Fairyland!

This past weekend we took the kids over to Fairyland in Oakland and had a great time! Fairyland, like the name suggests, is this little 10 acre nursery rhyme theme park. There are different sections for each nursery rhyme (Humpty Dumpty, Little Miss Muffet, Three Little Pigs, etc), with rides or activities and everything is just the right size for the kids!

They also have three stages set up for storytime and puppet shows that run throughout the day. We watched one of the puppet shows and Cameron sat through almost the whole thing...she loves to be entertained. Timo was a little more restless so we hit the story book house to read and Cameron joined us later.
But the big excitement were the rides. They only have four but it was more than enough excitement for us and the kids. Timo took his very first Ferris Wheel ride ALL BY HIMSELF!!! I don't know who was more scared, me or him. He and Cameron were going to ride it together but as soon as Cameron found out Mommy couldn't go with her, she backed out. Timo didn't want to get out of the car so they closed the door and off he went! He was such a brave little boy! I could tell he wasn't super excited and kept asking to get out but he didn't cry and had the biggest grin on his face when he got off...he was so proud of himself and we were proud of him!



The Merry Go Round was more Cameron's speed so she took a few turns on that one and then we all hit the train! The train had the longest line and it was hot! But I'm so proud of the kids for standing in line and waiting their turn. (toddlers aren't the best a waiting for anything!)
I brought a picnic lunch for us and we relaxed in the grassy area eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and oreo cookies.
We finished off our visit with a few hundred times down the clock tower slide and hid-n-seek in the bamboo forest! I can tell we'll be spending quite a few family days out in Fairyland!

Very Hot!

I let the kids hang out in the kitchen while I'm cooking but am always saying "very hot" when they come close to the stove or I'm opening the oven. I guess Timo has been listening! They were playing with these little cupcakes (the kids call them muffins from the Muffin Man song) and Timo was pretending that he was baking them in our wood fired oven...which I also say "very hot" when we have a fire in it. But for some reason, he ran around carrying the muffins saying "very hot, very hot" and he was intent in keeping them away from Cameron so she wouldn't burn herself. I know he was doing it out of love for her but it was extremely frustrating to Cameron!!

Jesus, Where Are You?

Timo has claimed the corner of the sofa as his house. He climbs behind the cushions, sits down in his house and plays with his various toys. This one day I was trying to get video of him calling it his house, which worked out great...see below.


Then he realized he needed his dump truck so he got down and decided on his fire truck. He climbed back up and I started filming his calling it "Timo's house" but then this came out...see below...


I have no idea why he was looking for Jesus...maybe he holds Jesus in as high esteem has he does firemen(that would be extremely high)? Or he knows Jesus can save lives just like firemen do? Or possibly Jesus is his friend and he wanted to play with Him?? Whatever the reason, I'm glad it's Jesus he is looking for!

Movie Night!

OK, so the post this week are gonna be coming two at a time! We are laving at the end of this week for the month of June and I've got lot's of posts to catch you up on. I want to be able to blog while we're gone and don't want anything getting lost from May. We are headed to North Carolina to spend a month with my family and I'm so excited. Young has a busy travel schedule coming up so I thought why not go see my family, have a few hands to help out with the kids and enjoy some southern summer fun! But more on that later...

Now on to Movie Night! Growing up we didn't really have movie night because the VCR had just come out, we didn't have one and watching movies at home wasn't really common. But we did have Friday Family TV night of Dukes of Hazzard and CHIPS! This was like our movie night. Daddy would pop some pop corn and we would all gather around the TV to be entertained. So....I wanted to carry on this tradition with the kids, only having family movie night.

Last Saturday the kids decided to hibernate for their nap and sleep 3 1/2 hours! I knew they would never go to sleep at their normal bedtime so we decided a good way to past the evening away was to try a movie night. We picked Curious George because the kids love to watch George in the morning on PBS and they are familiar with him. We popped some pop corn and all sat down for our movie experience. The pop corn was an immediate hit...I think Timo could have eaten the whole bowl! Cameron lasted about 30min of the movie and Timo made it almost through the whole hour and 20min.

One thing I did notice about the kids and the movie...they talked...a lot. Any time George wasn't on the screen..."where go George?" Or "what's that?" for anything they didn't know what it was...like the robot doggie. And then there is Cameron who has to give us a blow by blow of what is happening..."Mommy look, George flying" "Daddy, George is ridding in boat", "look, there is an elephant". Sooooo, note to self...kids not ready for the quiet of the movie theater yet...

Memorial Day--The USS Hornet

I wanted to make sure we did something special on Memorial Day to honor our service men who fought and died for our freedom. We are fortunate enough to live right next to the Presidio here in SF that has services in the National Cemetery each year but I thought the kids might be too young to sit through the speeches as well as be scared by the gun fire of the gun salute...maybe next year. So I did a quick search and found out we have floating war museum in the USS Hornet right across the bay!

As most of you know, I love visiting historical sites and aircraft carriers are right at the top of my list. We knew the crowds would be heavy so we planned on getting there right when they opened to try and make it through in a reasonable amount of time. Turns out, we were some of the first on board and got guided tours by the real WWII vets that flew and sailed on the USS Hornet! We were taken all the way up to the navigation bridge, guided through the Admiral Offices, and took our turn at the Captain's wheel....all personally guided by our fighter pilot veteran who flew off the Hornet when he was 19 years old!! He had amazing stories to tell us along with all the "inside secrets" of the time.


But as exciting as the tour was, the kids saw the airplanes and were itching to get up close and touch them. We hit the flight deck first and had to see the "shark" plane", as Timo called it, first. We then went down to the Hanger Deck to see the Apollo 11, more aircraft and helicopters. The Hornet is famous not only for it's part in WW II but also the recovery of Apollo 11 & 12...so Timo was thrilled to see the spaceship and rocket exhibits.
The kids even got to try their hands at flying in the seat of a real fighter jet! I have to say Cameron took to the pilot's seat much better than Timo did...

I'm sad we didn't get to stick around the Memorial Day festival but it was starting a little too late in the day for the kids. The stag looked fantastic and I was so impressed by all the uniformed men and woman that were gathering for it...maybe next time...
I know the kids are a little too young to understand every thing they saw and did but I hope they will grow to have firm understanding a tender heart toward our history of the armed forces...their service, commitment and sacrifice. Thank you to all our Veteran...past and present!!

Adjustment Period

It's been a little over a month now and I think the kids have finally adjusted to their new beds. It's amazing how long it takes for babies/toddlers to transition to a new change. They really loved their beds from day one and now play in their room a lot more, taking toys and sitting in their beds playing. But night time was a little different and it took some adjusting. I think they needed time for get used to their new found freedom and for us to learn how to set new boundaries.

After a few weeks of sleeping half on half off the bed, rolling out of bed and waking up disoriented (I walked in one night and Cameron was standing in the middle of the room), I think they are finally getting good a nights sleep....woo hoo!

And naps are going much better too. Most days I have to wake them up after 3 hours!!

Don't get me wrong...some nights it's like a big slumber party after we put them to bed. We can hear them running, laughing, rocking in the chair...but somehow they always seem to find their way to their beds and fall asleep. They are sacked out when we check on them before head to bed. Sleep tight my little ones!

Exploratorium!

Last Saturday I had this big family fun day planned at this big park in the Berkeley and was really excited about it. Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate...it was a sunny but extremely windy day...not a day to be outside. So Young came up with the great idea of going the the Exploritorium. The Exlploritorium is this amazing hands on science "museum" for kids and adults alike. Young and I actually had one of our first dates there...um...

The kids are still a bit too young for most of the exhibits but we made the most of the exhibits they could participate in. I can't wait to take them back in another year or so to really see the wonder on their faces!!

Timo loved the whole water area. They had a flowing fountain that you could control the water flow by putting stones on it. And this one, you turn this cylinder of water around and around to watch the water inside. Cameron loved the weights exhibit. She just kept putting the weighted disks on the tracks over and over again, watching them roll down.

The sand circle was a big hit too...see a common thread...anything that spins was fascinating to them. You turn this wheel and watch the sand fall from the top to the bottom.

And the drums...oh boy, the drums. We could have camped out here the rest of the morning. I'm kinda glad the museum was crowded...we could tell the kids people were waiting to play with the drums so we had to leave them now. That worked pretty well and we made an easy escape!

I wish we had been able to take more pictures but all the exhibits were really hands on, we had no free hands to snap pictures. There was this one bubble exhibit that I wish I had taken some pictures. They had bubble water, a wand with a string that you pull to make a huge bubble. The kids loved the giant bubble but it took both of us, one to pull the string and one to keep the kids from sticking their faces in the bubble! There was also this magnetic area, a light show that you could control, tuning forks...the list goes on and on. We can't wait to go back!

Mr. Fix-It

Timo has always loved his little workbench...banging on it and screwing the screws in the wood...but lately he has gotten into "fixing" everything around the house. I have to be careful what I say now because if I mutter the words "it's broken" or "I need to fix it", he runs to get his hammer and screwdrivers to "fix it". He even gets his trucks and starts tinkering with them, saying "Mommy, it's broken, I fix it". I think it all started when Young was taking down their cribs and Timo really wanted to use Daddy's screwdriver. We told him to go get his tools so he could help Daddy fix the cribs. He's been Mr. Fix it ever since!

Hair Bands

I mentioned before that Cameron is a little more open to me dressing her hair up. Pigtails are rare but I thought she might like hairbands because she could put them in herself. Little did I know that Timo would find them much more entertaining than his sister...
But Cameron did catch on as soon as I gave her a look at herself in the mirror...oh, how she loves to admire herself!