The Past Weeks

I've been saying this a lot, but life has been busy! It's been a month of school and things are settling down with transitioning to early mornings, early bedtimes, and a new curriculum. 

 Silly girl

 Obsessed with that Stormtrooper, we'll call him Finn

 Passed out in her makeshift bed

 Realized after coming in here that the kids are way too big for this playground

 Loving that tomahawk steak

 The good times at home...

 Sake eyes

 Can't tell, but he's sitting in a police helicopter

 ... and petting a K-9 dog

 Back on the social scene after some months away

After church meal

... and that's the past two weeks in a nutshell. I've been busy and tired, hence the lack of pictures.

First Week of School

The kids enjoyed going back to school, minus waking up super early. I was super drained. After sitting down the entire summer, my feet hurt every single morning when my alarm went off at 6:45. However, I was woken up before that due to (annoying) morning texts from co-workers since they know I'm one of the last ones to get out of bed.

Anyway... some pictures on the first day of school. This tradition is going to continue till high school. They might not be smiling then when I take them later on in life.

 Second year of her 3 year old class

 My baby boy is in Kindergarten

 First day of school at school

 Ended their first day playing for 5 minutes with their BFFs

 Sister twins!

On Saturday, we took the VTA to the Convention Center for some Heroes and Villians thing. I nicknamed it Freaks and Geeks. I would rather spend a Saturday browsing the aisles at Target. 

 Happy kids riding public transportation

How many Tsums does Mommy have at home?

 My Sunday lunch view

 She always wants to take a pic with Mommy

Sake nigiri!

And that was our weekend and the first week of school. I survived! That's all that matters! 

August Shinnanigans

My one and only faithful reader asked why there hasn't been an update in so long. Simple - I've been busy and tired this month. I spent the first week of August at a conference in LA to learn about our new curriculum. I tried to live it out with the kids the following week, but often took them to school so I can prep for the school year. And this past week was our Staff Development week. August was all about prepping for school. Tomorrow is our first day of school - I can't believe I have a kindergartner and a preschooler. 

Although August was busy, and I didn't take a ton of pictures, we still did some fun things like going to Great America, Happy Hollow, and CDM. 

Snoopy land

Face paint at eBay's company picnic

Enjoying our last visit at CDM (passes expired)

Bubbles!

What's with their fascination with bubbles?

Making sure Mommy has a healthy pizza

Always a fun time at HH

Mighty eagle wings

After dinner park adventures

Patbingsoo

Rita's ice cream

Loving their sake sushi

Watching planes land and take off by SFO

Visiting PoPo's grave - 5 year anniversary

 Spent a lot of time like this in my classroom

 At Levi's Stadium with Lucas's K teacher

 What happens when you don't brush your teeth

 Summer family sleepovers

 Goodbye summer

 ... and that was summer. This might be the fastest summer ever! I'm going to have a hard time waking up at 6:30 tomorrow. The kids are going to have an even harder time waking up that early. I miss summer already!

The Happiest Place On Earth

The Happiest Place On Earth did not feel that happy last week, no thanks to the scorching 100 degree weather plus humidity! Regardless, the kids still had tons of fun. Our Star Wars loving boy was able to ride on Star Tours SIX times! He visited all the planets! If that's not fun, I don't know what is (for him). 

Obligatory picture in the front

This would've been perfect if that mother/daughter didn't photobomb us! Maybe it's time to work on my Photoshop skills and take them out! I think this is Lucas's third time at Disney and Char's second. This was definitely a trip to remember for them; they're at the perfect age right now to capture fun family vacation memories.

Obligatory picture in front of the castle

How long has Disney been celebrating their diamond anniversary? Regardless, glad we didn't miss it! 

Obligatory picture in front of the wishing well

You may be wondering, why is this an obligatory picture? Well, around eight years ago, somebody proposed here and the rest is history!

 Hello Boba Fett!

 May the Force be with you forever!

 Yum! $12 turkey leg!

 BB-8!!! Yeee!!!

Dan told me all the BB-8 cups were sold out. While I was wandering around with Charlotte, looking for a cold drink, I stumbled upon this little stand who... lo and behold, sold this sought after BB-8 cup! I win!

 Kids loved this ride, I was a bit scared of it

 Kids did not like Mr Toad (or Snow White)

 Not-so-happy with her favorite princess

Charlotte insisted she wanted to take pictures with the princesses while Lucas was riding Star Tours. When we got there, she refused to smile. Come on, girlfriend! 

 They loved the tea cup ride (parents hated it!)

 Two days at Disney comes to an end

It was HOT in Anaheim! I'm talking 100 degree weather plus humidity. I'm talking walk-out-of-your-hotel-room-at-8-in-the-morning-and-still-feeling-the-heat! It was insanely HOT! The kids had fun, so I guess it was worth it. We also did a lot of walking, super tiring!

Once our Disney adventures were over, we spent an extra day exploring downtown Disney. Did I mention how horrendous it was walking up and down in the insane heat?! We ended our trip at Goofy's Kitchen. You pay a fortune for this restaurant and it's comparable to Hometown Buffet quality. The kids loved this place because of all the characters parading around and taking pictures with them. Charlotte loved seeing Minnie!

 Char's a bit camera shy in the beginning

 They took a picture with Minnie three times!

 Char's unsure about Pluto

 Loved Chip (or Dale?)

 Chip or Dale? Who are you?

 Cute map of Disneyland

 Goodbye Disneyland... see you in two years!

 I had some people give me really good tips. A couple which really helped... 

1) Ride the monorail from downtown to Tomorrowland. This is perfect because it stops right by Star Tours! Beware: it's closed during the hottest parts of the day because there's no a/c inside and the monorail is around 20 degrees hotter. 

2) Bring your own liquid enhancer so you can put it in your water. Don't buy their bottled waters. If you go to any restaurant or stand, Disney provides water. Keep hydrated, peoples!

3) Ask a cast member photographer to take your picture! They take much better pictures than a random person you stop! Notice how perfectly centered all our pictures are with the family. Cast member, yo!

And now, I have two weeks of vacation left before school! How did summer fly by so fast?! That's the end of our summer vacationing!