July 22, 2011
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Summer are so packed with activities that it’s hard to pick which photos to post!
Two weekends ago, James and I went to Morton’s for dinner. The onion bread was so good, it took all my willpower not to fill up on it. I totally indulged … oysters, ahi tuna, salad for appetizers … and the filet I shared with James was even better than the one I had at Cut in Las Vegas! Despite being full, the experience did not feel complete without a creme brulee for dessert. Yummy! Thanks to Lisa for the gift card.
(I got my hair cut/styled right before our date
)Saturday morning, after a 5k jog with Erjia while James took the kids to swim lessons, we went to Lowes to build a catapult.
Then it was off to rollerskate after lunch. I took Zach, and we met up with Christine/Isabelle and Rachel/Jessica. Since Zachary always wants to stay the whole time, I had no excuse but to skate for 2-3 hours!
After rollerskating, we picked up James/Calie at home and headed to Rachel’s house for a barbecue/swim playdate. Zachary enjoyed playing with the dive rings, but wasn’t able to reach them like Jessica could … he was very persistent in trying though!
Sunday, I took a 1 hour walk/hike with Erjia and Meenakshi while James took the kids to swim lessons. Immediately after lessons (kids stayed in swimsuits!), we headed to Jason’s birthday party for more swimming. The kids love swim parties – they’re special to us since we don’t have a backyard pool, and both kids have made major strides since last summer. They are by no means swim team candidates, but I’ve bought myself a few extra seconds before they drown. Happy 4th Birthday Jason!
Last Friday, we took the kids to a local ‘Concert in the Park’ after work. We grabbed dinner at Freshii since we had a ‘Buy 1 Get 1 free’ coupon from a recent 5k charity run. Unfortunately, they were so backlogged with orders that we had to wait almost 45 minutes to get our food. Ugh. I am not patient! That said, I love their lemongrass salad dressing. We had a picnic dinner and listened to live music. Calie jumped in the bounce house, while Zach played soccer and frisbee with James … it felt very summer!
Saturday … another morning jog for me. I am trying to be consistent about exercising 2x a week, which usually means weekend mornings. I no longer get to sleep in, but my other choices would be to either cut back on eating or gain back all the weight I worked so hard to lose last year! After my jog, I took Calie to her fairytale ballet class at Tricks. It wasn’t real dance (my dance friends would probably wince), but she had fun and it’s hard to beat 4 classes for $20!
After dance, Calie had her first ever playdate with her friends. Her BFFs Ava and Cassie came over for lunch, and the girls had so much fun! We’re definitely going to have to do this again.
After her friends left, we took a walk to a nearby park with water feature.
In the evening, we went to the Aquatic Center for an outdoor movie ‘How to Train Your Dragon.’ Since the show starts after dark (~8:45pm, our kids’ bedtime), we put them in pajamas and brought a big blanket. What a great movie! I had never seen it before, and I loved it. Calie tried her best, but fell asleep before the movie ended.
Sunday morning … I jogged again with coworkers, including Sam. Melissa’s flight from Europe was delayed so he had both kids in a (non-jogging) stroller. Impressive! Around lunch time, I walked Zachary to his friend Alex C’s house for a birthday party. The kids played football in a school field, followed by swimming, and a barbecue lunch with ice cream birthday cake. Happy 7th Birthday Alex!
We walked home after the party ended, and then went to Rachel’s house for a barbecue swim playdate. By this time, Zach had figured out that taking a deep breath before going underwater was making him too buoyant. Persistence and practice paid off – while not as quick as Dylan and Jessica, he was finally able to dive for rings. The kids had fun swimming and jumping on the big trampoline … and dinner was delicious too. Thank you Rachel/Jeff for hosting 2 weekends in a row!
Yesterday, I invited my coworker Bart over for a tritip barbecue dinner. We ran out of propane halfway though (oops) so dinner took a little longer than expected.
Bart had entertaining stories about his previous job working at Disneyland and less than entertaining stories about trains. Today, my team went to Old Spaghetti Factory for lunch followed by Vintner’s Cellar to bottle the Merlot we made a few months ago. I bottled, corked, and labeled my very own wine! 
Now we wait 180 more days until we can try it … a lesson in patience for sure. With all the recent hiring, the team has gotten quite large, and we had a great turnout. Fortunately, we had just enough wine for everyone who showed up.
In terms of milestones this month, Zachary lost 2 teeth … the first 2 teeth to naturally fall out, as his previous 3 were pulled by the dentist because his permanent ones were coming in from behind. The toothfairy at our house pays a golden $1 coin per tooth, and Zachary was very excited to get the special coins!
