The Lynns

March Tahoe Trip with Friends

2011-07-21T19:46:00.000-07:00

The first weekend in March five families converged at Northstar -- us, the Pao/Lins, the Yangs, the Yaus, and the Yungs. The Pao/Lins stayed with us at the Hyatt. The Yaus and the Yangs shared a Ski Trail condo off the Village Run. And the Yungs with Joyce's mom in tow stayed in another condo.

Maile came down with a fever and spent most of the day Saturday watching TV. Rich took Zoe and Hannah out skiing while Al took Zachary out. And I took Beck out with a hula hoop in tow. In line for one of the lifts, I ran into Rich's cousin, Aimee. On our way down I saw the small magic carpet by the Ritz Carlton. We had already passed it when I noticed it, so we had to walk uphill a little on skis to get to it. It's a great little magic carpet because hardly anyone uses it and it's on a part of the run where there are not a lot of people. Our first run off that magic carpet I felt Beck finally got the wedge.

When we returned back to the Hyatt, most of the group was gathered on the top of the ski-in slope of the Hyatt.

That evening we had everyone over for dinner. It was fun and definitely lively with all the kids. Here's everyone's favorite Auntie playing a slap game with the kids.

That night Maile had a night terror that I think was brought on by all the TV watching, in particular Spongebob Squarepants. I have never been a fan of Spongebob. It might be fun, but I can't get passed the drawing style.

Before we headed home, Beck showed Hansel some of his ski moves, and the kids got in some more play time in the snow.

Below are a couple of photos from Sunday morning.

Kinect Dance Central

2011-06-04T16:11:00.000-07:00

Maile and Beck don't play Kinect Dance Central that much. I think because beyond Poker Face's easy dance the dances are still too hard for them, but Mathis seems to like that game. I think it's the music. Below are some photos from the beginning of March of Mathis busting some moves and a couple with Beck.

I had a clearer pic like the above but I love the expression here more.

2/26 GNO and Leilani's Baby Sprinkle

2011-05-30T17:48:00.000-07:00

We had a Girls' Night Out planned for 2/26. Since Leilani did not want a full-blown shower for baby #3, we used the occasion as an opportunity to celebrate her impending babydom. Margie hooked us up with the chef's table at 5A5 (http://www.5a5stk.com/). It's a super swanky steakhouse lounge started by Steve Chen (SF's Asian Social King, my words not his), and in which Margie has a small piece of the action (the restaurant not Steve).

To get there most of us met up at Margie's place in San Mateo, and then I drove us up in the swagger wagon. We thought it'd be funny to drive up to the door in the minivan and valet, but we went with a primo street parking only a half block away.

We let Margie to the ordering. Even though it's a steakhouse, I had plenty to enjoy. I especially remember the hamachi shooters. Admittedly, I was a little nervous about shooting it and gagging, but everything made it down.

For the baby sprinkle part, Vicki made some super cute bunny cake pops. Yes, made. She made enough for everyone's kids. I was tempted to eat Mathis' but I settled on a bite. And Lei got a couple of presents or I should say the baby did.

It was great to get out and to see everyone, esp Ann, whom I hadn't seen since her baby shower in late July for her twin girls.

Here's a photo of the kids eating the cake pops the next day.

February Tahoe Trip

2011-05-28T20:12:00.000-07:00

Maile's school gets the Thursday and Friday before Presidents' Day off. So we booked our Northstar timeshare for that Wed and Thurs night. We left around 3p and got there in 4.5 hrs even with snowfall and a stop at the Safeway in Truckee. Hansel, having grown up in Iowa, can handle driving in the snow better than I. Although, he did fishtail a little a couple of times.

Hyatt needed to use our unit for part of a party of nine, so they bumped us up to a 3-bedroom, which has two master suites. We tried to convince a couple of people to play hooky from work and stay with us, but no takers. So the extra bedroom suite went to waste.

It snowed a lot while we were there as you can see in the below photos.

The kids helped the ski valet clean off the snow on the fire pit and chairs.

They then showed off the fruits of their labor.

Thursday night we watched a movie at the Hyatt's theater room. The kids picked Open Season. Even though we had stayed at the Hyatt a handful of times already, this was our first time using the room. It was a nice treat.

Before leaving Friday, Hansel and the big kids got in a good soak.

Lunar New Year Celebrations

2011-04-22T19:48:00.000-07:00

While my mom and brother were in town, Beck's school had their Annual Lunar New Year Event. It includes class performances, silent auction, live auction, and a buffet lunch. This year I found out that we could get non-lunch tickets, which was a nice discovery. Last year the buffet took a while as is usually the case with buffets. Without going through that, we could get home at a reasonable time for Mathis to nap.

They had the silent auction items set up outside the hall. We bid on a week's worth of hot lunches and rock-climbing lessons for 3 kids. Hansel went back out close to the silent auction end time to check on the rock-climbing bids. He ended up raising our bid but still under the estimated value (we are cheap contributors). We ended up winning the lessons. Almost 3 months later, and we still haven't set up the lessons.

Even though it's the year of the rabbit, Beck's class did the story of the mouse bride, which is a Chinese Zodiac story, for their performance. The room parents made the cool visors and veils for the kids.

Maile's class, as well as the other Mandarin-Immersion classes, performed for a school assembly. Maile's school has combined-grade classes, so Maile's class is made of up Kindergarteners and 1st graders. The Kindergarteners sat at the foot of the stage and sang (softly) while the 1st-graders danced with ribbons. I took Beck with me to watch before dropping him off at school.

The Kings Visit

2011-04-22T19:23:00.000-07:00

My mom and brother were here during their Lunar New Year break. My mom came a week or so before Ed. We always eat well when she is here. All the kids love Ed because he really gets down and plays with them. Below are some photos from their visit.

In the first photo, Ed is holding up Mathis while Maile is grabbing the bottom of Ed's leg.

Random January Photos

2011-04-20T19:51:00.000-07:00

First, a couple more photos from the January Tahoe trip.

Below is a family photo we took early in the month. Looks like all of us except for Hansel are watching the TV not the camera.

Before Christmas Maile only had shoes with velcro, a buckle, or slip on. So, she never needed to learn how to tie her shoes. But during Christmas break in DC, GrandMama bought Maile some light-up shoes with laces. So, below is a photo of Hansel teaching Maile how to tie a bow.

During the month we watched a stick sculpture go up in front of the Palo Alto Art Center. We went to visit it a couple of times when it was almost done. Not only is it a cool-looking sculpture, but you can go in and out of it.

Tahoe in January

2011-04-18T20:11:00.000-07:00

For the last weekend in January, we planned a trip to Tahoe with 3 other families -- the Lins, the Shens, and the Yaus. We ended up booking a house in Kings Beach about a 10 min drive to Tahoe. The house had 4 bedrooms and 4 full bathrooms, having a bathroom for each family was nice. We took the bunk room, which had two sets of twin-over-full bunk beds. There was also enough air mattresses to go around that noone had to sleep on the actual floor or on a couch.

The house was a two-story, so there was a flight of stairs that the kids, especially the boys, couldn't get enough of. Although in the below photo, there are more girls.

Saturday morning it took a while for people to get gear and tickets and head over to the Highlands gondola since the main gondola already had a long line. So we didn't all get on the mountain until mid-morning. Hansel and I with Mathis in tow tried to show Beck some moves on a little incline by the Snowboard school while Maile skied with Al, Hannah, and Zachary. We were on the mountain less than an hour when we figured we needed to head back down to get our car from 2-hr parking.

All of us except Al, Stew, Hannah, and Maile headed back to the house for lunch and naps. Al ran into a friend who was now a ski instructor and got in a few runs with him and some helpful tips. For dinner we had pasta and pizza, and the kids helped make cookies for dessert.

We had brought some loops that is meant to be used with a loom, but I didn't realize the box did not include the loom. Maile and Hannah had strung all the loops together, and Hansel helped string the loops across the bunk room. We told the kids to pretend they were lasers and to not touch them or an alarm would go off.

There was also lots of movie watching and iPad/iPhone playing with some trains mixed in.

Sunday morning the Yaus, Hansel, and Maile headed out first. They had planned to return to pack up the cars and leave from the house. But after Leilani had a driving scare, they figured it would be easier if those that were still at the house just put the Yaus stuff, which was already packed, in our van and meet them at Northstar. Doing that and the minimal cleaning that was required actually took the rest of us a while. The clean-up stuff made me appreciate our timeshare, where we don't have to clean anything (can we say spoiled?).

MLK Brunch

2011-03-16T19:03:00.000-07:00

I'd been trying for a while to have my old dinner group over for brunch. I thought it would be a long shot, but I suggested MLK Day. Everyone actually had it off. But Lara wasn't going to be able to make it since she was hanging out with her parents for her mom's birthday. I made baked butter pecan french toast with blueberry syrup and an egg dish that uses pie crust and chopped up some fruit.

Winnie brought Sabrina with her hand all bandaged up because of a nail clipper incident. You can kind of see part of the bandage in the below pic.

It was great to see everyone. Hopefully, it'll be easier to plan our next get together.

Mathis' 2nd Birthday Party

2011-03-09T18:55:00.000-08:00

For Mathis' 2nd birthday we didn't want to do anything big, but I did want to do something, esp. since we did something for Maile and Beck for their 2nd birthdays. I didn't want him to later ask why he didn't have a birthday party when Maile and Beck did.

Even though his birthday was on a Saturday, we wouldn't be able to have a get together then because Hansel was going to be out of town for a marathon. He originally had registered for the Napa Valley marathon on 3/6 but later realized it was the same weekend we booked the Hyatt at Northstar. So, he was able to have his registration for that marathon credited toward the Rock-N-Roll marathon in Phoenix on 1/16. He was going to get back Sunday afternoon after running the marathon that morning. So we decided to have Mathis' birthday party that evening.

We invited two of my cousins' families, Vicki/Stew, Rich/Caroline, and Al/Leilani. We kept it simple -- pizza and nuggets, green salad, baby carrots, fruit salad, and, of course, cupcakes! Partly out of health consciousness but mostly out of laziness, I only frosted half.

In the below photos I asked the kids to say, "Pizza!"

Check out Mathis' Dumb and Dumber haircut, courtesy of his nanny.

Mathis knew exactly what to do when we all sang Happy Birthday. He blew out the candles at the end of the song.

The kids had a great time especially the boys. Some of them could not tear themselves away from Beck's Thomas Logging Adventure toy from Christmas.

Princess Tea

2011-02-19T22:38:00.000-08:00

Over a year ago Leilani, Vanessa, and I with our girls met up for tea. Figuring it was long overdue, I set up a tea play date on 1/9 at our house. Vanessa and Mia hadn't yet been to our house.

Hansel took the boys to the Hiller Aviation Museum while we girls enjoyed our tea. I made cranberry orange mini muffins (one of my go-to recipes), fruit salad, and nut-free, egg-free, and milk-free tea sandwiches. We already had a variety of tea but I specifically bought some caffeine-free fruit teas for the girls. They all tried the peach, but didn't care for it even with honey. No real surprise. It's still tea.

I was a little worried about Mia being a little left out since Maile and Hannah are such good friends. I even reminded Maile ahead of time to include Mia. But I had nothing to worry about. The girls got a long great and all played and hung out together.

Alexander's 5th Birthday Party

2011-02-17T18:50:00.000-08:00

Beck was invited to one of his classmates birthday party at Pump It Up Jr on 1/8. The Evite said siblings were welcome, but I thought it might be kind of obnoxious to bring all 3 kids, so I just brought the boys.

There were a lot of kids. Mathis got nearly trampled twice -- one of the times by an adult. They both still had a good time.

Mathis made himself quite comfortable next to Beck for snacks and cake.

Later a bunch of kids started climbing on the birthday chair and Beck joined in.

Christmas at Home and Maile's Birthday

2011-02-13T10:57:00.000-08:00

We had ordered Santa's gift for the kids while we were in DC. We knew they would be unwrapped sitting on our front porch in Amazon boxes. I figured even if we got home late the kids were going to want to see if Santa had come while we were gone and left them presents. So I gave Hansel the dimensions of the products, and he bought gift bags while we were in DC. I put the bags in my backpack. We were then going to let the kids watch TV in the car while I raced inside the house, unpacked the boxes, and put the items in the gift bags.

Well, the items in their packaging were too big for the gift bags. So, I taped the boxes back up and just labeled them to the kids from Santa. When we brought the kids into the house, I pointed out the gifts under the tree from Santa and said they would get to open them in the morning.

Before the kids woke in the morning, we also had to wrap the rest of our gifts to them. So the next day was our family Christmas. The kids didn't seem to think it was weird that their gifts from Santa were in shipping boxes. I think I said something about them being too big to wrap. From Santa, Beck got a take-n-play Thomas toy since he had the trains that go with them but no track. Yes, Thomas trains come in three different models that fit three different tracks. Total racket. Maile got an old fashioned-looking Snow Cone machine that Tabitha has. And Mathis, got a pillow pet since Maile and Beck got ones and he didn't.

That day was also Maile's actual birthday. We had talked to her a month before about having her big birthday celebration on her half birthday (instead of around her birthday) and she was okay with it. So for her actual birthday Maile wanted to go to the Jungle, the same place we went for her actual birthday the year before.

Afterward we took her to ToysRUs to pick out a couple of birthday toys courtesy of GrandMama. We budgeted $40-50 for these gifts. We talked about her picking out a Littlest Pet Shop center to go with the LPS pets she got for Christmas from her cousins. She immediately gravitated to this LPS Rescue Center. I pointed out that if she picked that one it would be the only thing she could get, but that if she got a cheaper center she'd have enough money to get another toy. I was a little surprised when she said she'd get the cheaper center. It ended up being a good thing deal-wise because ToysRUs was having a buy 2-get-1-free sale on various toys, including LPS. And on top of that, if you spent over $25 on one LPS item, you got a set of triplet pets for free. So Maile ended up with 4 different LPS toys for around $50. LPS overload but what a deal!

I didn't realize until the next morning that Maile didn't get any birthday candles on her birthday, so the next morning I made her some birthday pancakes.

Heading Home

2011-02-12T13:28:00.000-08:00

We flew back home on 12/30. Our flight back also had a stop in Dallas with a 2-hr layover. So, when we got to Dallas, we went straight to a food court. After eating, we took the kids on a ride around the airport in their monorail.

After, we headed to our gate. We checked a board to see if our gate was the same and saw that it said "Cancelled." We immediately talked to an agent at an empty gate. He said our flight was cancelled because of mechanical issues and that all future flights to SF were booked. He said the best we could hope for is that a future flight would be upgraded to a bigger plane, but he wouldn't know until later.

We went to go sit down at that gate. While I was off helping Mathis to sleep, the agent we spoke to found Hansel and said he could book us on a flight to Chicago and then catch a flight to SFO. There was still no word on whether a future flight was going to be bumped up to a bigger plane. So, we took it.

We went to the Chicago gate and boarded, and then they announced that this flight, which had already been delayed, would be delayed another hour due to weather. We then worried that we would be stuck in Chicago. I went out to talk to an agent and then went back to talk to Hansel. We figured it would be better to try and get out of Dallas then risk getting stuck in Chicago, which was farther away. We all deplaned and talked to the agent again. She said if we didn't take the Chicago flight that the earliest they could get us out of Dallas wouldn't be until Monday (4 days later) and still no word on a future flight getting a bigger plane. As they were preparing to close the gate, we decided to get back on the plane. As we returned to our seats, we saw that people had already taken them over. They weren't too thrilled about giving them up.

In the end we made the right decision because there were no problems landing or leaving Chicago. After leaving Washington Dulles at 8:30a PT and taking 3 flights, we finally landed at 10:30p. Hansel assumed our bags wouldn't be there, but I said we might as well check. They were already there in some cages. They were loaded on a flight on another airline. I bet with airlines charging for bags people are taking less bags, so more room in the baggage compartment.

What made the whole day bearable was the kids. They did great -- patient and cooperative. And Mathis only had one crying fit.

Random Photos in DC

2011-02-06T19:20:00.000-08:00

Hansel wanted to get a shot of the kids from above. Mathis is too busy looking at the girls to look at Hansel.

The kids doing YMCA.

The kids using Hansel as a ride. Mathis had a straight face through this whole session. The second photo is the most joy he showed. It was kind of funny.

Hansel wanted to get an action shot of the girls.

Christmas in DC Part II

2011-02-06T11:19:00.000-08:00

One of the days we were out there, we went to the National Museum of Natural History. Everyone went except Anita, who had to work. Hansel and I thought Beck and Maile would like seeing the dinosaurs.

We got pretty good parking for both cars, which is almost near impossible around there. With Smithsonian museums being free and it being the holidays, the museum was crowded. We didn't actually spend that much time looking at the dinosaurs because that section was really crowded and laid out awkwardly. We mostly spent are time in that exhibit looking for Beck and Hansel's mom.

We also checked out the Ocean Hall, Human Origins, and the Mammal Hall. I liked the Human Origins section. Thinking about humans or early man living millions of years ago trips me out. The Mammal Hall was cool, esp seeing the strange mammals but it's also kind of eerie. I'd rather see live animals.

On one of our last days there, Hansel, Haniel, their mom, Grandpa Cliff, and the kids went to Great Falls Park, which is close to Haniel's home. Hansel had come across it during one of his runs. He thought the kids would love to see it. I stayed home with a napping Mathis while Anita was at work. I didn't think I was going to miss much. I figured it be more like a trickle, but then I saw the photos. Definitely interested in going there during our next visit.

Christmas in DC Part I

2011-02-01T18:00:00.000-08:00

Our flight to DC was at 7:20a, so we left the house around 5:45. The night before we had the kids wear their day clothes to bed, so they could just get up and go.

The flights went pretty well. We had a stopover in Dallas, which was fine with us because we figured it would be better for Mathis, who gets really restless on long flights. He actually slept about 45 minutes on each leg.

On our way to the baggage claim, I took an elevator down with Mathis in a stroller while Hansel, Maile and Beck took an escalator with pretty much everyone else from the plane.When we got out of the elevator, noone was around, which I thought was kind of peculiar since I didn't think the elevator took that long. So, I went straight to baggage claim. Hansel, Maile, and Beck were not there. A little while later, Hansel texted me asking me where I was. Apparently, the escalator ended up somewhere else. Below is a photo of where they were waiting for me.

Haniel and Carter picked us up. We then had a late dinner at their home, and the kids went to sleep pretty late. Only the thought of waking up to open presents enticed them to bed.

The next morning we opened presents. Hansel, Mathis, and I actually slept in (9-something ET). So, while the kids waited for everyone to wake up, they looked in their stockings and helped sort the presents.

Don't have really any good gift-opening pics, but below is a photo of Mathis checking out Maile's Fur Real pet.

Anita put together an awesome Christmas dinner that we shared with her best friend's family and Hansel/Haniel's cousins. There was a big spread for dessert as more families came after dinner. We ended up eating the dessert for a week.

Christmas Eve Eve

2011-01-13T19:51:00.000-08:00

This past Christmas we booked our flight to DC to go out on Christmas Eve. Usually, we let the kids open one gift each before we go to DC. So, we had them open their pillow pets the night before in case they wanted to bring them on our trip.

When we talked about buying the kids pillow pets, Hansel said we didn't need to buy one for Mathis since he wouldn't care. So, Hansel wrapped a random stuffed animal that we already had for Mathis.

Mathis was excited to open something at the same time as Maile and Beck, but I think he did notice that his gift was different. After opening his "gift," he played with it for 2 seconds and then started playing with Maile and Beck's pets.

Weekend in Monterey/Carmel

2011-01-12T20:06:00.000-08:00

We had a bunch of Hyatt points that were going to expire at the end of 2010, so Hansel booked us a 3-night stay at the Highlands Inn in Carmel for the second weekend in December. We drove down Thursday after school.

Friday we went to Monterey Bay Aquarium. We figured it would be less busy than during the weekend. We went right after lunch and Mathis fell asleep on the way there. So, I stayed in the car with him while Hansel went in Maile and Beck. Mathis had an okay nap of 45 minutes. Considering we came in about an hour after the others, I felt like I saw pretty much the whole aquarium. I'm not sure what H, M, B saw without me.

The Outer Bay area was being worked on, but the exhibits on the floor below the Outer Bay were new to us, like the sea horses, flamingoes, and second penguin exhibit.

Below is a photo of a sea horse. I think it's called the leafy sea dragon..

We have a similar photo like the below but at the Waikiki Aquarium. Waikiki Aquarium Photo

In the below, Mathis would not look at the camera.

Below, Beck isn't quite tall enough but that didn't stop him from touching the sting rays.

Mathis also doesn't let his height stop him.

The next day we went into Monterey to see the 3rd Annual Pet Parade, where the pets would be dressed for the holidays. We read about it in a one-sheeter the resort concierge sent us. On our way we were trying to figure out where to go. We first parked too far. But since we were early, we walked around where we parked.

We then got back in the car and drove to where it was supposed to start. We waited at a corner and didn't see anyone. After a few minutes I saw one family with a dog dressed in Santa wear. They looked a little confused and then walked into the shopping center. We went in a little later. We saw a group of about five owners and their dogs. They, too, seemed confused. I heard one of them say there were a lot of pets last year and they even had to register. After a little while, they dispersed. Oh well. We walked around the center and then had lunch.

After lunch, we went back to our place, so I could put Mathis down for a nap. Hansel took Maile and Beck to Point Lobos to go to the tide pools.

Below is a photo we took that evening around the inn.

The next day we stopped at a nearby beach before going to MY Museum in Monterey, a small discovery museum. When we got to MY Museum, we found out it opened later. So we left to have an early lunch. On our way back to the museum, Mathis fell asleep. So I went in with Maile and Beck and later swapped out with Hansel. After the museum, we went to the Dennis the Menace park, which had an old life-size steam engine and a bunch of different play structures.

Below Maile is making a big bubble at MY Museum.

That weekend we watched two kids movies -- Shrek 4ever After and How to Train a Dragon. Shrek was okay but too dark in content and setting for young kids.How to Train a Dragon was good. We all liked it. It's a movie we might actually buy.

Some Christmas Preparation

2011-01-08T20:11:00.000-08:00

Below are some photos from our first attempt at a family photo for our holiday card. We were already out to a bad start when Mathis wouldn't sit in front. In the first photo, Mathis is actually snuggling against Beck.

Every year we take out a decorative little wooden Christmas tree that Hansel's mom gave us a while back. The kids love putting the ornaments on the tree. This year Mathis got in on the act, but then he would drop an ornament or two on the ground.

Below are photos from our second attempt. Hansel ended up piecing together a few photos to make the final one we used for our holiday card.

Pillow Hot Tub

2011-01-06T17:56:00.000-08:00

In November the kids came up with a new game/activity, where they would fill Mathis' pack n play with pillows, and then dive in and "swim" around.

Random October and November Photos

2011-01-04T23:09:00.000-08:00

Below is the family photo we took in October.

Maile and Beck enjoying some of their Halloween candy.

One day all the kids were playing on the stairs were they would link up and slide down.

Below is a photo Hansel took while testing out a new lens.

Below is our November family photo.

Mathis found a new position for eating.

The kids are snacking on some popcorn.

Mathis is protecting his fruit.

Thanksgiving in Tahoe

2011-01-02T14:18:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving the Yaus were talking about going to Tahoe over Thanksgiving since it looked like there would be snow. It got us thinking, especially since both kids would have Wed - Fri off. One thing we had to consider was my mom was in town and would be leaving essentially Friday night for a cruise. So we decided to go Tuesday afternoon and come back Thursday after an early Thanksgiving dinner.

We booked our timeshare for us and the Yaus, but they were planning to be there from Wed night to Sat. We didn't bring our chains, and despite the snow we didn't need them. We got in after the kids bed times. We didn't want to repeat another late night arrival when we drove home, so we decided to head home on Thanksgiving Day before dinner.

We had planned to put Beck in an all day lesson Wednesday. But Wednesday morning Beck out of nowhere threw up. Thankfully, he said something right before and Hansel was able to give him a trash can in time. He seemed fine before and was fine after, so we chalked it up to altitude sickness, which I've experienced in Colorado. At this point, we didn't think it would be a good idea to sign him up for an all-day class, so we decided to have him hang out with me and Mathis in the morning and then re-assess.

Hansel went skiing with Maile, and I took the boys around the village. Instead of breakfast, the Hyatt gave us gift cards to Starbucks. So, we first went to Starbucks for a couple of breakfast pastries. Then, I took the boys to the small Ambassador Toys store. It's small but not too small that they can't explore. I bought Beck a small $5 toy since he didn't get to pack his backpack and got Maile a tiny activity book. After, we headed to the Alpine Club for lunch. We stopped on the way, so I could put gloves on Beck. Mathis started crying like crazy. I had tried to put mittens on him earlier, but he wasn't interested. Now his hands were freezing. I rushed us over to the Alpine Club to warm up by the fire.

My cousin-in-law, Christy, and her kids were inside when we got there. My cousin, Rich, came in later. There were getting ready to hit the slopes. I knew they were going to be at Northstar but didn't expect to run into them like that. Christy had also seen Hansel and Maile earlier when Christy and Co were getting out of their car. Hansel and Maile came in for lunch, and Beck seemed fine, so we signed him up for an afternoon class. Maile was done for the day. She never has as much fun when Hannah isn't there.

Rich, my cousin, and Christy invited us over to their place for dinner in Old Greenwood, a resort community built by the same developers who built the Hyatt Northstar Lodge. Their townhouse is spacious and nice. We had a good time talking to Rich and Christy while the kdis had a good time playing around and watching a Thanksgiving classic, Home Alone. Even though the movie is set during Christmas, I think of it as a Thanksgiving movie because that's when it came out and that's when I saw it.

The Yaus got in later that night. The next day Hansel and Al took the girls out skiing. Beck went for an all-day lesson, and Leilani and I hung out with Zachary and Mathis. Leilani and I took the boys out to play in the snow. Mathis was very willing to wear gloves this time. He liked "touching" the snow but didn't seem interested in playing on it.

For lunch, we decided to eat at Rubicon Pizza to try something new. Alpine Club is comfortable and has a kids room, but they changed chefs and no longer had the sliders or a pizza dish I usually got, and the menu seemed pricier. At Rubicon, I had the Thai Red Curry pizza, and it was yummy. Will definitely have that again.

After Beck's lesson, we headed home and ended up having Thanksgiving dinner at Burger King.

Below are photos of Mathis modeling Hansel's knit cap sometime during our trip.

11/11 Veterans Day and Hansel's Birthday

2010-12-31T20:06:00.000-08:00

The day before Hansel's birthday after work, i took the kids shopping to buy him a gift. I had money left on a PaperSource gift card. I told them I would pay for half of the difference and the other would come from their allowance. They got him a cooking flipper in the shape of a guitar. And then, we picked up a few Kara's cupcakes before heading home.

As I mention every year, Hansel's birthday is on Veterans Day, and the kids always have the day off. So this year, we planned to take them to Safari Run for the first open play session. We took two cars because I needed to pick up Hansel's gift after and Hansel would have to get home to relieve the nanny.

On the way there we stopped to look at a property in Menlo Hansel thought we should bid on. With the stop and Safari Run not having much parking, we missed the first session. I had told Leilani about it, and they were already inside when we got there. We decided to wait around for the next session instead of leaving and coming back. It was kind of torture for Maile and Beck. hansel went back home.

After Safari Run, I took the kids to get my gift for Hansel and to get lunch. It took forever to get lunch because the first McD's we went to didn't have a drive-thru. Anyway, I had only planned to take a half day off from work (and make up the hours later), so I had to work a few hours before making dinner.

After dinner, we had the cupcakes and gave Hansel his presents. My gift was a gift card to GoKart Racer in Burlingame. I bought enough for 4 people to do the SuperTrack on Sunday. I had already arranged with Wayne, Dave, and Telly to meet us on Sunday. Since it was Hansel's 40th, I wanted him to do something more than just cake with the family.

Hansel's aunt gave Hansel a remote-control helipcopter from Brookstone. He took the kids to the park with the helicopter for a test run on Saturday. The helicopter quickly caught the attention of a couple of boys at the park.

Hansel ended up going with Dave and Telly to a car meet on Saturday, so they decided to meet at GoKart Racer earlier before the SuperTrack time because Telly had plans. On Sunday, Telly ended up being late. The guys were quick to give him hard time about it. Since it was Hansel's birthday, he got a couple of free laps on the shorter track before the guys did their laps and race on the other track.

Telly came in first, of course, then Hansel, Wayne, and Dave. Afterward I was surprised to see them all sweaty. I guess that's what happens when there's no power steering.

I don't have a shot of all the guys but I do of the kids. It's all about the kids, right? Even during a 40th birthday.

Halloween 2010

2010-12-31T19:38:00.000-08:00

During the day, we went to Stanford mall for trick-or-treating. A mom of one of Beck's classmates told me about it. Any store that had a pumpkin outside their door gave out a treat. Locating the pumpkins was half the fun, like a scavenger hunt. It was fun, the kids practiced their lines (trick or treat, thank you, and happy Halloween), and I think it got the kids even more excited about trick-or-treating later at home. We even ran into Beck's classmate's family.

We usually celebrate Halloween with my cousins, rotating who hosts each year. This year we decided to stay in our neighborhood. Mathis was definitely a factor. The Yaus had us over for dinner, which was nice. We started eating before 6, so the kids could get an early start on trick-or-treating. After we got the kids costumed up, I headed home with Mathis who didn't want to wear his pumpkin costume (a hand-me-down from Maile) and didn't seem interested in making the rounds. Everyone else went trick-or-treating.

I thought they'd only be out for an hour but they were out for two and came home with their buckets filled almost to the rim. Half of the kids who came to our house were teenagers. I was hoping to see more little tikes. Although, I was paying more attention to Mathis helping pass out candy to notice the trick-or-treaters.

The few photos we took that night before our camera ran out of charge didn't turn out because of the low battery.

10/29 Halloween Parades and Potluck

2010-12-31T19:30:00.000-08:00

Now that I'm back to work almost full-time (I work 35 hrs/wk), it's hard for me to get to all of the kids' events. So, now Hansel goes or we tag team. The Friday before Halloween Hansel took Maile to school and stayed for part of the school's Halloween parade. Later that morning, Hansel went to Beck's parade and took photos and headed home. I then went to Beck's class for his potluck. I got there before the start time but since the parade and activities finished early, they started the potluck early. So I didn't take it personally when a lot of my pasta dish was leftover. I ended up having some of it for an afternoon snack.

In the above photo Maile is the one in the Wonder Woman costume.

10/23 Mia's 6th Birthday Party and Ohlone's Harvest Festival

2010-12-23T18:58:00.000-08:00

Mia's birthday was originally going to be at a Golfland. But with the high probability of rain, Vanessa switched it to an art studio, where kids older than 4 made sun catchers and younger kids painted pottery. I was glad the kids weren't going to paint another pottery. Don't get me wrong painting pottery is fun, and I have taken the kids myself, but we are accumulating quite the collection.

The owner who was showing the kids how to make the suncatchers was enthusiastic and good with the kids, but I think found parents quite annoying. She told us to let the kids do it themselves and strongly encouraged us to leave and walk around or shop. At one point, a Dad was helping his daughter write her name, I think, and the owner asked him to let her do it. She then under her breath said something like, "Some parents can't help themselves." Vicki, who overheard, made a playful joke back. The owner then said, "Oh, you heard that." She then kind of apologized and explained her comment. I found it kind of amusing.

Besides having a talent for making suncatchers, Mia showed us another talent.

One day Vanessa had asked Mia if she could roll her tongue, and the above is what she did.

After the art studio, we had pizza at a nearby pizza place. To encourage the kids to eat, Spencer, Mia's dad, said whoever ate the most pizza would get a prize. Beck took the contest pretty seriously and would give updates on the amount of pizza he ate. In the end, the prize was tokens for the arcade games for all the kids.

The party was capped off with cupcakes. That's one of Mia's cousins doing the rabbit ears.

After Mia's birthday, I took Maile and Beck to Maile's school for their annual Harvest Festival. The money raised goes toward the school's farm (it's like a mini-farm, complete with veggies, hay, and animals). I bought the kids some tickets to participate in the games and activities, like the apple peeler and slicer.

10/10 Dinner with the Yangs

2010-12-18T18:45:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, 10/10, we had both Yang families over for dinner. Jim and Joyce were in town on a semi-impromptu trip. Joyce had recently quit her job, and Jim's job at the time allowed him to work from anywhere.

I knew I wanted to make this turkey pesto meatloaf recipe I had clipped from the paper because Rich likes meatloaf. And to continue with the comfort food theme, I also made a Michael Minna mac n' cheese recipe I had also found in the paper. I made the kids a different mac n' cheese with turkey meatballs and mixed veggies in case the Michael Minna one was too strong. And, I steamed some broccoli. For dessert I bought a berry pie and ice cream.

Altogether there were 7 kids, and everyone got along. At one point Avery, Mackenzie, and Mathis were all nicely playing with the same basketball toy. The other kids were entertaining themselves with a large tube we got when we ordered shades and had kept for this very reason. We as a group never made it down to the basement, which is toy central and Joyce's favorite feature of the house.

This photo is actually from Joyce's blog.

It was good to see all the Yangs. One day we'll all be able to talk without distraction.

Random September Photos

2010-12-16T20:02:00.000-08:00

The first is of Mathis enjoying some squeeze yogurt.

The second is Mathis using Hansel's phone as a camera.

Below Mathis is sitting on Beck's lap.

In the next few photos, Mathis is saying, "Cheese."

I thought it was funny that the boys were all scrunched together in the bath.

Our family photo for the month.We took a few photos, and Beck wasn't happy in any of them.

9/25 Tyler's 1st Birthday Party

2010-12-16T19:09:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, 9/25, I took Maile and Beck to Tyler's 1st Birthday party. Since the party started close to Mathis' nap, Hansel stayed home with Mathis. The Yungs had a bounce house, where Maile and Beck sweated up a storm. It was just nice to see Vicki, Caroline, and Joyce in a somewhat relaxed atmosphere since I was sans Mathis. We also checked out the second half of their backyard without the hazardous, huge trees. Once they develop the rest of the backyard, their home will be like a mini-resort.

The kid in the middle is not Tyler. He'd be one big 1-yr old. Tyler's being held up on the side by his mommy, Joyce. His daddy, Jeff, and big sister, Madeline, are in the back left. You can seel Madeline's trying to help blow out the candles.

9/18 YCIS' Moon Festival and KJ & Kenny's Open House

2010-12-16T18:51:00.000-08:00

Strangely enough I don't have photos from either event. I'm guessing it's because I was watching all 3 kids by myself at both. It was our second year attending Beck's school's Moon Festival, so the photos would have been similar, except Mathis would be walking. There was a ping pong game where you tossed or bounced ping pong balls into baskets. Mathis liked fetching the balls.

Later that day we went to Kathy and Kenny's for their open house. They had recently moved to Redwood City from San Francisco. Their house was already pretty much up to date. They made a few enhancements, like putting in a breakfast bar to create an opening between the kitchen and living room, and putting in a wall to create an office/guest room downstairs. The house came with an awesome play structure that was built into the hill in their backyard complete with a zipline.

9/17 Mathis' 1st Poop in the Toilet at 20 mths

2010-12-13T19:43:00.000-08:00

Don't worry I'm not going to post a photo of his actual poop. On this evening during Mathis' bath, he got into his pooping position and starting grunting. So, I quickly scooped him up and put him on the toilet. I timed it just right because he pooped in the toilet. It was a pretty big one. I didn't flush the toilet, so he could look at it and, hopefully, be proud and inspired to do it again next time he needed to go. I'm not trying to toilet train him but figured a little inspiration doesn't hurt.

9/12 Zachary's 3rd Birthday at Lemo's Farm

2010-12-13T19:32:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, 9/12, we went to Lemo's Farm for Zachary's 3rd birthday. It was my first time there. Hansel had been there before with Maile. It's a great place for kids. They have a "train," hay ride, pony ride, goats, bounce houses, and a seasonal haunted house. Since it was Half Moon Bay, it was overcast. We remembered to bring hoodies for Maile and Beck but didn't have anything for Mathis. We had a cropped white sweater of Maile's with a Little Mermaid patch on it in the van. So, Mathis wore that until Vicki saved the day and lent us Cameron's fleece.

Below are most of the kids except Zoe and Avery, who came later.

Below, Zachary looks so happy on the rocking horse.

After watching all the other kids ride the ponies, Mathis looked like he wanted to ride. So, he got on, or I should say got lifted on. He wasn't scared and didn't cry. Alas, I don't have a photo, but I do have one of Maile.

Below are multiple shots from the cake part of the party. Usually, I only post one, but I loved Zachary's expression in all three photos.

7/25 Ann's Baby Shower

2010-12-07T20:09:00.000-08:00

I'm writing this post out of order because I recently found these photos on my phone.

On Sunday, July 25, Leilani, Vicki, and I went to Ann's Baby Shower for identical twin girls hosted by her sister and her mom at Ann's house. The party had a Hello Kitty theme because Ann liked HK when she was younger. There was great food including Kara's cupcakes, and a fun, long game that had several shorter games within it. It started with a large ball of gift wrap, each time you take off a layer there was a note instructing how to pass the "ball" or a note instructing us to participate in game. One of the games was a picture of Hello Kitty cut into smaller pieces. Leilani and Vanessa were both commentating while they each tried to figure out the photo, but Vicki had a laser focus and finished first.

Below is a photo of Winnie and Sabrina (3.5 mths at the time). Sabrina looks totally like her daddy, Dave, much to his dismay. You can go to this old post about their wedding to compare 410-dave-and-winnies-wedding-day.

The other photo is of Leilani, Vicki, and Vanessa with Ann. They bought Ann gifts together. Not sure why my camera took the photo that way.

8/28 Palo Alto Festival of the Arts

2010-11-21T19:02:00.000-08:00

Around this time Hansel said he had a new goal for himself and that was to get me to exercise regularly. So, he was going to help make time for me. I had tried before to integrate the kids in with exercise, like when I got the double jogger stroller. I think I took Maile and Beck jogging with me 2-3 times. Now the stroller is in storage.

Leilani had mentioned to me that she and Hannah were going to ride their bikes to the Palo Alto Festival of the Arts and asked if I wanted to go with Maile. I don't have a bike here. It is also in storage, so Hansel suggested I jog with Mathis while Maile rode her bike. Maile actually insisted on riding her scooter. Despite the decent distance Maile made it there and back all the way on her scooter without complaining.

The festival had a tented kids area with all sorts of arts and crafts. We did a couple of the activities and saw Leilani and Hannah there. We then walked over to see the large chalk drawings. Below is a photo of Maile with a chalk drawing of candy (not quite halfway done).

August Photo Shoots

2010-11-12T19:04:00.000-08:00

August Family Photo

In the below photo, Mathis is doing part of a tickle rhyme that Beck learned. The part that goes, "Cut the pickle." The next line is "Tickle."

In the below Mathis was just doing funny poses on the kid chair.

Cameron's 3rd Birthday Party!

2010-11-12T17:20:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, 8/21, we all went to Cameron's Thomas-themed 3rd birthday party. It was a great day for a mostly outdoor party. Cameron has the motorized Thomas ride-one train and track, and a Thomas-colored playhouse that his paternal grandfather built. Nice to have a very handy granddad. There was also arts and crafts, like making a Sir Topham Hatt hat, yummy food, and a pinata. But the highlight for me was the incredible cake that Vicki made. Maybe she'll get her own show -- the Cake Doctor (she's also a plastic surgeon).

Below is a photo from the caboose end.

Aug 17 San Diego Trip

2010-10-25T17:39:00.000-07:00

We saved the best for last...Legoland! Hansel got Legoland tickets that also included entry to the water park or to the Legoland aquarium. Even though we had been to the aquarium before and thought it was kind of disappointing, we chose that. We figured the water area in Legoland (vs the water park) was enough, and that Mathis would like the aquarium.

We used our Hilton timeshare to stay at a place right next to Legoland. We just had to walk down the street and then go through a pedestrian gate, and we were in the Legoland parking lot. Hansel took the kids on the safari ride first because we thought the line would be worse later. It was a pretty long, but luckily it was not indicative of the rest of the park. The only other long lines were for rides we didn't want to go on.

The next ride the kids went on had no line whatsoever.

And then after that, they each went on the driving rides, which are separated by age.

Below, Beck waiting for Maile to finish her driving ride.

While Mathis and I were getting lunch for all of us, Beck and Maile went on the boat ride. Apparantly, Beck wouldn't let Maile steer, so they got stuck a lot.

After the kids were done eating, they all played at one of the Lego stations.

After lunch, the kids played in the water area. Mathis enjoyed it more than I thought he would.

The kids spent a lot of time in the ball room in the Egyptian part of the park and went on a couple of rides there while Mathis napped.

After Mathis' nap, we caught one of the Bob the Builder 4-D shows (3D video with some water and air effects). I'm not into 3D stuff. The 3D experience does not make up for the headache I get.

Even though we were exhausted from a full day at Legoland, we went to the Aquarium. It was better this time around because I knew what to expect.

The next morning Hansel and the kids hung out at the hotel pool, which had its own mini water area, while I did some grocery shopping before our road trip back.

Aug 16 San Diego Trip

2010-10-24T13:48:00.000-07:00

The next day we went to San Diego's Natural History Museum. Mostly to see the dinosaurs. The museum also had an exhibit of precious stones, which Hansel and the kids weren't really interested in. The bottom floor had a movie theater, where we saw two movies -- one about dinosaurs in 3D and one about the ocean. Mathis sat through both for the most part.

We had also planned to go to the Model Railroad Museum also in Balboa Park. We found out at the museum entrance that it was the one day of the week that it was closed.

After looking at the other museum options, we decided to head back and go to the pool or beach. Mathis fell asleep on the way, so we stopped in La Jolla. I again stayed in the van with a sleeping Mathis while Hansel got some great shots of the kids at the tidepools.

I took the below photo while we were getting the kids ready for bed. Mathis looks like he's posing for a diaper ad. All three kids loved playing with the bolster behind him.

To be continued...

Aug 15 San Diego Trip

2010-10-24T10:22:00.000-07:00

Beck's preschool is not completely year-round. They have two weeks off in August. The first week we signed him up for a morning sports camp, where they introduce preschool-age kids to basketball, baseball, and soccer. I actually never saw him at his camp, but I know he liked it.

For part of his second week off we went to the San Diego area. The drive to San Diego is beyond Mathis' tolerance. LA would have been okab, but SD is two hours too far even with a couple of longish stops. On both trips (up and down) he was unhappy for the last two hours and cried for about an hour each time.

On the way down we stopped at the Citadel Outlets in LA, where Beck and Mathis rode the kid's train with Hansel. I contemplated getting a cute dress from Max Studio that was 50%, but decided against because the only occassion I could think I'd wear it is a wedding. It'd be nice to have more occassions to wear a cute dress.

The next day we went to the San Diego Zoo because we stayed somewhere between Carlsbad and San Diego. The first thing we did was go on the double decker bus tour, which is a great way to see and hear about the zoo. Gives you an idea of the places you want to go back to on foot.

Hansel just took photos of a weird-looking plant and an albino snake.

Outside the zoo we went on a ride on their mini-train. The conductor was very enthusiastic -- tooting the horn and waving at all the passerbys. The two heads peaking over the top are Mathis and Beck.

Maile wanted to sit with one of the "animals."

On the way to our second hotel, we stopped in La Jolla. I stayed in the car with a sleeping Mathis while Hansel took the kids for a walk.

More to come...

Maile's Memory and Summer Gym Camp

2010-10-09T22:26:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention something when I wrote about our bowling in Tahoe having to do with Maile's at times scary memory. After we got back from Tahoe, Maile drew a picture of us bowling. She even drew the markings on the lane. I didn't even remember that there were markings.

I went back to work on 7/26, Maile only had summer school until mid-July, and Hansel was still working until mid-August. So, I had to find other things for Maile to do. I signed her up for a week of YMCA camp, and then signed her up for another week after she said she liked it. And then a gymnastic camp that also included some dance and cheer.

Maile really liked the Y camps. They're good because they have a lot of different activities, and they broked up into small groups. I would pick Maile up after picking up Beck from school. When we'd get there, the kids were usually doing these chants/rhymes. I think the camps helped Maile see how it can be fun to be part of something.

I don't have any photos of Maile at her Y camp, but below is a photo of Maile after her last day of gym camp where they did a short performance.

The next two photos were taken after we got home.

Random July Photos

2010-10-04T17:50:00.000-07:00

Mathis likes playing with his tongue.

Double hug for Maile and Daddy

Mathis practicing to be a hair stylist

Kids eating corn. Mathis is using the table to hold up the corn.

Mathis is saying, "Cheese."

Mathis sitting at the top of the stairs

Mathis saying,"Hi."

7/31 Gilroy Gardens

2010-10-03T20:08:00.000-07:00

Leilani had been talking about going to Gilroy Gardens because they had some coupons. So, it got Hansel and I thinking about it, especially since we hadn't yet gone this summer. But then, the Yaus were thinking otherwise because they were afraid it might be crowded. We pretty much decided we were going to go, so we let the Yaus know and said we didn't think it would be that crowded. Even though they didn't plan to go and got a late start that morning, they got to Gilroy Gardens just 1/2 hr after us.

For the below water ride, they would not allow Mathis to sit on my lap. He had to sit by himself. I was a little nervous about that, but he was fine. He didn't lunge for the water.

See how the boys are both watching the show with their mouths open.

Hansel took this photo from above of the Yaus and Maile and Beck in the maze.

Zachary wanted his big sister to ride with him.

We left before the Yaus but then Mathis fell asleep in his stroller, so we decided to go back in. I sat with him by the entrance while Hansel took Maile and Beck to ride more rides.

July 17-20 Incline Village Trip

2010-10-02T15:56:00.000-07:00

We registered Maile for Mandarin-immersion summer school through the Palo Alto school district, which went from 6/21-7/16. When we originally registered her, it was supposed to be at Palo Verde elementary school. So, I had signed her up for an after-school art program at Palo Verde. Then less than a month before summer school was to start, the district decided to move the Mandarin-immersion summer school to Ohlone, Maile's regular school and where the regular school year Mandarin-immersion program is. Now, why they didn't plan for the Chinese summer school to be there in the first place is beyond me.

By this time, most of the kids enrolled in the Chinese summer school were also signed up for after-school programs at Palo Verde. So, all of us parents had to sign the kids up to be bused to the other school. On the first day of summer school, I met Maile at the end of her class to make sure she got on the bus okay with the other kids and got to her other class at the other school okay. Another mom had the same idea. Even though it was her first time on a school bus, she did fine. I actually didn't have to be so cautious because someone from the district was there to walk the kids from their class to the bus.

After the end of Maile's summer school, we headed up to Tahoe the next day. We used our points to book the Hyatt at Incline Village.On our way up we stopped at the Nut Tree in Vacaville. The area had been recently redeveloped. The main plaza was redesigned for kids with a mini train, carousel, rocking horses, giant checkers and chess boards.

In Tahoe, we, of course, hung out at the lake. The first beach we went to wasn't so great, so we went to a different beach the next day. We went to that one twice. That one was nice because it had a little inlet.

The last beach we went to was Kings Beach, which was okay. It had an area where the sand dipped and rose by the shore, so a pool of water sat there. It looked kind of gross.

Hansel playing where's the penny with Mathis.

Beck doing his lifeguard impression.

We, also, checked out the Hyatt hotel pool.

The Hyatt timeshare resort we stayed in was nice. It was a 2-bedroom/2-bath in a semi-contemporary cabin style. Below are some photos of the kids hanging in the condo.

Pretty much every time we drove back to our place we passed by the bowling alley. Each time Beck would say he wanted to go bowling. So, on our last night in Tahoe, we took the kids bowling. It was their first time bowling. It was fun watching Beck running up with the ball and then dropping it when he got to the line.

Below is a family shot outside our condo.

On the way home we stopped at the Kidzone in Truckee. It's an indoor play place for young kids. It's on the small side but has the essentials -- train table, large indoor play structure, pretend play, arts and crafts room.

Eastcoast Lynns Visit: Part III

2010-09-26T18:22:00.000-07:00

Another tv-watching shot.

On Saturday, 7/10, we went out to brunch with Hansel's uncle, cousin and his mom's cousin.

Afterward, we got some yogurt. The place had a tv, so we have yet another tv-watching shot.

A couple of family photos

EastCoast Lynns Visit: Part II

2010-09-26T14:03:00.000-07:00

On Friday, 7/9, I took the EastCoast Lynns and Maile and Beck to Great America. It was everyone's first time there except for me, but I hadn't been in over 10 years. We got there shortly after opening, got good parking, and Haniel and I were able to squeeze in a roller coaster ride before all the kiddie rides.

There were two kid areas in the park. The second one was perfect for them. They loved the little roller coaster. Maile, Carter, and Tabitha went on it half a dozen times in a row. Once was enough for Beck.

On the bumper cars, Beck was stuck on the side for almost half the time.

Tabitha likes rides that go around. Anita doesn't, so Haniel goes on those rides with her.

Great America also has a water park, which we went to after lunch. Beck preferred the small slide upfront while the other kids played in the wave pool.

Beck fell asleep shortly before we left. In the below photo, Carter is holding Beck's head up.

The rest of their visit to be continued...

7/3-7/11 Eastcoast Lynns Visit

2010-09-25T21:35:00.000-07:00

Haniel and Anita had been to invited to a wedding on 7/10 of a DC friend who had relocated out here. So, they came out for the whole week. They flew in Saturday night (7/3). Here are the kids post bath awaiting their arrival.

Below was taken on the 4th of July, which is why there's a lot of red being worn. This is the first of many "watching TV" shots during their visit. After our bbq dinner, Haniel, Mom, Tabitha, Maile, Beck, and I went to see the Shoreline fireworks. We parked at my work right off Shoreline and 101. I was a little worried because I hadn't actually started back at work. We walked just over the overpass and waited about 45 minutes for the fireworks to start.

The next day we went to Santa Cruz. It was overcast the whole time we were there. But it didn't stop the kids from going in the water after we were done riding rides.

We headed to the Mystery Spot after the Boardwalk because Carter is at an age, where he might find it kind of cool. But we got turned away because we didn't have a reservation. So, if you ever want to go to the Mystery Spot, make a reservation.

Below is a shot of Beck bonding with Carter over video games that morning.

Tabitha mastered riding a bike on Maile's bike during their visit. The trick is to have the seat low enough for the kid to put their feet down.

More tv-watching shots.

EastCoast Lynn visit to be continued...

Random June Photos

2010-09-24T23:01:00.000-07:00

Hansel took this photo of the kids hanging out in the back of his car.

Below are some photos of Mathis paying some bills.

Mathis feeding himself some applesauce.

Some photos of Mathis I took one day. I especially like the 3rd one. If I had zoomed in more, it would look even better.

Funny shot of Mathis under Maile's legs.

A shot of Mom, Cliff, and Mathis from their visit during Hansel's Western States Run. Back then, Mathis would only walk if I held both his hands, but with Grandpa Cliff he'd walk around just holding one hand.

Mathis singing into the fan.

Maile and Beck giving Mathis a ride.

Western States

2010-09-06T14:50:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, 6/23, Hansel's mom and stepdad came into town. Hansel's mom came to help us out while Hansel did the Westerns States 100-mile race. Hansel's stepdad came to help celebrate Mom's birthday.

Since Hansel was leaving Thursday before noon, we went out for Mom's birthday Wednesday night. Hansel had to head up Thursday because registration was Friday. The race started at Squaw Valley, where Hansel parked his car, but was going to end at Placer High School in Auburn.

I drove Maile and Beck up to Roseville on Saturday while leaving Mathis at home with Mom and Grandpa Cliff. It was the first time Mathis would be taken care of overnight by someone other than Hansel or I. We got in late afternoon to the Larkspur Landing in Roseville. We had reservations, but they were oversold. So, they put us up for free at the Hilton Garden Inn across the parking lot and gave us $40 worth of Golfland money.

For dinner we went to Islands across the streeet. It was so hot up there I was tempted to drive across the street. We were just walking across the street while Hansel was running a 100-mile race in that heat. And to think, it was not as hot as it normally can get that time of year.

After dinner we went to Golfland diagonally across the street. This one also had huge water park. We just hung out in the arcade. After, we went back to the hotel, where I checked on Hansel's pace. I used their computer because I didn't have much charge left on my phone and I wanted to conserve what litle I had left. Hansel had taken the car charger, and I didn't bring a regular charger.

Earlier in the day, he was pacing slower than he predicted. But when I checked after Golfland, it looked like he was going to get to the checkpoint where we were going to meet before us. I got he kids "ready for bed" because we were going to get back late after meeting Hansel. We jumped in the car and headed out as quickly as legally possible.

We planned to meet Hansel at mile 62 at Foresthill School, which was according to google maps 45 minutes away. I parked as close as legally possible to the checkpoint. There were lots of cars, people milling about, and a few runners slowly making their way through the dark. As we quickly walked to the checkpoint, someone said, "Hi, princess." I thought for a second he was calling Maile princess because she's a young girl, but then I realized it was because she was wearing her princess nightgown.

I asked someone under a tent, who was in front of a computer, if Hansel had checked in. He had. My heart sank. I then asked if Hansel was still there. She told me to check with these people with clipboards who were checking runners out. He hadn't checked out yet! A couple of minutes later a man came up to me asking me if I was Lisa, Hansel's wife. He pointed out where Hansel was and led us over to a support area. Hansel was having a blister patched up. Can you imagine running 38 more miles with a blister?

Hansel limped over. He looked good but kind of out of it. The kids were happy to see him but didn't completely know what was going on. We gave him some hugs, cheers, and took a photo.

The next morning we got up, ate breakfast, and then headed to Placer High about 25 minutes away. We parked and walked down to the track field. There was a good amount of people, tents, and runners slowly coming in. We waited under a tent area on the side of the track where the runners come in. I don't remember how long we waited. Maybe 45 minutes when two guys come running in. It was Hansel and Al, who ran with Hansel the last 6 miles. The kids joined Hansel on the track while I filmed them with our Flip. Maile was skipping along side for a while and then peetered off while Beck ran all the way in with Hansel.

He finished around 9:30 -- 28 hrs and 29 mins after he started. We were so proud of him and his accomplishment. I don't even like driving 100 miles. I did not envy his recovery though. I could tell he just wanted to go to his hotel and crash, but they had to take vitals, and Hansel had to pick up his medal. Hansel understandably didn't want to wait til 12n to get his medal. I was able to pick it up for him. Originally, the kids and I were going to drive Hansel to his car back at Squaw and somehow he'd make his way to Northstar Hyatt, where he was going to spend the night resting and recovering.

Al (the awesome guy that he is) offered to take him, so we could get home to Mathis. I felt bad leaving Hansel in the condition he was in but knew he was better off starting his recovery alone than at home.

If you haven't already, go to http://www.digdeeprunlong.com/ws100.php to read Hansel's account of the race.

6/20 Happy Father's Day

2010-09-03T21:39:00.000-07:00

Before Father's Day, I took the kids to a paint-your-own-pottery studio using a groupon-like coupon I had bought to make something for Hansel for Father's Day. I had the kids put their handprints in the middle of a large plate one on top of the other in shades of green and paint Xs and Os all around them and then put their footprints on the back one on top of the other. Mathis hated the printing experience. We did it on 6/11. I told a little white lie to Hansel that day to explain why we were a little late coming home after picking Beck up from school.

We gave Hansel the gift in the morning before we set out for the day. We took Caltrain up to Hillsdale mall and had lunch at Macaroni Grill. I think I've said this before but the name just does not go with the atmosphere of the restaurant. Macaroni Grill sounds like a Chili's -- super casual joint, but it's more formal. After we went to the Barnes and Noble next door. I went home first with Mathis, so he could get a decent nap. Later, Mathis and I picked Hansel and the kids up at the train station.

I dressed the boys in their matching shirts (I had bought Beck's over a year ago and the other was a gift to Mathis for his first birthday), and I asked Hansel to wear his black drum t-shirt. And then I dressed Maile in her "Big Sisters Rock" shirt. Kind of an FYI in case anyone's wondering why the boys are both wearing black.

Later the kids had some fun with their water guns.

The Week of 6/14

2010-08-29T15:58:00.000-07:00

This was the week after Maile's school got out. I signed her up for a week at Camp Shoreline before summer school started. The camp went from 10:00-3:30, and the kid did arts and crafts, games, and water activities everyday. One day they had Wacky hair day, and the last day they had water gun fights from the pedal boats. Maile loved the camp, and out of all the camps/classes she took it was her favorite.

Since the Yaus were going to be out of town later that week for a week, they asked if we'd be interested in using their nanny during that time. So, we did. It was Mathis' first time being cared for someone other than me for an extended period. It was not an easy transition for him. Lots of crying but by day 5 he barely cried when I left and the nanny was able to put him down for nap without a single tear shed.

I took advantage of the time on of the days to go clothes shopping for myself. I even tried the clothes on in the dressing room (vs the usual "buy then try"). The clothes shopping was somewhat in anticipation of my going back to work.

The month before Hansel had been talking about quitting his job and trying some new ventures. Even though he had what seemed like a dream job (working from home with good pay), he still wasn't satisfied. So, we talked about my going back to work. We felt like the timing would be good for me and Mathis. He was at an age where he was, at times, hard for me to handle and after 3 years of being at home, I was ready to go back to work. So, even though we didn't want to make any changes until toward the end of August, I contacted my old company earlier in the month just to see if there was any opportunity there. If not, it could take a while to find something elsewhere. There was definitely opportunity, and they wanted me to come back sooner than later. That Friday I went to find out more details.

Also, on Friday, 6/18, Beck had his preschool graduation. In his case, just graduating from one class to the next. The kids had made their own graduation caps, sang a couple of songs, and received diplomas.

6/5 Payton C's Birthday Party

2010-08-25T17:45:00.000-07:00

On 6/5 I took Beck and Maile to a birthday party for one of Beck's classmates while Hansel stayed home with Mathis. I asked before bringing Maile, but I figured it would be okay since it was going to be at a park vs a party place where they have limited capacity. So, the boy's name is Payton. Funny thing about that name is it was Hansel's top choice when we were thinking of names for Beck, and he wanted to spell the name the same way with an "A," like Walter Payton (vs Peyton Manning). I vetoed the name, but now we know two boys named Payton with an A.

When we first got to the park all the kids were playing in the sand area with a water spout. Lovely, sand and water with no change of clothes. The party had all the kid party details -- friends, food, drinks, cupcakes, pinata, and goody bags.

Random May Photos

2010-08-09T22:59:00.000-07:00

For a while Mathis had earned the nickname, Screamer.

Mathis using Beck's old toothbrush.

Below Mathis is proud of himself for stacking the Playdoh cans.

The next photo is Mathis in his classic pooping pose -- sitting and holding his toes. He has half of a pooping expression.

I thought it was funny how Mathis was staring longingly at Beck's cheese. Beck is sitting away from Mathis, so Mathis can't poach his cheese.

5/27 Beck's Theme Night

2010-08-04T21:09:00.000-07:00

Beck's preschool had a Theme Night on 5/27. The theme was countries around the world. The night was an opportunity to see all the preschool classes for current and prospective students. Each class was decorated , had activities, arts and crafts, and snacks based on their country.

We went to Beck's class first, which represented China. Posted on the outside of their classroom was a painting of the Great Wall that the kids made, and inside the classroom they had a Chinese lion's head, paper lanterns, and umbrellas strung up. They had traditional Chinese garb for dress up, tea and dim sum for pretend play, a mini ping pong table, a table for Chinese writing, and dumplings as a snack. And the cute and funny photo-op cut-outs pictured below.

The next classroom we went to I think was Mexico, but now I'm not sure because everything was beach themed. They had a water activity, an arts-and-craft project with colored sand, and a tiki hut stand for prentend play. The last classroom had an African theme, where the kids played with musical instruments and made rain sticks.

Not to be biased but I thought Beck's class was the most thoughtful in their representation of their country. Admittedly, they had a leg up since Beck's school is a bilingual Chinese school.

5/26 Rm 25 Open House

2010-08-03T22:14:00.000-07:00

For a couple of months, Maile's class had been learning about penguins. All kinds of penguins, at least 4 or 5 kinds. They read books about penguins, did art projects of penguins, they played games and did experiments related to penguins. Through this they learned about height, weight, measuring, comparisons, etc, and what kid doesn't like penguins. The class' time and efforts learning about penguins culminated in a morning open house and breakfast potluck.

There were stations set up around the classroom, where you could play penguin games involving math, experience what it was like to waddle with an egg, compare your weight to a penguins, and view penguin art. The kids all had a great time leading their family around to the different stations and showing them what to do. I think the kids liked being the "experts."

For the potluck someone brought in a a breakfast bar/cookie that was an orangy-brown color. It was yummy in large part because of the chocolate chips. Some people were guessing what gave them their orange color. I guessed pumpkin, but it was pretty bright, so another person thought persimmon. Later when emails went around asking for the recipe, we found out it was pumpkin. Seems like I actually picked up some things from all the baking I'd done over the school year.

5/23 Kan YaYa and Seussical

2010-08-03T11:53:00.000-07:00

So I think around our trip to Hawaii in April we noticed that Mathis called all living things YaYa. I think he started out calling all birds YaYa, which remotely sounds like the Chinese word for bird, Niao Niao. I don't think he's trying to say duck, which in Chinese is YaYa, because we don't see ducks enough for me to use that word.

Anyhoo, on this day while Mathis and I were outside I noticed him looking at something. I asked him, "Ni kan shen me?" Which means, "What are you looking at?" And I swear he replied "Kan YaYa." Kan means see. But he hasn't said a short sentence like that since, so maybe he didn't say that. But he still says YaYa alot.

Also, on that day I dropped Maile and Beck off to see Seussical the Musical with some of Beck's classmates, teachers, and parents. It was weird just dropping them off and not going with them. But Hansel was running and I didn't think Mathis would sit through the show. They liked it, but they weren't dying to get home and read their Dr Seuss books either.

5/16 Farm Day and Rm 25 Potluck

2010-08-01T10:44:00.000-07:00

Maile's school has a mini farm with some farm animals and fruits and vegetables. During the year, a couple of classes at a time help at the farm on a weekend day. 5/16 was Maile's class' day, so Hansel begrudgingly took Maile and Beck while I stayed home with Mathis. I say begrudgingly because he's not into the whole school-socializing thing.

Later that day Maile's class had a end-of-the-year potluck picnic at a local park. We all went this time. After eating, Beck spent most of the time playing with a ball with some of Maile's classmates. Maile joined in the action later. Mathis spent most of the time crawling around.

Hansel was watching Mathis when he took this photo. I guess he didn't see the harm in Mathis sliding down with sticks. At least they weren't sharp.

5/9 Beck's Birthday Party

2010-07-31T08:19:00.000-07:00

Six weeks before Beck's birthday I looked into party ideas. I wanted to do something with trains. I originally thought about having it at Happy Hollow since it had reopened in March, but then I found out the park doesn't actually have a train ride. I considered Lemo's Farm, Oakland Zoo, the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad before deciding on renting the caboose of the Niles Canyon Railway -- a working steam engine train. By the time I called, the earliest date available was Sunday, 5/9, Mother's Day (the train only runs on Sundays), and the times were 1:30 or 3:00. I picked 3:00 because I was afraid we'd have a bunch of kids falling asleep during the 1:30 ride and I figured kids could get a nap in on the drive out to Sunol for the 3:00 train.

On average 24 people can fit in the caboose although the person I spoke to said they have fit up to 30. I wanted to try to have everyone fit in the caboose instead of having some people in other train cars, so we only invited a half a dozen kids from his class on top of family and family friends. There ended up being 27 of us (13 adults, 14 kids).

I put the party's start time as 2:30 on the Evite, so we'd have time to make the 3:00 train. Luckily, the train was a little late due to weather (it had rained earlier) because one family got there after 3:00. It was cool seeing the train pull up with the steam rising up over the engine.

I was a little worried about the caboose feeling a little claustrophobic since there didn't appear to be a lot of windows and not very big ones at that. The windows were fine. Big enough for kids to see out of, but standing adults couldn't see much. But the cupola definitely made up for the lack of windows. It was practically all window. The cupola is the part sticking up in the back in the below photo. The view from the cupola was like what you'd see if you were riding on top of the train. Getting up to the cupola was a little precarious, just ladders that went straight up, so a few kids did not venture up while my cousin's kids didn't want to leave :)

We passed out snack bags and juice boxes for the kids and had other snacks and drinks for the adults. Instead of passing out goody bags at the end, we passed them out right away because they included these Auto Bingo cards we were going to use for one of the games. http://www.amazon.com/Regal-Travel-Auto-Bingo-Game/dp/B000FPCWYC. The kids had to find four things on their cards (other than the free space) to get a prize. I thought finding five in a row would be too hard since the cards are meant for road trips. I included other things in the bags they could play with on the train. I figured it was necessary since they were going to be in a confied space.

We had cupcakes and then played a similar game on the ride back with a different prize. Overall, I think everyone had a good time, especially Beck, who spent the first half of the trip in the cupola and the second half sitting with his best buddy from preschool.

This is the best photo we have of Beck blowing out the candles. The other photo does not have my arm but still has the pole.
After the party, we went to dinner with Leilani, Hannah, and Zachary. Al was out of town at a family wedding. We ended up at a restaurant that actually had a Mother's Day menu.

5/8 Four in One

2010-07-29T19:42:00.000-07:00

Saturday, 5/8, was a busy day for us, especially me. Hansel planned to go on an all-day run that day since the next day was Beck's birthday party. I didn't mind the full plate because it's usually easier to run around with the three kids than it is to stay at home with them.

First, the kids had swim lessons at 9:30, where I spent much of the time making sure Mathis didn't crawl into the pool. I had learned the previous week that showering the kids while carrying Mathis in the carrier is not the best way to go. So that day I had Mathis in his stroller for the shower part.

Next, we went to the Klutz School Benefit Day at the Klutz company's parking lot. The company that produces the Klutz books is based in Palo Alto, and once a year they hold a benefit where 100% of sales goes to the buyer's school of choice. When we got there, I steered Maile and Beck toward the activity tables and the singer performing kid songs. While I steered Mathis in his stroller around the stacks of Klutz books. I bought a couple for Maile and Beck for future road trips and a couple of gifts for their cousins.

After I bought the books, we went straight to Danica's 2nd birthday party, which started at 11. It was a pinwheel-themed birthday with yummy eats and treats. Dave and Winnie came with Sabrina who was almost a month old. As we were leaving, I asked Roberta if she was getting anxious about the arrival of their second daughter. She said she was a little worried about how quickly she might arrive since second babies usually come faster and Danica came fast. [On 6/24, their baby Charlotte was born in the front seat of their car.]

Last after naptime, we went to Maile's school's Spring Fling -- a talent show and picnic. I packed food for us instead of buying to save a few bucks. And, I didn't want to have to wait in any line. The talent show was cute -- piano playing, singing, dancing, hula hooping, and even a kid doing stand up.

5/2 Madeleine's Birthday Party

2010-07-22T16:52:00.000-07:00

On 5/2, I took Maile to the birthday party of her classmate, Madeleine, sans Mathis. It was at a paint-your-own-pottery studio. Pottery and Mathis would have been a bad combination.

Mostly girls were there except for two boys. One of the boys was Maile's closest friend in her class, Kevan. After Kevan got there, Kevan and Maile sat across from each other and stretched their arms out to grab hands. It was cute.

Maile painted a container shaped like an ice cream cone. After the kids painted their pottery, Madeleine's mom passed out cupcakes and packets so the kids could decorate their own cupcakes like pigs, like the ones Madeleine's mom made for the birthday "cake" (see below). To go with the pig theme, one of the party favors ended up being a paint-your-own piggy bank.

Even though I didn't have Mathis with me, I couldn't sit still. I left the party for a short while to go to a toy store close by to see if I could find stuff for Beck's birthday party. I ended up finding a road trip game that I could adapt for Beck's party.

Maile says, "The party was fun and fabulous!"

Random April Photos

2010-07-21T19:28:00.000-07:00

One day I pulled out some collapsible tunnels for Mathis. I normally store them because they take up room and because the kids usually only like them for a day before they get bored. Here are some photos of Mathis playing in the tunnels. I like the first photo because you can see his two angled bottom teeth, which I thought was cute.

A family photo. We hadn't taken one in a while.

Came downstairs one afternoon to find Maile asleep on the couch like this.

A photo Hansel took of Mathis one day at the park. Would be cuter without the drool.

4/30 Beck's 4th Birthday

2010-06-24T22:06:00.000-07:00

On Beck's birthday, I brought to his class homemade mini-muffins that Maile and Beck helped make the day before and mini pullback trains for favors. The kids liked the muffins, and they loved the trains. There were 6 different colored trains, and Beck gave his best buddies the blue ones.

Beck's teacher made him the birthday hat with Thomas stickers and cotton for the steam.

Beck being sung to by his classmates.

After I picked up the kids from school, including Hannah, we had a small celebration at home. Hansel's aunt had dropped off a birthday cake while I was picking up the kids.

Beck opened one gift after Hannah left. Check out the wrapping paper. Only the best for our kids.

For dinner Beck wanted to go to Fresh Choice. Below is a photo of Mathis pretending a cantaloupe rind is a phone. The boy in the red shirt in the background is a 1st grade classmate of Maile's. Maile's school has mixed grades (i.e., K/1, 2/3, and 4/5). It was the 3rd time we had gone to Fresh Choice and seen one of her 1st grade male classmates (a different one each time).

4/25 Family Day at Stanford

2010-06-22T12:46:00.000-07:00

On 4/25 Cantor Arts Museum at Stanford had a family day celebrating Chinese culture. We got there just in time to see some of the Lion Dance that opened the festivities. They had a half a dozen activities set up for kids thoughout the museum. The kids did a few of them and then we went outside to get out from the crowd. We bought lunch from the tent cafe in the Rodin Sculpture Garden since they had a veggie option and responsible prices.

We then walked around the campus a bit. We hung out at the fountain in front of Memorial Auditorium (aka MemAud) and then the kids went up Hoover Tower (aka HooTow) with Hansel while I waited below with a sleeping Mathis. While going to Stanford, I never made it up HooTow. Now my kids have gone up there before me.

Hansel took the above shot of Mathis from the top of Hoover Tower.

4/24 Happy Hollow

2010-06-13T20:43:00.000-07:00

Happy Hollow Farm and Zoo in San Jose was closed for about a year and reopened in March. We went there a few years back when the Eastcoast Lynns were visiting. It was cute and fun and just the right size for Maile back then. We decided to take the kids to Happy Hollow on 4/24.

When we got to the entrance, which strangely enough was in the back, I was checking out the membership line. Hansel wisely said we should check it out first before buying a membership. Boy, was that a good call. The park is nice but definitely on the young side, almost too young for Maile. Maile wasn't that interested in the rides except for the one she could ride with Mathis and the Danny the Dragon ride. Beck rode most of the rides. He still likes the small cars.

We should have gone on the Danny the Dragon ride when we first got there because by the time we made our way over, the line took at least 1/2 hr. The ride was not very excited. It was really slow and the scenes we passed by were random props they kept from the old park and some of which didn't go together. At least the kids liked it.

The zoo part was good. They had two areas -- a wildlife area and a farm animal area. I took the below photo quickly with my phone. Probably not a good idea since Hansel was somewhere else with Maile and Beck, so there was noone to catch Mathis should he fall.

4/18 Oh, A Hiking We Will Go

2010-06-11T21:38:00.000-07:00

Hansel was planning to do a morning run at the Palo Alto Foothills park, so he suggested I meet him there with the kids for lunch and a short hike. We asked the Yaus if they wanted to join us. We had lunch at this picnic area with a small dried up creek. The kids had fun playing around the creek bed. We then set off on our short hike. Just the right steepness for the kids. We used a soft backpack to carry Mathis something we hadn't used since Maile was a baby. Al had the pleasure of carrying Zachary most of the way.

We reached the top where there was a nice view of the bay area and some really big houses. There were telescopes set up where you could look to see San Mateo, Oakland, so on. We took some photos and then headed down. We took a different path down, one that went to the small lake by the entrance. Al took Zachary down the way we came up to get their car, and Hansel ran back to our car after we got to the lake.

Aloha, Hawaii! - Part II

2010-06-11T14:14:00.000-07:00

For the rest of our trip, we spent a lot of time on the beach, walked further into Waikiki to shop and eat, and watched the Hilton luau from our room and up close. Hansel did take the kids to the pool with the water slides once, but they liked the beach more.

Mathis getting down and dirty. For some reason, we didn't dress him in swimwear that day.

Hansel went out alone one morning and took some photos. Below is my favorite.

Below the kids are doing one of their favorite activities with their grandma -- collecting seashells.

Below are shots from Hansel's "photo shoot" with the kids. It was during one of Mathis' naps.

We went to the International Marketplace twice -- to get a gift for Winnie and Dave's new baby and to get souvenirs for the kids compliments of Hansel's mom. Maile got a dancing hula girl and Beck a pullback train. Not exactly a Hawaiian souvenir, but the kid's got to have his train. Hansel and Hansel's mom and the kids also made it to Hilo Hattie not to buy stuff but to ride the free trolley.

Our suite was next to a convention center, and on the roof of the center is where they had the Hilton Starlight luau. Every evening the kids, mostly Maile, would watch some of the luau. We planned to go to the luau but only after sitting in on a sales pitch, where we'd get 2 free tickets for the luau. We didn't sign up for the pitch just for the tickets, we actually wanted to check out the Grand Waikikian, the newest timeshare tower there. It was nicer but not fabulous. The upgrades seemed a little chintzy. The "wood" floors were some kind of resin material, the appliances were black not stainless steel, and the cabinets, even though they were wood vs laminate, looked like something you could pull off the shelf at Home Depot (not that I'm knocking HD, I shop there). The bedrooms and bathrooms were nicer, but the living space was smaller. And for us a bigger living area is more important. Below are some shots from our suite and around the Hilton village.

There are no seat cushions on the couch because we were using them as a bed for one of the kids.

Yes, the village had penguins. Not sure what they were looking at.

So, we finally made it to the luau the night before we left. Unfortunately, both Beck and Mathis did not nap that afternoon, so they were very cranky. The show was entertaining and the food was decent. And there were some pre-show activities, like getting Sharpie tattoos and playing with Hawaiian instruments.

Last but not least we met up with Roger one night while Hansel's mom stayed back with the kids. Our first time seeing him with a shaved head. I was the odd person out next to Rog and Hansel. Unfortunately, no photo of the two baldies.

It was a great trip. And now that we know the kids' spring breaks fall during the slow period, it'll probably become an annual trip.

4/12 Aloha, Hawaii! - Part I

2010-06-08T20:40:00.000-07:00

Maile and Beck both had Spring Break the same week, the week of 4/12. So we made plans to go to Oahu that week and stay at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. We asked Hansel's mom if she wanted to come. Even with a trip to Hong Kong earlier in the month, she decided to come.

The plan was she was going to fly into SF Sunday night and then we all would head to the airport Monday morning. She had a stop in Denver, where there was a delay and where they made my MIL check her tiny pullman. They said they were going to check it all the way through to Oahu, which she had a bad feeling about. With her delay she didn't get into SFO until 3am, where she spent the rest of the night/morning. So, we met up with her at the airport.

The flight was okay. Mathis slept less than an hour, and was really restless the last couple of hours. It was a hard flight for me. On the other hand, Maile and Beck did well. Thankfully, they are at a manageable age. Looking forward to when Mathis gets to that age, and I'll try to enjoy the ride getting there.

At baggage claim, we learned that my MIL's bag didn't make it to Oahu (my MIL was not surprised) and hadn't even been logged in the system. The airline took down her info and said they would try to track down her luggage and get it to her the next day. We were weary but hopeful. (My MIL actually did get her bag the next afternoon to our surprise.)

In our cab ride, the driver mentioned that that week was the start of the slow season since the majority of schools' spring breaks had already happened. We were glad to hear that.

We got to the Hilton Hawaiian village early enough to make it down to the beach. The kids chose the beach over the resort's pool with the water slides and the lagoon. We weren't sure how Mathis would react to the beach, but he loved it.

Yes, Mathis is in footie pajamas in Hawaii, playing with his welcome lei. He's wearing what he wore on the plane. Didn't change him til we got to our room

I was also in communication that day with Dave about Winnie being in the hospital to have their baby girl. Sabrina Allison was born on her due date and 1 year and 2 days after Dave and Winnie were married on Oahu (http://hanselandlisa.blogspot.com/2009/04/410-dave-and-winnies-wedding-day.html).

4/2 April Tahoe Trip

2010-05-19T22:55:00.000-07:00

During the car ride home from our last ski trip, I brought up with Hansel the idea of going to Tahoe one more time in April. I pointed out that Beck had Good Friday off. Caroline and Leilani also talked about heading back up to Tahoe. They originally were thinking the second weekend in April, but they both ended up having conflicts. So they decided on Easter weekend. Lei talked to us about it, and then started the search for lodging for all 3 families.

It was actually hard to find something for three families (including Lei's mom). Either the places were too big or too small. We were hoping to book two 2-bedroom units at the Hyatt for cash vs points at a super cheap owner's rate, which you can only do a week in advance. They only had 1 unit available. We figured it would make more sense to have Rich and Caroline stay with us since the Yaus had 3 adults and 2 kids. While I was searching for lodging, I had come across some places I thought might work for the Yaus, so I forwarded them along. They ended up getting a condo near the ski school area, so even more in the village.

Since Beck had Friday off, we headed up to Tahoe Friday morning. We wanted to make it in time for the 1:30 Parent and Me class, which we did. But then Hansel and Beck got turned away because Hansel wasn't on skiis. The instructor said that if there weren't other families there that he would have let Hansel do it.

I took this photo when we stopped for lunch.

Some photos of Mathis while we were waiting for our unit.

The Yangs got in around 7:00, and I think the Yaus got in around midnight, and still made it on the slopes before 10 the next morning.

Since Hansel and Beck didn't make it into the Parent-and-Me class, we talked to Beck about taking a morning ski class. I took Beck to class and let him know that the class was just for kids no parents but that I would go watch him for a little bit. After I dropped Beck off, I got a call from Hansel saying that Maile didn't want to ski any more. I said to have her go down at least one more run and then see. I didn't hear back from him but later found out that right after our call they found the Yaus. Maile was more than happy to ski with Hannah.

Caroline and I went to lunch a little early, so I could check out Beck at ski school. The ski area is right behind where we were eating. Everyone else came for lunch shortly after, so Hansel was able to see Beck, too.

Beck could go straight no problem, but slowing down and braking was all thanks to the leveling snow and the instructor holding onto his hood.

We had dinner at our place that night. Pre-dinner the kids dyed eggs with a kit Caroline brought. For dinner, I got to try out this easy shrimp-broccoli recipe I had clipped from the paper. (Yes, we subscribe to an actual paper newspaper.) After some ice cream, all the kids jumped in a bath together.

Zoe is missing from the above post-bath photo.

Sunday morning before we left Beck got a little skiing in at the back of the Hyatt. I took the photo from our unit.

Another awesome trip. Can't wait for next season.

3/15 Maile is Star Attraction of the Week

2010-05-17T17:12:00.000-07:00

At the start of the school year, Maile's teacher explained to us during Parent Night that each week a different child would be star of the week. Each day during that week, the kids would have a different item to share, like one day would be describing an all-about-me poster they filled out, another day read their favorite book to the class, another day the class interviews the star, and so on. Maile's week was the week after our March Tahoe trip.

We later found out from Maile's teacher that Maile did a great job reading the book to the class. She read it well, read it loud enough, and read it with confidence. She had a harder time with the interview. Even though the questions were about her, she didn't know what the questions would be. I am proud of her for answering the questions as best she could. I know it was not easy for her.

Random March Photos

2010-05-14T13:27:00.000-07:00

For a week or so Beck would wake up with puffy eyes. I think it was allergy/hay fever related.

I took this photo of Mathis from below while he was in his crib.

Maile wanted me to take a photo of her beard.

I'd been trying to get Mathis to drink out of a sippy cup. Here he is kind of drinking some water. He has a couple of pencils in his hand because he really liked holding a lot of stick-like items in his hands. So I would give him unsharpened pencils.

On this particular morning there was condensation on Maile's window, so the kids were drawing on the window. You can kind of see a smiley face in the left pane.

Mathis touches his hair when he's sleepy, like in the below photo.

Mathis playing with a toy that originally belonged to Maile. I had recently pulled it out of storage.

Maile dancing on top of their coupe car.

3/28 Two Birthdays

2010-05-13T19:34:00.000-07:00

On March 28, we had two birthday parties that day. In the morning, Maile and Beck had Madison's 6th birthday, and in the afternoon Maile had Hannah's 6th birthday.

Madison's birthday was at Safari Run in San Mateo. I knew about this place, but it was our first time there. It's not as big as The Jungle, but it is super clean and super organized. In the main room, there's a big play structure, a little tot area, and racing lanes. All the kids first played on the structure, then one of the staff led them in races and a game of duck duck goose, and then the kids were back on the play structure.

At one point, Madison's mom, Kerry, came up to me and commented how well Maile and Beck get along. I said it was good and bad. Good because they have a built-in friend but bad because they can be really dependent on each other. As I was saying this, Maile was holding onto Beck and trying to keep him from raising his hand to race. They did end up racing with a little encouragement from me. Maile was so sweet when they raced. She would run slow enough to stay just a little ahead of Beck, so he wouldn't finish so far behind.

After all the playing, the staff led us upstairs to the party room. We had lunch and cake, after which we were led back downstairs to the game room. The kids had a great time in the game room winning tickets to turn in for trinkets. Madison requested no presents, but rather for guests to bring a book that another guest would take home. Thanks for a great party, Madison! I'm sorry I didn't get a photo of you.

In the afternoon, I took Maile to Hannah's birthday party at Create It, a paint your own pottery place nearby. Out of all items Maile could choose from, like a penguin, which they were learning about in school, to cute containers, Maile zeroed in on the Little Mermaid.

Hannah and a classmate of hers both decided to paint containers that were in the shape of cupcakes because they both have the same cupcake shirt (they weren't actually wearing them that day but that would have been a cute coincidence). They wanted to paint their container in the same colors as their cupcake shirt, so they conferred on the colors. It was very cute. The staff member would hold up a color, the girls would whisper to each other, and then either raise their hands or wait for the next color.

After the painting, the kids had a light dinner and cupcakes. I helped myself to a cupcake. Yum! Thanks, Hannah, for a great party!

That night we took Hansel's mom to Fu Lam Moon for dinner. Below is a photo of Mathis licking a plate cleaning.

3/27 Maile Cuts off 8 Inches

2010-05-12T11:58:00.000-07:00

For Maile's birthday, Joyce had given her a gift certificate to Snip Its, a haircut place for kids, in Palo Alto. I finally planned for her to get her haircut the last weekend in March. Sometime before the haircut I talked to Maile briefly about cutting off 8 inches to donate to someone who needs it. She didn't want to. She liked her long hair.

I took Maile during Beck's nap. When Maile got into the haircut chair, I mentioned to the stylist that we had talked about donating her hair but that she didn't want to do it, which was fine. The stylist said let's see what that would look like. She measured, and 8 inches would be around her shoulder. So we asked Maile if she would be okay with that, and she said okay. I looked at her face to make sure she wasn't saying it begrudgingly. So, the stylist cut off the hair. Disney Cars showing on the stylist's station distracted Maile from the big cut. Admittedly, I still have Maile's hair as well as my hair from December. Maybe I should donate them to the Gulf cleanup.

I loved Maile's haircut. Thanks, Joyce! She looked like a little girl again. I thought we should have done this sooner. After the haircut, we walked around a bit because they had Easter activities around the shopping center. We picked up some free samples from Snip Its, some candy from the Easter bunny, and Maile planted some grass in a cup to take home. That evening we went to Rich and Caroline's for their dinner get together, where Maile got to show off her haircut.

3/24 While Daddy's Away, Mathis Sleeps

2010-05-11T14:21:00.000-07:00

On 3/24, Hansel went out of town for a few days for work. We managed while he was gone, and I even had a semi-breakthrough with Mathis. Before then, Mathis didn't really have a set bedtime. He pretty much stayed up until we went to sleep or sometimes I'd hold him to sleep while we were watching TV. But for the three nights that Hansel was gone, I put Mathis down after I put the kids down, and he'd stay asleep.

But after Hansel came back, we went to Rich and Caroline's newly remodeled home for dinner, and Hansel's mom came into town. Sidebar: Their house is gorgeous and embraces the idea of the kitchen being the heart of the home. They were very thoughtful hosts. They specifically made salmon with me, the pescatarian, in mind. I would have been fine with the baked mac and cheese and all the side dishes. Anyway, that night Hansel's mom came into town for a few days on her way to Hong Kong. So, I think with going out and have a fun guest in town, Mathis' bedtime got back out of whack. While Hansel's mom was here, I tried to put him down after the kids went to sleep, but he would wake after an hour or so or wouldn't settle down to sleep. So Mathis again had a random bedtime for another month until toward the end of April. But, we'll save that for another post.

March Tahoe Trip Phone Photos

2010-05-10T21:45:00.000-07:00

I found some photos from the March Tahoe trip on my phone. The first one is of the kids playing Trouble at their usual table. The second is of Zoe, Cameron, and Beck playing Candyland although I think at this point they're playing with it versus playing it. In the last photo, I just thought Avery looked so cute eating her apple.

3/12 March Trip to Tahoe

2010-05-04T22:50:00.000-07:00

As a bonus for becoming a fractional owner with Hyatt Northstar, Hyatt offered us the equivalent of a 2-bedroom unit for one week for free. We used it to book a 3-bdrm and a 2-bdrm for three nights the weekend we planned to go to Tahoe with Vicki/Stew, Caroline/Rich, and Leilani/Al and their respective kiddies.

All of us except for Vicki/Stew drove up Thursday. Rich and Caroline made great time even with a stop to have their car checked. Vicki and Stew drove up Friday evening. It was snowing, and they got stuck around Donner. There was an accident and maybe a bear on the loose according to a traffic website. Cameron was a trooper through it all.

Zoe took a parent-and-me class with Rich Friday afternoon and took a full-day lesson the next day. She said she liked skiing and wanted to come back to Tahoe.

Maile and Hannah went skiing with Al on Friday. They did greens and a couple of blues. Maile did fine and didn't have any big spills. But the rest of the weekend she didn't want to ski. She said she didn't want to go fast. We told her she could just go on the greens, but she still didn't want to go. We didn't want to pressure her to ski if she really didn't want to, but at the same time I didn't want her leaving disliking or fearing skiing, especially after we just became fractional owners. Thankfully, she got back up on skis the next trip we took in April.

The agent we worked with to become fractional owners left us a welcome package. One of them was a $100 gift card for Schaffer's Camp (http://www.faulknerarchitects.com/schaffers-camp.html -- I included this link because of the photos). It's a beautiful lodge at the top of the mountain. So we decided that we'd all have lunch there on Saturday. It's not the easiest place to get to, especially walking with kids. Ask Vicki. At one point she was carrying Cameron and a sled. Only to be told at the gondola that we couldn't take the sled up the mountain. But in the end it was worth it.

We also enjoyed the spa, smores, and sledding that weekend.

Other photos from that weekend.

The kitchen sink was the perfect size to bathe Mathis.

Speaking of Mathis, that weekend was the start of a love/hate relationship between Mathis and Avery. I think she wanted to play with him, but a toddler playing with a baby doesn't really work. One time she tried to lift him up by his hair. Oops.

Early in the season Hansel bought these snowball sticks online.You can make and throw snowballs really far with them. You can see one in Maile's hand in the below photo. I'd never seen them before.

Family photo of the Yaus.

Each time we'd go down to the lounge/eating area the kids would sit at the same table and play boggle.

3/7 Chloe's Birthday Party

2010-04-27T13:44:00.001-07:00

On 3/7, one of Beck's classmates , Chloe, had a birthday party at Pump It Up in Belmont. Hansel dropped off me, Beck, and Mathis, and then went shopping with Maile. Beck had a great time in the bounce houses, but he also spent a good amount of time on the game tables -- air hockey and this air hockey game shaped like a boomerang.

The kids lining up to go to the second room.

3/6 Winnie's Mad Hatter Tea Party

2010-04-27T13:04:00.000-07:00

On 3/6 I hosted Winnie's baby shower for her first baby. I had decided on an Alice in Wonderland tea party theme because Winnie likes afternoon tea and not because of Tim Burton's remake although its release worked in my favor.

Once I had the theme worked out, it was fairly easy to figure out the rest -- the menu, games, favors/prizes, and decorations. Decorations were fairly minimal. I bought some paper lanterns and found these Alice in Wonderland Stained Glass coloring books (http://www.amazon.com/Wonderland-Stained-Coloring-Little-Activity/dp/048640305X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272312367&sr=8-2) that we also used for the scrapbook. We strung up the paper lanterns with pages from the coloring book.

The menu was an assortment of tea, sparkling lemonade, three kinds of tea sandwiches (cucumber, egg salad, and smoked salmon), home-made cranberry orange scones (they ended up kind of dry), cheese puffs from Trader Joe's (I wanted mini quiches), and Kara's Cupcakes (because Winnie likes 'em). I borrowed serving trays and tea pots to go with the mismatch theme of the Alice in Wonderland tea party. I'm bummed I didn't get a shot of the table.

We played three games -- Baby Food Tea Sandwich game, Baby Bonnet Game, and Musical Teacups. For the first game, I made tea sandwiches with baby food and had members of each team guess the flavor. Winnie was a team in herself and did not get any right. We'll chalk it up to inexperience and pregnancy. Pregnancy affects appetite so maybe it affects taste.

For the next game, each team made baby hats (since this was a Mad Hatter tea party) out of various materials with only about 10 minutes to do so. All the hats were pretty creative, but Winnie picked the leopard hat as her favorite. She likes animal prints.

Leilani is presenting her team's creation. She was one of the few that wore a hat as I requested. Thanks for getting into the spirit, Lei!

I introduced the last game by reading a part from the book that describes the Mad Hatter and March Hare moving down a space at the table to use a new tea setting. Instead of teacups we used our handy plastic restaurant kid cups, and the guests passed them around to lullaby versions of Cold Play songs (a CD Winnie at one point had registered for).

For prizes I found bath tea bags at Paper Source (http://search.paper-source.com/index/_/N-/Ntt-bath%20tea). I was looking for tea-themed stationary when I found these. So cute and a nice price. For favors, I had heard about Alice in Wonderland-inspired fingernail polish. So I did an online search and found a 4 pack that had each color in mini sizes. I bought enough for each guest to get one polish and for Winnie to get a whole pack.

I wasn't sure how well everyone was going to fit since our dining room and living room aren't that big, but everyone seemed comfortable enough. And I thought I was going to manage the party prep okay with Hansel's help, but Hansel ended up feeling under the weather. Thank goodness Vicki came over earlier than planned to help. I'm also grateful to Hogene, Margie, and Lara who arrived on the early side and were able to help with some last-minute stuff.

Besides registering at a few places, Winnie also welcomed second-hand stuff. She got some really cute new clothes and accessories and some great used toys and gear. The most important thing is Winnie seemed to have a really good time.

2/27 Disney on Ice

2010-04-26T12:33:00.000-07:00

The last time Disney on Ice was in the Bay Area in late October it was a princess show. Hansel took Maile and went with Leilani/Hannah and Rich/Zoe. After that, Hansel thought Beck was getting to an age where we shouldn't take just Maile to shows and leave Beck behind.

Disney must have realized they were limiting their market because the next show was not just Princesses. This new show was going to have Cars, Little Mermaid, Lion King, and Tinkerbell. So for that show I took Maile and Beck and went with Leilani/Hannah and Rich/Zoe. Before the show, they had princess dresses on display and a couple of the princesses made appearances.

The show was entertaining, and the costuming and props created a lot of visual appeal. The Cars just did a little story unrelated to the movie, but for the others they basically skated a condensed version of each movie.

After the show, we exited the building across the street from a park. So, of course, the kids wanted to go to the park, which had a carousel. After playing for a short while on the play structures, they all rode the carousel and then we headed home. In the below photo, Beck is riding on a San Jose Shark as in the hockey team.

After Disney on Ice, Beck took a nap while Hansel took Maile to a classmate's birthday party. The party was in an activity room at the Palo Alto Jr Museum, which is like a mini discovery museum. Hansel said Maile was more interested in playing in the museum than the party, but I figure at least she's getting a chance to interact with her classmates outside of school.

More Random February Photos, Mostly of Mathis

2010-04-23T13:33:00.000-07:00

I took this photo from the outside of our back kitchen door.

Mathis and Beck watching Maile play a game on the computer.

Mathis looking a little drunk from his black beans (no actual alcohol was used in the making of the beans).

Mathis climbing on me while I'm trying to take a photo.

On this day Mathis spent a long time stacking tupperware, and he'd get a big smile on his face when he'd finish stacking. Don't have a good photo of that. In those photos Mathis is out of focus.

Maile giving Mathis a ride on her shoulders.

Lisa's Birthday

2010-04-22T17:21:00.000-07:00

We went out the night before and the night of my birthday. I don't remember where we went the day of my birthday, but the night before we went to PF Chang's. We always try to get to restaurants before 6p to avoid any wait. That day we discovered PF Chang's new happy hour menu. Certain items (including popular ones) are $3-$6 from 3-6p. Since our dinner was so cheap, we decided to partake in some dessert. That same night I think we also discovered PF Chang's reward/member program. If you join, you get 10% off your meals. I get excited by deals like these, but at the same time I on occasion pays credit card bills late and don't deposit checks for a long time.

2/20 King Lynn Family Photo

2010-04-22T17:08:00.000-07:00

For some reason we don't take any family photos whenever my mother and brother are in town. So we made a point of taking one this past time. Here are some photos from that photo shoot.

Hansel getting the camera ready

Not quite centered

Ah, now we got it. (See the black button in Hansel's hand. That's the camera remote.)

Who Needs a Tree

2010-04-08T21:00:00.000-07:00

Who needs a tree when you have an uncle. Maile and Beck had a great time with Ed while he was here. He took them to the library and the park. And he was a lot of fun to climb.

2/13 Beck's Lunar Year Year Lunch Party

2010-04-01T17:32:00.000-07:00

Beck's school has one big fundraiser a year during the Lunar New Year. This year they had it at a big hall in Mountain View. Since my mom and brother were going to be in town, I bought tickets for all of us. I went earlier with Beck since students needed to get there by a certain time and because I volunteered to help.

I ended up helping sell tickets for what they called a Chinese auction. They had like 3 dozen boxes laid out for items that you could put a ticket in to win that item. They had things like a train trip with one of the teachers, an ice cream party, gift certificates, etc. The train trip was actually one of the most popular ones and was with Beck's teacher. He put a couple of tickets in that one but didn't win. Hansel put a ticket in for one of those inspirational prints that had a runner on it. He did it because there were no tickets in the box, so automatic win. But then he was going to pull it out when he found out how much each ticket was worth (which I think was $4). But I told him to leave it, so we would be guaranteed to get something.

They also had a regular auction for items that each class made. Beck's class made a garden box of herbs and a canvas painting. The items made by the preschool classes went for fair amounts, but some of the elementary class items went through the roof.

Each class did a performance. I didn't get really any great shots because I was too far, and we didn't bring the lens with the super zoom.

Beck is in the blue.

For lunch they had a Chinese buffet. That was, as one would expect, kind of chaotic. They asked everyone to first only get food for kids, but people, of course, are going to get food for themselves while they're up there. We didn't have to wait that long because we purposely sat by the buffet.

And to top it all off Martin Yan was there. He did a demonstration -- showed some fancy knife work and prepared a dish. He also autographed books that he had for sale. My brother and I got a book for our mom.

2/10 Ed Arrives And We Go to Tahoe

2010-03-31T17:24:00.000-07:00

Unlike most schools, Maile's school had the Thursday and Friday before Presidents' Day off. So, we decided to go to Tahoe during those days and come back Friday evening before the masses showed up for ski week. During our last Tahoe trip, we had checked out the Hyatt Residence Club fractional ownership. The salesguy we talked to called Hansel afterward and invited us to stay there at a deep discount as a "try before you buy." If we ended up buying, what we paid would be credited toward our purchase. We made plans to go with Leilani and Hannah while Al stayed home with Zachary.

My brother was flying in the night of 2/10. I asked him if he wanted to join us. Wasn't sure how keen on the idea he would be since he would be jetlagged, but he said okay. So Hansel, Leilani, Maile, Hannah, and Beck headed up Wednesday afternoon. Ed, Mathis, and I went up Thursday morning after making a stop at the Chinese Consulate for Ed to get a visa.

Hansel et al had stayed in a 2-bedroom Wed night. When we arrived, we checked us into the 3-bedroom we reserved. The girls spent the day with their ski instructor . . . Leilani. Leilani would go down first making slow Ss down the hill and then the girls would follow behind.

We got Mexican to go that night from the village and got sucked into watching an America's Best Dance Crew marathon on MTV. The kids liked it, too.

The next day Leilani took the girls back up the mountain. The rest of us went up the Hyatt gondola, which goes to the Ritz, to check out Leilani and the girls.

We then walked around the Ritz and then all had lunch at the Alpine Club in the Village. Later Ed, Hansel, and Beck took a dip in the spa and pool then got in some pool before we headed home.

Check out the snow in the background.

2/7 Kate's Lunar New Year Party

2010-03-30T20:35:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, 2/7, I took Maile to a classmate's Lunar New Year Party. They had Chinese and New Year snacks, like clementines, egg custard, almond cookies. Another classmate's mom brought a red envelope art and craft project. The highlight of the party was the kids had a parade up and down the block that included a homemade dragon. Kate's mom was on the committee that worked on our school's Lunar New Year festivities, so she found knew how to make the dragon's head. It looked great. She even solved the potential issue of the kids seeing while holding the dragon by putting handle bars and hoops along the dragon.

Random February Photos

2010-03-20T13:05:00.000-07:00

Here are some random photos from February.

For the first photo, I had put a wardrobe box lying on its side under Beck's lofted bed, like a fort within a fort. The only light in the box was from the flashlight in Beck's hand.

In the second photo, Hansel and I had gone into Maile's room to wake up the kids after a "sleepover" between Maile and Beck. We found Beck against the far wall with his back to the wall and his arms spread out, like he was covering something, and Maile was on the other wall with her arm covering something. They had found a pencil and had drawn all over two walls above Maile's bed. That was the first and last time they did that. This photo is of them cleaning the walls.

So, Beck had been wanting rain boots ever since I bought Maile some. I hadn't bought Beck boots because he had some regular boots, and I figured he didn't need them. But then we decided we should get him rain boots, so Hansel searched all over the web for some Thomas boots. He finally found some in Beck's size. Here is Beck posing with his boots. He didn't want to wear them for a few weeks. But after he finally did, he wanted to wear them all the time.

In the below photo, Mathis is putting a sock in Maile's boot. He spent quite a while that day putting random things in Maile's boot. During this past rain season, Maile would put her foot in her pink rain boots only to find some toy or trinket Mathis put in there.

Warning: You might not want to see the next photo.
I spent almost an entire day trying to persuade Maile to pull out her tooth or let me pull it out. Keep in mind she had already lost two teeth. This tooth was barely hanging on, and it was bothering her a lot. I even showed her a video I found online of a woman pulling out her daughter's tooth. The daughter was calm through the whole thing, barely flinched. Finally, before bed time she it me pull it out. I took a piece of toilet paper, wrapped it around the tooth, and pulled down. It came right out. Maile flinched but didn't really cry.

Today (3/20) her other front tooth looks like this, but she won't let us pull it out. Her anxiety is totally psyching her out.

Sleep Training Revisited

2010-03-19T22:04:00.000-07:00

Even though I don't have a photograph to accompany this post, I wanted to document it before I forget.

Right before Mathis turned 6 months old we sleep-trained him (http://hanselandlisa.blogspot.com/2009/08/sleep-training.html). It lasted about a month until we moved to Palo Alto. I didn't let him cry it out much after we moved because all the bedrooms are close together, and I didn't want Mathis waking the other kids. So even though he would start out in his own bed, he eventually would end up in ours.

After Mathis turned 1, I was afraid we reached the point of no return. So I decided to make another effort at sleep training starting the weekend after Tahoe. It took a week of a lot of crying, but now he pretty much sleeps through the night. He still cries here and there in the middle of the night, but he usually (knock on wood) falls back to sleep. Wrote too soon, he's crying as I am typing this.

2/1 PoPo Visits

2010-03-19T12:13:00.000-07:00

My mom (aka PoPo, Chinese for maternal grandmother) visited from 2/1 - 2/20. For a few weeks we were spoiled with some great home-cooked Chinese food, and additional help with the kids. Hansel and I even went out on Valentine's Day just the two of us.

PoPo taking Mathis around for a ride. He liked it at first, but by the time I pulled the camera out he lost interest.

My mom is trying to show Maile how to do a knitting kit Maile got for Christmas. It was complicated even for me, so we'll probably need to wait til next year.

1/23 & 1/24 First Tahoe Trip of the Season

2010-03-17T12:33:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, Leilani and Hansel took the girls to register them for an all-day class (9:30-3:30). While the girls were at their class, Hansel and Lola (Grandma) Rose took Beck and Zachary out sledding. The nice neighbor next door cleared a path for his grandson and any kids on the block to use. I came out in time to get some shots of Zachary's first and last solo run of the day.

Hansel giving Zachary a little push.

Beck going solo

During lunch, Hansel ran back to the ski school registration area to find something. While he was there, he saw Hannah but no Maile. He asked Hannah where Maile was. She said she didn't know. Hansel talked to the ski school people and found out that the girls were in different groups and that Maile was at mid-mountain while Hannah was still down at the base. The manager said they only take the whole group up if everyone in the group is ready. He said the girls ended up in different groups because there was no notation that they were supposed to be together and Maile and Hannah didn't say anything. Excuse me, they're kindergartners.

After lunch, we went to go see Hannah since the ski lesson area was right out back behind the restaurant. She was doing great, definitely ready to go up to mid mountain. Al talked to the supervisor, and they were able to find someone to take her up there.

After their lessons, the girls got a little sledding in. Maile, as you can see, loved it.

Mathis is watching Maile, Beck, and Hannah on the monitor.

Sunday morning, Al whipped up a yummy breakfast of waffles and fruit. After breakfast, we got some more sledding in before we all headed home.

Al giving Zachary a tow.

1/22 First Tahoe Trip of the Season

2010-03-17T12:12:00.000-07:00

Maile's school had the Friday after MLK day off, so we made plans to go to Tahoe with the Yaus. We headed up Thursday afternoon after picking up the kids from school. It was raining down here and snowing up there, so it took us 6 hours. The Yaus ended up driving up Friday morning because Leilani's mom flew in Thursday night (she had booked her flight before we planned the trip).

We stayed at a private home in the Northstar resort area, which had access to the free Village shuttle. The house was a good size and had a huge vaulted ceiling. It also had a pool-table room with a half bath behind the garage. Maile, Beck, and Hannah slept there. The kids, including Zachary, loved playing in there; it was like their clubhouse.

Some photos taken in and around the house Friday morning.

Friday the weather was nice, and the Yaus only made one quick stop. So, Al and Hannah made it in time for the free Parent-and-Me class at 1:30, which is normally for 3 and 4-yr olds. They were the only people in the class, so Hannah basically got a free private lesson. Score! Maile was already in her afternoon class when they got in.

Hannah with her instructor

Maile, Al, and Hannah on the "magic carpet"

Maile and Hannah doing the "pizza" stance

When they all got back from skiing, Hansel pulled out our camera and said something about getting a good photo of Maile during her ski lesson. Below is what he showed me. Can you guess who that is with the girls? And no, it is not a ski instructor.

Anyway, our new "friend" talked to Hansel first after noticing Hansel running up and down the hill along side Maile. He said something to Hansel about getting quite the workout. Cute and funny? Oh, how "dreamy." Hansel, who doesn't like to bother anyone, actually asked to take a picture. He said the wives would love it. Props to Hansel!

The kids are gathered around an iPhone. No screen is too small for kids when it comes to watching cartoons.

Random January Photos

2010-03-16T13:34:00.000-07:00

These photos were actually taken on 12/31, but our camera's date is off by one day, so they ended up in our January folder.

These photos were taken on 1/11 when all the kids were playing in Mathis' crib.

Maile on 1/12 is posing with the first house she made with her Lego Creator set, which has three house designs in one box. She wanted to bring the house to Beck's school to show his teachers.

1/15 Happy 1st Birthday, Mathis!

2010-03-16T11:55:00.000-07:00

We had a small, last-minute birthday brunch for Mathis on 1/16 (the day after his birthday). Hansel didn't really want to do anything, but how uncool would that be for us to have parties for Maile and Beck and not Mathis.

The below photo is from the night of his actual birthday.

Below Griffin is showing his mom how he picked up something with what we call "the grabber."

Mathis is enjoying one of the mini muffins I made for his birthday brunch the day before.

1/3 Ravioli Yum!

2010-03-16T11:45:00.000-07:00

Back in December at dinner at Hobee's, Mathis ate a lot of ravioli. So, after we got back from DC, I bought some frozen ravioli that I could whip out when I needed for Mathis. Here are some photos of him enjoying his ravioli.

1/9 Maile's First Sleepover

2010-02-23T17:38:00.000-08:00

Maile had been wanting to have Hannah over for a sleepover for a while. We finally scheduled something for 1/9. We started out the evening with some Legos before having Chinese delivery for dinner. After dinner, Leilani, Al, and Zachary went home, leaving Hannah to fend for herself :)

For bedtime, we first had Hannah, Maile, and Beck all in Maile's bed lying sideways. But as the night progressed, we realized they weren't going to fall asleep anytime soon. So we moved Maile to Beck's room. We moved Maile because, at her age, she is more amenable than Beck.

The next morning I made the kids pancakes before Hannah got picked up for church.