Summer Fun 2011

Alright, alright! I'm finally going to do a summer recap and I will try to be as concise as possible so as not to bore you all to tears, or death, whichever comes first.

**Update: Now that I've finished writing it. It's impossible for me to not make this long. I'm sorry. It really should have been several individual posts as they happened, but, as you will soon find out, we were much too busy. End update.**

So, right after school got out, I got to host our summer camp playgroup. This way I got to get it over with first and relax all the rest of summer. I chose a space theme this year and decided to run the kids through a mock astronaut training camp. Here's what we did:

The kids colored astronaut badges. For some of the training activities, they got stars that they could put on their badge.

They made clay aliens the first day and painted them the second day.

They got to eat real freeze dried astronaut food, which they loved!

I made them exercise, because real astronauts have to be extremely fit.

They ran an obstacle course.

We blasted off into space with a soda bottle rocket, which was way super cool!! I purchased it here. We launched it over and over again until we lost the bottle in the neighbors yard when I was hosting Moses' group. Oh, and I also almost hit their landscapers on landing. Oops! They laughed it off. Whew!

I made rice crispy treat balls. The kids rolled out some fondant and covered them in order to make...

... rice crispy treat planets. Super yummy!

Joseph's brother and his family were visiting us the week I hosted Moses' group, so I was excited that my nephews were able to join us while Akiko was at someone else's house. Doing this is a lot of fun and the kids are already looking forward to it next year.

We also took a trip to a cute little place called Happy Hollow in San Jose with my friend Adriana and her super cute little Sofia. It's a small children's amusement park. Real close. Pretty cheap. You can take your own food in. My kids love it here and we've been several times since we moved here. I really should just get a season pass.

The "Frog Hopper." Makes your tummy tickle and is manufactured in Logan, UT (as if you really cared).

Atlas getting ready to carry the world on his shoulders.

It rained later that afternoon. Felt soooo good!

Wheeeee!

For the 4th of July, Asher was sick. Booo! I had promised the kids that they'd get to see fireworks this year since the 4th was on Sunday last year and they didn't get to see any, and personal fireworks are illegal here (but I had some leftover sparklers from the year before that we lit, so don't tell on me).

So, Joseph stayed home with the sickie and I pulled Akiko and Moses to Shoreline Park in Mountain View in this:

6.5 miles pulling more than my body weight. I only made it part way home and had to call Joseph to rescue me at 1130pm. I could not walk and was sooo sore the next day.

Akiko got her toes muddy when she stepped in some mud and lost her shoes. Then, we lost one of her muddy shoes. I backtracked forever, but did eventually find it in some tall grass off the trail. That's the short version anyway.

We enjoyed a picnic by the lake while we waited for the fireworks.

Being sandwiched between the bay and this little lake made for a surprisingly cold and humid place to watch the show. It was lovely nonetheless.

In the days before Akiko lost her two front teeth.

Moses loved that apple so much, he fell asleep with it on the way home.

A couple days later, my beautiful sister, Kristen, came out to visit for Asher's pending birthday. We loaded the kids in the van and drove to Santa Cruz to check out the beach.

Moses dug right in.

Akiko immediately ran into the water before I had even set anything down.

Only Asher's second time to the beach, but the first time he could play there.

He just dove right in.

Looks like he forgot to shave that morning.

We can't go to the beach without digging giant holes for the kids to play in.

Don't let the sunny beautiful day in the pictures fool you. It was freeeeezing! See those goosebumps on my arm? In Sunnyvale, it was a nice, hot 85° day. Perfect weather to go to the beach, right? Well, here's the thing about the CA coast: it's cold. It was 65° in Santa Cruz on the same day only an hour away. However, the CA coast is truly beautiful.

So, I kind of feel bad that I only took the kids to their favorite place on earth only once during the summer. But now that we're going to Maui in a couple weeks, I feel much less bad. Besides, I took them to the pool plenty of times. Living on Maui has completely spoiled me for beaches.

A couple days later was Asher's 1st birthday. We went out to lunch and then drove down to Campbell to ride:

I really wanted to do this for Moses' birthday, but they're closed in the winter. Fun and cheap thrills. The kids loved this little train.

Baby Hannah also came along for the ride. Kristen was there, too.

Asher only tolerated his hat for a few moments.

We stayed and played at the park for a bit. Then we came home to the cake. Okay, so I totally cheated and bought a ginormous Costco cake, because I really love the pastry cream filling. I justified it with the fact that I would be feeding the missionaries the next night and that Joseph's brother, Carl, and his family would be with us for the week. We ate almost all of it. I think that took care of my Costco cake fix.

First, Asher picked off the sprinkles.

Then he scraped off the frosting.

Then that little piece of cake didn't have a chance.

After we got the little guy cleaned up, it was time for presents. Isn't this card from Akiko super sweet?

We got him a toy grill because he wouldn't keep away from Joseph's. He loves it and stays away from the big one now that he's got his own. And thank you everyone who sent presents his way. We missed partying with you.

I would have thrown a larger party with our friends, but I neither had the time nor the energy. The small celebration we did have with just my little family and Kristen was just what I wanted anyway.

Almost done.

We also went to the Jelly Belly factory for a free tour where they gave us free samples and I purchased a bag of Belly Flops and got addicted to the beans. Thank you again, Costco, for taking care of that fix.

 

 

Next time someone in my family comes to visit, we are doing this tour. The kids thought it was so fun. There was soooo much sugar and cool robots and you get to keep that sweet paper hat. Or, if any of my friends in the area want to go anytime, gimme a call.

We also spent a day at the San Francisco Zoo, where Moses was still young enough to get in for free. I only had to pay admission for Akiko and myself. I took a lot of pictures, but I'll spare you all.

The hippo was really fun to watch. It was really active and gave us a big, splashy show. 

There was a special tarantula exhibit there. I didn't go near it. Akiko went and said it was creepy. Moses had no comment.

But, my kids do make really cute giant spiders.

So, wanna hear the saddest thing ever? I had never ever been to any other zoo in my life besides Hogle. SF blows Hogle away. It's definitely worth the trip into the city. That's because you don't have to drive downtown.

I'm going to check out the Oakland Zoo next year.

So, besides all that fun stuff, we had family come to visit and stay with us, and a day at the ER, tons of pool time, there was a trip to the Children's Discovery Museum that I failed to bring my camera to, and these:

My children volunteering to wash our sliding glass door.

Moses tripping at the park and bleeding like crazy while we waited for Joseph to meet us after work. He ended up with a fat lip for several days. This was about ten days after our trip to the ER for his concussion, but I didn't say anything about it because I didn't want you all to worry too much about him.

And Asher tripped and ripped out half of his eyelashes. They have since grown back in.

How was your summer?

Helpful Sister

So, Moses is plenty old enough that he can get dressed himself. He prefers it, though, if I pick out his clothes and help him get dressed. I can't always do that though, especially if I'm in a rush to get out the door somewhere. In those instances, I ask Akiko to help me out getting Moses ready, which she is always happy to oblige.

Akiko has been dressing herself since she was teeny and a couple years ago, started insisting on picking out her own outfits, which can lead to some really great getups and some really wacky ones (biggest reason I love the uniform policy at her school). To each her own, right?

Well, last night, we were getting ready to head out the door. Moses had taken his clothes off because he'd gotten them dirty form playing outside. He's really good at taking his clothes off these days, but it's nothing like Akiko's non-clothing phase when she was his age.

Anyway, I asked Akiko to find some clothes for him while I got Asher ready. Oh, I forgot to mention, Moses managed to lose one of each of his pairs of shoes yesterday. Frustrating. I told Akiko to find him some shoes from our extra shoe box, you know, the shoes you keep because you know you'll need them someday, but not right now. Anyway, Akiko found Moses a pair that used to belong to her, but were masculine enough that it he could still pull it off.

Well, I didn't see how she dressed Moses until we were getting in the car.

A long sleeve shirt, pajama shorts and rain boots. Akiko and Moses were so proud.

I love these silly kids!

First Grade!

Akiko started 1st grade this morning!

She was excited and nervous at the same time. It's good to be back in some kind of routine, but since our family is not a group of morning people, it will be hard to get out of bed early again so we can get her to school on time.

I am so utterly blown away at how big she is now. She seemed so little last year when she was starting kindergarten.

She's excited to use her backpack finally this year.

So, I was really bummed to find out that none of Akiko's friends were in the same class with her this year. Her BFF, all her church friends and all her girlfriends from kindergarten are in different classes. Most of them ended up in the same class. Akiko only knows three kids from her class last year that are in her class this year. Fortunately, one of the boys is one that I know she gets along with well. At least she thinks he's funny and they played at recess a lot last year. So I suppose she counts him as a friend.

I guess this just means it's an opportunity for her to make new friends this year, which is something she is really good at. And her teacher is super cute, just like last year's. I think Akiko will really like her.

My first grade teacher was scary. Really. Scary. We got yelled at a lot. I got to escape for about an hour every day to go to a second grade reading class where Ms. Hansen was so nice and so pretty. Last I heard, Miss O'Toole still works there. She's got to be close to retirement by now. She seemed so old when I was her student. Retrospectively, though, she's probably a few years younger than my parents.

Anyway, I'm really excited for Akiko this year. I think she'll have a lot of fun.

Toothleth, or The Lithp

I promise I'm not going to blog about each and every tooth that Akiko looses, but I am going to blog about this one.

See that giant gap in the front there? Akiko lost her first front tooth and the other one is a few weeks behind.

I'm really only blogging about this one because I think the two front teeth, when they go missing, is just the cutest thing about this age group.

We were eating pizza for dinner last night and Akiko was having a tough time of it trying to take her bites with the side of her mouth. Suddenly, Akiko sprang out of her chair and ran to the bathroom, or so I thought. Then I heard her scream. Thinking it was a spider or something, I ran to her to help her out. I found her in front of the mirror gaping at her mouth.

Her tooth had rotated 180°, so the back was facing front, and then twisted 90° on its side. It looked really weird. It was also kind of jammed in there. There was no way she could finish dinner. I made Joseph yank it out.

I'm super excited about this because she is going to have THE cutest first grade picture, especially if her other tooth falls out in the next couple weeks. She is also now talking with a lisp, which is darling, and, thank heavens, temporary. She thinks she sounds weird. I think it's just cute. You should hear her try to say "Moses" now.

Speaking of school, the summer is almost over. She goes back in two weeks! Whaaat?

I've meant to blog about all our individual adventures over the summer, but that takes a lot of time, so I think it'll just end up being a recap post after Akiko goes back to school. We have had a lot of fun though.

Habits and Games

Funny commentary between you and your children needs to be written down every once in a while so that you don't forget the story. Same goes for funny stories/things that happen.

This has become wildly apparent lately when Akiko asks me about all the cute and funny things she did when she was younger and I swore I'd never forget. I don't want to forget and that's part of the drive behind my blogging, besides the fact that I just want to show off how darling my children are.

Anyway, I've got a couple things that I want to share.

First, is a dialogue that happened between Akiko and me earlier this evening:

Akiko: Mommy, what's a habit?

Me: It's something that you do impulsively.

A: What does that mean?

M: Um, it's just something that you do all the time without thinking about it much.

A: Like what?

M: Well, there are bad habits, like picking your nose or biting your fingernails.

A: Or smoking?

M: Right. But there are also good habits.

A: Like what?

M: Like reading your scriptures every day and praying and going to church.

A: Oh!

I see the light come on in her eyes as she understands this concept.

A: But sometimes our good habit can bonk into our bad habit, right?

M: Like what do you mean?

A: Like when you're reading your scriptures while you're picking your nose.

All I could do was just laugh at that because she totally got me. Akiko's so good at thinking about things that aren't obvious to me.

The second story I have involves Moses.

Now, Moses is at the age where he's starting to find interest in video games. Joseph, Akiko and I like playing them. Moses wants to play them, but doesn't have the coordination to play them very well, and this frustrates him. That doesn't stop him from really enjoying them anyway. In fact, his life has become somewhat of a video game in itself.

We'll often be doing whatever and Moses, if he wants our attention, will say, "Pause the game. I need to tell you something."

If he encounters something difficult, like, once he got stuck, he'll say, "This is a hard level."

Once, Joseph was stirring something thick, probably biscuit dough or something similar, and Moses, watching him, said, "Wow Dad! That's level 2 stirring!"

The other day, I was out playing basketball with Asher. Asher would retrieve the ball, pass it to me and I would take the shot, and often miss, and the routine would start over. Moses came out and saw my bad basketball skills and said, "Mom, you need to press A to shoot the ball into the basket."

The latest version of Mario Kart we have is Double Dash for the GameCube. On our way to pick Akiko up from school, Moses will ride on the back of our Sit'n'Stand stroller, with Asher "driving" in the front, and throw banana peels and turtle shells at all our "opponents," you know, the other parents. When we'd get to the school, he would proclaim us the winner of the race.

Costco apparently reminds Moses of the Bowser's castle race, because often when we go there, he'll sit in the front of the cart and hurl peels and shells at the other "racers" and continuously hum the theme song for the race. It's also a pleasure to hear him include any sound effects as we turn, get a mushroom boost, or manage to hit one of our opponents with our ammo.

Now, I don't really play along when Moses is doing this, but I'm not going to stop it. It is so cute and funny. I can only try to imagine what he sees when he is in his video game world.

I mean, I remember doing the same things when I was younger. Only the setting was different.

Not to exclude Asher in any of this; there should be an update on what he can do now.

He's starting to talk and calls both Joseph and me "Daaaah!" There are a few other words that he says consistently when he sees diapers, stars, birds, babies, and belly buttons. They are still evolving and hard to transcribe.

His personality is very different from Moses. Asher is louder and goofier and gets into more trouble likes to explore. He's extremely clingy to Joseph and me, but prefers Joseph over me. He's a daddy's boy through and through.

During the day, when he's tired and needs a nap, he's very irritable. At night, when he's tired and needs to go to bed, he's slap happy.

To quote Akiko, "I just love that little guy."

A Nutty Update

And I don't mean "nutty" as in "cockamamie" or "kooky."

Asher's blood was drawn at the allergist last week so they could test it against certain proteins, namely peanuts and tree nuts. We got the test results back:

He's allergic to tree nuts, too.

It's not that big a deal in our house, since I'm not a big nut person, but I do like to bake occasionally with walnuts, or have a bag of roasted almonds. However, it means he'll never get to have Nutella or try pecan pie. It also means we have to be extra careful when we eat out or have someone watch him.

To look on the bright side of things, at least it's nuts we're dealing with and not milk, gluten, wheat, soy, egg, or any other number of allergies that he could have that would drastically change the way we eat. Eliminating nuts I can handle.