Today I planned a play date with some moms and their kids at Bella Terra. They have a free concert on the first Monday of every month, and every Monday during the summer. This was our first time. Too bad there really wasn’t much music–this week was a guy doing balloons, juggling and a stand-up routine. The older kids seemed to really enjoy it, though. It was also announced that it was the most crowded event so far. We all ate lunch together afterward and k had fun running around on the astro turf a bit. I love that I have time to do things like this with k.

We went to a “family festival” in Irvine today. It really wasn’t much fun. Good thing that we didn’t have to pay for the ticket. There were some rides, but k wasn’t big enough for any of them. There was some food, but you had to pay for it, and it was just hot dogs, hamburgers and nachos. Also, there was supposed to be “exotic animals”, but they were gone by the time we got there. I guess it didn’t really matter, since k slept the entire time!

L read a lot of books on how to properly raise up children while she was pregnant. One book discussed how it was important for the wife and husband to acknowledge each other first when seeing each other after work as opposed to greeting the child first. This was because children need to see that their parents are in a good relationship and this was one of many ways to make the child feel secure.

Knowing that, I decided that I would give L a kiss sometimes when I got home from work or other opportune times. The first time I did this, k smiled as she watched. And she continues to. Tonight however, while D+L+k were having our group snuggle time. k gently put her hand on my face and pushed it towards L’s. So I obliged and gave L a kiss, and k smiled. I guess she does enjoy seeing that L and I have a great relationship. You know, sometimes you can learn things from parenting books.

I remember growing up that my parents routinely gave each other a kiss when my Dad came home from work. But I don’t think they ever read that book though.

This is what k’s hair looked like when she woke up this morning.

Today we dressed in our “Sunday Best” to attend church service this morning. Our church is pretty So-Cal casual (aloha shirts are the norm) so it was a big deal for D to wear his suit. k was able to wear a dress that was given to her last year. Hopefully she doesn’t get a big head from everyone telling her how cute she looked!

After service there was an Easter egg hunt. At her first hunt about a week ago, she seemed scared and didn’t pick up any eggs. This time, however, she was an old pro, and put them in her basket by herself.

Of course, Easter is so much more than pretty dresses and egg-hunting. Our family rejoices for the resurrection of Jesus Christ and we can’t wait for k to fully appreciate this miracle for herself.

Yesterday I watched 9 hours of basketball at the Honda Center with my brother-in-law. The games that I saw were Marquette vs. Kentucky, Stanford vs. Cornell, Texas A&M vs. BYU, and UCLA vs. Mississippi Valley State. I had never been to the Honda Center, so I was pleasantly surprised that it was so nice. Anaheim does have good sports venues. In all these matches I had a rooting interest.

The first game I was rooting for Marquette since I went to Indiana and we don’t like Kentucky. It was a good game that was close until the end. The numbers of fans for each school was pretty even.

The second game I was rooting against Stanford for obvious reasons, but unfortunately they won. It wasn’t that great of a game since it was a blow-out. There were a lot more Cornell fans which was surprising given that they had to travel so far and they aren’t that good.

The Texas A&M vs. BYU game was the best game of the day. The fans were loud and the arena was packed. The fan turn out was about even. I was rooting for A&M since my friend is an Aggie. I know they travel well for football, but I was a little disappointed there wasn’t a bigger turnout of Aggies. The game was really close with the Aggies coming out on top.

The last game was the UCLA game and it wasn’t that exciting since UCLA won easily. There were way more UCLA fans which made sense given how close UCLA is to Anaheim. Luckily the Mississippi Valley band was pretty good.

Tomorrow I get to see Marquette vs. Stanford and Texas A&M vs. UCLA. These games should be good and I am looking forward to it. I am also looking forward to eating different Honda Center food. During the 9 hours I consumed a Super All Beef Hot Dog, a Carl’s Jr. Super Star, onion rings, a medium Pepsi, a large Mug root-beer, and half a serving of Super Nachos.

Playing catch-up…last weekend we went to Barnes & Noble and Buca di Beppo @ Bella Terra.

k likes to browse the dog and cat books.

We had a coupon for a buy 1 get 1 “mio” sized entree. We would probably never order these single sized entrees without a coupon since the portion size is much smaller, but the price is not proportionately so.

Yesterday we had a productive day:
D ran with k. Check.
L went to the Scholastic Book Sale. Check.
D + L + k went to the post office to get k’s passport. Check.
D went to the bank. Check.
D + L + k went to Costco. Check.

This afternoon we met up with my college roommates + one of their husbands at Third Street Promenade.

We ate at Border Grill. It was nice to catch up a little with the newlywed couple, who now live in King of Prussia, PA. (Isn’t that a great name?) Actually, I spent most of my time keeping my eye on k. We were seated right by the entrance, and she seemed to enjoy walking towards people and greeting everyone as they came in. However, once any of them became up close and personal with her, she froze like a statute. I guess she has a large radius of personal space.

This video clip, sent to me by Tiff, is entitled “When a Baby is Born in Japan”.

We spent a long weekend in Mammoth and just returned this afternoon. We’ll give you a full recap, of course. For now, just enjoy the beauty…

This mushroom was growing just across the way from our place. I say “was growing” because since I took the picture on Saturday, it has become decapitated. I’m really curious as to what that person did with it. I mean, the purpose wasn’t necessarily to kill it, since the stem is still intact. Mushroom soup anyone? Haha, that’s gross.

You can’t really tell, but this was a good size mushroom, about half a foot tall. Isn’t funny that when I saw it, one of my first thoughts was, “I have to take a picture of it for our blog!”

Changing the subject…last night I had fun watching the Oscars (with no commercials, thanks to Tivo). As D knows, this is “my night” to park myself in front of the t.v. for a good chunk of time without any guilt. I sent D to get our dinner from Island Grill. D is notorious for messing up our take-out orders, so last night he did a little role playing before he left, acting out exactly how he was going to order:

Cashier: How are you doing?
D: Well, thanks. I’ll take the [insert our order, reading off the take-out menu]
Cashier: What size drink?
D: Small, please.
Cashier: Anything else?
D: Nope, that’s all.
Cashier: OK, that’ll be [insert $ amount]

About five minutes after he left our home for the restaurant, the phone rings. It’s D.

D: Island Grill is the place on [insert cross-streets], right?
L: No! It’s the one on [insert street name]!
D: Oh, well I’m at [insert different Hawaiian take-out place] and the guy already gave me a sample, so can’t we just get food here?
L: No! Go to Island Grill!!

Lesson learned: We must also rehearse exactly how D will get to the restaurant in order to ensure he goes to the right place!