My Blog

Wow, I am terrible.

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 20:47:48 -0700

It has been 8 months since I’ve blogged. Has anyone missed me? Probably not. I quit the whole blog thing because I figured no one cared what I was up to and if they wanted to know, they could just call me. Well no one called so perhaps there are some of you just waiting to hear what I’ve been up to. I’m too tired to go back in time so I’ll just start here.

Calvin started kindergarten two weeks ago. He just passed Kata 1 and received his first black stripe on his white belt in Karate. He started soccer last week and is having fun.

Hazel is still a diva and started ballet last week. She is thrilled.

Andrew is turning 34 in less than two weeks. Crazy! I guess now I’ve known him for almost 11 years.

I am busy with the family, work, church, etc. I will be traveling to NY, CO, and FL over the next 3 months and I am very excited about that.

There you go, now you know what we are up to.

Only 7 days left

Thu, 8 Jan 2009 16:46:09 -0800

I would love to eat some delicious cinnamon swirl bread. I would toast it slightly. Perhaps I would make a chicken salad sandwich and eat it with my toasted cinnamon swirl bread. There’s a sandy called, “The Nutty Chick” down at a place in San Leandro that I used to eat at, before I started the South Beach diet. I remember those days...

Afternoons are hard for me. I love sitting down at my computer after the kids are all asleep with a cold drink and a special “mommy treat.” Lately, my “mommy treat” has consisted of string cheese or nuts. It’s been awful. I hit my low yesterday but thankfully my sister Afton talked me off the cliff and my friend Carey gave me some helpful food advice that worked like a charm.

Each day gets a little easier, but I sure am looking forward to eating some sweet, toasted cinnamon swirl bread in a few days. Mmmmm.

South Beach Phase 1, Day 1

Thu, 1 Jan 2009 09:10:46 -0800

I love sugar. Candies, cookies, chocolates, everything. I love it! I used to have the will-power not to eat these things, but now, I can’t do it. I need help. For the next two weeks I will be on the South Beach diet which does not allow any carbs, and especially no sweets! My goal is to kill my sweet tooth now that the holiday’s are over.

My sister, Afton was actually the one who gave me the idea to do this. I knew I wanted to give up sugar, and she was planning to do the South Beach diet so I figured this would be a nice little program for me to follow that would help me detox from sugar. Plus, if we were both doing it at the same time, I’d have someone to help me get through those tough afternoons when I want to eat sweets. mmmm...

One of the recipes Afton found, which she will likely put on her blog is for egg muffins. They are basically a mini omelette in the form of a muffin. I made two batches last night and put them in my fridge to eat over the next week. It was such a treat to eat them this morning with some salsa on the side and sliced avocado on top. South Beach diet or not, these egg muffins are a keeper!

That’s it!

Mon, 1 Dec 2008 22:12:57 -0800

For the last few days I have been detailing my Disneyland trip. It is WAY easier to do a podcast than it is to write up a blog entry. I am really thinking that this will be my new way of updating my webpage. Every few days I’ll sit in front of the camera and chat it up. I won’t have to type and it will just be real. Not editing, or spell check, just me.

In case you’ve missed any of our exciting Disneyland adventures, you can catch them all here!

Podcast

Podcast

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 07:20:30 -0800

I am trying something new. I’ve always wanted to chronicle one of our trips, and I’ve figured out how to do it with the help of this super cool MacBook. I love this computer. Check the podcast section for a play by play of our most recent family adventure...it’s happening right now as you read this.

Click here to get the latest details!

Turkey Trot

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 21:55:32 -0800

Yesterday we decided to get up early and run a 5k with 1100 other crazy people. It was cold, muddy, and exhausting.

Calvin ran in an under 13 boys race. He was wearing jeans and a fleece jacket while his competition was out warming up and dressed in matching shirts. There were just over 100 boys in his race and he came in 79th place and tied for 3rd for 4 year olds. At the very end he sprinted past a little boy which was fun to watch. It was also fun to watch him swing his little arms without bending them at the elbow. It was like he was carrying two suitcases in each arm while running... very cute.

Andrew was on my tail the entire time which I was unaware of until I saw him in the chute after the race. He said that he wasn’t planning to pass me and that he wanted to finish together, but I didn’t buy it. I had my eye on another runner ahead of me so I took off and sprinted in at the finish. It would have been great to pass that runner if I was 30, but since I am only 28 she was not in my age group.

Overall, I placed 103rd (8th overall for women) and 3rd in my age group. My time was 21:57 which was slower than my best of 20:34. The first place female runner was 13 years old and she had a time of 19:19. I guess I have something to shoot for next year. Andrew placed 106th overall and 17th in his age group with a time of 22:02.

Prizes: Calvin earned a medal. They were given out to all the kids who participated. He was really happy and is looking forward to his next run.

I won a cornish game hen. I guess in honor of Thanksgiving the best prize is your own personal poultry dinner. Oh, and I also won the delightful prize of a stepped in dog poop shoe gracing it’s way into my car and all over my gas pedal...but that story is for another time...

Whoa!!

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 06:59:15 -0800

There are 36 people in this photo, and 4 people who were at the party left before we took this picture. I cannot believe there were that many people in my house.

We got together around 8:00 and ate lots and lots of goodies. Most people left their goodies here so my house is on goodie overload. I am looking for ways to get rid of all these treats without eating them. Ugh.

We started panicking around 9:00 PM that the line at the theater might be getting too long so we headed over, only to find that the line was not very long at all. It was very cold and windy. Even a Starbucks Hot Chocolate couldn’t do the trick. We stood in line until 11:30 when everyone was let in. The people at the theater announced that they were going to open an additional theater so we could spread out and be comfortable. There were 3 screens showing Twilight so we waited all the time in the cold for nothing. Again...Ugh.

I don’t want to spoil the movie at all for those who have not seen it yet, but I’ll just say this. My expectations were not that high. I wasn’t freaking out with excitement, I was just looking forward to a nice movie. Twilight was indeed a nice movie with many light-hearted moments. There were parts that I loved and parts where I had to cover my face and look away. Go see the movie and we’ll talk...

Holiday Shopping

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:59:30 -0800

Today, Andrew and I decided to hit up Toys R Us while both of the kids were at school. We thought it would be a fun “date” and that it would be much easier without the post-holiday crowds or with two begging children.

We did miss the crowds, but it wasn’t easier. We were immediately sucked in by all the bright packages, shiny paper, and everything else that is “Toys R Us.” We wandered like two rats in a maze searching for cheese, up and down every aisle with our jaws hanging open. “Look at this, look at that. I think the kids need this. The toys from my childhood would be outlawed.” At one point as I was reminding Andrew that we needed to leave to pick up our kids he said, “Sorry, I’m like a kid in a toy store here.” I think he should have taken “like” out of that phrase because we were both two kids in a toy store. We had a great time and managed to stick with our Christmas budget.

As we were leaving I brought up the remaining budget for the two of us. I said we could divide it up and each get things for the other as in previous years or we could combine it and get Rock Band for the Wii. I told him if we got Rock Band we would have to get it right away so we could enjoy it through Thanksgiving too. Andrew wasn’t completely sold on this until I reminded him that not only would he have to figure out what to get me for Christmas, but he still had to figure out what to get for my birthday so he is really warming up to the combined Christmas gift for the two of us. We are open to other ideas but are mostly looking for something that we can have fun with together. Rock Band seems like the best solution, but please, tell me what you think.

The Sexy Tour

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 08:23:31 -0800

After being introduced to this comedian by my sister Allyson, I just had to see him live. Lucky for us, he came to San Francisco last weekend, and double lucky for us he added a second show since the first sold out, and triple lucky for us a co-worker of mine has a super BFF who went to school with Jim G and I’m going to be getting a signed photo. Just wish I was in it... *sniff, sniff*

Jim was definitely the highlight of our weekend. It took great efforts for us to get to the show with tickets in hand and safely be seated. When my butt finally hit the cushion I felt at ease knowing that I would be laughing that very same butt off in a matter of seconds.

I’ll spare you the details of the trip but just to give you a picture of what it included... A solo trip (by me) into Oakland to a Ritmo Latino, a long drive through all of downtown Oakland, no food, Anti-Prop 8 Protesters, and A LOT of scary people.

For those of you who do not know Jim G, here’s a clip from his last tour. I suggest you sit back, relax, and prepare to laugh.

And to prove how hilarious he is...Andrew was holding his face tight keeping the laughter in because he didn’t want to freak the people out around us with his crazy belly laugh. Seriously, if you’ve heard this laugh you will know that he was having the best time. It’s not often that it comes out. And, my face was sore afterwards from smiling/laughing for 60 minutes. He was worth every penny.

Disneyland 2008, Vol. 2

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 18:38:47 -0700

After Halloween-Time at Disneyland stole our hearts last year we couldn’t resist another trip to the park. If it were up to Calvin, we would celebrate Halloween year round, and not because of the candy, but for all things spooky.
Our trip started as usual, with lightly packed suitcases and a lot of excitement. We left on Sunday, right after church so Calvin could participate in his first primary program. We headed down south through the central valley of California. About an hour into our trip while I was working away on my laptop and the kids were enjoying a quiet movie in back, Andrew slammed on the breaks and said, “Crap.” I looked up and saw dirt flying through the air. I thought it was a dust tunnel or dirt devil…whatever they are called…but it wasn’t. I quickly realized that the cause of the dust was a Ford Ranger that was flipping through the air multiple times and landing on all tires in the center divide. I immediately thought that our vacation was ruined and Andrew would be here all afternoon attending to the injured or possibly dead. He parked the car and ran to the rescue. There were things strewn all over the highway and while I was curious to check it out, I had to stay in the car with the kids. I saw the driver emerge looking okay, but a bit shaken. The passenger never got out and after about 30 minutes the fire/police/ambulance arrived. Andrew returned to say that everyone was okay and that their car had merely blown a tire which had caused multiple flips on the highway. We were on our way again.
I really thought we could make it to Disneyland without stopping. The car can handle it, Andrew & I can handle it, but can the kids? The answer is no, they can’t. When we were about 40 minutes away the kids started freaking out saying they were hungry, tired, thirsty, needed to pee, etc. We hit a patch of traffic and decided to find some food. We stopped at a McDonalds and then an In n Out which took a massive amount of time. With everyone full and happy again we headed back onto the freeway. The GPS showed our arrival time at 8:33 pm and the fireworks (which we’ve never been lucky enough to see) went off at 9:25 pm. We told the kids that as soon as we saw Disneyland we would park and go straight there to see the fireworks. We kept telling them that Disneyland was just around this corner or just over that hill, but they fell asleep anyway. Both kids were asleep when we were 5 minutes from the park.
We got to the hotel, unloaded everything, put the kids in bed and watched the fireworks from our hotel room window. It seemed as if it would be a perfect trip.
At 1:30 am Calvin woke up. He had a cold and was, “Not sleepy anymore.” I put him back in bed and quickly fell back asleep. He got right out of bed and came and stood by Andrew this time. Andrew put him back in bed, but he again said that he wasn’t sleepy anymore and that he was ready to go to Disneyland. Between the two of us we took him to the bathroom, warned him (more like threatened), put him back in bed, slept on the floor in his room, and finally slept with him in his bed. This went on until 5:30 am when he finally went to sleep. With 2 hours of sleep or less we finally fell asleep again only to be awoken by Hazel at 6am. Andrew got in bed with her and we were all peacefully dreaming for about an hour.
Day 1: We forgot the camera. We were all exhausted but powered through the entire day. We didn’t go to CA Adventure but tried to accomplish as much as possible in Disneyland. The Halloween-Time decorations were just as we had remembered, if not better. We watched all the parades and tried to catch a few shows as well. The weather was perfect. Cool in the morning, warmish, but not too hot and then cool again in the afternoon. Highlight: Meeting Jack and Sally by the Haunted Mansion. It was very cool.

Day 2: We made an attempt to catch the “Dream Giveaway” guy who passes out the fastpass prizes. We spent the morning near the Matterhorn and Fantasyland where Ethan and Robert nabbed theirs last time. Unfortunately, we did not get them and I later heard from another park-goer that he got his by the Peter Pan ride. We took the family on the Matterhorn, which thanks to the Stride Rite Cowboy Boots, Hazel was tall enough to ride. While Calvin was too afraid to even open his eyes (possible scarring from our last trip) Hazel loved the whole thing and requested another ride. We spent most of the day in CA Adventure. Highlight: Midway Mania (the new Toy Story ride) and the giant turkey leg for $7.00.

Day 3: Hot, Hot, Hot! Those darn Santa Ana’s kicked up and the humidity dropped. It was unbearably hot. This day was miserable. Since we had already gone on most of the rides by Wednesday we decided to do the things we never did, like watch all of the obscure shows, go into Toon Town early as an honorary citizen of the town, and wait in the 2 hour line for the princess faire. Andrew hit Toon Town and I waited in line for the Princess Faire with Hazel. We finally got in and Hazel was delighted to see Mulan, Belle, and Aurora. They sat and talked with her for a few minutes each. They treated her as if she were the princess. It was very cute. We then went and had her face painted to match her princess dress, which I quickly removed after the princess thing because it was too hot to wear. Highlight: Another giant turkey leg for $7.00, Season passes (well they are actually called, “Annual Passports”, Mickey’s Trick or Treat party in CA Adventure after-hours where we collected a full suitcase of candy…the good stuff too.

Day 4: Time to go home. We packed up, loaded the car, and headed back to Disneyland. We wanted to try a character breakfast and also wanted to try sneaking into the park. So, we walked up to gate #1 one hour prior to the park opening and said that we were there for a character breakfast. They scanned our passes and let us right in. We could have gone anywhere we liked, but we chose to really do the breakfast. For what we paid, we had a lot of buffet hitting to do. We ate and ate and ate, and ate some more. We will probably be full for days. Afterwards we snagged our “One toy from Disneyland” and headed home. Highlight: Meeting lots of Disney characters while enjoying a heavy meat breakfast inside Disneyland and learning a trick for getting into the park 1 hour early. We will definitely try it again next time.

After all that fun, how can we possibly plan another trip! We are planning to return on my birthday, 11/30 and will leave on the evening of 12/2 after the park closes. With season passes, all we need is a cheap-o hotel and we’re set. We sort of HAVE to go on my birthday so Andrew can get a free pack of tortillas from the mission factory in CA Adventure. We probably ate 10 each during our 3 days there. Mmmmm!
We had a shaky start but everything ended up going very well. The kids had fun sleeping in bunk beds and talking late into the night. Even though they are too young to really interact, it was fun to hear them try. Andrew & I would tell them to stop talking and go to sleep from the other room while laughing at how it reminded us of ourselves when we were young. Going to Disneyland or on any vacation is always so exhausting as a parent, but we had a great time as a family and that’s the most important part of a vacation.

If you’ve made it this far in my blog, click this link to see the full album of photos: Disneyland