We spent the evening at a little lodge in San Simeon. The boys enjoyed hopping from our room to Papa and KK’s. They really enjoyed watching the Olympics cuddled up with Mom and Dad. Before they went to bed.

Next morning we walked down to the pebble beach to relax, explore, and watch the waves. We had a great time, the trip was exactly what all our little souls needed. I wonder where the next adventure will take us.

Pictures after the break:

Now off to edit the video from the trip…

Gung Hay Fa Choy – Happy Year of the Dragon!

It was a little too cold to do anything but put our feet in the water – but even that was a treat.

Here are some pictures from our adventure:
Chasing some bubbles with a new beach friend:

Aren’t we cute?

Checking out the ocean:

Bubbles and the sun:

We met them at Balboa Beach. It was a ton of fun!

James played Frisbee and badminton with the boys for a while. Well, you cannot actually play the game with them – rather you just hit the ball, they scream with delight, and then you have to go pick the ball back up and hit it again. James was a good sport:

Steph’s Mom (my Aunt Cindy) and sister Stacey were there when we first got there. It was fun to get caught up on the whole family:

We couldn’t wait to start the campfire though. It was fun to sit around, chat, watch the boys’ delight in such simplicity (hot dogs and fire), and enjoy a little bit of nature.

The boys treated us to an original song:

Thanks Steph and James! We had a glorious time!

Last Wednesday we had quite the adventure! Aunt Patti had the day off and arranged for the boys and I to go to the Aquarium of the Pacific with her. Since Goosey is in town she joined us for a wild wet aquatic day! I missed the first part of the aquarium – for good reason! My brother Neal works downtown Long Beach (how fun!) and we met for a brother/sister lunch date. It was so much fun. That’s another story though.

When I caught up with the crew they were getting ready for lunch. The boys were loving the aquarium. Lunch proved entertaining since Walker’s mood looked like this:

Still, after everyone got a little food in their bellies we wandered back through the aquarium. The boys were anxious to show me all of the things I had missed in my absence.

The fish in the fresh water tank were a hit with Will…especially because every once and
a while a run of fresh water would pour down the canyon (you can see it behind him)
and most of the other aquarium visitors would be surprised!

Both boys, not to mention all three of us ladies, loved the deep sea tank.
Wow. Talk about perspective.

Walker was a HUGE fan of the puffins.
He even had conversations with them through the glass.

Giant crabs. Yuck, yuck, yuck.

Of course Walker was thrilled to spray people!

The Gregorian New Year may have come and gone but that doesn’t mean that our house is done celebrating the New Year!

Ever since having lived in Hong Kong Daddy Eric believes he is a little bit Chinese. In fact in Chinese culture they call him an ‘egg‘. White on the outside but yellow on the inside.

So each year since we’ve been married (that’s almost eight for anyone counting!!) we’ve celebrated the lunar New Year in the tradition of the Chinese. Some years we had parties and other years we celebrated by going to (now closed, sniff, sniff) Kuong Jou Cafe in Salt Lake.

This year we are keeping our tradition by going to the Chinese New Year’s parade on Saturday in Chinatown and having a Chinese New Year’s party!

(I made the invitations so I am pretty excited! Here is a web friendly version without our contact info. A gold Chinese coin is going in the upper right hand part with all of the leaves!)

We even went to Chinatown last Sunday to get some of the goodies we need. Plus Eric really wanted to get some Gai Mei Bao.

We also got the boys these cute outfits for both the parade and our party:

Finally, on the official start of the Year of the Rat, lunar year 4706, we gave the boys their lai shi. We taught them how to say ‘Gung Hay Fat Choy’ and to also ask for their lai shi. This is a Chinese tradition where the married people give red envelopes with an even amount of money inside. When you are hardcore you usually give hundreds of dollars – for the boys it was a dollar. Here they are with their lai shi:

We headed down to the beach on Saturday for a little family time. Will wanted to see the sunset at the beach so we were trying our best to get there post-nap-time. Walker, well we all know from previous experience that he just really wanted to get to the sand.

We packed our hot dogs, our regular and gluten-free buns, ketchup, mustard, charcoals, and a lighter. Since we had no newspaper Eric grabbed printer paper. That should have been a sign.

As we neared the beach we decided to get some firewood so that we could have flames and heat as well as a place to cook. I got out and grabbed it. I couldn’t get it to scan the price tag and when I tried to pull on it, it was wet. That should have been a sign.

Still – we trekked onward to the beach. We made it just in time for the ‘Rainbow sky’ and got set up. The boys immediately jumped into the sand activities and Eric started in on the fire. And a story was born…

So – life isn’t a beach. OH who am I kidding! No fire, Eric’s damaged lungs, not beach hot dogs for Eric & I and we still had a blast. We’re lucky to be at a place to have these adventures and this time with each other.

Fortunately they have second cousins!! Especially ones like Liza and Landon. Liza and Landon are the children of my cousin Sarah and her hubby Tyler.

We have had a picture of Liza on our fridge for most of the boys’ lives. When Will was learning how to talk he would talk to Liza on our fridge…and up until a week ago he still thought Liza was a cute 1 year-old in her pink dress. Well she is still very much cute – but no longer one and no longer in a pink dress…at least not this day!

Sarah and her kids were in town for the Thanksgiving holiday. We took advantage of them being here to do some much needed bonding. Sarah and I have always (well, I’ll speak for myself) been fond of each other, but never close. We are both at new, and similar chapters, in our lives and have found a new kinship. I cannot even say how excited I was to see her and chatting and let the kids play.

It was a hoot! The kids played like they always do – with one eye on the toys they were playing with and the other eye on the other kids. It took Will and Liza a little bit of time to warm up – pretty normal – but I suspect that given even more time they’d have been best friends. Sarah, in her ever-creative-mommy role, got them playing a game outside. What fun to see our children play together. Not to mention to see Sarah as a mom.

Liza is a vivacious little girl! She wanted me to notice her Princess Aurora hair (I had to ask who that was!), she put on a little modeling show, and cracked me up with her conversation! I could have a whole afternoon with Miss Liza and no doubt be smiling the whole time.

Landon was so refreshing! He is a happy-go-lucky little man. And he really is a little man. He looks so much like his Dad that it took me back a couple of times. He toddled around the house. It wasn’t until 1/2 way through the visit that Sarah mentioned he did not feel good – you could have fooled me! Wish that everyone could have such a good-natured one.

Sarah and I got to sit (mostly) and chat, and finally catch up on some of the things we’ve missed out on, the life lessons we are both learning, and the myriad of parenting experiences we have had in just four years!

After lunch we headed outside to let the kids have a popsicle. Liza decided to show will ‘Bert’. Bert is the pool cleaner, who to Liza (and now Will), is actually alive and lives on the bottom of the pool. She and Will had a great time watching it swim around the pool. She told me everything that he eats and even when he sleeps.

Spending time with their family just made me so grateful that as adults we understand that we can change dynamics. Certainly Sarah and I, and our kids, could live life without a relationship with one another. I am grateful that she and I made the time to change that.