patch. 15 families (with 37 kids!) participated in this year's camping trip, but it was a surprisingly smooth operation. Kai's already looking forward to going camping again. :)

Gotta catch 'em all!

Nik and I have caved into the the recent Pokemon Go craze.. though we're not really into it (after all, we do have responsibilities and two young children), I have to admit that it's a fun diversion to see Pokemon in the augmented reality world.

A wild Zubat in Popeye's

Nowadays when we go to my parents' house, Kai likes to take Brownie out for a walk and he's surprisingly good at it. Walking around the neighborhood with the kids is a two person job, because Kai covers a lot more distance than Sora. Sora walked past a record setting 12 houses this past Sunday, though she's constantly getting distracted by leaves, flowers, dirt, cars, etc.

We continue to try to give Kai more responsibilities. We're beginning to let him brush his own teeth, although we always brush his teeth afterwards. I volunteered to let him brush my teeth the other day and he really enjoyed having the tables turned. We also let the kids "clean up" after dinner today.. although I had to follow up with a more thorough cleaning afterwards.

Starting them young

I worked last weekend, so Nik took the kids out to back-to-back birthday parties on his own. Although it was tiring for Nik, the kids had fun. Sora was really interested in playing with the big kids at David's birthday party, but got eliminated first while playing hot potato and both kids really enjoyed the ice cream from Noe's birthday party.

"The toppings are the best part!"

Kai and some of his daycare friends will be starting preschool in August and we're sad that this little group of friends will soon be disbanded. When I picked up the kids from daycare this evening, Kai ran to the schoolyard asking, "Where are my friends?" until we finally found them playing in the school auditorium, hiding from the summer heat. Hopefully we'll be able to keep in touch in the future.

All the same, we've been hearing from Miss Sun that Kai and Sora fight a lot during the day so perhaps it's best that they part ways for a bit.

Not fighting when they're distracted by TV

"Who me? Troublemaker? Nooo..."

You don't tell me what to do, Baba!

Today's amusing toddler comment of the day came during dinner. Nik was encouraging Kai to eat his quesadilla normally instead of just picking out the cheese and Kai replied, "You don't tell me what to do, Baba!" I had to turn my back and stifle my laugh so Kai wouldn't notice my amusement. I'm certain that this will not be the last time we hear this retort and in the future it probably won't be as funny. Ah, kids.

Fourth of July weekend with the kids was fun. Though Nik worked for much of the weekend, we managed to go to a birthday party and our neighborhood block party. Kai threw discarded big red cups and water balloon scraps in the kiddie pool until it looked like a frat party aftermath. Nik and I represented 982 in the watermelon eating contest and drift trike race.. needless to say, neither of us won.. there's always next year!

Since Nik was working through most of the Fourth of July holiday, I took the kids to our church picnic at Vasona Park. The kids loved the kiddie train ride, bounce house, and balloon creations. Sora loves her balloon Elmo and hugged it closely after she got it, saying, "Elmo, Elmo, Elmo."

Back in June, we celebrated the tenth anniversary of the day we met each other at Alberto's (yes, we still keep track of these random anniversaries), amazing how that chance meeting changed our lives so completely. Since the kids were in daycare, we went on a hike together at Alum Rock Park.

Ten years ago: we look so young and still wear the same clothes

More white hairs and wrinkles, but still happy! :)

We also celebrated Father's Day.. the kids and I made a handprint craft to give to Nik. It was a mess and getting good looking handprints for two toddlers was a lot more difficult than I had thought it would be.

Kai and Sora love their Baba

The finished product!

Father's Day photobomb

We took the kids out of daycare for a trip out to the Children's Discovery Museum. The kids had earned free admission tickets from the library Summer Reading Challenge. I'm not sure if the kids "learned" anything per say.. but they had a lot of fun! There was lots to do and see. The kids loved getting messy in the bubble and water play area (thank goodness for spare clothing!).

Jets of water shoot plastic balls up in the air in the water play area

Home life remains chaotic but happy. We've been attempting to channel all of Kai's toddler energy into having him help more. We theorize that this will help foster his sense of independence and give him more ownership over the situation. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. But Kai continues to impress us with his ability to remember events from a while ago (tonight he mentioned having seen snow before at "the other house".. a reference to our snow trip??) and memorize whole passages from books.

Making cinnamon rolls for breakfast

"Fly higher, higher!"

Sora continues to be the doting little sister and also tries to help Kai whenever she can. She tries to do everything that Kai does and we think that she may be potty trained before she turns two (we returned two big boxes of diapers today). But she's starting to develop a bit of a toddler attitude and we hear a lot of "no's" and "bu yao's" from her these days.

Sora: "Say 'ah,' Kai-Kai!"

A popsicle in one hand and a chicken drumstick in the other. "Don't judge me."

With the great summer weather, we've been spending a lot of time outdoors.

Testing out his new scooter

Painting: always entertaining, but what a mess.

But sometimes when it's really hot, we escape to the indoors and still manage to have a lot of fun.

A piano quartet with Ju Bao and Luna

And sunglasses are all the rage in our house these days...