Recent Outings

Last weekend we checked out Pioneer Park in Tustin Ranch. It has a Western theme and there were three “covered” wagons. It looked like a nice place to have a birthday party (and someone was having a party when we visited).

Pioneer Park

tall slide
There are also two pretty tall/steep slides. I screamed when I went down with k.

Yesterday we went to another birthday party at a gymnastics center. The party was for two brothers, a one year old and a four year old.
balance beam
“Airplane Arms”

trampoline
k liked this little trampoline, but didn’t want to try the big one. She also didn’t want to jump into the foam pit. However, she seemed to have fun just running around on the bouncy floor and n did too.

elmo cake
Two cakes for the two brothers.

rings
D the gymnast (with a black mouth).

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Easter Celebration

Well, it looks like we’re almost caught up with our updates.

Our bunnies!
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D put a Cadbury mini egg in each plastic egg and hid them in our living room and family room on Saturday night.
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k had four egg hunts this year, so now she’s an expert.

k was supposed to sing an Easter song during service. As you can see, she wasn’t too thrilled about participating. At least she went up on stage, which is more than we can say for her Christmas performance. She loves singing at home and in the car…maybe next time.
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Looking dapper in his button down shirt.
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n’s 1st Birthday Party

March really flew by for us. Here’s the recap of n’s first birthday party. We had it at my parents’ house. The theme was Paul Frank’s Julius the Monkey and the colors were supposed to be light red and blue. n wore an outfit that one of my college roommates had given to n (thanks j!) We had hotdogs (Nathan’s!), chili and rice (how JA, I know). My dad also bought some sausages from Mattern Sausage & Meats in Orange. My mom made a mini cake for n, and there were also cookies, cupcakes, rice krispy treats and finger jello. There were a lot of little boys, and they seemed to enjoy exploring the house/yard. One tried to escape over the fence. My sister found them in the laundry room and asked what they were doing. They responded, “Making plans!” Hmmm…

We set up a sandbox in an underbed storage box.
sand play
sand cone
Would you like a sand cone?

pineapple flags
A different college roommate helped me make these toothpick flags. (Thanks, l!) She really came over to watch basketball, but I put her to work 🙂

blowing candle

l + n

one

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Happy 1st Birthday, n!

Yesteray we celebrated n’s first birthday with Chinese food and cupcakes.
1st birthday
This year truly flew by so quickly. I can’t believe that one year ago I was in the hospital and k met her brother for the first time. n and k are still learning how to get along together, but it warms my heart when I see them making each other laugh. n is now sleeping 10 hours and then 1-2 hours more at night. His eczema is a challenge, but we’re hopeful that he will grow out of it. He is a curious guy, and doesn’t take no for an answer. He is just starting to enjoy eating solid foods (he really liked the corned beef we had for dinner tonight). His bangs grow in the shape of a triangle. The most common adjective people use to describe him is “sweet” (like when he leans his head into my chest when I hold him). Happy birthday, n!

st. patricks day cupcakes
Cupcakes made for D’s St. Patrick’s Day potluck at work.

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V-Day & Vancouver

I know a lot of people dislike Valentine’s Day because it can be commercialized, cheesy, etc. However, I enjoy the idea of having a special day just to celebrate love. It was also nice how Valentine’s Day was on a Sunday. D and I celebrated just the two of us at Honda-Ya on Saturday night. Today was more of a “family-love” day with the kids. We gave k a little bag with a mini globe from the dollar section @ Target, a pair of heart socks from Old Navy and a few Hershey’s hugs.

I started a Yelp account, so I will try to set up a link to all of my restaurant reviews. The short version is that we arrived at Honda-Ya a little after 5, knowing that it opens at 5:30 and gets pretty crowded. We were first to put our name on the clipboard hanging outside the door. My suggestion would be to arrive by 5:20, and you would still be in for the first seating. By the time we left at 6:30, there was a sizeable group waiting outside. We shared a bunch of the little plates, a lot based on suggestions from D’s co-workers. The grilled items were quite tasty and D was surprised that he liked the agedashi tofu.

Sorry, no pictures. Our camera, which we were thinking of replacing soon anyway, broke. That is the main reason that our blogging has been quite spotty recently. That, and the fact that we have become obssessed with the Winter Olympics. D and I visited Vancouver/Whistler in 2005, pre-kids, so that city holds a special place in our hearts. Also, D was born in Windsor, Ontario, so he has the Canadian spirit. I was never into the Winter Olympics until I met D. After trying snowboarding/skiing, I have a much greater appreciation for all of the athletes’ skills. We also like to add our own banter/color commentary, so it’s a good time. Unfortunately, it really puts our 40-hour Tivo to the test, since we failed to clear it up before the games began.

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A Ball Birthday Party

We had a nice weekend. D was able to go skiing on Friday. Thankfully, no major injuries, especially since he has his marathon next Sunday!

On Saturday we went to a birthday party for a boy who just turned three. It was a “ball-themed” birthday party–basketballs, soccer balls, footballs, etc. k shot a few baskets, but spent most of the time on the swings. She also enjoyed playing in her old “baby class” (the church nursery).

swinging

baby toy-n

baby toys

The birthday cake. Doesn’t it look professional?
soccer cake
It was actually decorated by the birthday boy’s grandma. She just ordered a cake from Costco, had them do the writing, and she added the rest. Very creative! Oh, not to mention that she also made a yummy Italian lunch for 50+ people!

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Good Eats

When D’s brother and sister came down to visit, they noted that there seemed to be lots of chain restaurants. That’s true, but there are also a lot of independent ethnic eateries…you just have to be on the look out for them.

A couple of weekends ago we went to Kaya, a Korean restaurant. We had a coupon for their dol sot bimbimbap (go to www.cheapirvine.com our new “secret source”). We were reminded why we usually don’t go to Korean restaurants with the kids–several small bowls of banchan + scorching hot stone bowls = constant supervision of squirmy kids.

Across the way we decided to stop in a Persian bakery called Assal Pastry. They sell pastries for $10/lb. The pastries were yummy, but why can’t they label them to make it easier for the customer to order? I sensed the employee was getting a bit frustrated with our descriptions when we were trying to order “Um, the one with chocolate and in the shape of a triangle?” k picked the strawberry cake when we got home and declared she liked it better than chocolate.
assal pastries
FYI: this assortment came out to about $8.50–it adds up!

Last weekend we ate at an Indian lunch buffet in Tustin called Haveli.
Haveli d + n
Haveli
k liked the garlic naan and tandoori chicken. D and I enjoyed the fiery hot chicken curry (and the naan, of course!) It was $6.99/person with our coupon (the restaurant advertises a lot) and k didn’t have to pay, so that was nice. There weren’t many people, but maybe because it was the weekend. We were quite full after that. (D had run 20 miles that morning, so he had reason to eat a lot.)

On Sunday we celebrated my sister’s birthday. Her dessert request was S’mores cupcakes, and my mom delivered:
Smores cupcakes
We also had a DiGiorno party, but that will be another post.

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01.02.2010

D and I went to Agora Churrascaria for our annual New Year’s Eve Eve date. We skipped breakfast in order to save our appetites for lunch. D especially enjoyed the bacon wrapped filet mignon and Brazillian sirloin. The last time we had this type of meal was five years ago, at Greenfield in Long Beach. It will probably be another five years before we go again…it is definitely not something you want to do on a regular basis.
Agora

That night D’s friend from b-school came over for dinner. He is from New Jersey, and was visiting relatives in So. Cal. We were suprised that k warmed up pretty quickly to him.
Dan

We spent New Year’s Eve at home watching football, eating cheese fondue and sleeping on our new IKEA Manstad couch that folds out into a double bed. k, who usually sleeps at 7 p.m. stayed up until after 10 p.m. D, L, and k all slept on the couch comfortably.
Fondue Night
House Party
sleepover

New Year’s Day we watched the parade on t.v. and headed over to my parents’ house. We had ribs, chicken wings, spam musubi, wontons, CA crunch rolls and sukiyaki for dinner. I traditionally try to do something crafty on New Year’s day, and this year I made some earrings referencing Bead Simple which I received as a Christmas present. We also had more fun playing Wii, and k got in on the action!
wii 2
wii
It was SO funny to watch! We might have to get one for ourselves now…:)

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First Christmas

This was a Christmas of a lot of “firsts”. First Christmas for n. First Christmas that k was excited that it was Christmas. First Christmas in our new home. First Christmas with overnight guests…D’s brother and sister.

Christmas Eve we had dinner at Capital Seafood in Diamond Jamboree. We had enough leftovers for lunch the next day!
sis & bro

Capital Seafood

peking duck special
$12 Peking duck special, which we had to fight with one of the waiters to get (he wanted to charge us $24, even though there was a sign outside listing the special, and the waiter who took our order said we could get the special since it was only a few minutes before 5 p.m.)

Saturday morning we had oven baked french toast with blueberry sauce and scrambled eggs and sausage. We opened our presents. k and n received a wagon from D’s parents. They like riding together.
Radio Flyer

k likes to pretend she is “working” on her new laptop:
working on the laptop

We went to Laguna in the morning, and it was very warm outside. After the kids woke up from their naps we went to my parents’ for dinner. My parents bought a Wii, so some people tried it out. (I will wait until there’s less people to watch me make a fool out of myself).

busy in the kitchen
My BIL made a roast and Yorkshire pudding.
yorkshire pudding

My mom made the log cake that my family requests every year. D’s brother made a pecan pie at our house and brought it over. Very impressive.
log cake and pecan pie
A sweet end to a nice day spent with family.

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Merry Birthday

k’s birthday was on Monday, so we went to Disneyland. (D pointed out that we could have gone any of the days prior to her birthday and she would still have had free admission. Oh yeah, didn’t really think about that). Anyway, only k and my sister (who has an annual pass) actually went inside the park. D, n and I just hung out at Downtown Disney for a couple of hours. k had to go on her favorite ride, It’s a Small World, of course. She reported back that the dolls were alternating between Jingle Bells and the It’s a Small World theme song.

I would have liked to see how the park was decorated. We had a small taste from the outside. (I enjoyed watching Guy Fieri’s Disneyland holiday special…those candy canes are amazing!) I saw the candy apples at Marceline’s candy shop and they are quite labor intensive. Still don’t think they are worth $8.95, though.

n @ Disneyland

CA Adventure

k's birthday

We ducked into the Grand Californian. It didn’t feel like we were still in Disneyland. Very swanky, and love that tall Christmas tree!
Grand Californian @ Christmas

duplos
After lunch, we opened presents. k received Duplos from D’s parents. We had fun browsing at the Lego store at Downtown Disney. I have a feeling I’m going to have lots of fun with Legos once k and n become more interested. I didn’t have many Legos as a kid, but I did have a nice K’nex set. I credit that toy with my penchant for putting together Ikea furniture.

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