Monday started out with dentist appointments for both the kids. These appointments are super quick since (thankfully) the kids are great at brushing their teeth and flossing. It was also the first time I took them both by myself (a new theme in stay-at-home-mommydom)! The kids did great. Katelyn was very excited to be there. She got a little concerned with the polishing (maybe the hygienist pushed too hard? not sure...) but I was able to lure her back into opening her mouth with the promise of flossing. Yes, you heard that right, her treat was flossing. They have good dental hygiene! If only Will and I could take their lead. We're so overdue for cleanings...
After their appointment, we headed over to the Santa Ana Zoo for a quick visit with the Saito boys. We haven't been in a while and I wanted to make use of our passes. It's a small enough zoo that it only takes an hour or so to get through it - not too exhausting since I had both kids with me. Tyler, of course, had a good time with his friend Elijah.
They're set up for Halloween and the kids thought it would be funny to pretend they were zombies. Where do they come up with these things?
Can't go to the zoo without pretend driving their beat up jeep!
Afterward we all had lunch at Corner Bakery back at the Marketplace. I was hoping to get them home in time and down for naps so that we could make Taekwondo in the afternoon. Katelyn's naps have been a tricky affair, since waking her up is really a bad idea if I want to get us somewhere. Strangely enough, she woke up before Tyler and Tyler was the grumpy one that day! I was pretty beat too so we decided not to go to TKD after all. I even missed my workout session that night since I was feeling so tired. Blah! No more excuses!
Tuesday, bright and super early, I headed to Disneyland with Tyler. They opened at 8am that day (extended from their 'holiday' hours because of Columbus Day the day before) and we got there by 7:30am. Yes, I am that crazy. He has Kumon in the afternoon so I really wanted to get in and out of there, plus a short nap, and not have a cranky child at Kumon. Tyler is so lucky. The place was so empty that early in the morning, and the wait time for Star Tours was 5 minutes! Since we had just gone the week before, we didn't have to hit all the normal rides (like Nemo and Pirates).
We worked our way through the park, did Star Tours, the Rockets, Buzz, and then took a photo in front of the castle (mandatory).
Then we headed to Toon town and did the Roger Rabbit ride (Tyler said he NEVER wants to go on that again. I don't blame him) and even met Mickey at his house. Tyler actually really wanted to see Mickey at his house, which is rare for him to ask for.
After Toon Town we went on Thunder Mountain, did the Jungle Cruise, and the Enchanted Tiki Room (with Tyler's favorite - the Dole pineapple juice).
Whew, running out of steam. Stopped for a turkey leg for lunch. It never ceases to amaze me how much of this turkey leg Tyler can eat on his own. He especially likes the tender parts.
We tried the shooting range in Frontierland but didn't hit a single target. That gun is heavy!
And lastly we went on Star Tours again, twice. Who gets to go on Star Tours 3 times in 1 day! I had a Fast Pass from the morning and one from the week before that they didn't look at closely. Lucky kid.
Tyler napped a little on the way home but then wouldn't go back down after he woke up when we got home. Oh well. He went to Kumon without any problems though. Talked to his teacher and she told me we need to work on his spelling.
Picked up Katelyn and she was playing with her friend Harmony. They are so funny together. I had to snap this picture because it's crazy to me that they are 2 days apart in age. Katelyn's a giant compared to Harmony!
Wednesday. A day with both kids at home. I'm getting used to it. :) The kids started out the morning by playing some Trivial Pursuit. I have no idea what their rules are but they can keep themselves occupied for quite a while. I'm already foreseeing a lot of missing triangles when we want to really play though...
Nice weather that day, it was actually cooling down! Blasted horribly hot Summer we've been having. We met up with my friend Lisa and her son Elijah at a nearby (Stonegate) park. The kids had a great time. I was very paranoid about making sure the kids napped early enough this time though, so we picked up some chicken nuggets from Chick-Fil-A ahead of time so that we could just eat lunch at the park. Worked out great and the kids napped and were up and ready for TKD.
After TKD, we met up with some other friends at a nearby pumpkin patch (at IVC). It's super close to Tyler's TKD (just a block away) and it was an easy visit. Will met up with us later on his way home from work. Katelyn's getting so big now! Last year she was just this little 1 year old, kind of clueless about Halloween, and now she's all about it!
I let the kids each pick an activity to do and Katelyn was adamant about a pony ride while Tyler chose the bounce houses with his friends. (Shh, Katelyn got in on some bounce house action too, without buying the $3 ticket! But, shoot, the pony ride was $5!)
Video of KK on her pony ride. I can't get over how adorable and wonderful she is. Yes, I know I'm biased, but she is so cute!:
Back in the bounce house. I was quite impressed that I took this photo below with my iPhone5. I've ceased to bring my regular camera around with me these days, simply because I love the photos I get from my phone!
My kids on pumpkins. Don't they look like loving siblings here? :)
Here's Katelyn and Kendall feeding the goats. Kendall is almost a year older than Katelyn and they're the same height!
Picture with all the kids before we left! Only later did I notice the sign that said no climbing or sitting on the pumpkins. Oops.
Thursday. Katelyn was at ICDC and I took Tyler and met up with the Saito boys at Discovery Science Center (yes we saw them a lot this week!). We have passes here too but haven't been for a while. Of course Tyler had a great time.
It was cold and rainy this day. Unbelievable. It was SO wonderful. I almost wore a scarf. I love cold weather. LOVE IT!
Soccer practice got cancelled since the field was closed. We ended up meeting for Family Fun Night at Ruby's (fundraiser for their preschool) with friends. Quite chaotic with 4 families all together!
The kids even got to play for a while after dinner outside. Look how cold it was for the jackets the kids were wearing. I was even wearing a heavy jacket. LOVE IT!
Friday. Both kids with me again. They were watching some cartoons in the morning and snuggled up together on the couch. How cute is that? So stinkin' cute!
I had an OB appointment that morning also. I've never taken any kids with me before since they were always in school. My doctor (Dr. Jennifer Lee) has a new office here in Irvine so I was stoked to not have to drive down to Newport Beach. Unfortunately her availability here is really limited so I had to keep this appointment and take the kids with me. They actually stayed in the waiting room when I went in! I could hear them talking in the waiting room (my room was right next to it) and they were really well behaved! When I came out, the front desk ladies (2 not particularly friendly ladies) both went out of their way to tell me how well behaved and cute my kids were. Awww. Whew, what a relief! The kids both got to meet my doctor too. I tried to explain that she kept mommy healthy when they were in my tummy but not sure how much of that they really grasped. We were supposed to meet up with the Saitos (yes, same Saitos) and Fongs for lunch afterward but it had started raining. Change of plans led them to Mission Viejo mall which was just a bit too far for me. So we went home and relaxed. Sometimes you just need a day off from social outings/playdates. Serious!
I got the kids washed up early that afternoon so that they would be clean before the babysitter came. They do this really cute thing out of the tub - they like to be wrapped in their towels and their little towels over their head like a cloak. Then they walk out quietly while someone sings the Darth Vader theme song. It's hilarious. Katelyn walked out the other night and no one was singing and she looked back at Will and said "sing the Darth Vader song!". Guess she wanted to get in character. Often times they walk to the other side of the room, pause, and then throw off their towels and then engage in a pretend light saber battle. It's really funny and cute to watch.
Date night! We were meeting our friends Hannah/Erik for dinner at their favorite sushi place Nanasan. The place is crazy popular and Hannah actually put us down on the waitlist when she was in the area around lunchtime. I may be forever ruined for Sushi because this place was hands-down the best sushi I have EVER had. Every piece was delicious and exquisite. Plus Erik and I (Hannah helped a bit too!) finished a huge huge bottle of sake. We were there for over 4 hours! I couldn't believe how late it was when we finished. The sushi comes slowly since you order one piece at a time, and you don't even realize how much you've eaten until the end of the night. It was night of delicious food and great conversation. It was our first time out with this couple and we had a ridiculously good time. Will have to do it again. Now I'm drooling to go back, but dang, it was pricey!
Saturday morning, bright and early, Tyler had a soccer game at 9am. This meant we had to be at the field by 830am! Will even played basketball in the morning with our friend Jason so we were running a bit late. I don't like running late. The field was very very wet and I thought it was going to be kind of cold. Wrong. It heated up quick. Blech. Our team has never had a game this early in the morning and I'm thinking this might have thrown them off. No one was on their game. It was quite painful to watch. But hopefully the kids had fun, because that's all that matters, right?
Katelyn barely made a peep the whole time as she sat playing with the iPad.
After soccer we stopped by Sports Authority to get Tyler a youth basketball. He starts a basketball league in December and I wanted him to get a little practice in before. This is his first playing AYSO while most of the other kids have done it before. While we were there, the kids got in some putting as well. We should definitely schedule in some driving range time for Tyler and Will.
Next we headed over to my in-laws' place in Irvine. They brought a bed over from another house and Tyler was very excited to have it in his room. Maybe my dream of having the kids spend the night there more often will slowly come true!
Lunch was at Tri-Village Restaurant, a local Chinese restaurant that was absolutely horrible. We will never go there again, Ever! Katelyn had Will's dad's phone and was taking photos of her and Katelyn. They were really cute.
Back at the grandparents' place, Tyler tried out his new basketball at the nearby basketball court. This is where we had Tyler's last two birthday parties. Super close to their place and very private. Love that we can crank the baskets really low. He got the hang of shooting the ball after a while.
After naps, we headed to another local park (Cypress) to meet up with friends for a playdate. I was particularly excited about this playdate because it was with one of Katelyn's friends from school. Poor girl rarely gets playdates with other kids her age. She's always just tagging along with Tyler and his friends and his friends' little siblings, who are all still older than her! We got there first and the kids were excited to try out the new park.
Katelyn's friend is Mason, who is 3 months older than her, but more quiet and reserved. Quite a contrast to Katelyn's talkative and friendly self. Mason has an older brother, Lucas, who is a few months younger than Tyler. They totally hit it off and just ran off to play together. Hey, this playdate was for Katelyn! They all still had fun though. Here's the dads pushing the girls on the swings.
We had all brought dinner so we ate before the kids played. I brought some mini cupcakes and the kids came together for a dessert break. Tyler didn't want the cupcake and wanted strawberries instead. That's a good thing, right? The kids had a great time and we were at the park until past 8pm! I had a really good time getting to know the mom (Janet). I'm looking forward to planning this again, since this is the first friend I've met with a boy/girl that are so close to our kids' ages. And they are all such sweet kids too!
Sunday was Chinese school for Tyler where I volunteered. It's always fun to see what the kids are learning in Chinese and what I can try to re-enforce at home. Here's Tyler and Norah. Norah goes to Kumon with Tyler too and her parents are who we went to have Sushi with on Friday.
Video of Tyler singing in Chinese school. They're getting more and more comfortable with Chinese!:
While Tyler and I were at Chinese school, Will was tasked with taking Katelyn out and getting her tired so that she'd have an early nap. They went to Heritage Park, played and fed the ducks. Looks like she had a great time! Except Will forgot her hat. Doh!
She loves those swings!
My little princess.
When we got home, Katelyn had just started napping. I needed her napping early since we had a birthday party at 1:45pm to go to, and I really always try to avoid waking her up from her naps. I ended up having to, and it looked like it might be ok... until she remembered and got upset. Tyler to the rescue though! He can be so sweet to her and she loves him so much that he was able to snap her out of her bad mood by pretending the lights were off and walking into random objects. Sibling love! The party was at Pump It Up (very popular birthday place) for Tyler's friend Aden, who is in their Chinese school class and also went to ICDC with them. Tyler's friends Norah, Xavi and Elijah were there too. They had a great time!
Cooling off in front of the fan. She was quite sweaty! At one point, she had fallen or something, was holding in tears as she looked for me. She had these tears on her cheeks but was quiet until she saw me, sat in my lap and then LET IT RIP! She is so loud sometimes, I was trying to calm her down but the other moms found it humorous that she held it in until she found the right audience.
Group shot!
Tyler had his 2nd and 3rd birthday parties here, and we have been to countless other parties here as well too. The standard is that the kids play and then eat afterward. We were a little surprised to find that they family had only prepared juice boxes and a bag of chips for each of the kids (besides the birthday cake)! I didn't want to seem snooty but come on, you don't have to serve a full meal (which is standard) but at least some fruit? Oh well, anyway. I guess we have been to too many fancy OC birthday parties. Did that seem snooty? Sorry!
The favorite part of their goodie bags were the plastic handcuffs. Tyler and Katelyn played with them all evening, haha!
Wow, that was a crazy post. Lots of stuff going on during the week AND the weekend! We'll be slowing it down next weekend!
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