Good -bye 2011

We started our last day of the year out with the boys waking us up at 7:30am. Not too early, but Tyler didn't get to bed until 10pm last night. I was hoping that maybe Vincent would get up and Ty would keep sleeping, but Vincent was coughing very loudly for several minutes. The boys watched some Curious George while David and I staying in bed. About 30 minutes or so later, Tyler announced, "Time to make breakfast! I'm going to make us breakfast, everybody!" That was our cue to get up.

Once up, we saw that Tyler did, in fact, begin to get breakfast going. He didn't do much, but he had a box of cereal out on the counter with the stool pulled up to it. Nobody ended up eating cereal, but Tyler helped make oatmeal and took items to the table. I think I need to enroll him in a toddler cooking class this summer. 

After breakfast, we dropped Vincent off at a birthday party kids' concert/new year's eve celebration with Caspar Babypants. Vincent's buddy, Liam, turned 5 years old yesterday, and today was his party. It was a really neat idea for a birthday. Good work, Mahoneys!

While at the party, David and I took Tyler across the street to the playground. We took turned riding with him down the zipline swing.

Then, we got coffee at Cafe Vita nearby, and went to PCC Natural Market for fixins for tonight's New Year's Eve stay-in. I found a simple brie that I'm going to wrap in puff pastry and bake. We also got pita chips and hummus, apples, and if I'm really ambitious, I may make mac 'n' cheese fritters (is there such a thing??) with the leftovers from last night. 

We got back to the community center where the concert was a few minutes early. We caught the last song, and also saw Vincent clowning around with a couple of friends. It's amazing to me how rough little boys are with each other. A-maze-ing. But, he had a great time, and that's what's important.

Lunch was at home: David had soup from PCC, I had a turkey and cheese on a pretzel roll, and the kids had tofu, broccoli and mac 'n' cheese. 


Both kids took a pretty decent afternoon nap. During this time, David and I took it easy. I ordered a bunch of cards on Hallmark.com. OMG, have you tried their card mailing service? It's cool. You can personalize your cards, address them, and they'll stamp and mail them for you. It's so nice. We also cleared out some stuff in the basement that needed to be donated. That was also nice. Not too much stuff, but probably about $200 worth. Last day of the year to make it count, so why not.


I told Vincent if he took a nice rest time, without coming out of the room over and over to ask if he was done, I had a surprise for both of them. They got their surprise: The first season of Cartoon Network's Ninjago shows. I found a video containing all the episodes on YouTube, that's about 44 minutes long. Vincent was definitely surprised and thrilled. Tyler was pretty excited, too.


Dinner was soy ginger chicken breasts with green beans and rice. Simple, but delicious. I got my baked brie prepared for later on, too. While I made dinner, David helped Vincent start one of his Lego sets, a Ninjago car that PopPop and Nana gave him.

After dinner, Vincent and I went upstairs and worked on building Legos. I finished the car while he worked on this safari set Uncle Jack and Aunt Alice gave him. He did great, only needing minimal help from me. I did good, too. Those Legos are amazing. David and Tyler played in the basement for a while with the Geotrax (and everything else!). They eventually came upstairs to hang out with us, building stuff with our first set of building bricks, MegaBlocks, that my cousin handed down to us years ago. We'll be passing those along soon, too. 


We let the boys have a snack downstairs before heading back for bed. They were pretty wound up. They have been a lot at bedtime lately. This was the second night in a row that they were put to bed without being read books, due to not settling down when asked several times. After we all said, "Goodnight," and left the room, Tyler came back down, saying, "I can't sleep there the whole time." Huh? I had told him that I'm only tucking him once tonight. If he gets out of bed, I won't tuck him in, again. Is that mean? Well, it didn't keep him in. So, now I needed to get him back to bed. I called Vincent to come get him. Thank heaven for older siblings.


Soon as we were sure the kids were asleep, we set up our midnight countdown spread.

Baked brie with rosemary crackers and sliced Pink Lady apples, garlic hummus and pita chips, various cookies, and olives. We kind of pigged out while watching the start of "Take Me Home Tonight." Now, our friends Jon and Andrea are coming by to spend the last moments of 2011 with us, countdown and toast to 2012 with a little bubbly.

Happy New Year, Everybody!!

Almost Normal, Again

Aside from my inability to get caught up, or sit down for a minute, things are starting to get back to normal. It felt like a typical Friday with the boys going to the gym with me, again. Their favorite friend, Eva, was also there. This makes them wild with excitement. Whew! I got to catch up with Eva's mom, Andrea, which is always great. Girl talk is nice.

We came home for lunch. I made the boys grilled cheese sandwiches with  good ol' American cheese. Maybe it was the salted butter on the bread, or the gooeyness of the cheese, but Vincent raved about his sandwich. Tyler, not so much. He ate it, but reluctantly. The kid's just not that into sandwiches. Weird. I guess I didn't really like sandwiches until I moved to Seattle (honestly), but a grilled cheese? C'mon!

After lunch, I dropped Vincent off at his friend, Henry's house. Tyler and I then went to get Buster and Stella a couple of new cat toys each. That was fun for them when we got back. Too soon, it was time for Tyler to take a nap.

I let the boys veg out on Netflix for about an hour while I prepared dinner. Tonight, we had homemade mac 'n' cheese, with MORE American cheese! I accidentally let the garlic toast in the pan, but this added a little depth to the overall flavor. "Depth." Ha! I'm not sure if that's the word I'm looking for, but, it'll do. Nice, toasty, cheesey Mac. Ooh, and I put broccoli in it, too. I used American cheese, as mentioned already, and provolone. It came it so nice and creamy. 

After dinner, we headed to U Village to find a birthday gift for a friend of Vincent's. When we got there, David spotted Menchie's. He's never been, and was easily lured in. 

Maybe it was all the sugar from dessert, or his afternoon was too long, but Tyler could not get to bed tonight. Finally, at 10pm, I offered him a bit of warm milk. He didn't come out of the room again after that.

Getting Back Into The Swing Of Things

We took our time getting ready this morning, but by 9am, it was very clear that staying at home was not a good idea. Luckily, I chatted with the gal at the gym daycare earlier and she said we can go in anytime after 11am. Oh yeah, we are so there.

The boys were very excited to get back to Pro Club. Tyler gave me two big hugs and kisses as his sign that he was okay for me to get out of there. Sweet. I did a light workout on an elliptical machine and called it a day. 

Knowing we were in need of milk, I decided to take the boys to QFC for groceries. That was not the most pleasant experience. I mean, it was fine, but the two of them are so chatty, I could hardly think, and I didn't bring a list. We were there much longer than they could stand, so the more stir crazy they became, the more agitated I became. **Big Sigh** We made it out in one piece, and with coffee for myself and David.

During the boys' nap time, Peter and Sharon came over. We were going to take them out for dinner as a way to thank them for watching our cats and for their recent engagement. Yay!! We had dinner at Cafe Presse, which was so yummy. Afterwards, we went across the street to Lark for desserts. Yummy, again.

Seattle, Or Bust

Well, it was about 75F when we left Long Beach this afternoon. We came home to pouring down rain and about 20 degrees cooler. Peter met us at the airport with our car. He came with his future brother-in-law, Paul, and the two of them took the light rail back to town. 

Before we even got home, Vincent said he wanted Daddy to open the gift he got him. When we got there, we called Pagliacci to deliver us some pizza for dinner, and the boys ran around the house saying "hi" to all their toys. Finally, before the pizza arrived, we said we could start opening some gifts. David's, from Vincent, was first. 

Vincent played Santa's helper and handed out gifts to each of us. Then, the pizza arrived. We decided to finish opening all the gifts before eating dinner. Lucky kiddos! Here are the highlights.

Train book with wind-up train for Tyler.

Lego Racers set from Natasha to Vincent for his birthday. And, rubber boots from Anny to David.

 Thomas laptop from Mommy to Tyler.

 Lego Ninja Bowling from Daddy to Vincent.

 Set of tracks for the boys from Mommy and Daddy.

 Cars 2 from Lucy.

 Ooh, look at this big smile! From PopPop and Nana:

 The long awaited Angry Bird from Mommy.

 And, Hungry Hungry Hippos from Aunt Tiffany.

The house looked great when we walked in. The boys went to bed very easily and willingly. It's good to be home.

Round 1, Again, and More Eating

With a little bit of credit and tickets left on our cards for Round 1, we headed back to the mall this morning. 

But, first, we ate breakfast at home, then headed to 85C  for second breakfast. Seriously, we had to. David and I wanted to get their coffee, again, but who could resist their freshly baked pastries, still warm from the oven? We certainly couldn't. The kids each picked out something they wanted to share and David and I picked one big one. Ma came with us, and she enjoyed the second breakfast, too.

Next, we dropped David off at Costco to return something. It's across the street from the mall, so he just walked over when he was done. Ma went to do a little browsing in the mall, while D and I let the boys have fun.

Tyler and I used the rest of our credits, won many more tickets (not as many as last week), and Tyler opted for two types of gummy candies this time. That's all he wanted. He had something like 200 tickets left, but only spent 70. We let Vincent have the rest, which we picked out a little pull back Hot Wheels car.

For lunch, we met up with my sister and a couple of her friends for Korean tofu at Da Bok. Yes, this would be our third Korean meal this trip. Kind of a lot, considering I rarely have Korean food. I like it! 

After lunch, Ma wanted to walk home, so I accompanied her. Of course, we HAD to stop at JJ Bakery when we walked past it. I love their cakes. I would've gotten Vincent's cake from them, but they don't make them Spiderman themed. I bought two slices of chocolate cake for us to indulge in as breakfast tomorrow. Indulgent!!

Tonight, my mom got her final dining wish for us. She has been talking about this rotating sushi restaurant that recently opened up in Rowland Heights. My boys are into conveyor belt sushi and she knows it. So, we obliged and went to Kula for dinner. It was pretty good, though they don't have vegetable tempura or any kind of string beans. Poor Vincent. He did find a couple of items he enjoyed eating, like potstickers!

Lastly, I leave you with this picture I took of the boys sleeping. So sweet.

A Busy Day in So Cal

I posted on Facebook that I had 3 tickets for Legoland that I was willing to part with for a pretty good deal. My cousin, Sophia, responded with interest in them. I was thrilled to find out that she is in town, since she lives in Nevada. We chatted on the phone a few days ago, and made plans to meet up this morning so she can take the tickets off my hands, and more importantly, have a play date! I haven't seen her for about 10 years, before either of us had kids.

We met a KidSpace in Pasadena. Sophia has a 4.5 year old son, named Kai. There's a playground outside, so we let the boys all play in the sunshine to start. Then, we headed into the children's museum, where it was super packed with families. Nonetheless, the kids had a great time. Kai and Vincent rode on this tricycle track, squirted water, climbed giant (fake) vines, and chased each other around. Tyler went at his own pace, so David hung out with him. 

Check out these cousins!

Afterwards, David found an In N Out about 10 minutes away. We were so there.

Our next stop was to the home Su Fu, a Buddhist monk who has been a friend of my family for 30 years. We paid her a visit to thank her for gifts she gave us recently. While there, she took both boys around her house and taught them to pray to the different alters. Both boys were not shy with her, which was such a surprise. Then, Vincent took David around and taught him what to do. Very cute.

And, lastly, we left the boys under my family's care, again, this evening. David and I went out to Santa Monica to meet up with Seattle friends, Gabe and Sarah. Yup, that's Gabe from last week. Sarah is his wife, and our friend, too. We got to see their new place, then ate dinner at a bar called, Alibi Room, for Korean tacos. YUM.

Yes, we did quite a lot today. And, yes, there's a bit of an eating theme to our trip. Let me just run through all the places we've eaten out at:

-In N Out (x2)

-Yoshinoya

-Tangier

-El Cochinito

-Zeidler's Cart at Skirball Cultural Center

-Alibi Room

-Four Seas

-85(degrees)C 

And, tomorrow, we're meeting my sister at Da Bok Tofu Restaurant for lunch. There are so many other interesting places we'd like to eat at, too. I'm getting squishy.

Merry Christmas {2011}

Today was a more laid back day than yesterday. Vincent was first to wake up, so I got up with him and we hung out in the living room until the rest of the family joined us. He showed a lot of will power and restraint with presents. First, he surveyed the scene, and remarked that there were no new presents under the tree. He was sad about this, and I assume he thought that Santa decided not to bring him and Tyler presents after all. I don't blame him, as he was acting pretty naughty yesterday, leading up to his birthday party. I told him he should take another look to be sure. 

A-ha! He spotted two new presents, wrapped with different paper than the rest. And, he saw that there was one candy cane each, hanging from his and Tyler's stockings. That has been our "Santa Signature" that David has been leaving for the boys each year. We toned it done a lot this year, with just those two. In the past, David has hung them all over the tree. Not necessary, as they don't get eaten.

Speaking of tree...This is my parents' tree this year.

Total Charlie Brown tree come to life! My dad bought this tree years ago, when my mom finally gave up the plastic tree we grew up with. It was much smaller when he got it, and I think he moved it to this larger pot as it grew. They only used it the one year, and eventually stopped putting up a tree. I insisted on one this year, though we went back and forth about it. Finally, I suggested we try to straighten this one up, and bring it inside. As we were out the other day, Ma took care of it, and had it all set up by the time we got home. As sad as it may look, it really did complete Christmas.

Back to Christmas morning!

Everyone got up, and though we tried to make the gift opening as low key and calm as we could, it still got to be quite the exciting event. Both boys got what they asked Santa for: Vincent wanted the Ninjago Brickmaster set, and Tyler wanted a green remote control train. Santa also brought them some stocking stuffers, and David and I gave them matching pajamas and each a super hero cape. 

In the evening, my sister brought over last night's leftovers for dinner, and we cooked up a couple of extra veggies. We enjoyed a quiet dinner and ate these cookies I have been eyeing since our arrival.

Skirball and Christmas Eve Birthday Party

I've been wanting to visit the Skirball Jewish Cultural Center for a few years now. I heard about it while visiting a children's museum in Pasadena, CA, from one of the employees, and have been intrigued ever since. Finally, we went. 

They have a Noah's Arc exhibit for the kids that's amazing. All the animals are made of reclaimed materials. 

After Skirball, we headed to my sisters house for our Christmas dinner with the family, and for Vincent's birthday party. Some of the usual family members were not in town this time, but we got a few extras. Cousin Alice, her husband, Bill,  their two boys, Spencer and Koen, and Cousin Johnnie all made it. It's been so long since I've seen them all. The 4 boys enjoyed each others' company, and each had a go at Vincent's birthday pinata.

Um, I don't remember Tyler standing so close to the pinata while Vincent was hitting it! I think maybe Vincent was just pretending when I took this picture. 

Spiderman cake

 Vincent and A-Gong playing Lego Harry Potter on the Wii.

Tyler and David decorating a gingerbread house.

 The dinner spread. Everything turned out super yummy.

Shubarum Park and Tangier

Without much on our agenda for today, we decided to take advantage for the beautiful, warm weather and headed to this large park nearby. There are a few playgrounds, a tennis court, some random exercise things, trails, and horses. The boys loved playing, of course. We let them play for about 45 minutes, then took them to see the horses. While there, we saw two [what we think are] gophers! Cute. And, so delightful to the kids. 

We had my dad and aunt take care of the boys tonight so that we could go out to dinner with my sister and brother-in-law. We met them in Los Feliz, at Tangier, for  Korean BBQ. The decor is pretty fun, with robots.

Happy 5th Birthday, Vincent!!

It's hard to believe that Vincent is 5 years old. Last night, after the boys went to bed, David and I were up chatting about how at that moment, 5 years ago, I was in the tub in the labor room, in terrible pain. Nice conversation, huh?

Now, here he is, age 5. He's about 42 inches tall (as we learned at Legoland) and probably weighs about 35 pounds. We need to make his annual check-up appointment, so I'll update when we get that done. 

Vincent is more energetic now than ever before. He loves anything to do with Ninjas, especially Lego ones. His love for race cars has taken a back seat, but have not been forgotten. He still loves to listen to us tell him stories and enjoys telling us his own, too. He continues to love books - there are stories in them! 

As for food, Vincent finally likes pizza, but not with too many toppings (mainly just cheese, or with salami), and he's not picky about where he gets his pizza from. His overall appetite has improved, though he's still not a big eater. Ever since we agreed that he'll eat salad when he turned 4, he has continued eating it. He likes most of the vegetables we offer him...no, he'll taste most of them, and likes some of them. He continues to love cured meats, different types of cheeses, sweet treats, Asian foods, milk, and has added potstickers to his list of "likes." We have always been appreciative that Vincent seems to have pretty good self-control when it comes to sweets and snack foods. Though he loves them, he eats them in moderation, and will not put up a fight (knock on wood) if we deny him of more.

Vincent's turned out to be quite a neat kid. He's an intense one, but in as many good ways as there are challenging ways. He has a big heart, is super smart, and simply loves to play. If I were to pick his favorite word, it would probably be "fun." That's what he wants most, to have fun. 

As for his birthday, we went back to Legoland by 10am. I already knew which rides I wanted us to go on first, and they were close to the gate, so we headed straight there. Lines filled up quickly, so I'm glad we got there when we did. Today, we hit the other side of the park that we missed yesterday. We went on several rides, and even caught a show. Vincent and I went on the largest roller coaster together, while David and Tyler went on these little airplanes that we missed yesterday. OH! And, when we got to the gate, we were able to get a birthday button for Vincent with his name and age on it. Whenever one of the staff noticed it, they made a point to tell him, "Happy Birthday, Vincent." That surprised him the first time someone did that, and never got old. On one ride, the operator even announced to everyone that it was his birthday and we all sang to him while on the ride. That made him feel very special. 

Opening his gifts from PopPop and Nana, and from Mommy and Daddy.

 While waiting for the safari ride, Vincent built this airplane. He's getting fast at it.

 Need I say more?

On our way back from Carlsbad, we stopped in Irvine for dinner at Red Robin. Yup, of all places. It's almost like tradition for Vincent's birthday. We've done it three years in a row. He usually eats well there, and gets a free birthday sundae with a song. Why not?

Happy birthday to our favorite 5 year old, Vincent!!

Legoland, Baby!

We made it to Legoland, just in time to spend a bunch of money on lunch. Oh well, we're on vacation, right?

I'm not sure what it was about this place, but the amount of crazy kid energy there is incredible. Different from Disneyland. I think it's the median age range. But, it's good, because the rides are definitely for the younger fans, and we really did have a good time. We went on some rides, but the wait times were pretty long. We have one more day, so we didn't sweat it. Legoland does a nice job of keeping them entertained during the wait for some of the rides, with play areas full of Duplo blocks to feed their creativity. We stayed until the park closed today.

Back at our hotel, they had a social hour(s) with free beer, wine, and appetizers. Tonight was chili and build-your-own potato skins. We filled up on that, then scrounged a little with what we brought from home for the rest of our dinner. We did alright.

Merry Merry!

 We all got a bit wet on this pirate ship spraying ride. They have these family stand-in dryers that we tried to use, but only really dried our hair and not much else. At least, it warmed us up a bit.

 Vincent looks scared, but he's just trying to smile for the camera. Tyler was so excited to see this life-sized R2D2.

 We allowed Vincent to lie to the ride operator in order to let Tyler go on this ride. Kids have to be 36" tall and 4 years old to ride. C'mon! Tyler's 36" so Vincent said, "I'm 5 and he's 4!" We did make sure to tell Tyler he had to be very careful and not mess around so he won't fall off. They rode by themselves and were thrilled!

 One area with lots of bricks.

 Okay, a little more lying. This time, kids have to be 34" and age 3. Close enough!

And, last, but certainly not least, we had pre-bought 2-day tickets for Legoland through my mom's work. I forgot to bring them with us. DOH!! We had to buy another set. Fortunately, David was able to find 2-days tickets, again, but they were an extra $20 each. Ugh. Nonetheless, today was fun, and tomorrow will be just as fun, and it'll make for a great 5th birthday for Vincent.

Griffith Park

We met up with our Seattle friend, Gabe, this morning at Griffith Park. Our first stop was Travel Town. I haven't been there in about 25 years. To my surprise, both boys enjoyed it. Vincent claims he doesn't love trains, only likes them, but he was into it today. We all went on a mini train ride, and the engineer even let the boys says into the microphone, "All aboard!"

After the trains, we drove to the observatory. It wasn't opened yet, but we enjoyed hanging around the grounds looking at the view of Lis Angeles. Gabe showed us a pepper tree that had pink peppercorns. Pretty cool. Vincent loved it, and called them mini bombs. He had such a fun time playing a game with rocks he picked up and pretended to have special powers. It was cute.

Our next stop was El Cochinito for Cuban food. It was a nice find, and yummy. After the boys were full, I took them over to Baskin Robbins for ice cream while the men settled up the check.

And, dinner tonight...In N Out!!