My Birthday

Summer Edition, Day 40

I turned 36 today. It was a great day. David took the boys out to get my cake first thing in the morning.

When they got back, we all got ready and headed to Bellevue to go roller skating. Our friends, the Middletons, met us there. It was so much fun. Tyler did better than Vincent, but Vincent still did really well. He was so cute, holding Charlotte's hand. After we skated, we walked across the parking lot to a Taiwanese cafe for lunch. YUM, Taiwanese food.

When we got home, the boys rested a while, and at 4pm, I went to get my haircut at the salon down the street. Whatcha think? I have bangs now.

We had cake when I got back from the salon, and I opened my presents. The kids got me a Hello Kitty travel mug. David got me tickets to see "Wicked" in October. Check out Vincent's gift wrapping job!

At 6pm, Abby arrived to watch the kids, and we headed out the door to dinner at Shiro's in Belltown. Then, we walked around Belltown for a few minutes. We passed Wasabi, where an old co-worker of mine works. I saw him through the door, so we stopped to say "hi" to him. He invited us in for dessert, so we ordered the green tea tiramisu.

 

Our Car

Earlier this week, an indicator light that we have not seen go off before turned on in our car. We pulled over, looked it up, and found it was for tire pressure. David took it into the dealer and had to taken a look at, and they patched it up for us, free of charge.

Today, I dropped the boys off at preschool, then went to cash in on all the freebies I received in the mail for my birthday. 

First, Starbucks gave me a free beverage of my choice. Then, there was lip duo from Sephora. Then, next door was Aveda, where I picked up a bottle of bath wash. With my goodies in hand, I stopped into Williams-Sonoma to see what they had on sale. I scored a few things that will make great Christmas gifts (or, at least, I hope they will). 

My next stop was to Macy's to find bath towels. Who knew this could be such a tough decision. And, expensive, too. I ended up with nothing. 

I picked the boys up from school, and we stopped at Target to fill Vincent's school supplies list. That took a long time, but we got all but one thing, including a Ninja lunch box, that he's super excited about. I had seen in a few days ago, and figured he'd want it, but wanted to let him pick himself.

As we were on pulling out of our parking space, that darn little light came back on in the car. Bummer. I called David, he called the dealer, and 15 minutes later, I was pulling up to the service area of University Mazda. 

One hour (maybe more) later, we had a bag of goodies from Trader Joe's, bellies full of popcorn, and a free new tire. Oh, and I got a mini lecture from the service guys about being more careful not to rub our tires on the edge of curbs when I park. 

By the time we got home, it was past 4pm, and we were supposed to be back out at Magnuson Park for a birthday party by 5pm. Nope, not happening. We were staying home the rest of the day. It's a good thing I know how to scrounge in my pantry/fridge for food.

Summer Edition, Day 38

I had dinner tonight at a restaurant nearby that I've been wanting to check out. It's called Ravish. The owners also run a catering company called Ravishing Radish, that David and I seriously considered using for our wedding. I think they would have been great, but when we saw the space of the place we ended up having the reception at, we were smitten.

Anyway, Ravish was really good. I went there with Sheila, and we shared 4 small dishes: pigs in a blanket, steak skewers, pear salads, and sweet potato latkes. Everything tasted wonderful, but all the dishes gave me the feeling of being a fancy cocktail party with fancy appetizers. Yes, the restaurant is tapas-style, so we were basically having a bunch of appetizers, but it felt like "catering" good. Not a bad thing! And, I'm saying high-end catering, but catering, nonetheless. 

Cupcake Royale and Ice Cream

Summer Edition, Day 37

 

Another day of Chinese preschool for the boys. 

 

Later in the day, Vincent went to karate. Afterwards, I braved downtown traffic and took the boys to Cupcake Royale's grand opening of their ice cream shop. I scored a 30 minute parking spot right out front. David met us down there, and we enjoyed some sweet, pre-dinner treats. 

 

Vincent and Tyler did not want ice cream, to my surprise. Instead, they each chose a cake pop and tried each others' out.

Why Do I Do This To Myself?

Summer Edition, Day 36

I warn friends...heck, I'd even warn strangers! Do not take two kids to Costco without a second adult! Yet, I do it all the time. Including today. Why? Oh, I know why. It's because it's when I can get it done.

Truthfully, once there, I thought to myself, "Did I really need to come here? What exactly did I need so badly to purchase here instead of somewhere, say, with a childcare center, like QFC?" Oh well, I survived it. It actually wouldn't be so bad if they would just stop touching each other and making the other one upset. Sheesh! At least, now I have a full tank of gas.

 

Back On Track

Summer Edition, Day 35

We are back to our regular schedule this week. Don't worry, it's just this week. Next week, I'll be heading to Boston, sans boys of all ages. But, I'm going to enjoy the our routine this week a little.

Mondays we go to the gym in the morning. After the gym, we eat a bit of lunch before going to Vincent's speech therapy. Today, the sun was shining (yay!), though, not necessarily hot. We took our lunch to the park. Next we speech therapy.

Today, Vincent worked on the "fl" sound, but it was very difficult. So, we will revisit it next week. He's progressing nicely, but still struggles with his "th" sound, and is overcompensating his "f" sound with "th." Get me?

I decided to set the boys up with a water cooler so they can get themselves a drink when thirsty.

 

And, as you can see from the outfit, Vincent had karate this afternoon.

Just About 1/2 Way

Summer Edition, Day 34

I think we are about halfway through the summer. Time is just breezing by, and it hardly feels like summer. Seriously. Not to complain, but being in San Francisco during one of the few sets of hot Seattle days of the year, while it's cold in SF, is a bit of a bummer. And, we came home to it cooling off here. Of course.

That doesn't stop us from having a good time, though. 

I went to work at the cheese shop this morning. In the evening, we went over to our friend, Stacy's, house for a little backyard soiree. Tom is in town, visiting from L.A. He moved there a few months ago, and this is his first trip back. The boys were super excited to see him. Lots of running around for the kids, a little drinking for the adult, and good ol' hanging out time with friends. We were the first to arrive, and last to leave, as always. Yup, we Hunts know how to party.

Chinatown and Home

Summer Edition, Day 33

We ate a disappointing breakfast at Knuckles in our hotel this morning. Boy, it was bad, and the service was bad. At least, Vincent loved his French toast, and ate it all up, with hardly a word. That's always a bonus.

The plan was to take the cable car all the way to Union Square. When we got to the start of the line, there was no wait!

 

Being one of the first ones on the car, the boys got to take turns riding in the back with David.

Once we got down there, I let David in on my thought for our morning outing. For some reason, I didn't want to talk about it ahead of time for fear that it would be too much, or not possible. My thought was to walk to the Chinatown Gate, explore Chinatown, and try to make it back to the hotel on foot.

We made it to the gate...

We walked along the main road, up the hill, and down, again, exploring the shops of tourist swag along the way. The boys both picked out a toy each from one shop with a large toy section upstairs. Vincent got a Ninja Turtle action figure, and Tyler got a small Blue Angels plane.

We made it all the way to North Beach, and were back around Tony's Pizza when we spotted a bus that would take us back near our hotel. Score. Although, the rest of the walk would have been totally doable.

Then, it was time to grab a quick bite (um, Burger King) and make our way to the airport.

We got home pretty smoothly, except for Tyler throwing up all over himself on the airplane as we landed in SeaTac.

It's good to be home.

Also, Lucy's had her baby, Quinn, at 1:09am in Boston!!

On My Own In The City...With Two Rascals

Summer Edition, Day 32

David had to go to work today. Nah! He just had this work morale event, sailing around on the bay. I was on my own with the kiddos. To tell you the truth, for being someone who loves San Francisco, and prided herself on kind of knowing her way around for a visitor, I sucked today.

First of all, I didn't really know what I wanted to do with them. My first plan was to take them the Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. Then, I thought that might be too long of a bus trip to get to, and settled on the Exploratorium at the Palace of Fine Arts. And, I had a bus route figured out for that, too. The weather had been decent the first two days, so I thought maybe I'll just take them to explore the city a bit, but when we got up this morning, it was gross out. Lots of fog, and cold.

We had breakfast at Darren's Cafe a couple blocks from our hotel. It had good reviews. Pancakes, and pho! Go figure. I loved watching Tyler eat his eggs.

Finally, I decided on the Exploratorium.

Our bus ride down there was super easy. But, it was super crowded there, of course. All was going pretty well, though. We got in for free because of our membership to Kids Quest in Washington. I gave them the low down about having to stick together because of the crowd. They enjoyed exploring the exhibits, especially the magnetic black sand. 

Then, came the next step. I had no plan. It was getting to be lunch time, which meant naps were just around the corner, too. I thought about trying Golden Gate Park, too, and even found the bus to get us there. The tricky part was getting to the bus stop. I was so turned around. We made it to the bus stop, but it turned out to be taking us back to the wharf, where our hotel is.

Since I messed that up, I thought we'd just head back, and forget the park. Unfortunately, once on the bus, I didn't exactly know where it's final destination would be before heading back in the other direction. We got to the Marina District, and everyone but us got off the bus. Huh? At the next stop, I thought that I'd better get off, and we could make the rest of the trip back on foot.

Wrong. 

It was cold. The kids were cold. They didn't have hats or hoodies, which they've become accustomed to in Seattle for cold days. The walk wouldn't have been too bad, but we somehow ended up walking next to 3 transients. I figured I'd let them walk ahead of us, but they were walking so slow, they were in pace with us. I needed another plan. 

I was able to get us on another bus, which ended up having half the people who had gotten off the previous bus on it. Oh, I see now. It took us back towards the wharf, but at Ghiradelli Square, I panicked about the kids needing lunch, so I got us off. We ended up at some greasy spoon cafe that none of us really liked. And, we were still about half a mile from our hotel. Geez.

The kids were troopers and walked the rest of the way to the hotel. We all rested. Tyler and I even took naps, while Vincent colored and played with the iPad.

After resting, I still had the rest of the day to get us through. I was optimistic and thought I'd try taking them out to Pier 39, again. I just couldn't bare to keep us cooped up in the hotel room.

First stop, hats. The boys picked out these wannabe Angry Birds hats. Matching.

Then, I took them to the arcade and for a ride on the carousel. The arcade was not very good, by the way.

We walked on the pier a little bit more, but the crowd was so overwhelming for me. It was getting close to when David would be back at his building, so I decided to head down there. We hopped on a street car, but after 2 stops, we had to get off and get on a different one. Oops.

We got down to the Embarcadero/Ferry building area, but heard from David that we'll have to get dinner on our own, as he was running late.

After a couple attempts at finding us a hip, delicious place for dinner, and not having much luck, I landed us a few seats at the food bar of La Mar. Not a quick, cheap bite, but definitely delicious and hip. David joined us some time later, and said he looked so cool sitting there eating our dinner.

 

It was a long, kind of stressful day, but I'm proud of myself for getting those boys around town, and not losing them.

Salesforce.com Picnic

Summer Edition, Day 31

We decided to buy 7-day Muni Passports while on our trip. It makes sense if you plan on taking public transportation, excluding BART, for 4 or more days. The price of 3 days is $21, versus $27 for 7 days. We were going to do our best to get our money's worth, for sure! And, we got away with not buying either of the kids passes, even though, technically, Vincent needed one. So far, nobody has questioned it.

So, this morning, we hoped on a street car that took us to the Ferry Building/Embarcadero Center. 

 

We waited a long time for our delicious waffles and beverages from Blue Bottle Coffee Co. in the Ferry Building. Totally worth it. I wish I had two waffles, even though one was plenty.

The kids wanted to check out "the fountain."

Then, it was into the tunnel to ride the subway (whatever they call it). Muni?

The picnic was at the San Francisco Zoo. We got to go in early, for free. Super cool zoo, actually. I wish I had more time to explore. So much to see!

 Penguins...

 A ride on the mini steam train.

 Not sure what Vincent's doing here. We were surprised it was Vincent, and not Tyler that wanted to get a picture with the train. Ty was scared.

 Flamingos...

 At the picnic, there was a huge playground, alpacas, face painting, cotton candy and popcorn machines, giant burgers with pulled pork on top of the burger patty, wine, beer, brownies, music, and balls to playing with.

Then, there was the giraffe feeding. The highlight of my day.

After the picnic, we took public transportation back the same way we came. Dinner at at In N Out Burger. So good.

Then, the kids watched a movie on the iPad before bedtime.

San Francisco or Bust

Summer Edition, Day 30

We have a plane to catch!

This is pretty cool, if you think about it. I believe this is the very first time we, as a family, did not check any bags for our flight. Kind of a huge milestone for us in air travel.

We arrived in San Francisco in the early afternoon. Here are today's highlights:

 Playing old coin operated games at Fisherman's Wharf, and seeing only 3 sea lions on Pier 39.

 Riding a cable car up to North Beach.

 Hanging out at the park while waiting for our table for dinner. It was about a 30 minute wait, and we were lucky there was a park across the street. When we returned back to the restaurant, the wait for people just walking up was quoted at 2-2.5 hours!

 Dinner at Tony's Pizza. Yum, yum, yum.

After dinner, we decided to take the cable car back to our hotel. On our way up the hill, we saw two pass by within a couple minutes of each other. Once we got to the actual stop, another one didn't show up for another 10 minutes or so. It was cold, foggy, and breezy, too. Oh well.

Puke

Summer Edition, Day 29

Seriously. Puke is what I had to deal with this morning. I would say, "At least it wasn't first thing," but, if it was first thing, it would be in our house. Not in our car. The car still stinks right now. I don't know how to get rid of the stink. 

Anyone? Please. How do I get puke stink out of a car?

So, yeah, we were on our way to take David to work, then head to the gym. Ahhh, routine, just like I like. Vincent was saying he was thirsty, and I just happened to have water in his water bottle to offer (a rarity). David handed to him, and then we dropped David off at work. We were heading to the gym, when I heard Vincent panting. I actually didn't realize he got his water, so I thought maybe he was still thirsty. Then, he frantically said, "Mommy, I think I need to throw up."

YIKES!

I told him I'll pull over. I had just turned the corner off the busy street, when I heard it. You know what "it" was.

YIKES! YIKES!!

Gross. Gross. Gross.

Needless to say, we didn't make it to the gym. After getting him cleaned up, we headed home. Luckily, I had brought a change of clothes with me today, and we have an extra car seat in the back, now that Vincent has a new booster.

We've spent most of the day hanging out at home. Vincent never got sick again. I drew him an epsom salt bath, which he loved. He ate very little most of the day. By 1pm, he seemed back to normal, jumping around and happy.

It could have been so much worse, even though I was thoroughly grossed out. Tyler was pretty grossed out, too. He held his nose the whole time I changed Vincent, and the car ride home. He was the happiest to be out of the car, away from the stink. No, I was. No, wait, I had to go back and clean it up. Ugh.

Motherly love is priceless.

Routine

Summer Edition, Day 28


Ahhh, we were on our regular scheduled routine today. Well, sort of.


We started out at the gym, then went to a playground to kill some time before Vincent's speech therapy. Then, home for resting. After resting, we went to Vincent's karate class. Then, came home to get ready for a little Lark backyard BBQ.


I made pizza dough, and brought the fixins for making them. I had kind of pictured grilled pizzas, but didn't quite know how to do that. The grill was still pretty hot, so we opted to use the deck oven. I cranked it up to 600 degrees F, which was awesome! I actually wanted to turn it to the max of 650, but didn't. I don't think Lark ever has it that high. At 600, it was kinda smokey. But, my pizzas turned out so much nicer than what I make at home at 500 degrees. Yes, 100 degrees does make a difference.


The boys loved the party. They were a little crazy. Vincent was being pretty rude to David. I think he was posturing to look cool to my cooker buddies. David had to get to karate class, so he took Vincent with him. Vincent was really bummed not to be able to stay, or come back. Tyler and I hung around for a little while more, but also left early. We picked David and Vincent up at the dojo (karate studio), and headed home.


The boys got to bed a little later than usual, but we wanted to let them have their T.V. time, so made an exception.


While at Lark, one of the cooks told me how he had a nice relaxed day with no schedule. I responded with, "The exact opposite of my day..." Yet, it didn't feel like a bad thing. Truthfully, I welcomed this familiar day, full of routine and schedule. The last two weeks had been nice, but out of balance. I liked today's predictability.

Greenlake, Take 2, And, Another Park

Summer Edition, Day 27

I worked at the cheese shop today. While I was gone, David decided to take the boys to Greenlake. They haven't spent much time at that playground, so it seemed like a good idea. There were loose plans to meet the Hildebrandts at a local beach, but we hadn't finalized things, so David needed to take action. 

They dropped me off at work, and headed over. While I was at work, I got a text message with this picture:

After the playground, they walked past the paddle boats, and all agreed to take a ride. Lucky for them, because when they came back from their boat ride, there was a super long line.

Then, the Hildebrandts made contact, and they all had a picnic.

After Greenlake, it was time to head to Ian's 3rd birthday party. The boys fell asleep in the car, thankfully. The party was just outside of Woodland Park Zoo. I was able to get off work 30 minutes early, catch a bus from downtown, and meet them there. 

We're having such great Seattle summer weather!!

Ikea, Take 2

Summer Edition, Day 26

I convinced David to go to Ikea first thing this morning. The plan was to get there before they open and eat a cheap breakfast. I know, gross, huh? Actually, our meal was okay. Their scrambled eggs, however, were super gross. The kids got that, and weren't too fond of them, either. They liked the bacon and the crispy potatoes. Who wouldn't?

We went with the intent to get this table for Vincent http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40219285/, and came home with this one instead http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70163753/. I wish it came in white, but we decided this would be a better fit for our needs. Vincent loves it. He's been so excited about us getting him a nightstand for some time now. He kept asking, "Is it like what you and Mommy have, Daddy?"

Greenlake

Summer Edition, Day 25

I was able to drop the boys off at preschool this morning. Then, I met up with Andrea and Theo for a walk around Greenlake. The last time Andrea and I did Greenlake together, we ran 2 laps around. That's 6 miles! I had a little cold, but was still in 1/2 marathon training, so I was in good shape. Little did I know, I was actually pregnant with Vincent, too! 

Today, over 6 years later, we walked around one time, stopping a couple of times to take care of Theo, Andrea's 2nd baby, and to get a snack. My, how life has changed. But, it's all good, of course. The best part about our two lives evolving is that our friendship has grown so much since that 6 mile run. We are very close friends, who feel so blessed to be raising our families together in Seattle.

Pool Time and Three Playgrounds!

Summer Edition, Day 24

The boys and I went to the gym this morning. Afterwards, I needed to pick up a couple things for the house at two different grocery stores. Lucky for me, there's a playground across the street from the second store. We bought some picnic items from PCC, then headed to the park.

After a little afternoon rest time, our friends, Relaine and Charlotte, came over to have a pool date with us. We all piled into our car and went to Volunteer Park's wading pool.

Woohoo! It was our first wading pool time of the season. I loved it. And, now, the kids are big enough to have a good time while we supervise from a distance. I guess they were fine last year, but Tyler still needed a good amount of up-close pool supervision. Now, I would have just gotten in their way. He did, fall a couple of times, and once he cut his knee. After he did that, he was done. He came out of the pool, ate a bunch of grapes and goldfish crackers, and waited for the others to be done, too. 

 

They were all so pleased that there was enough time for the playground, too. And, when we got home, they played together at our house for a few minutes as well. Ahhh, it's good to be a kid on summer break.

Our last playground was at the community center. Vincent had a piano lesson, so Tyler got to play. He mostly hung out of the swings. Vincent had another good lesson. 

 

Happy Independence Day!!

Summer Edition, Day 23

It's Fourth of July. 

The day started with heading down to the community center for a neighborhood holiday parade. There were things to decorate your wheeled vehicles. Then, there was the actual parade.

It was just around the block, but Vincent did 3 laps. Tyler only did one. 

Then, there were popsicles!

Then, the fire truck showed up!

We hung out on the grass and ate sandwiches I packed, then headed home. 

The boys stayed home while I headed out to meet my manager from the cheese store for coffee and my performance review. Ooh la la. I haven't had one of those is years.

When I got home, we ate a snack on the back porch, then headed out for our second big holiday event. A backyard BBQ at the Hildebrandts' new house. It was so much fun. At one point, Vincent said, "This is so fun, I want to do another day like this." Awww, so sweet.

Aside from hanging out with good friends, eating delicious food, and drinking beer, we walked down the street to the ice cream shop. The kids were so thrilled and so cute.

And, there were fireworks!

It was truly a great day for us all today. Definitely felt like an All-American type of day. The only bummer about today was seeing how our core group of friends has gotten smaller in the past couple of years. Many have moved away, and more are planning to move soon. We've felt so fortunate of the wonderful friendships we have made as a family. These are mostly from our Cleveland group, with some added here and there...myself included!

Happy Independence Day, America!

Ikea

Summer Edition, Day 22

 

We went to the gym this morning. Afterwards, I felt ambitious and decided to drive the boys to Ikea. 

 

We waited in line for 20 minutes to get them into the play area/daycare, but then I got to shop at my leisure for 90 minutes. It's still a pretty rushed feeling, since it can easily take me 2 hours to get through Ikea, and still miss a ton of stuff.

 

After the shopping, I was going to take them home, but remembered that kids get to eat free today. So, yeah, they got some food. Our total bill was $1.08 for 2 kids meals with milk, 2 cookies, and one coffee for me. Not too shabby.

Those boys absolutely sacked out on the drive home. Tyler almost immediately, and Vincent not long after.