Another Weekend Over = Another Week Closer to School

I have less than a month till school again. Luckily, the first week of school is staff development/planning so hopefully it won't be that crazy. I'm proud to say that I've done quite a few things on my summer bucket list. If I had to rate my summer, I'll say it was pretty successful.

During the school year, I don't have time to check out new parks with the kids. It seems like all these cool new parks opened up right when I went back to work. We already visited Magical Playground in Palo Alto. This Friday, we went to Seven Seas Park in Sunnyvale. This place was beautiful... and got quite packed around lunch time. It seriously had everything there, including a water area (what drought?).

 Not as good as beach sand, but good enough

 Fun water feature in the midst of our drought

 My cheap solution to staying dry

 Homeboy was soaking wet

 Awesome pirate ship structure

 The Captain and his first mate

 Future Mission Peaker?

 Copying whatever big bro does

 Spidey

 Ms. Snack Queen

 Following big bro

Although they do fight like normal siblings, these kiddos do a great job of protecting one another when they're out and about. I've seen kids try to bully Char since she's petite. They're in shock when she fights back AND when her big bro comes to her protection. I hope big bro protects her forever.

 Kids chose to go to ChikFilA after the park

The weekend means iPad in the morning (if they're good). Char knows the drill and has gotten quite comfortable in my bed. 

 Frozen in bed

We went to visit a friend up in the Peninsula and the kids wanted to play at this park a bit before heading back home. 

 Happy Shinn kid #2

One eyed Shinn kid #1

I got the kids' shoe sizes measured at Stride Rite and it looks like they're both growing. I finally bust out their new Toms and they did a very nice OOTD Sunday pose for me.

 Two smiley cuties (a rarity)

 Checked out PA Junior Zoo & Museum

 How she relaxes when it's hot

... and that's the weekend!

Vacation Numero Dos

We just came back from a mini vacation yesterday. This may be our last one for the summer. Speaking of summer, I can't believe there's only one month left till school starts again. Aahhh! Where did summer go?!

Anyway, we took a short trip to Monterey. The drive wasn't bad at all, weather was cool (but not too cool), and the kids had a good time. They had such a great time that both of them passed out almost right away during bedtime. Usually they're up for at least an hour talking. Lucas stayed up till midnight watching cartoons and woke up at his normal time (7ish). Today, in an attempt to catch up on sleep, he woke up at close to 9! That's nearly twelve hours of sleeping right there. Hello 4-year old "newborn". 

 One clammy family

 SHARK!

 Tidal waves!

 Beautiful view from Cindy's Waterfront Restaurant

 Go here for lunch when at MBA, not the cafe

 Ghiradelli's with Mom & Dad while Char's snoozing in the stroller

Mommy and Lu one eyed photo

Ultimate Bloody Mary and our thug son

Our trip to the aquarium was short and sweet (and also very, very cheap). We only paid for Lucas's ticket since I borrowed two guest passes from a school parent (gotta love hook ups). As always, we stayed at the beloved Embassay Suites hotel. I just got both kids Puddle Jumpers and they went "swimming". Both do not realize that wearing these life vests will keep them floating. It may be time to invest money for swimming lessons, again.

 Wearing their life savers

 Splish splash

 Little posers

 Last one to the room is a rotten egg!

 Enjoying their AYCE breakfast

When we're vacationing, I love looking up new places to try. On our first night, we just wanted to get something close, simple, and cheap since we planned on spending more money on food the next night. Someone (not me) called a Mexican hole-in-the-wall restaurant and made reservations. Who makes reservations to a taqueria?! Well, when we walked in, there was definitely no need for a reservation. Since we were also the only Asians there and stuck out like a sore thumb in the town of Seaside, they knew we made the reservations. Was I embarrassed? You betcha. At least the food was decent and now we can say we tried Mexican seafood.

 Family chip selfie

Huge tilapia (pretty tasty, too)

And now, we're back home! Oh, and tomorrow's Friday!

Another Crazy Weekend

Here's to surviving another fun, yet crazy weekend!

 Lesson from kids: ALWAYS stop and smell the flowers

Before the weekend started, my two rascals decided to cause some unexpected ruckus during nap time. Since we were under potty training house arrest for two days, they did not run around as much as normal and had way too much energy. One glorious afternoon, Char decided to put butt paste (Desitin) all over her body. Just because. I came in the room, looked at my paste-y from head to toe girl and immediately yelled "CHARLOTTE!!! YAI YAI!" I showered her down and told them to never ever play with butt paste again. 

This Saturday, we went out with some small group friends during the kids' nap time. On the ride home, my brother texted and told me that Lucas had put butt paste all over Char's hair. They did this... just... because! If you've ever had a butt paste on hair experience, you'll know that it's extremely hard to wash out. I must've washed her hair out five times and it was still paste-y and gel like. We learned that dish soap helps get it out. On night one, I got enough out where it was liveable. On night two, I had to scrub her with dish soap twice and do a final scrub with her regular shampoo to get her back to normal. Once again, life is always an adventure with my children...

 I was smiling here because I did not know about butt paste hair yet

 Watched Book of Mormon with our small group friends (oh the irony)

Being the average height 5'4 Asian woman, I always feel short whenever we're with our small group. So I decided to be smart and beat the system... I busted out my 2.5 inch heels! Still the shortest here, but oh well... By the way, the Book of Mormon was pretty awesome. If you know me, you know I love me some crud humor. Next musical (hopefully), Lion King. I have already brainwashed the kids to love The Lion King just as much as me. Besides Frozen, I think that's the second most watched movie in our house. "Hyenas... in the Pride Lands!"

The rest of the weekend was just busy fun.

 Hand painting at a picnic

 She's so sweet looking when she wants to be

 Cool girl fashionista wearing her superhero cap backwards

Char ran into her room and got out this cap after she realized she could control her pee during one of our potty training days. Even this little girl knows she's pretty super for being potty trained at such a record speed!

 Family fave: Yogurtland!

 Free slurpee (sugar water) day: 7-11

 I was too tired/lazy to take pictures at our second picnic of the day today. Back-to-back picnics after church can take a toll on you! Anyway, time to pack some more for vacay numero dos!

Handpicked Friends

I've been hearing that once you have kids, your new closest friends are going to be your kid's friend's moms. This past year, I really didn't have much time to hang out with people on a leisurely basis because (1) I've been busy trying to get my life together and (2) being busy made me a bit lazy. From August to June, our typical routine would be to come home, eat dinner, relax for an hour, and get ready for bed. There didn't seem to be any time to hang out with friends. Now that I think about it, there really wasn't much time because I didn't make that a huge priority in my life. Now that I'm going into my second year of teaching, part two, I feel a lot more prepared and finally feel like there's enough bandwidth to do other things on the social meter.

With that said, I just let my kids choose their own friends in school. I never really expected them to really connect that much with anybody. Fortunately, for both kids, they were able to develop a handpicked, all natural friendship (without the intervention of their mother) this past year. I was able to have a play date(s) with their school BFFs a few times this summer. Lucas will see all his old friends again when August rolls around. Charlotte will be the new kid in school and has to make new friends all over again. Hopefully she'll still want to hang out with her first school BFF, even though they're going to be going in separate directions. Thanks to her school BFF, I was also able to develop a friendship with his mom, which is pretty cool too.

Char's BFF from school getting a bit comfy with my daughter

The benefits of having kids so close in age is paying off! When we invited Char's BFF over, he actually had fun playing with Lucas too doing boy stuff like digging in dirt, playing sports, and zooming around with cars. Lucky Lucas, it looks like he scored a new friend this summer!

Char saying goodbye to her three teachers

Char had a great year at Family Tree Playschool this past year. Starting August, she'll be having the same Christian education Lucas had last year.

The kids have also started to build handpicked, natural relationships with some church kids as well. Going to small group every Wednesday night was the most consistent social thing we did the past year. It looks like things are paying off now. Today, we had our friend come over and all the kids did great together! Lucas and D played Legos the majority of the time and had very entertaining conversations. I couldn't help but eavesdrop every so often. Having friends over also means I get some alone time in the office to take care of some work stuff, too. Win-win for everyone!

L: My sister is potty trained now!

D: My sister still has some accidents.

D: Where's your Dad?

L: My dad's at work. Where's your Dad?

D: My Dad's at home.

Okay, so maybe I didn't listen to the most interesting of conversations, but it was cute how they were having real conversations together. It'll be pretty awesome if they grow up an still stay friends.

 Two boys and a sister tagalong

 Three full bellies = happy toddlers

Happy Friday! It's definitely a happy Friday since Char pretty much potty trained herself. Unlike Lucas, she voluntarily goes to the potty and hasn't had any accidents in the past two days. She's learning at an incredible speed, I am shocked! ... and happy! I thought Lucas's potty training experience was easy, but Char's was even easier! I'm holding on to my last batch of diapers for one more week before I bid them a happy goodbye.

Hump Day Update

This update consists of SJ Giants game, sleeping, Minions, and the much dreaded potty training (part 2). The entire family took a super long nap on Sunday to recuperate after a crazy Saturday. I had to pop out of bed when I saw that it was already 5:30! I jumped up and started on dinner right away so the kids would not complain about a snack. Thank goodness for Gobble and their ten minute dinners! Whew!

After recuperating on Sunday, we went to a SJ Giants game on Monday night (free). We lasted I think three innings before the kids called it quits. Was it worth it? Yup.

 They call me Mr. Pig

 Family dinner at the game

 Me, mi lady, and a delicious churro

 Pops and the Shinn kids

I already said this, but the kids are having a blast sharing a room. The only downside is that they're playing and talking in their room and it just takes them forever to fall asleep. With Charlotte's growing vocabulary, being in the same room has it's benefits, too. It's so cute listening to their conversation or hearing Lucas "read" a short story to Char. They also have a tendency to fall asleep together in the same bed.

Someone blends in with their blanket

 Like two peas in a pod

On Tuesday night, we had a special Apple screening of Minions in 3-D. We only lasted an hour into the movie before Lucas got scared. The experience was pretty fun, and it was pretty also watching this before the rest of the world. The movie was shown at Vallco (surprise surprise) and I have to say that that was the saddest mall I've ever been to. The food court was just... depressing... and gross. Never again.

 Family selfie at the movies

 Bee-doh Bee-doh

Now, the much dreaded summer task has arrived. I've been delaying potty training Char just because... well, it's just not that fun. I finally decided to do the much dreaded deed. So far, it hasn't been that bad. I remember Lucas being far worse last year. Hopefully she'll get it down pretty quickly.

 Capri Suns, iPad, Skittles, stickers, and plenty of clapping and cheering

 Painting during a potty break

Last but not least, my humble little garden. I wanted to give gardening a test trial this Spring. Lo and behold, things are not dying in this drought (thanks to our shower water). I should really find a way to pretty this up one day.

Isn't all this green beautiful?