The week started with Katelyn's Tippie Toes Dance class. She wasn't as attentive this time around since Tyler was sitting in the back of the room doing his Kumon. I also made the mistake of bringing her stroller this time (it's a long walk from the parking lot!) and she was excited to just sit in it and eat snacks. Grr. I did get a couple photos of her when she was happily following directions though!
Video of Katelyn at Tippie Toes Dancing:
On Tuesday Katelyn had school (thank goodness she is still in preschool 2 days a week!) so I took Tyler to CA Adventure to finally ride the rides at Cars Land. Cars Land has been open since June and we've only walked through it once, and never even bothered to get on the rides. The lines have always been extremely long. We got there before the park opened and waited (yes you read that right!) in the FastPass line for the Radiator Springs Racers ride. Even that line was long! Tyler's friend from school Jordan and his mom Bonnie met up with us right in time and they were able to grab Fast Passes as well. The boys were so excited!
We immediately went to ride the rides in Cars Land. First was Tow-Mater. Line was quick since we were there so early! Finally!
This is us on Luigi's tires, but you can't really tell. It's a strange ride - interesting concept but a strange ride. Basically it's like bumper cars, except you have no way of steering except to lean your body in the direction you want to go. Yes. Weird.
Tyler was super excited about being at Disneyland. He did complain about waiting in line in the beginning though - he's so spoiled!
After the two rides, we did a quick ride on the Little Mermaid ride before Jordan and Bonnie left. It was only 11:30am and our Fast Passes weren't valid until 12:30pm! Tyler and I rode Goofy's Sky School (more jolting than I had thought) and ate a quick lunch while we were in line. We watched a dance performance of Phineas and Ferb and then headed back to Cars Land. Time to go on the big finale! Here's Tyler hanging out with his yummy churro. No turkey leg on this trip!
The standby line for Radiator Springs Racers was 90 minutes. Crazy! The single rider line was 25 minutes. With our FastPasses, we got on in about 5-10 minutes! It was crazy! Plus it had gotten SO hot and I couldn't imagine actually standing in that line. Tyler wasn't too sure what the ride was about, and he was more excited about the quarters he got back from buying the churros!
Ready to ride! Tyler was starting to get a bit nervous...
...but still managed to squeeze out a smile. He was very concerned that the ride was going to start with me still holding my phone taking a picture!
Whew! What a ride! Definitely more than I expected. By the end Tyler was loving it! You can't really see him in this photo though.
What a lucky kid. We got off and went right back on with our friends' fast passes! Ridiculous-ness!
After this we left. I was hot and drained. Tyler knocked out and was pretty grumpy when it was time to go to Kumon. I don't blame him, I was SO exhausted!
For dinner on Tuesday, Will's 36th Birthday, we headed to one of Will's favorite Korean BBQ places - Shik Do Rak, and then had dessert at Yogurtland afterward.
Can't have a legitimate birthday without a cake!
The kids were very eager to blow out Will's candles. :)
Video of Tyler and Katelyn singing Happy Birthday to BaBa:
Cake! Vanilla and strawberries of course.
Bringing Katelyn along to Tyler's taekwondo has not been as horrible as I expected. She does really great just hanging out and playing on the iPad. She likes to find Tyler and yell out "hi guh-guh!" though. She can be so well behaved sometimes...
Check out the birthday card Tyler made for Will. Lots and lots of pink balloons. I think that's a birthday cake with candles on the right. Not sure where I am in this picture though..
Thursday was Knott's Berry Farm! Yes, I know, I'm insane. I have Tyler enrolled in the 'inclusive' part time program at his elementary's CDC, which means that he can go to CDC during the different breaks that the school has. Sounded like a great idea at the time, but now I find it pointless since I've kept him home almost the whole week! It's just easier to have him home with me when I have Katelyn- they entertain/annoy each other and gives me a break. They have two field trips included and one was Knott's Berry Farm! I paid a group rate of $25 to join them but had to shell out an additional $15 for parking since I drove separately and didn't ride the bus. The idea was to leave earlier since Tyler had soccer practice that afternoon at 5pm. Tyler's friend Kaden and his mom Jen, my good friend, was going too. The kids started out with lunch at 10:30am outside the park.
Then they each got their tickets. There were about 100 kids there, from K-6th grade, and then separated into smaller groups. Tyler's group consisted of 13 kindergarteners, and the leader was Peter, the head of the CDC! Interesting. I think this group may have included some, eh, more spirited children, including Kaden!
Photo with Snoopy and friends before we start the day!
Oh my, the time it takes to get 13 Kindergarteners on and off a ride is ridiculous. It was like pulling teeth. While they were riding this ride, I slipped away and rode a roller coaster. The place was THAT empty, amazing!
Video of Tyler on the dropping ride:
Tyler was so brave- his first time going on this sliding ride!
And then the Flying Baron ride.
And then the racing car ride.
And then the mini rollercoaster. The kids went on the ride 3x in a row!
After that was the Log Ride. Haven't been on that since junior high and I didn't worry about getting dirty. Unfortunately we didn't have enough parent chaperones so I was forced on. Not so bad. Still kind of stinky.
After this was Bigfoot Rapids, which, thank goodness, Tyler wasn't tall enough to ride. The teachers/parents came back soaked. Teeheehee. The kids all sat around waiting to get on the bus and I took Tyler home. He knocked out quick in the car and I let him sleep until it was time to start his soccer practice. BAD IDEA. He was overly tired and had a complete meltdown. I was super tired too and was not very nurturing. It was a bad combination. Ugh.
Friday. My 32nd Birthday! Birthdays are not really much of a big deal anymore, it seems. We dropped Katelyn off at school an extra day since I had a busy day. They had some absent kids so they had a spot for her. I heard later she was not happy that she didn't have her usual cubby. Oops. Anyway, the morning started out with a visit to Tanaka Farms for a Pumpkin Patch wagon ride. We met up with some of Tyler's Kindergarten friends at 9:30am, and it was STILL hot. Ugh! When will this Summer heat wave end?
Tyler had fun playing with his friends Jordan, Joshy and Brayden.
Picture of the kids! I had originally planned to bring Katelyn but it would have just been much more work and I really wanted to have a relaxing activity. I know, very selfish!
Jordan and Tyler get along great.
42 inches. Not tall enough for BigFoot (46 inches)!
After Tanaka Farms, the group went out for lunch at McDonalds (yes, we so classy!) and I totally would have joined them except I had lunch plans with my Kumon Mommy friends at Plum's in Newport. I didn't realize that they had planned a birthday lunch for me that included a cake and a bottle of wine! Sweet ladies! One of my friends Paula brought her daughters since they were out on Fall Break as well.
After lunch, we headed back to Irvine for a birthday party at Pump It Up. The birthday girl was this girl Tiffany in Tyler's Kindergarten class. Her mom is Katie and super nice. I was a little thrown since almost all the other kids and moms there were Korean. I guess it threw me off since I'm usually surrounded with Chinese people most of the time! They were all really nice but just not what I was used to. Here's Tyler with his friends Aaron, Nevan and Joshua - all in his Kindergarten class!
Tyler and his friend Mallory. She's in his class too. Very sweet girl whenever I've volunteered in their class. Her mom... I'm not sure yet.
After the birthday party we headed to ICDC for Deena's surprise baby shower. Deena was Tyler's teacher when he was in Pre-2. He was 3 years old! She is so sweet and I'm quite bummed that Katelyn won't get to have her in Pre-2 next year since she won't be coming back after she has her baby.
Tyler and Elijah made themselves right at home back in their old school. Katelyn went along for the ride too!
Video of Tyler, Katelyn and friends riding bikes:
After the baby shower, we headed back home to pick up Will. I know, what a crazy day, eh? And it's not over yet! I was thinking of cutting out some of the activities, but everything seemed to be back to back with just enough time for travel. Tyler was pretty tired but still having a great time with all the fun activities he was enjoying! We had a tiny bit of down time and then we headed to Woodbury Town Center to meet up with friends for dinner. Still Hot.
Madison, Kaitlyn and Katelyn.
Some serious business going on here.
My friend Lisa baked Oreo cupcakes for the occasion, how sweet is that? I got my very own Happy Birthday song from the group too. :)
The moms!
The kids had a lot of fun just playing around.
Katelyn was just getting the basics of Duck Duck Goose.
Back home, all clean and ready for bed!
Video of Katelyn singing Happy Birthday to Mama:
I must think I'm still in my 20s! But you only have one birthday a year, right? My friend Mariam picked me up and we hung out at the Balcony and enjoyed a few birthday shots. Always a good time hanging out with Mariam, especially with sugary sweet shots. :) I may have had one too many though...and by the next morning I was burnt out! Definitely a sign of a good birthday.
Saturday was still hot. When can I stop complaining about the heat?? Tyler had picture day for his soccer team at noon and then a game afterward at 1pm. I stayed home with Katelyn so that she could get a nap in. How cute are Tyler and his Red Dragons?
Team picture! I know right, we have a hot coach!
Not sure if they won or lost, but Will said that the other team was pretty good so I'm thinking we didn't do so great. Doesn't matter though, as long as the kids had fun! We were also in charge of snack that day so Will brought fruit, juice boxes, chips and apple squeezes. They were a hit on a hot day!
After Will and Tyler got home, we got the kids ready and headed down to meet up with friends in Ladera Ranch. LOVE their waterpark. It was the last weekend that they were going to be open for the year, so we wanted to squeeze in some last minute fun. The kids LOVE this place!
Very touching photo for me- Will was getting stuff out of the car so Tyler held Katelyn's hand as they went into the water. Sometimes he can be such a good big brother.
Water fun!
Pole dancer.
After the pool, we had a potluck BBQ right at the park next to it. It even doubled as a little bike park too! The kids had a great time. Then we went back to my friend Amy's house, continued eating the dessert and then bathed the kids and got them into their pajamas.
The kids! Another fun filled day.
Sunday Tyler had Chinese school in the morning, and the we picked him up and went to Will's parents' Irvine place. The kids love the bouncer here.
We had lunch there and then headed back home to put Katelyn down for a nap. Will's dad installed a water filter for us (difficult work since he had to drill a hole in our cast iron sink!). Will's mom kept Tyler company by playing games.
We grabbed a quick bite to eat for dinner and then enjoyed moon cakes together. Happy Autumn Moon Festival!
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