Little Aritist

Cameron is our little artist. She drew this picture on her art easle and then gave me a little tour, explaining what she drew.  I like how she has a mix of prince, princes and rockets!  Such a tom boy trying to be a little girl.

Mother's Day

This year we celebrated Mother's Day one day earlier, on Saturday. Sundays tend to be so hectic for us, it seemed more enjoyable for me to spend a relaxing day on Saturday with my family. Our day started out super early with Timo's baseball game. Love these guys!

After the game and a change of clothes, we headed up to Napa to enjoy sunshine, warm weather and a little champagne tasting at Domain Carneros.  We love this place because it's kid friendly!  It's a little awkward walking up to a wine tasting with kids, but at Carneros they welcome families.  They have activities for the kids, juice and snacks.

The staff was so impressed by how well behaved the children were, and because it was Mother's Day, they gave us an extra tasting of champagne/wine for free! Sweet!  You know how much I love champagne...

Here is Cameron doing a little juice tasting of her own, a rose strawberry sparkling juice.   She really does have a great developed pallet.  She loves to taste everything, she doesn't always like it, but at least she tries.   I think we have a little chef in the making...

We did some exploring around the vineyard, taking in the view and checking out the vines with little baby grapes.  Timo was totally fascinated by the grape fines because he loves grapes.  He couldn't believe grapes grew on vines and not on a bush. 

Young treated me to a little outlet mall stop, woohoo!  Then we had lunch reservations at Bouchon, one of my favorite French bistros. 

 We really talked up the "fancy restaurant" to the kids so they would be on their best behavior.  It worked, thanks in part to fun bread, the promise of dessert and paper being used on tables...great for coloring! Hey, whatever it takes to have a good meal!

 The kids ended up sacking out after lunch (it was a late, long lunch) which meant Young and I had a nice quiet ride home...so sweet just to have uninterrupted talk time with my husband.  It was the perfect end to a perfect Mother's Day!

Helicopter Swinging

I found this on my phone from a while ago...I love how the kids constantly keep adding layers of fun to keep things exciting. I guess it's not enough to just swing back and forth...how can we spin around and around!

Tilden Park Steam Train

A few weekends ago we found ourselves in the the east bay with a little time to kill, so we decided to take the kids to Tilden Park to ride the Redwood Valley Steam Train. This wasn't the kids first time but it was our first time with Daddy. I really like this train because of it's beautiful ride through the forest...beautiful views of the Bay. It was fun, relaxing Sunday afternoon "drive".

Timo wanted to walk down this little path, some sort of train instinct I think, and found this other little tiny train that you can ride.  We've been out here a few times and I've never known this little miniature train was there.  Timo can sniff out those trains!

We decided to take a little trip to IKEA on the way home, might was well since we were really close.  I knew they had a children's area so we thought we could shop "kid free"...but not so much.  The play area was full and Timo really wanted to walk around and look at everything.  They both did really well considering how long we were there (there is not quick trip to IKEA).  We allowed them to pick out one toy in the kid's section and they both attached themselves to these body pillows...and good thing they had extra cushion for the shopping cart ride.  But we did get some really good ideas for their new bedroom...so stay tuned!

Life is Good

Ah, the simple life of a little boy...just swinging in the sunshine.  Life is good!  

We are blessed...

Bikes!

We decided to break down and get the kids bicycles. They have had their balance bikes for almost a year and have almost completely worn them out and Timo is getting to big for his.  We were trying to wait until after we got back from NC this summer but Toys R Us was having a bike sale and it seemed like a good opportunity to get bikes the right size.  They each got to pick out the bike they wanted, Timo went with a green one (no surprise there) and Cameron insisted on this pink on with the "purse" on the front.  We decided to save a little money by building them ourselves (they charged an extra $20 per bike to build)...which might not have been the best idea.  I worked on Cameron's bike and Young built Timo's...with help of some little hands!  Timo was all about using the tools and Cameron insisted I follow all the instructions step by step!

We finished up and headed down to the playground for a little spin!  Timo is pretty much ready to go without training wheels but he insisted on us putting them on.  Young put them so high, they barely touch the ground.  A few more rides and I think they can come off.

Cameron's bike is a little too big but I wanted to get one she could grow in to.  She didn't want her training wheels but because her feet don't quite touch the ground, we knew she would enjoy riding more if she had the training wheels.  A few more inches of growth and she'll be riding wheels free too!

Unfortunately, I didn't build Cameron's bike as well as Young built Timo's.  After about an hour, her training wheels came loose and one of her pedals fell off...guess that's why building bikes is a Daddy job!  Young tightened everything up and she was good to go again.

Math Skills

I feel like the Timo and Cameron have learned so much this past year in school...far beyond what I was learning at their age.  The Chinese language aside, the other night they started doing math!  Just simple adding but at least they are learning how to use their fingers to count and add numbers together.  Maybe next year they will be ready to tackle long division!

Ninja Chicken

Every since seeing a Christmas play last year that had a "ninja toy", the kids run around pretending to be ninjas. They try to sneak around on their tip-toes, run really fast, throw an object in your direction so you know they are there and disappear as fast as they can. Sometimes it's so funny watching them try to be sneaky. Well, Cameron added an extra layer to her persona the other night...not only was she a ninja, but she was a chicken ninja.

It was hard for me to get her to come out of hiding to take this picture!

Sunlight

Timo woke up the other morning and told me he was cold.  I got busy getting Cameron up and ready and didn't pay attention to where he had gone.  I found him curled up, laying in the sunlight, warming himself up...just like a little kitty cat.  Wow, look how big he is getting!!  Where did my little toddler go??

Party in San Jose

We recently celebrated our friend, Karrisa's 4th Birthday!  The party was held at this indoor jungle gym/gaming center in San Jose, about an hour outside SF.  It's always nice to have a reason to escape the city for life in the suburbs.  The Jungle Land was perfect for a birthday party.  Cameron loved the giant tunnel/climbing system.  We actually lost her a few times because there were so many tunnels, entrances, exits, and so high, we couldn't keep up with her!  (Luckily it's an inclosed play center with really tight security).  We found her once riding on the mini carousel...

 

 

Timo was all about the video games...he. had. a. blast!  Each child got a bag full of tokens to use and he blew through his in the first 5mins.  We cheated a little and gave him some of Cameron's tokens because she didn't really have any interest except the skeet ball.  He has already requested his birthday party be held here so he can play games the whole time.  It was a challenge to keep him away from the "shooting" games but there were enough riding, ball and movement games to distract him.

Once the tokens were gone, he found Cameron in the ball pit and they pretty much camped out there the remainder of the party.  I thought they were a little to old for the ball pit but I guess some things you don't out grow.

Since the party was out in the "burbs" we decided to take advantage of the huge strip malls and do a little shopping.  We popped into REI to check out some running clothes for Young and it was HUGE!  It was virtually a kids playground in there for the kids.  There were tents, kayaks, camping equipment, bikes, a huge rock climbing wall, mini mountains for testing hiking boots, bikes, etc.  I think we stayed a full hour after we were done shopping.  (I don't have pic of the kids on the rock climbing wall because I was out of my mind trying to hold on to them the higher and higher they went!)