Since I quit my job to become a full time SAHM, I am really appreciating having more quality alone time with n.  I know these years will go by fast, and I will never have another chance to invest in him during his early childhood.  I love that we can stop by the park after dropping k off at school and not rush home to my computer and the stress that often ensued.   

Yes, sacrifices have to be made, but to me, it has been 100% worth it. 

(I have also enjoyed being able to volunteer in k’s classroom.  Today, her classmates actually cheered when the teacher told them that I would be helping out with their upcoming handmade ice cream day.  It is not often that one receives such accolades.) 

Last week k had her Kindergarten Open House.  It has been quite amazing to see the progress she has made during the year, especially in her writing.  Hard to believe that there are only about two weeks of school left. 

On Memorial Day we ventured out to Alhambra to visit two of my friends who recently moved there.  It was nice to catch up and see how their lives are going in their new places.

D told the hostess that the living room would make a perfect setting for a Mexican restaurant.

I cannot believe it is June already.  Wow.

We stuck around here for Memorial Day weekend.  On Saturday, k went to a birthday party.

There was a giant slide, but she liked the zipline the best.

n dressed himself for our dinner at Baja Fresh.

We camped out in the living room.  It felt so roomy compared to our tent! 

D has an earlier release time on Fridays for the summer, so we’ve been trying to take advantage of it with some mini adventures.  Last week we attempted to go letterboxing.

Our first step was to fuel up at Jamba Juice.

We followed the clues to the “Northpark” letterbox since it was close and did not seem too difficult.  We were able to follow all of the clues, down to finding the duck couple that lives in the canal.

I think we did find the spot where the letterbox was originally hidden–“the tree with 3 trunks”–but it was not there.  That was not surprising, since it was first hidden in 2008.  However, I think that k enjoyed the thrill of the hunt.  n, on the other hand, was tired out by the end of our walk.

Guess we’ll have to try another one.

Last week I took the kids to Beckman High Orchestra’s free spring concert.  I am not super into classical music, but I’ve always admired people who play string instruments.  I used to want to play the cello for some reason.  In high school I did have stint in a “studio orchestra” playing trombone.  Unfortunately, we had to leave a bit early because I had a coughing attack that could not be stopped.  k seemed interested, but n—not so much.

I had to try to stop his snoring at times so as not to distract the other members of the audience. 

One interesting thing I learned is that Beckman has a Korean PTO and Chinese PTO.  Who knew?  Is this the norm in Irvine?

This morning, k lost her first baby tooth.  She was eating her breakfast, watching Caillou with Nathan, and exclaimed, “I think part of my tooth came out!”  (Turned out that the whole thing did come out). 

I gave her this tooth pouch that I made a while back with this tutorial.  This one is pretty cute, too.  I guess I should start making one for n too.  Growing up so fast…sniff…sniff!

Last week k went to our local fire station with her girl scout troop.  Siblings and parents were invited so I brought n along too. 

k was called on to demonstrate the strength of the fireman’s steel toe boots.

I think it was good for the kids to see what a firefighter looks like with all of the gear.  It might make the kids a little less afraid if they ever need to be helped by a firefighter.  Can’t imagine wearing 60 pounds of gear in raging heat.  Thank you, firefighters, for all you do!

Unfortunately, the truck was getting new tires, so the girls only had a brief look.  Our tour guide was very enthusiastic and really seemed to enjoy interacting with the kids.

Here are the top five theme parks in California based on attendance… #1 Disneyland (16.1M) #2 Disney California Adventure Park (6.3M) #3 Universal Studios Hollywood (5.1M) #4 SeaWorld San Diego (4.3M) #5 Knott’s Berry Farm (3.7M) D+L have been to all of them. k has been to all except Universal Studios. n has only been to Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm. We need to bring n to either SeaWorld or California Adventures soon!

May and June are busy in terms of celebrations for our family.  We combined Mother’s Day and my dad’s birthday last weekend.  We brought the Tuxedo cake from Costco. 

It is not easy to wrangle the grandkids for a picture.  This was the best I could do.  Happy birthday, Baba!