Happy Memorial Day 2012

Ahhh, another busy weekend for the Hunt Family. Only, we had an extra day of busy busy!

Saturday was super sunny and nice! We took the boys to the arboretum for a nature walk. First, we had to cross the little foot bridge, then arrive on Foster Island.

Then, there was some feeding of ducks.

And, then the boardwalk. The kids pretended to be spies, and turned their shoes "on" to walk on water. 

 Good looking husband.

 Spy kid #1

Spy kid #2, about to walk on water.

That afternoon, I went to work. After nap time, David took the boys to Magnuson Park for a picnic with friends. Tyler wasted no time to get wet, but was told he had to keep his underpants on.

Sunday, I went to work, again. Different place. While I was gone, David and the boys went to Costco. They seemed to have a pretty low key day. I walked from Pike Place Market up to Capitol Hill to get some exercise after work. We ate a big home-cooked dinner, and the watched "Ghostbusters."

Today, the plan was to go outlet shopping. We weren't sure how we'd pull it off, and if the boys would be super bored or what. Luckily, there were some rides, but the first one we tried was broken, so we didn't let them go on anymore. That happened 5 minutes after our arrival there. Woops! Nonetheless, Tyler still enjoyed sitting in this truck.

 Oh, they did ride this, actually!

The remainder of the time we were there, we ate lots of junk food, and tried to do a little shopping while the boys tried to run around like crazy. We managed to buy them each a new pair of sneakers (much needed for Vincent). I convinced David to let him get the Spiderman shoes, and we convinced Tyler to get the Star Wars Bubba Fat light-up shoes. David got a shirt and I got some stuff from a girly lotion store.

On our way home, we stopped at Target and Sports Authority to see what their selection on kids' bikes were like. Didn't buy a bike. Then, we finally came home.

At home, David and I worked in the backyard, pulling weeds and such while the boys played together. It was more like they were yelling at each other. The yard is looking so good!

Lastly, we went back out for dinner. We ended up at Boom, where the boys did a great job eating their dinner. I think it's because we ate so late. 

That's pretty much how we spent our holiday weekend...doing a whole bunch of stuff, but not really anything at all.

Happy Memorial Day!

First Piano Lesson

Ever since David told me that there are three things that help kids develop something good in their brains, that I can't seem to remember what, I've been obsessed with one of them for Vincent...Piano. 

By the way, we already do the other two for Vincent, which are karate and chess. And, you betcha Tyler's gonna learn them, too!  

Anyway, I had already been thinking about piano lessons when he told me this little bit of information. I ran with it.

Months ago, I looked into music taught in the Suzuki style, and found out that music lessons in general are EXPENSIVE. Not to mention purchasing the actual instrument. Luckily, I found that our local community center does lessons, but for ages 6+. Once I got on my piano kick, I decided to call the community center and see if they'd take a 5+ year old. They gave me the number to the director of programs. I called him and left a message. Then, he told me he passed my number to the actual teacher and that she'll call me. I waited, and waited. I was just about to go Google her when she called. 

She'll take him.

And, so, long story short, Vincent had his first piano lesson today. Woohoo! He did pretty well, considering it was the end of the day. He did fool around a bit, but mostly towards the end. And, when he was all done, he said, "I want to keep going." That's a good sign!

Mother's Day 2012

A super big THANK YOU to my wonderful husband and sons for a truly lovely mother's day today. I definitely felt the love all around.

My Snow White Legos from Vincent

 Paintings from the boys.

David took the boys out first thing and let me sleep in a bit. They came back with Top Pot Doughnuts and coffee. I was in the shower, and the boys barged in to wish me a happy Mother's Day. I excused the barging. Tyler was so excited to eat the donut, he started before I was even dressed. David had to tell him to wait, which he surprisingly did. Good kid.

In addition to the Legos & paintings, I received soap (I love soap!) and a gift card to Nordstrom. Ooh la la.

The boys were super squirrelly after breakfast, so we decided they needed something super fun. We headed to Family Fun Center, where they had a great time. We didn't stay long, though they wanted to, since we had plans to go to Federal Way to spend the rest of the afternoon with Halina.

It was so wonderful to be at Halina's. Tons of food, awesome patio deck, great weather, and super great people to share this holiday. I'm just bummed I forgot to get a picture of us all.

All-in-all, I had a really fabulous day. Thank you to everyone who helped make it so special. Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Birthday, Lucy/Cinco de Mayo

This is the first year, since I've moved to Seattle, that I think I've actually noticed people making a big deal of Cinco de Mayo. Seriously. It's probably because it landed on a Saturday this year, and I'm not working tonight, but didn't spend the whole day wrapped up in family-friendly activity. I did do family stuff in the morning (more on that...), but then went into work for a few hours. While there, there was talk about the holiday. The servers chatted about there being a bit of a buzz around Capitol Hill. It's also the Kentucky Derby day, and there was a bar down the street showing it, and people were all dressed in their pretty clothes and hats. Plus, it's opening day of boating season (I had no idea there was such a day until 4pm today). The sun was shining today, too, which gets people all a flutter in Seattle. 

So, my awareness has been raised about Cinco de Mayo for the first time in 10 years. It used to be a such a big deal to me in Los Angeles, even for being Chinese. I liked going out to celebrate with friends. Or, I was working at Chili's, which brought the festivities to me. Either way, I was careful driving on the streets that evening. I haven't worried about that since living here. Today, David and I consciously opted not to go out to dinner because of all the buzz.

And, as for the family-friendly activities, we had brunch with Lucy, Bob and Halina this morning at Monsoon. It's Lucy's birthday, Bob got into town yesterday afternoon, and this was one of their favorite brunch spots in Seattle when they lived here. Though Monsoon didn't have their favorite pork belly dish, it did not disappoint. Tyler ate like a champ. Vincent didn't do too bad, either.

After brunch, David and Vincent had a t-ball game. Tyler and I watched a little, but mostly it was me keeping Tyler occupied for an hour. He rode his scooter, took a time-out in the car a couple times, checked out the indoor pool, met up with friend on another field, ate a lollipop, sucked on a chain-linked fence, and took another time-out in the car. Whew!

 Apparently, the hardest t-ball coaching job is managing the dug-out. I saw those kids, I wouldn't want that job.

Vincent's final at-bat. He hit the ball on his first try! Woohoo!

Memory

Tonight, Tyler and I successfully finished our first game of "Memory" for the first time. There was no frustration from me, which means no yelling. Yes, I have yelled at Tyler in the past while playing this game. I know, it's awful! But, seriously, it happened with Vincent, too. It's a simple game, but you go to play with your small child, and they don't get it. You try to carefully explain the object of the game to them, but they still don't get it. You think, "Oh, he'll learn as we play," but, they still don't get it. Eventually, all your calm and patience runs out, and you are yelling. Okay, maybe it's just me. 

But, not tonight! Tyler has been playing short memory games on my iPhone for a  few months now. He finally understands that it's a matching game. So, I set the game up, and played with him. It took him a few minutes to realize that he has to pay attention, and that it's actually quite tricky because there are SO MANY CARDS.

Nonetheless, we made it through the entire game. Of course, I had to fake getting a few wrong just so I could flip over certain cards for him to see, again. I don't let my kids win at every game, but I do try to help them out a little to build confidence during the game so they'll keep playing.

Happy May

It's May in Seattle. Well, everywhere else in the world, too, I suppose. It's a lovely time of year. I think this spring is turning out to be nicer than last. I think. We have beautiful tulips and anemones that bloomed in our front yard this year. I planted about 30+ tulip bulbs, the anemones and ranunculus over the winter. I also planted strawberries last summer and apparently a peony. All this stuff is popping up in the garden, except the ranunculus. Hmmmm. Do those come later? Soon, I'll be out there, pulling weeds and cleaning up the tulips that have gone past their time. But, not today. There are many weeds, but I'm just going to enjoy the fact that we're getting a true spring this year.

This morning, our friends, the Mahoneys, dropped off two May Day baskets for the boys. Filled with popcorn, M & Ms, and I think Skittles. Tyler said, "Mmm, these are smoothie M & Ms!" We later met up with them at the playground before picking up Vincent from school.

The school year is winding down, too. It's the Usbourne book fair this week. The past two years, when it was time for the book fair, I felt like school would be over soon. And, it will be. I think there are only 5 weeks left. Crazy to think that Vincent is "graduating" preschool!

The other May Day thing today is "Occupy..." With plans for a march this afternoon, David came home early to avoid the mess that will be downtown later. His building was also on lockdown for their safety due to news of anarchist vandalizing the city. The police station across the street from David's building was barricaded. All this news is scary to hear from a distance, so I was relieved when he made it home.

And, finally, it feel so spring, for some reason, knowing there's a box full of cupcakes sitting on our kitchen counter, waiting for us to devour after dinner tonight. You are so jealous. Don't they just look as pretty as flowers?