Ice Skating with Dad

On Friday, KTLA, one of our local TV stations, was doing a live broadcast all morning from Pershing Square in downtown LA. As a result, they provided free ice skating and skate rentals to anyone who came down between 5am-10am.

Samuel wanted to take Hannah ice skating since he had taken Sammy to a few Clippers games without the girls, and he wanted to take her to do something fun.

Hannah LOVED it and had a great time.
The free ice cream probably helped too.
They stopped for hot chocolate at Starbucks to warm up on the way home (thus creating a little hot chocolate monster. She asks all the time to go to Starbucks now).
She's already asking when she can do it again, so I'd like to take her and try a little skating myself. I wonder if my ice skating lessons from when I was 7 will be any benefit to me at all...probably not.

Clippers Meet and Greet

If you've been reading this blog for a while now, you know that the boys are big Clippers fans. One of the players, Eric Gordon, was making an appearance at a Kia dealership in Orange County on Sunday afternoon, so we drove down there to check it out.

We didn't tell Sammy where we were going (or why) until we got there and he saw everyone in line. When it was finally our turn, I could tell that Sammy was a little shy and he kept lifting up his leg to show Eric his shorts.

**Side note: Sammy is really into wearing his Clippers shorts (that are way too big for him) and shirt. He puts it on every day as soon as he gets home from school or church or where ever we've been. He calls it his uniform and tells me that he's got to get ready for the game--and then he'll proceed to play basketball in the family room.**

So he points to the Clippers logo on his shorts and tells Eric:

"Look--I play for the Clippers"

Fortunately Eric and the Fan Patrol girls (i.e. cheerleaders) that were with him thought that Sammy and Hannah were totally adorable and he went along with it and told Sammy:

"You do? I do too."

Sammy was beaming. Eric signed their basketballs and I took some quick pictures and we were done. The pictures are terrible because the sun was coming in behind where they were sitting and I was trying to rush because of the long line behind us.

Oh--and we also saw Muno (well, a cardboard cut-out of him). The kids, especially Helene, were really excited about it. Great photo-op--I couldn't resist.

Rainy Days and Mondays

We've been rained on pretty much non-stop since Monday.

Not that that's a bad thing. We need the rain in So Cal and it's been a nice change of pace. I just wish I could stay home in sweatpants, watching movies in bed curled up with my cats--and not driving around taking kids to and from school and making trips to Costco. I just kept telling myself that people who live in Washington and Oregon do this way more often than I do, so I can handle it for a few days. Yep--I'm a trooper!

Monday was MLK Jr. Day, so the kids were off school--YAY! Sammy has been wanting to go to a Clippers game for quite sometime, and since they had a day game for the holiday, Samuel and Sammy finally got to go.

The plan was for them to take the subway down to Staples Center, but it was raining so hard that I ended up dropping them off instead.

Hannah was feeling left out since she didn't get to go to the game (we all would have gone, but I couldn't find 4 tickets together on Ebay in a decent section--and I figured Hannah would get bored of it after a while), so I told her we would go do something fun of her choosing. So the plan was lunch at In-N-Out and games at Chuck E Cheese's. No big surprise there, right?

We ended up doing the drive thru at In-N-Out (along with a million other people) because it was pouring so hard there was no way I was getting the kids out. Lunch was yummy and even Helene ate a grilled cheese--yep, we start them young in our family. Then it was off to Chuck E Cheese's to meet up with Krista and her family for some games.

The girls had such a great time and it, surprisingly, wasn't too crowded (at least when we arrived). Hannah and Ally were really cute to watch. They would buddy up and do stuff together and then go their own separate ways and do their own thing. Even Helene took a little ride on one of the kiddie rides. Krista and I enjoyed chatting while consuming all the diet coke we could from the self-serve soda fountain. (Sadly, no pictures because I gave the boys my camera to take pictures at the game.)

Tuesday was back to school for all. It was kind of a hard adjustment since we played hookey for part of last week while Val was in town. Helene came down with a mild fever late Tuesday afternoon that turned into a 105.5 degree fever (!) by Wednesday.

Stupid Chuck E Cheese germs.

Totally my fault. I was a hand-washing nazi making Hannah wash her hands a million times, but didn't even think about Helene since she was either in a high chair or being held almost the entire time. Except for when she sat in a train ride for about 30 seconds--although I guess she could have caught it from the high chair as well.

Hannah finally had her very first haircut on Thursday. When I wash it, it's past the middle of her back and it's just gotten out of control and so tangled--it needed a good cut. There was some drama (was there any question there would be?) when Erika tried to get her over to the sink to shampoo her hair. The plan was to deep condition it so she could get the tangles out, but Hannah would have NOTHING to do with getting her hair washed. So back to the chair for some good old-fashioned hair combing.

Erika was so patient and gentle (unlike when I comb Hannah's hair) and while there was still some crying and screaming at the beginning--we managed to bribe Hannah with some chocolate and promises of horchata on the way home to get her to sit still and be quiet. It really turned out so cute!

With all the non-stop rain, there has been much Wii playing, TV watching, and cookie and banana bread baking...and eating...mostly by me.

You'd never know this little one was sick. Just look at that face!

She LOVES balloons!

Friday, all the Kindergarten classes at Sammy's school put on a "Popcorn Parade", based on the book by Tommy De Paola.

He was one of the chefs.

It was cute to see him up there and see him be so sociable with all his little friends.

That about sums up our crazy wet week. Looking forward to the sunshine this weekend and some outdoor time at the park.

San Diego

Samuel had heard about the San Diego Big Bay Balloon Parade on December 30th to celebrate the Holiday Bowl game and wanted to take the kids to see it.

We drove down to San Diego that morning and got there right as the parade was starting. We decided to go to the end of the parade route so we'd be sure to see it all. When we approached the street it ended on, we saw lots of people lined up on the sidewalks, so we decided to join them while there was still room to sit/stand.

The street was divided with an island in the middle, and we kept trying to figure out why cars were still driving down the other side of the street. Turns out the official end of the parade was one block over, and we were in the "take down" area. Oh well. We still saw all the balloons and most of the floats and bands and other participants--they were just not always in their best form by the time they got to us.

The weather started out a little cool and slightly overcast with the sun peaking out occasionally behind the clouds. Perfect weather.

It all started with Jack.
Awesome.

He's looking right at me!!

YAY Thomas!

This penguin was falling over
by the time it got to us.
Hannah always manages to
find a dog (or two) to pet.

I'm not sure who was happier--Hannah or the dog.
We've seriously GOT to get her a dog.
Shamu!
Look! A real Hudson Hornet.
Those tanks are really big when they're driving right past you

There was a fire truck throwing out footballs.

Samuel got one for each kid.

Although Hannah didn't like the
fire engine's horn too much.

Group shot.
(In everyone's defense, the sun was out and was blinding us.)
Jean, I know you'll love these next photos.
It caused quite a stir when this next group came into sight.
Who knew there was an actual San Diego Star Wars Society?
Too funny.
They were apparently promoting this movie.

Sammy thought these little go-carts/bumper cars
(I don't know what to call them) were so cool.

Hot Rod!

Then I saw my favorite balloon coming around the corner...

Or should I say running around the corner...

Don't you just love all the cars driving down the street at the same time as the parade participants? I still have no idea why the street wasn't shut down.

Once the parade ended, we headed back to the car to go get some lunch.

These bicycle rikshaw or pedi-cab were all around the downtown area. We joked about having one take us to our car, but we decided to give the guy a break from having to bike with all 5 of us on board. Besides, we were only about 6 or 8 blocks away. Although from the way the kids were complaining, you would have thought it was 20 miles.

All Sammy wanted to do, of course, was ride the train.

When we walked outside after eating lunch, and it was freezing cold and drizzling. It was like that the rest of the day. So much for doing anything outside. We pretty much spent the rest of the time riding the train much to Sammy's delight.

We headed back home in the early evening. It was a fun day despite the weather--how can you not love San Diego??

An afternoon with Dad

I should really make Samuel write this post since he is the one who went, but I know that won't happen so here is my version of it.

Samuel is a big fan of 3-D movies--and he had seen the advertisements around town for Toy Story 1 and 2 in 3-D and really wanted to take the kids to go see it.

So last Tuesday, he took the kids to the matinee at the El Capitan in Hollywood. We were both a little apprehensive as it was a double feature and we weren't sure if the kids would sit through both movies. I packed lots of snacks and hoped for the best!

Sammy was super grouchy because he and his dad always go the trains together and Sammy really wanted to ride the train instead of going to the movie. We kept trying to explain to him how much fun this was going to be and how he and Hannah got to go the movies with just Daddy, but he was still mad about the trains. So in most of the pictures he has a super grouchy face.

In front of the El Capitan.
I took this really fast when I dropped them off while stopped in the loading zone. Nice pic, huh? Sammy is grouchy, Sam looks like he is about to say something, and Hannah is completely absorbed in a flyer for the Tinkerbell movie

Waiting for the movie to start

It actually turned out to be quite fun for them after they figured what the 3D glasses did. The kids didn't want to wear the glasses at first and Samuel tried to explain to them exactly why they had to wear them, but how do you explain 3D effects to a 3 and 5 year old?

Woody and Buzz came out to say hello before the movies started

The kids did great sitting for both movies and even the bathroom breaks worked out well. When I picked them up, they couldn't stop talking about it--it was so cute!

I had to smile at Samuel's photo attempts--it was one of those days when no one would cooperate for a picture. I can soooooo relate! Just glad I'm not the only one who that happens to. These totally made me laugh. Thanks for trying Sam!

I think this may be my new favorite picture.

Those faces say it all.
(They had a good time, I promise)