Oh what fun it is to ride...

Yesterday I got this silly idea in my head to purchase last minute tickets to ride the Holiday Train of Lights through Niles Canyon today. I had heard about the event through the parents email alias at my work, and heard it was great fun for the kids but to act quick because it sells out super fast.

Luckily, they actually had a number of seats left for today's ride! I think partly because it just began (it starts the day after Thanksgiving) and partly because I chose the earlier (twilight) time. I'm actually glad we went on the earlier train - even though it wasn't dark enough to really feel the impact of all the pretty lights, they were still fun for Logan and honestly, the train ride was much more scenic for all of us since we could actually see the valley throughout the ride!

Also, since there weren't too many people on our train, we had plenty of room to spread out and Logan got his own seat (I didn't actually buy him a ticket, so technically he was supposed to be in one of our laps. mwahahahahaa!). It also meant we got a cozy indoor car instead of one of the outdoor cars, which was good since it was RAINING and COLD!!! Whew!

Brrrr!!!

Enjoying his own big boy seat

Hey this is a family site Kai!

Logan absolutely LOVED it. And the rest of us had a great time too! (My parents and brothers all joined us).

Logan was pretty much glued to the window the entire time - he wasn't even interested in Santa who came by for a quick snapshot. :) He enjoyed walking back and forth between cars but wasn't as crazy about going to the outside car (I think it was too cold, wet and "fast" for him being that close to the outdoors and tracks).

On our way back home, Logan commented to me, "This is the biggest train I've ever seen!" It was pretty cute.

If only you knew how hard a family pic is to get these days...

After the train ride, we all had dinner at a local Burmese restaurant (supporting our local business on Small Business Saturday!) and thankfully, both boys did fairly well, considering how tired they were and how late it already was.

All in all, a great rainy holiday Saturday with the family! :) For more pictures from the day, visit here.

A few things to share

I need to post this quickly because it's ridiculously late and Callum will be waking up soon.

1) HAPPY BIRTHDAY JONATHAN!


Today is my honey's birthday. He turns 12. Or 13. Or something like that. He's a young kid so I can never remember.

We, unfortunately, didn't get to do anything for his birthday today. The week - due to me returning back to work and Callum being sick and Jon having to work late every night (including tonight) - was too frenetic and crazy for us to even think about it. Perhaps next weekend. Or something.

2) HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNCLE KAI!


Today is also Uncle Kai's birthday. I think he turns like -5 or something like that. Damn kids these days.

3) 33 months old!


Today Logan turns 33 months old. Which is like -85 years old in relation to the above two numbers. Or something like that. I plan to write a dedicated post later for Mr. Logan but let's just say the theme of the post is going to go something like "My little one has turned into a defiant little punk who's primary vocabulary now consists of screaming NO to my face".

4) Callum had a follow up appointment with the doctor about his bronchitis and things are looking great! The doc says his lungs are 75-80% better (how do they come up with these numbers? seriously.). He can still hear a bit of congestion and wheezing but it's not nearly as bad and he thinks after we finish up the doses on both meds through the weekend, we'll be good to go. We actually have his 4 month shots and check up scheduled Tuesday morning - which will be a perfect time to do a final check on his lungs to make sure everything really has cleared out.


His daycare has definitely noticed a difference these last two days as well. He's had MUCH better days at school - crying less, eating and sleeping more - slowly getting back to his old self. We still battle a bit in the middle of the night - I think he's most miserable after just waking up when his congestion is probably the worst after sleeping on his face all night. But, again, it's slowly been getting better with each day so I'm hopeful we've turned the corner.

5) What else. First week back to work is behind me. YAY. It took me 2.5 days to get back onto our corporate network and connected to the tools I use day to day. Apparently if your account isn't in use for 30-45 days, they shut you down. Which makes TOTAL sense for all the hundreds of people in this massive company who are taking leave every day. Right? Right. I'm slowly going through my thousands of emails and filing them away never to be seen again. And I've applied for a new job which I'm now interviewing for because this week just couldn't get any busier.

6) Jon and I are off to San Diego tomorrow for a quick 24 hour trip to celebrate Eric's 5th birthday. Or something like that.


They're chartering a boat complete with open bar, beautiful dinner and sinfully delicious birthday cake for dessert. But none of that is as cool as the fact that it's an adults-only evening. Which means, for the FIRST TIME EVAH, we'll be leaving town without our kiddos, who will be spending the night with my parents. Wish them luck. I'm nervous for them.

But, not nervous enough to not look forward to a full night's sleep. ;-)

Peas in a Pod

I've been soooo lazy about blogging these days (case in point, I started this post several days ago and am just now getting around to publishing it!).

I have been walking every day and it's hot hot HOT out, which means when I get back to the house I'm totally worn out, sweaty, tired and just want to prop my feet up, drink an ice cold lemonade and catch up on all the TV I missed from the previous night when I passed out on the couch at the god awful hour of 9:00. *sigh*

SO ANYWAY :)

Last Friday night, a friend of ours was kind enough to extend his company's invitation to see Iron Man 2, on them! Who can pass up a free movie?! Not us.

My parents babysat both kids (actually the second time they've now babysat both boys for us - the first was a week prior, when Jon and I went out to a nice dinner and movie to celebrate our anniversary). We didn't make it out early enough to enjoy dinner with our friends, but we did find them at the theatre and were able to catch up on everyone's lives before taking in the flick. It was a really great movie that we both totally enjoyed. :)

Saturday morning, because Kai was in town, we had brunch with the family and then went back to our house so that Kai could get to spend some quality time with his new nephew.


Logan enjoyed seeing his Uncle Kai as well, demanding some 1:1 time with Kai, showing him how to water his plants. Again, it was precious. :)


Because Saturday was actually my mother's birthday (Happy Birthday Zafu!), we all met up again that evening, at a really fancy little Italian place in Burlingame.


As we were rounding the corner, about four different cars with tinted windows parked along the street in front of us. Out of each and every car stepped a pudgy old Italian man and his glitzy Italian done-up wife. It could have easily been a scene from The Sopranos. Jon was oblivious (as usual), instead asking me "Where the hell is this restaurant?"

I pointed to the mafia crew and said, I'm going to guess it's wherever those wiseguys are going.

And hey, whaddyaknow, I was right.


The restaurant was a farther drive than usual but totally worth it. Every dish was delish and we all stuffed ourselves silly.

A horrible pic of both Jon and Callum but it's the only one I got of Callum (he slept most of the night). So, just posting as proof that he was actually there with us. ;-)

As a birthday gift for my mom, I got her these really cute earrings (you may notice she's wearing them in a few of these pics). I told her the three pearls are for her three kick-ass awesome kids (not to toot my horn buuuuuuuut, we are pretty kick-ass and awesome). I actually got myself a pair as well, but with four pearls representing our now family of four. I just couldn't help it! :)


On Sunday, Zane met up with us for lunch since our buddy Eugene was in town visiting (from China). We had a blast hanging out and catching up. Then that afternoon, my Uncle Jim and Aunt Vickie came over to visit, meet Callum, etc. (they've been in town all week, visiting from New Mexico). Again, Logan demanded Uncle Jim's time out on the front porch to show him how to water plants (unfortunately I didn't get any pics to capture the preciousness, but it was still precious!).

And oh yeah, Sunday was also Mother's Day - how could I forget! ;-) My two beautiful boys:

Cirque du Soleil

My birthday celebrations continued through the weekend - what fun!

First, my brother Kai drove up from LA to visit. We spent all day Saturday hanging out at my parent's house (Jon was playing in a rugby match most of the day, that his team easily won!). We even got to visit with my cousin Shawn and her son, Kindy, as well, since they were in town for March Madness. :)

I had a really tough time getting Logan down for a nap unfortunately. I think it was a combination of the excitement and stimulation from hanging out with his two super fun uncles (my brother Zane was also there). But, it was also difficult for me personally since I'm getting very big and his bed is low low low down on the ground. OY!

I was so frustrated, I finally told him we were going to have to pack up and go home. He said NO NO NO, he wanted to stay at Zabuton's house. So I said "Okay fine, I'm leaving you but I'll be back soon. You better be asleep by the time I get back."

I walked downstairs totally beat - so my dad offered to pitch in and help out. He went upstairs, where Logan was just babbling and talking to himself in his room. My dad poked his head in and in a really stern voice said "What do you think you're doing?"

Logan immediately clenched his eyes shut, as if he were asleep. HAAAAA!!

Thankfully, my dad has magical powers and Logan soon fell asleep.

Unfortunately, he didn't nap for very long. So, we had a bit of an amped up psycho kid on our hands for dinner that night (at a fave restaurant of ours: Tsugaru), which was really too bad since it was supposed to be my "Birthday Dinner" with my family. Oh well - the food was still delicious! Afterward, we headed home for some yummy cake (two choices: carrot cake or chocolate cake) and visited a bit before turning in for the night.

Based on how hyper and unwieldy Logan was yesterday, I was nervous about how today would turn out, since I had bought tickets for us to brave seeing Cirque du Soleil's Ovo - with Logan - this evening.

However, the day couldn't have been more perfect! :) We met my family for lunch at Stacks and then bid our farewells to Uncle Kai who had to hit the road back for LA. We came home and put Logan down for his nap (a little after 2pm). The show was at 5pm, so I was hoping we'd get a good nap in before heading out. He must've been pretty tuckered out, since we had to wake him up at 4:30pm so we could rush out the door!

As we approached the big blue and yellow Cirque du Soleil tents, Logan immediately took notice and yelled at us to "GO THAT WAY!" (pointing toward the tents). We arrived a couple of minutes late (no biggie, we didn't miss much) and were seated right away. WHAT EXCELLENT SEATS!! We were about 20 feet from the stage with our backs at an aisle (so that we were greeted by a few of the show's characters during the night). The minute we sat down, Logan was completely mesmerized. His eyes were wide open the entire time, taking every little thing in. It was sooooo super exciting and fun to watch, and I'm not sure what I enjoyed more frankly, the performance, or my son's delight. :)

A few pics I took (with my iPhone, sorry the quality is pretty crummy in the dim light), of Logan's first Cirque du Soleil experience!

Waiting in line for "papa-corn" during intermission

After the show, a pic in front of the infamous blue and yellow tents.
And Logan with his "papa-corn".

I wanted a shot with the two of us too! I mean, I did buy the tix for the coolest evening ever, after all! ;-)
Notice Logan is stuffing his face with "papa-corn" the entire time...

Starting our walk back to the car. Logan got a ride on Daddy's shoulders *in addition* to ridiculous amounts of "papa-corn".

Paul's 60th Birthday Bash

I'm pretty tired and only 75% done with packing (yes, we're leaving for another long weekend trip tomorrow!), but wanted to get this out before I completely forget about it. A few pics from last weekend's trip down to LA, for Abuelito Paul's SURPRISE 60th Birthday party!


We drove down on Friday - Logan slept for a couple of hours, which was great. The drive was only 5 1/2 hours but felt much longer than that. Still, it was uneventful and we even stopped 3 times to let Lola out to pee and grab some snacks and drinks along the way. When we got into LA, we put Logan down soon after the "hellos" and then drove over to Curtis and Renee's house to visit with Jon's brothers (Daniel, Aaron and Curtis) and Renee and Kristin (a friend of Renee's) for a bit before heading back to Jon's parent's house to crash for the night.

Unfortunately, Friday night was tough on Jon and I. Logan was really antsy all night long - and woke up about 3am, dazed and confused. I had him crawl into bed with us (thinking it was much later than 3am!) and he tossed and turned the rest of the morning until he was awake for the day at 6am. UGH. Neither Jon nor I got a good night's rest and we were exhausted.


We headed down to visit my brother Kai, who now lives in Fountain Valley, a suburban town in Orange County. We grabbed a really scrumptious brunch at a surfer-type spot in the middle of Huntington Beach. We also stopped by his apartment afterward, which was really nice!! His bachelor pad is all set up! :)


We convinced Kai to drive back to Burbank with us to hang out with the rest of the family at the birthday bash. So we all headed back in time to get over to Curtis and Renee's house and wait for the big surprise.

There were probably about 25 people at the party - all family and close friends. I'm not convinced Paul was actually surprised - given all his kids from out of town were popping up the night before. ;-) But he acted surprised and seemed to really enjoy the get together.


Logan had a ball visiting with his cousins Luke and Stella and friends Annabella and Nathanael. He also really loved all the attention from his uncles who spent the day tumbling and wrestling and having tons of fun with him. Because we didn't get much sleep the night before, and we had a pretty full day of activities, we actually headed home earlier than we expected. But, I was really really glad we did - since Logan slept through the night and gave us a full night's rest ourselves.

First row: Aaron, Grandpa Negrete, MaryAnn, Abuelito Paul with Stella, and Lola

Second row: Aunt Diana, Sarah, Abuelita Alicia, Renee, Curtis with Luke, Daniel,
Jon with Logan and Mama Bree (with big ol' preggo belly)

Sunday morning we took our time packing up to head home. We stopped by Curtis and Renee's again for waffles and eggs and chowed down before hitting the road. We had a really fun time seeing the family and I know Jon was especially happy to spend some time with his brothers (and sisters). Of course Logan also loved the non-stop attention he received. :)


Happy birthday once again Abuelito!!

22 months old

Yesterday marked Logan's 22 month birthday. It's amazing I have an "almost 2 year old" when it feels like he was just born yesterday. Yes, time is whizzing by. I used to hear parents say that all the time; now I actually get it. Jon and I have really enjoyed Logan's development - despite his "terrible twos" we are constantly entertained by his fun-spirited, loving and happy personality. I keep thinking ok, now this is it. This age is better than the last few months. This is my favorite age. Of course, every month I say the same thing. We are just enjoying our little guy to no end.

He has also taken a strong bond with the two of us as well. We've noticed he wants more and more of our attention (ack!); pulling our hand along to come play with him or sometimes not play (or touch) but just watch. He loves our company and prefers to be with us at all times. Mornings are probably the easiest example of that. We three lounge in bed until we absolutely must get up and ready for work - but we spend those glorious first moments in the morning cuddling and kissing and playing. Logan LOVES to tumble in bed, using Mommy and Daddy as pillows to soften the landing, standing up next to one of us and leaping into the air, crashing onto either of our bellies, backs, sides, or faces. He screams with glee asking for MORE MORE MORE.

Jon has started a new game with him that they play morning, noon and night. It's so fucking adorable I'll have to catch it on tape sometime. Jon snuggles in real close to Logan and says ok, which side? Logan replies with "that side", while also touching his left or right cheek.

Jon swoops in for a big fat kiss on that cheek. Logan replies "more". And Jon repeats. "Which side?" Logan responds now with "that side", touching the other cheek. And another kiss. They go on and on until Jon's lips are blue. It's precious.

It's just one example of many where Logan is slowly learning how to tell us what to do. ;-) His favorite new expression these days is "my turn". It can be anything. I can be typing away at my computer. He asks to sit up on my lap and says "my turn". I'll be cooking dinner and he'll be standing on his stool next to me watching my every move, begging for "my turn" to begin. We will be reading him a book, and suddenly it's "my turn". I'll be helping him stack some new legos together when he tears them out of my hands with "no, my turn". He wants to try anything and everything himself, and doesn't hold back letting you know. ;-)

For the most part he's really been doing well at school. He listens very well, loves playing with the other kids, is obsessed with "art" time or reading books or dance time. We still struggle with the meals - some days he'll gobble up everything I pack him for lunch, and other days he picks at it and barely eats anything. He seems to be a grazer and can't get enough of snacks throughout the day. The class he's in now is pretty flexible with that, but I'm worried that as he gets older and moves up to the next level, they'll be more rigorous about sticking to lunch and only a couple snacks a day. We'll see.

We did have a problem just the other day when I picked him up from school, which I'm hoping was a fluke but I'm afraid may be the start of a new habit that we need to nip in the bud quickly. While picking him up, his teacher came up to report to me that Logan had punched a kid in the face today.

Not hit. Not slapped. Not pushed. But punched.

Like, with a fist.

*sigh*

The teachers seemed a bit upset by it - telling me they've never seen that happen before with a kid his age. The other kid that Logan hit was fine, mostly just shooken up from the experience (of course!) so that was a relief. And, they put Logan in a nice long time out so that he'd learn his bad actions have consequences. Still, our son has always been physical, from day one, and there is definitely a part of me that is seeing some spooky foreshadowing of parent-teacher conferences and detention in his future. :( We definitely have our work cut out with this one.

We haven't had a doctor's visit in some time (save when he catches a cold) so I have no idea how tall he is, but it definitely seems like he's had a growth spurt in the last month. We had to raise his basketball hoop from the 3' to 4' level and his clothes all of a sudden seem shorter, tighter, smaller. That, mixed with the colder weather that's finally coming on, meant we needed to get some new clothes. So, we spent most of the day yesterday at the mall buying all kinds of new fun stuff for our kiddo to wear. The good news is, a kid's growth does slow down a tad and start evening out by this age, so these clothes should (hopefully) last a full year before I need to start buying new ones. I'm really hoping that's true!

I'd say the other significant change within the last month is Logan's preference for a new TV show he's been watching, called Ni Hao, Kai-Lan. It's a cartoon about a little Chinese-American girl named Kai-Lan (who Logan has shortened to Kai, which he says perfectly, because he loves his Uncle Kai!). She and her friends speak both Chinese and English and work on teaching the kids new Chinese words and cultural traditions. There's a lot of singing included which can be sickening for any adult to listen to over and over, but seems to work magic on the kids. Logan has often times repeated words and phrases that the characters on the show are practicing that day. For example, Logan picked up on the word "Ye Ye" very quickly (which means grandfather, a main character of the show) and often times he'll now refer to the TV show as "Ye Ye" when he wants to watch it.

The funny thing is, he's been so mesmerized with the show lately that he even prefers it over his beloved "Melmo"! Which, can be a bit tricky when your absent minded husband decides to delete all the saved episodes of Kai-Lan you had recorded on the DVR to watch on a rainy day.

Jon now knows never to do that again. ;-)

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today is Jon's birthday (as well as Uncle Kai's) - we tried all day to get Logan to say "Happy Birthday Daddy" but it didn't quite work. Ehhh, there's always next year. ;-)

We had a nice evening of pizza and homemade cake (thanks Kim!) with a couple friends at the Hickson's house tonight. We'll be having a much bigger celebration with all of our friends this weekend that should be fun (no kids!).

Hope you had a nice birthday Jon - we love you!

Visiting the Cousins

This morning we went for a nice walk with Logan and the dogs. When we got home, Logan and I played a little basketball, but he quickly got distracted by seeing our bikes - and suddenly was pointing to my bike (which has his seat on the back) and saying "Bike!" and then trying to climb up on it. It was close to his naptime but I could tell I was going to have a tantrum on my hands if I didn't take him for a ride. So we got the bike and helmets out, set out for a ride, and within ten minutes TOPS, he was out like a light. I rode around for another 10 minutes or so and then had Jon help take him off the bike and put him to bed for his nap.


When he woke up, we headed for my Aunt and Uncle's house for a family get together. My cousin Ellen (their youngest) recently got engaged, so we were celebrating the news. Sophia (my cousin Tim's daughter) just turned 2 this past Monday and several others' birthdays were coming up. We also hadn't been together as a big family since last year (for Kai's graduation celebration dinner) so the visit was definitely overdue. And MY how both Logan and Sophia have grown since then!


Sophia is a beautiful dainty little girl - actually smaller than Logan even though he's 4 months younger - but so darling and cute I couldn't get enough of her! She and Logan got along great and played together all day long! The minute we arrived the two of them were playing with the living room toys making a ton of noise and generally having a ball. Jordan (Sophia's older brother) asked them several times to "Please don't make so much noise; I can't hear the movie" as he turned the TV up louder and louder. Yeah, good luck with that kid. I keep asking Logan the same thing. Jordan also really really REALLY wanted Logan to play with him, something "just for boys". But unfortunately Logan didn't quite get that concept and continued to splash and throw balls and generally act like a 20 mth old. Oh well - next time. :)


As always, Aunt Pammie hosts a wonderful party. There was a scrumptious spread to choose from for dinner and a decadent, rich chocolate cake for dessert. She also had a plethora of activities for the kids - which really kept Logan busy. From toys inside the house, to splashing in the kiddy pool, to croquet on the lawn, basketball, tricycles, play-doh and painting arts and crafts. Logan probably did more in the couple of hours we were there than he does all day at school! ;-)

Once it was nearing Logan's bedtime, we decided to head home. We were hoping he'd fall asleep on the ride home but no such luck. He wasn't unhappy though - just wide awake and watching the cars drive by. I'm sure he was still processing everything he had experienced at Aunt Pam's house. ;-) We got home and I worked on putting him to bed while Jon tidied up the house since we were expecting some of the guys to come over for poker night. I gabbed on the phone and did a few chores. Jon lost a couple bucks but nothing too bad. Overall a jam packed day as usual!

(Click on any of the pics above for more of the day!)