Magnolia Park

The boys and I met up with a bunch of friends from Tyler's tots class this morning at Magnolia Park. We had never been there before, so it was fun to check out a new playground. The boys had a blast with their friends.

All the kids enjoyed giving each other rides on this little gondola.

 Tyler and Lexie vs. Liam, Vincent and Max on the teeter-totter.

We had lunch at a nearby Mexican restaurant. We sort of surprised them with our party of 20...mostly children. On the way back to the car, Brianna was kind enough to give several kids a lift. This is must be how she stays looking so good.

When we got to our cars, Brianna offered to take Vincent for a last minute playdate. Super! Unfortunately, Vincent gave me a bit of a hard time with leaving his playdate when Tyler and I went to pick him up. Sigh.

Sparkles & Peach Crisp

Vincent: Mommy, I love you so much.

Me: I love you, too, Vincent.

Vincent: If I had sparkles, I would sprinkle them on you so you can be pretty.

Was that a compliment?

We went to View Ridge Park for the first time today. We met up with two other sets of brothers and their moms. Once again, so interesting to see the way 4.5 year olds try to manage their friendships. There were three older brothers and three younger brothers. The three older boys played together and were frustrated at one point because they all wanted to tell the others what to play, etc. There was some hitting and some tears, and then resolved (with a little help from mommies, of course). Meanwhile, the little brothers all had their own agenda. Max worked on pooping and peeing in his pants (first week of big boy pants!), Hendricks followed the big boys around, but didn't really play with them, Tyler wanted me to push him "up into the sky" on, you guessed it, the swings. All-in-all, a good outing, even if there were several meltdowns.

We came home for lunch with A-gong. It went pretty well. The boys finished off a whole box of mac 'n' cheese, which they don't normally do.

While the kids napped, I went out for a little jog. It wasn't as pleasant as I had hoped. Part of it was I shouldn't have taken the route that I did. I know better now.

This afternoon, I felt like the boys just didn't want me to cook dinner, though they didn't say it. It was one of those afternoons where I wasn't cooking anything major, but it took forever because I had to stop and troubleshoot for them non-stop. Seriously, I even bought the chicken, already roasted and hot for us. And, then, dinner was bumpy, too. At least it ended well, and we all (except Tyler) enjoyed this delicious dessert. Thank you, Alice Waters.

I loved when my dad asked, "Did you buy this or make it?" And, when I said, "Remember those peaches on the counter I said not to eat? Well, they're in here.", and his eyes widened up, I felt pretty accomplished. Vincent loved it, too, which made me feel great. Two out of four of my favorite males liked something I made. And, I'm sure it would've been three if David was here.



I Think I May Have Worn Them Out

Tonight, when I was putting the boys to bed, Tyler rubbed his little eyes and said, "I'm tired." Sweet. Vincent seemed tired, too. He looked like he was going to fall asleep in the car this afternoon to and from the playground.

With no plans for the day, I just kept thinking to myself, "Go have some fun..." So, I took them to Bellevue Square to run around the kids' play area for about an hour. Though I was regretting it as soon as I got on the 520, it turned out to be a good time for us all. Vincent had one bad moment, but both boys were super excited to be there. They were rewarded for their good behavior with a lollipop each. I didn't tell them that, and I mainly gave it to them to keep Tyler from falling asleep on the car ride back to Seattle.

We stopped at our house to pick up my dad. He wanted to get a few art supplies, which is conveniently located next door to the cheap conveyor belt sushi spot we like. While there, we ran into Tyler and my previous teacher from our tots class, with his daughters. We didn't eat lunch with them, but they finished up at the same time as us, so we all headed to the playground nearby. Vincent and Carmen enjoyed holding hands while we walked over, and then playing together. They were having a conversation, which is so cute at age 4.5 years.

Ty went on the swings, of course. Vincent was working on pumping his legs and swinging on his own. He looks so huge in this picture.

At quiet time, A-gong read a book to Vincent. It's a Chinese story, but he read it to him in English, which is interesting. Then, the two of them laid down to nap. Vincent didn't actually sleep. Afterwards, when I asked him if he did, he said, "Well, I had my eyes closed and I tried, but A-gong was waking me up because he snored too loud." Ha! Ha!

Once they were done resting, A-gong went outside to do a project. Vincent really wanted to work with him. I suggested letting him sand a small spot on the deck. And, that's just what he did for about 10 minutes. It was cute to see them working together and Vincent putting so much effort into the job.

His work got cut short because I wanted to take the boys to the playground to meet friends. We took their bikes with us, and both boys rode around. Okay, Vincent wode around, Tyler sort of did.

So, in total, the boys went to three playgrounds today. That might be our record. I can see why they're tired. They went right to bed without a peep. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, David. No, just kidding, he doesn't smoke, and I don't want to jinx myself for the rest of the week.

Family Farm?

Our friends, Paul and Gabi, have the most amazing backyard garden. We love taking our family over to show it off. When we told my dad about it, he was eager to visit. It was so awesome to see that Paul and Gabi were able to learn from my dad, and he was also able to learn from them. I felt like they were 3 peas in a pod. Our kids enjoyed being there because there's much to entertain them with. Vincent had Oliver, a rocket launcher, and a trampoline. Tyler liked all those, too, but he especially liked the Mighty-O Donuts we brought, and the blueberry pancakes Gabi made. He kept disappearing into the house to grab another pancake. Good, cuz Gabi packed them in with secret goodness - veggies.

Tyler didn't like being cooped up with the hens.

 Tomi goes for a bounce.

 Vincent setting up a launch.

 Another successful carrot picking.



To Oxbow, To Oxbow, To Play On The Farm...

...Home again, home again, everyone's worn (out).

Actually, just David and Tyler. Both took a nap when we got home. Tyler, Vincent and I all fell asleep in the car. Maybe my dad did, too, but I was in the way back, so I don't know. Tyler transferred to his bed, but Vincent and I didn't.

Sorry, that's all useless info...

What a fun day at the farm! It was a bit of a struggle to get there, as the 520 bridge was closed, so we had to detoured south to the 90, then David missed the 405, and had do take side roads to get on, then there was construction in Redmond, which we had to take a super long detour, again...Finally, we made it! Totally worth the effort.

The kids were super happy to run around the farm and through Oxbow's living playground. My dad was excited about the plants he saw. He noticed ones that aren't part of Oxbow's main crops and had a ball chatting Farmer Sarah up about them. We took a little tour of part of the farm, learning about the different parts of the plants: roots, stalk, leaves, flowers, fruit, and seeds. Vincent spotted the pineapple weeds that I told him about recently and gave the farmers a little educating about them. The boys also got to pull carrots out of the ground, have them washed, and eat up right there. We ate a picnic lunch that I packed with some other boys and their nanny that we met today. It was a great picnic, under a big tree, and we picked blackberries that were growing next to us.

Totally one of those dreamy, out of a storybook, summer farm days.

Sarah shows Vincent how to eat a nasturtium (flower). He didn't like it because it's a little spicy.

 Two things Tyler likes a lot...grapes and chickens.

 The boys and their fresh-picked (purple!) carrots.

Tonight, we had dinner at Gourmet Noodle Bowl in the International District. We've always said that this is a place Ba would enjoy. We were right. We ordered a good amount of food, and almost all of it was eaten. They boys did really well. Actually, I'm pretty impressed by how well they have been eating around A-Gong. It's like they're trying to impress him or something. Maybe they're having a growth spurt. Yummy Taiwanese food.

Nice Day With Vincent

Tyler went to daycare this morning. Vincent and Ba went with us to drop him off. It's near Lake Washington, so the plan was that we'd take Vincent's bike out with us, and Ba/A-gong could walk along next to V, while I get a jog in. And, that's just what we did. Vincent didn't ride for too long. He actually crashed into A-gong, and gashed up his knee...A-gong's not Vincent's. Not too bad, though. When I got back from my run (2 miles along the lake), they were hanging out on the docks, checking out the water. It felt really good to get that run in.

We got back home and while I showered, A-gong and Vincent made paper airplanes. Those suckers flew really well. The key, as Ba said, is getting it "balanced." And, a paperclip at the nose helps, too.

Once they were done with that, Vincent helped me with my dinner idea. Yes, it began at 11:30am. It's because I wanted to buy ground chicken at the store the other day, but didn't like the selection, so I opted to buy organic boneless, skinless thighs, and grind the meat myself.

It was a whole lot of work for about 20 eggrolls. I don't think I would've felt like I was cooking all day, if I didn't have to keep stopping to take care of others. We grinded the meat, then stopped to make/eat lunch. We V and I were done with lunch, I made my dad's lunch. While I did that, Vincent sat in the living room "reading" himself a book. It warmed my heart.

So, I cut up all my veggies, cooked them, cooked the chicken, and then let them all cool. Vincent and I took a break and watched some vintage Mickey Mouse shorts. Yeah, like "Steamboat Willie," and other black and whites. He loved them!

Around 3:30pm, I remembered that we needed to make the actual eggrolls. I put the filling on the wrappers and Vincent rolled them. I had to supervise and correct him on each one, but he did really well. And, the best thing ever? He said, "This is so much fun." Awwwwwww.

Meanwhile, Ba finished off the framing for our new garage door. It's really impressive, and looks so much better. This one wasn't even on our To Do list.

We all went to pick up Tyler. Vincent fell asleep in the car on the way. Oh yeah, Tyler was not happy about going to Panda today. I had to bribe him (bad mom!) with candy. I agreed to let him have a lollipop that he picked out in the morning, when I pick him up in the afternoon. Sure enough, he asked about it as soon as we walked out the gate to the car. He was so happy, though.

We took my dad to the farmers' market, but had to wake Vincent up. He was not happy. He complained about an upset stomach, then asked why Tyler had a lollipop and said he wanted a treat. I had one for him, too. I know better. But, it didn't really help. We didn't get to stay and enjoy the market. But, A-gong did buy Tyler two half pints of blueberries. Heaven.

Tonight's eggrolls dinner was a hit. We also had some rice and some Chinese water spinach, and a tomato.

After dinner, we all watched "Ernest Goes To Camp." Ahhh yea!



Come Clean

Okay, yeah, I need to come clean, as it is probably obvious that I've totally been fudging things around here. I am wayyyyyy behind on my posting. But, I don't want all this to back up anymore, as I've done so well since January 1st, only missing a couple of days at a time, and making up for it later. I'm now almost a week behind, and need to do something about it.

So, yeah, I'm gonna continue to fudge the dates, as part of this year's 365 days of blogging is to remember the basic events for each of our days, so I want to continue to do that. But, I'm going to catch up, and make each post as short as I can.  Hmmmmm, we'll see about that. Please read as far back as you can bear to know what happened in the past week.

Thanks!

Another Day of Camp, Another Day of Work

Last day of summer camp this year. Tyler did not want me to leave at drop off. Vincent, of course, was excited and went right to playing. Finally, I had to ask Vincent to help me get Tyler playing. It was really sweet and cute. Vincent was on the play structure, jumped down, and kind of did this little dance over to us. He put his hand out and said sweetly, "C'mon, Tyler, let's go." Tyler let go of me, walked over to Vincent, and Vincent put his arms on Ty's shoulders, and off they went.

When I got home, Ba and I headed to Home Depot. In the 9 years in Seattle, I have never been to Home Depot. I can't even remember the last time I was there, period. I've always just gone to Lowes. But, for some reason, Home Depot seems to have it together more than Lowes does, customer service-wise. Slightly.

The rest of our day was sort of the usual, with my dad trimming the pine trees on the side of the house, while the kids napped, and I piddled around the house.

I was going to let Vincent listen to stories on my old iPod, but had to download them onto it. When I was doing that, Vincent complained about how long it was taking, which frustrated me. I ended up just having him take a nap. He actually did look tired, and he did fall asleep.

When he got up, he asked to listen to them, so I let him. Tyler hung out with me while I prepared dinner. We had Hebrew National hot dogs, with whole wheat buns. We also had grilled yellow squash, a light red cabbage slaw, roasted curried cauliflower, and grilled fennel.

After dinner, David and I took the boys to the school yard for some biking. A bunch of neighborhood kids ended up there, too. Including our neighbor, Tessa. And, Stella followed us there. All the kids were super amused by her and loved petting her. The slut. Actually, at one point, she seemed overwhelmed and was sort of running away from them.

Once we got the boys to bed, David and I snuck out to get a little drink out on the deck at Eastlake Bar and Grill. We're really liking that deck overlooking the lake. We got these smokey cheddar fries. Whoah, that's decadent.

Stained Deck and Exercise

My dad's project today was staining the back deck. I took the kids to the gym so I could get in a little workout. I haven't had much exercise in the last week. I told him about what time I'd be back to pick him up for lunch, and that I'd call ahead of time. When I called, he said, "Oh, take your time, I want to put the first coat on stain on." I insisted that there wouldn't be time, to which he said, "fine." But, when I arrived, he had already started. He just can't help himself. In his defense, though, he usually knows what he's doing, and he wanted to get half the deck stained so that it could dry during our sunny day.

The boys and I took him to lunch at Samurai Noodle. That man can eat quickly. It was impressive how well all of my guys ate. Vincent was excited for all the fixins in the bowl he shared with Tyler. Tyler was excited for the noodles and soup. I was excited that everyone was happy to be eating.

This afternoon, the boys and I all took a really long nap. I guess we needed to catch up from last week. Meanwhile, Ba, that's what I call my dad, was under the hot sun, sanding and staining the other half of the deck. He's a fast worker. I felt so bad for him out there, but he didn't seem to mind. He's from L.A., right?

Dinner tonight was grilled kalbi short ribs and grilled salmon. We also had broccoli and carrots which I wrapped in foil, and David cooked on the grill.

 

Our newly stained deck

 

Tomi Yang & Tyler Goes To Summer Camp

My dad's in town! Yup, he arrived last night around 8:45pm, right after we got the boys down to bed.

This morning, we saw the boys off to summer camp. This would be the final week for Vincent, and Tyler's first (and last) camp experience. Of course, he's been to various daycares here and there, but this would probably be the most structured. They went to Harvard Avenue School, which is where Vincent went to his first summer camp 2 years ago. We opted to do this because they do allow younger kids, Ty's age, and he could go with Vincent. He did alright at drop off, and we super happy at pick up.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture! Sorry, Tylie.

While the boys were at camp, I gave my dad a tour of our property and told him some of our ideas for where we could use his help. Right away, you could almost see the wheels turning. He was ready to go. Before I knew it, we were both busy at work in the front yard. Him trimming the pine tree and me weeding, pruning, and making sure he doesn't fall off the ladder.

QFC, My Tomatoes and Last T-Ball Game

This morning, I needed to go grocery shopping. I decided to try taking the boys to QFC and utilizing their free childcare facility. I worried Tyler wouldn't dig it, but guess what? I got to shop at my leisure!

The first two ripe tomatoes off of this year's vine. One looks evil with two little horns.

For Vincent's last t-ball game, it rained all day. By 5pm, it finally let up a little. After a week of awesome weather, including yesterday. Nonetheless, the games were still on, and so was the post-games bbq put on by the community center.

As usual, Vincent clowned around a bunch. When he was up at bat, it was hard to tell if he was really trying hard to hit the ball and missing, or if he was actually aiming for the "t." It seems as though it always takes him a while to get used to hitting. I think the bats are just heavier than he's used to, which are our fat plastic ones in the backyard. By the end, he was doing much better.

On first base, throwing the ball to the pitcher. He's wearing his helmet because of the rain. I think he has finally figured out throwing overhead.

 I don't believe he actually made contact with the ball with this swing, but he sure does look good.

 Finally! A base hit!

 Ahhhh, another trophy.

 Buddies.

 Yay, Fire Jets!!

Edgefiled, Traffic, Home

Time to head back to Seattle. We tried to get on the road kind of early, but that's not super easy for us. Before we left the Rodarte's, Vince pumped up Vincent's bike tires, and he rode around to show them his new skill. Vince also did a little tuning up to a small Radio Flyer bike, which they let us bring home for Tyler.

I really wanted David to see the place I went in the spring with Lucy and Halina, The Edgefield. It's only 15 minutes outside of Portland. So, we decided to go there, let the kids explore, and eat lunch.

This place has a vineyard.

Lunch ended up being a bit of a disaster, involving lots of crying about rootbeer.

On our way home, we hit tons of traffic, which delayed our rendevous with Stella and Buster, but we made it! We took the kids to Eastlake Bar and Grill for dinner, which has an awesome outdoor deck overlooking Lake Union.

Portland and the Aerial Tram

After a yummy breakfast of Voodoo Doughnuts, we took the kids into downtown Portland.

David had taken Tyler to the shop to pick out donuts, and he came home with this one. Wow. It's not like mine was much better...maple bacon.

The plan was to go to Washington Park and ride the train. Unfortunately, it's in the zoo, and you need to pay for admission to that as well as the train. If we had gotten there first thing in the morning, it may have been worth the price, but we only had a couple of hours. So, we found the playground and just played there for a while.

Our next stop was the aerial tram...Okay, we tried bribing the kids with that since they were bummed about not riding the train. We totally talked it up. But, first, we had to eat lunch.

The first place we tried ran out of grilled chicken, which was about the only thing they would like on the menu. So, we went across the street to this other place that looked okay. Once we sat and ordered, I took Tyler to wash his hands. That is when I realized that we were having lunch at the restaurant of a retirement community. Obviously, it's open to the public, but it was a little awkward. Nonetheless, it was a means to an end, and the kids were happy and behaved. That's half the battle!

Off to the tram! Super cool (but hot and stuff inside).

For dinner, we took Vince and Ruby out to dinner at a nearby Thai restaurant. Vincent wanted to ride on Vince's shoulders as we walked there. Their neighborhood is super cute, with lots of shops and restaurants on the main road.

After dinner we headed to Rocky Butte, which is up this big hill. Vincent got to walk their dog, Dot. See her big dot?









Goodbye Seaside, Hello Portland! And, Tillamook, too.

Left Seaside this morning after breakfast. We drove down to Tillamook to check out the creamery, cuz, well, we've already come so far!

Let me tell you, if I had known what it would be like, I wouldn't have wanted to make the extra drive down. Don't get me wrong, it was alright, but that's about all. And, it was an extra hour drive down, and threw off our nap schedule. Oh, the nap schedule, right?! If we were actually closer, it would have been worth the trip, but we had gone out of our way. That's all I'm saying. Nonetheless, it was interesting to see. It was just so crowded, which made for a really intense experience. Especially, with the kiddos. We did make out with some interesting cheeses to take home, and to bring as a gift to the friends we're staying with in Portland. And, we got to enjoy Tillamook's creamy, delicious ice cream. I just like to be overly opinionated and honest.

After some rush hour traffic and detours, we made it to our friends' house. The Rodartes! Their three kids are in L.A. for the week, visiting friends and family. That means that Vincent and Tyler had their toys all to themselves.

Right away, Vincent took to building this elaborate battle scene, which he had Vince (that's our friend) play with him.





Seaside - Day 3

Another early morning for Vincent. No worries, I have "He-Man" on my iPhone. Yes, iTunes is giving free episodes of vintage Saturday morning cartoons, and I grabbed one before heading out for our trip. Tyler slept in.

After breakfast, we headed to Family Fun Park, about a quarter mile outside of the main part of town. And, indeed, we had a fun time as a family! There were go-karts...

 Tyler was my sidekick

And, bumper boats...

And, mini golf!

From Family Fun Park, we headed a few miles south to Cannon Beach, where we had lunch. We stopped briefly to check out Haystack Rock, then ate at Pig N Pancake, because Vincent insisted on getting pancakes soon as he heard me say it.

After lunch, we walked down the main shopping street. We stopped to watch a little magic show.

Then, we watched a guy feed some taffy into a machine that cuts and wraps them, then had ourselves a sample each. Since the samples were given inside a candy store, we let the kids pick out a treat each.

Lucky Vincent. He gets a giant sugar stick, and he gets to take some of Tyler's gummi bears.

Tyler insisted on watching the guy make taffy one last time.

Back in Seaside, Tyler took a nap. Vincent had a little quiet time coloring, then I took him out to the promanade to ride his bike. Yes, we brought it with us. He rode his bike, and I jogged next to him. We probably did a total of 1.5 miles. The passersby were all so excited to see him riding. After he was done, I dropped him off with David and went back to run another 1.5 miles. It was so warm out, I quickly went back to the condo, and ushered the family out to the beach.

One of the things David wanted to do while here is play in the ocean with the boys. I think Tyler was over the ocean after his knock down the first day. He mostly wanted to play in the sand. So, David took Vincent out in the water while Ty and I built a sand castle.

On our way back up to the condo, we stopped off at the building's pool to rinse off our feet. The water was so inviting (and warm), we all went for a dip.

We got ourselves all cleaned up and headed back out to get dinner. On our way, we saw that the mini train was FINALLY open! Naturally, we had to go for a ride.

We had dinner at Pizza Harbour, which wasn't too bad. They had games and a really old playscape outside. We then headed back to Funland for Tyler to redeem the remainder of his tickets and for a little more playing. Tyler picked some licorice.

Whew, another jam packed Oregon day for the Hunt family! We got the kids to bed a tiny bit earlier, but not without Tyler pooping on the bathroom floor first!