OC Zoo and Legoland!!! (Week 194/56)

I was telling Will the other day that keeping this blog updated takes a LOT of work.  It's quite an accomplishment, if I may say so myself, and I'm very proud that we've been able to keep it going for so long.  I often find myself looking back at old entries to pinpoint something specific.  For example: when did Tyler switch to a big boy bed?  Stuff like that.  Time goes by so quickly it's hard to keep track of everything going on.

Sadly, this past weekend, Will's grandmother passed away.  She was 95.  It's a private matter (of course) but I wanted to mention it here and take a moment to remember her.  This is a picture of her with Katelyn and Will's mom the last time we visited her (Chinese New Year in February).

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This has been quite a busy week!  We had dinner at Buca de Beppo (yummm!) and Katelyn was charming the servers there (as usual).  I love that I don't have to pack a lot of food and snacks for her anymore - she can eat pretty much whatever we eat and I can always order some vegetables on the side.

Can you see in this picture? She's wearing shoes!  Yes!  Katelyn actually seems to like wearing shoes these days - no more screaming at the sight of them.  This morning she even tried to put one on.  Side note: she's also gotten really good at pulling off her socks.  Then she tries to put them on (totally unsuccessful). 

Saturday was basketball class again.  Only one week left!  I think we'll try soccer next!  Here's a video of Tyler dribbling a basketball - he's getting better!  I tried to get a video of him making a basket, but he only seemed to make baskets when I WASN'T recording.  Boo.


Saturday morning was haircut time!  I am a big fan of early morning basketball practice (9:30am) so that there's still a full day afterward to get things done.  Here's Tyler and Katelyn waiting at the salon.

I think I caught a sweet moment between the kids right in the beginning of the video - Tyler gently stroking Katelyn's cheek. So cute!  This is a great video - Katelyn asks Tyler for more ("Mahh!") and Tyler gives her more snack.  super cute!


Oh my Tyler, you're really needing a haircut!

While we waited, we checked out a dog adoption fair going on outside the pet supply store next door.  Tyler liked petting the little dogs through the gate.  This one got adopted that day!

Big boy Tyler getting his haircut.  He's so grown up - I still remember when we had to distract him with my iPhone and tons of treats.  Now he just complains of the itchiness of the hair falling on his neck, but he's great and sits still!

Lunch was a Korean restaurant in the same plaza.  There was a miscommunication issue (language barrier) regarding their seafood pancake, but otherwise than that it was good.  Katelyn likes her carbs and korean bbq!

Sunday morning we had planned to visit Legoland (we had tickets expiring Thursday) but we got the call about Will's grandmother early in the morning.  Will went up to Monterey Park while I stayed with the kids at home.  It was quite gloomy and overcast that day, and Tyler was going a little stir crazy trapped in the house.  When Will got back later in the day, we took a trip to the Irvine Regional Park and visited the Orange County "Zoo".  I put that in quotations because, eh, it's really quite small and boasts animals such as owls and raccoons.  But admission is only $2, so I'm not complaining!  It was a perfect nearby activity.

This goat in their petting zoo seemed just about ready to jump out!

Ooh, the star of the zoo - a bald eagle!  They truly are beautiful creatures and I love seeing them every time we visit.

Katelyn was excited to see the animals too (raccoons are just as exciting penguins to her).

Video of Katelyn looking at the animals in the OC zoo - she must think we can understand what she is saying.  And I even got some video of Tyler excitedly seeing some animals - donkeys! (ooooohhhh)


This was exciting too - a black bear!   I learned something new that day - black bears are usually brown.  Interesting huh!

Before heading home we decided to take a little train ride around the park. 

Me and the kids!

Will and Katelyn!

Silly Tyler.

Katelyn was very excited to ride the train and looked at everything going by.

Video of Katelyn talking and pointing out a waterwheel on the train ride - it's like she points at something, says what she thinks is the name, and then looks at Will to see if he saw / understood.  She's growing up so fast!  When I blow bubbles for her after bath time, it almost sounds like she's saying "bubah" and when we give her something, oftentimes she'll say something like "dankah" that sounds like she's trying to say "thank you!". 


Fast forward.  Spring break for CSULB this week so no classes to audit (yay!) and I decided to take Tyler to Legoland on Tuesday.  I was excited - Tyler and I would get to spend the whole day together - get in some much needed mommy and Tyler time.  Tyler was GREAT and was so excited!

Prepare for a ton of pictures of Legoland.   We hit Tyler's favorite ride first - the Volvo driving school!  Last Thanksgiving was his first time trying it and he was not a good driver.  This time?  A professional!

Video of Tyler driving at the Volvo driving ride.  He follows the line pretty good!


Next was Rescue Squadron or something.  We got there at opening so the place was empty and many of the rides, for a while, we were the only people on. 

Video of Tyler on Rescue Squadron.  This video is really here so Tyler can watch it (it's kind of boring).  On this (super slow) ride, you can control the helicopter and make turn left/right and go up/down. 


They have this fire engine activity there that we didn't get to do last time because the line was SOOOO long.  This time we got to do it, and I realized that it's meant for more than one adult to be on it!  Basically you have to pump this lever up and down to get the firetruck to move down the track.  And it's not easy!  Thank goodness there was no one else there and the employees manning the ride were able to help us with some pumping.  Tyler definitely did try to help though!


Just chilling in a Lego car.

Airplanes!  This one you could control going up and down, but since it's attached to the center you're pretty lopsided when you raise your plane up.

Here's Tyler and me on the plane!

Then there was the boat ride.  Last time we went on it I remember thinking it was really slow.  Yawn.  And I even tried to convince Tyler that it was too slow to go on it.  But the line was short, so, why not I guess.  Bad idea!  They had pulled a boat from the side dock when we got to the front of the line (the line was getting longer so I guess they were adding more boats in to accommodate).   OMG was our boat so slow.  We got passed by two OTHER boats!  I thought I was going to kill myself and tear my hair out.  No matter how hard I pressed on the gas, it felt like we were just going at the ridiculously slow flow of the water!  It wasn't until near the end when I called someone over that she pointed out that the engine wasn't even running on the boat.  AHHH!  She had me pump the gas a few times and she did something and then wwrrrrrooooomm the engine came back on.  Power!  Still as slow as I remembered it from last year, but at least we were moving again.  I think I aged a few years just on that ride...

Next we headed to the large Castle play area.  Tyler loved it and we ran up and down the play area and went down slides.  Tyler liked climbing through the little obstacles.

Longest line of the day - Adventurer Ride or something, I can't remember what it's called.  Kind of like a super slow Indiana Jones ride.  Tyler really liked the shooting though.

And then more shooting afterward.  This place is pretty cool, you can collect balls at the bottom and put them back into holes that then get shot upward and into the second level where the people can grab them as ammunition for their air guns.  Quite fun!

Ready... aim...

Video of Tyler collecting balls on the bottom level.  He was quite focused on gathering as many balls as he could and putting them into the little holes.  For some reason they don't let people in with bags (?) and when I asked why not they said they had a problem with people stealing the foam balls.  Really?


A fun plane ride.  This ride was probably the fastest ride that Tyler went on that day.  I had zero luck in convincing him on trying out any of the little roller coasters.  He's very sensitive, and I quote Tyler: "Slow is my favorite".  Hah!

Video of Tyler on the airplane ride with his hands up!  This is his rollercoaster!


Lunch we sat down at a Sports Cafe that served a mini buffet for kids.  Perfect!  Tyler had a mini burger, waffle fries, macaroni and cheese, and even some broccoli!  He was SO enthralled in the Lego movie they were showing though, I would have to say his name 5x before I got a response.

As close as we'll get to Vegas for a long time! 

Taking the Coastal Cruise.  Kind of like the Fairytale Boat ride at Disneyland.  Nice to just sit and relax.

Whew, by this time it was maybe ~1-2pm and I was starting to prepare Tyler that we were going to be leaving soon.  Of course he had to do everything then.  We spent a long time shooting water at the Lego animals.

He wasn't too happy that he couldn't hit the alligator at the far end.

Then we had to ride the mini train ride in Duplo town.  Tyler was happy to sit in the front.

And then of course we had to play in every structure they had in the play area.  Every single one!

Hmmm, that kid has more Legos than me.   The other kid actually came over and tried to pull Legos out of Tyler's hand.  tsk tsk.  His mom made him give it back to Tyler though.

Roar!  By this time Tyler was really tired and just halfheartedly trying to convince me that we should stay longer. 

In the car we hadn't even hit the freeway and Tyler was out.  Whoohoo!  I'm quite proud of myself for making that drive too!

We had some time before we were headed to Kumon so we made a pit stop at YogurtLand.  He was very excited that this YogurtLand had gummy butterflies!  What a fun day for Tyler. 

Tyler's getting better at Taekwondo too!  On Monday he actually earned a stripe for his hard work and focus!  On Wednesday though, I think I would have made him give it back if I could.  He was so unfocused!  Oh well, I guess he'll have good days and bad days.  Here's Tyler doing warm up in the middle of the circle in class.  The instructors pick different kids to be in the middle - not sure if it's to keep an eye on them or to have them display leadership qualities.  Hah!

Oh oh oh, Tyler has the most hilarious jumping jacks.  They look like he's dancing- I'll need to get a video of him next time!

Hip rotations!

"sitting like a black belt" and listening.

Doing stretches!

Video compilation of Tyler doing taekwondo drills.  He's a fast little one and I like that the instructors make sure that the kids follow direction and make them redo things if they don't.  Stay in your lane Tyler!


Block!

And another block!

This is the owner of the taekwondo studio Mr Do.  Even he commented that Tyler is like a different kid - much more focused already!

This was the highlight of the week.  Sparring.  Basically they had an instructor (or in Tyler's case, an advanced older kid) do a move and have the littler kid copy it and do it back. 

Video of Tyler pseudo-sparring.  You MUST watch this.  If you only watch one movie in this entire post, it has to be this one.  It is hilarious! Tyler's sparring moves look like he's either shooing a bee away or doing some fancy ballet moves.  He hasn't even been here a month yet, so I don't expect too much at this point. :)


The kids getting their hard earned stripes!

What's been going on with Katelyn?  Poor thing broke out in hives on both Monday and Tuesday.  I didn't know what hives were until now.  Raised pink welts all over both of her arms and legs.  Poor thing!  We gave her some Benadryl and it helped but decided to take her to see a doctor the next day when she got them all over again.  Horrible experience - waited an hour for her appointment and then was done talking to the doctor in 5 minutes.  LAME!  Basically the doctor (not our normal pediatrician) said that Katelyn's hives were a result of a viral infection - her body fighting the germs were causing this!  Awwww! 

Video of Katelyn using her rolling toy dangerously - she hasn't seemed to get the idea that it's supposed to be rolled, not picked up and carried...


Tyler hard at work practicing his numbers.  They're still all over the place, no big deal though.

Bath time!

Video of Tyler helping to give Katelyn a bath.  This video melts my heart as Tyler shampoos up Katelyn and rubs the soap on her back.  Katelyn looks like she likes it too!

Have a good week!

Just so I don't forget - I have officially STOPPED pumping this week!  YES!  Amazing!  Katelyn is on whole milk now during the day and I just nurse her in the morning and once in the evening.  Today I went to work without all my pump + accessories, and it felt GREAT!